Briar Common Brewery + Eatery — Restaurant in Denver

The worst experience I’ve ever had eating out. get comfy, it’s a story.

The first thing on their menu says “…We take pride in offering an exceptional dining experience in Denver….we strive to provide you with an elevated brewery experience.”

I bought Nuggets tickets for my boyfriend’s birthday, so I searched Google for the best places to eat near Ball Arena and kept coming back to Briar Common Brewery. Reviews were excellent except for a few, but I really loved the responses I read to all the reviews. It felt authentic and like the place to choose. The atmosphere & food looked amazing in the photos, and overall I was very excited to try somewhere new and eat here. I made a reservation for 5pm last night through their online reservation system. Today, on our way, I had to adjust our reservation once I realized our drive from Fort Collins was going to take longer and push us later to 5:30. I made the change through their system at 3:45 fearing the 5pm reservation would be hard to meet driving down I25.

Upon arrival at 5:30, we were greeted by the host. He told us our reservation was for 5 so the table has been given up. I went through the details of the online switch around 3:45, and showed him the online reservation on my phone for 5:30. He said yeah I don’t have that on my end, and was just very hesitant to help. Instead of trying to find a solution and help us out immediately, I had to suggest, well do you want to help us find a table, what’s available? He preceded with open seating outside or at the bar, which we were prepared to do 100%, no problem. By this time a family of 3 had entered behind us, very small entryway, crammed up against us. Literally touching. He said another table wouldn’t be ready for 45 minutes and then noticed we were in Nuggets attire and asked us if we were going to the game (game time was 7pm, it was 5:30 at this time) so he understood we would be in and out in an hour so we could make it for Tip Off. again, we were prepped to head to the outdoor patio, but he said wait a minute he had a table that opened up that he could seat us at. It was a two-top and there were 4 open tables to our left with “Reserved” signs. Our waiter is the only saving grace for this review. Patrick was super friendly and attentive and he was hustling the entire night, one of the only wait staff, they were clearly understaffed. Within 5 minutes of sitting down we had ordered our drinks, apps, and meals. The reserved tables started filling up and the place was getting busier. We were having a great time, watching the CSU game on tv and enjoying our delicious mocktails. Very cherry was so yummy!! The NA menu is great!

6:30 rolls around and we had assumed we would have had our food by then. We only ordered a burger and the seasonal salad. That’s it. At 6:35 my boyfriend went over and asked if our food was coming out soon and to prep it to go. We had to leave for the game. We waited an hour for our food and all 4 reserved tables that were seated after us all received their food well before us.

By 6:45 we were standing by our table waiting for our food to go and to pay. $65 for our food to be thrown in containers, an hour after ordering, just for our food to sit in the car until after the Nuggets game. It will literally probably go in the trash. We just ate at the Nuggets game instead.

It felt very deliberate since the moment we walked in the door and gave our reservation there was resistance and attitude from the host. I felt like that trickled all the way to the kitchen. Since I pushed back and asked him to help us find a way to still eat there, I’m guessing he didn’t like that and made our experience awful. He continued to glare my way throughout our evening. Despite my attempts to break him with a smile back.

Definitely left in shock at how horrible that dining experience was. As someone in a different service industry, It’s not that hard to provide good...

Enjoyed our first visit for dinner this last Friday 10/9. We were excited after hearing so many glowing reviews. Our server was delightful and attentive. The menu was fun, and the food was very good and served in a timely manner. We had a reservation at 7pm and we were told that our table was available to us until 9 (which I completely understand). However, beginning at 8:20-8:30 we were reminded by multiple employees and our server that we had to be gone by 9pm. Our server actually apologized and suggested that she would get in trouble and that management was strict about these rules. No problem. We had paid our almost $200 tab at 8:34pmm (printed on the receipt) and were visiting, as it was well before 9pm. Every 2-3 minutes (I am not kidding) a young lady employee (host?) would pop out of the patio door, turn her head to glance at us to see if we were gone, and then immediately turn around again. It became very clear, very quickly that she needed our table and wanted us out of there. I am not unreasonable. I am patient and easy going. We were not intentionally lingering. We were finishing our dialogue from a nice early evening and dinner. We were following the rules set forth without resentment or malice. But this however was egregious even to me. It was so incessant and annoying and rude, that I insisted we leave 10 minutes early because I simply could not watch her do this any longer. So we all (4 of us) got up and politely walked off of the patio to the adjacent sidewalk to finish our interrupted conversation and say our goodbyes. In doing so, we stayed until 9:15 and noticed after some time that our table had remained untouched, uncleared, and unoccupied. We then noticed no one waiting to be seated and multiple open tables inside and a few outside. I don't ever recall feeling so uncomfortable at a restaurant and I still don't understand why. I think that even if another party was to be seated at 9pm, we had earned the right to enjoy our time without being made to feel such urgency. But what happened felt intentional and purposely obvious. So I am sad to say that I cannot see myself returning to that environment again. Update: Billy, Thank you for your prompt and gracious response. I appreciate the invitation to try again for a better...

Terrible experience due to how they handled my valid, out-of-state ID. I showed it upon arrival with seemingly no issue, yet 20–30 minutes later, and after placing an order, I was suddenly told it wasn’t acceptable. Their reasoning? My mailing address didn’t match the issuing state, which is completely legal where I'm from. Instead of using a proper verification method, they claimed to have “googled” my ID and decided it didn’t seem real, despite the exception being clearly listed on my state’s official DMV website.

They then asked for my passport—something most people don’t carry when they already have a valid driver’s license. They asked if I had a photo of my passport instead. Yet when I provided additional proof, including matching credit cards and even a picture of my valid passport eventually, none of it was accepted. Instead, they doubled down on an uninformed decision and created an unnecessary situation.

The way this was handled was humiliating. I was interrogated and dismissed in front of other patrons. A simple ID scanner or proper verification method could have resolved this immediately.

ETA after "owner's" response -- I understand why there are laws and you have the right to refuse service. But my review is about your process for verifying ID's. Why also ask for a picture of my passport if it wouldn't be accepted? I showed you this after it was requested, along with a matching valid ID. Why make me do this? Also, why make me wait 20-30 mins before stating there was an issue? You should have stated this upon arrival. Lastly, I do not appreciate you revealing my issuing state. I didn't mention this in my review and you should not reveal this type of personal information. Highly irresponsible from a...