Zuni Street Brewing Company — Restaurant in Denver

EDIT/UPDATE: After my review, some creepy scrub twitter stalked me to try to point out some flaw in my logic- specifically, that it's unwise to 'slam my local brewery' if I intend to visit them again. Pretty weird. Wonder if he tried to internet stalk and 'publicly' call out everyone else who didn't give Zuni a 5* review. I decided to edit out anything that suggests I will return. Living in Denver, I think I'll be okay.

ACTUAL REVIEW: I am so glad I see other people agreeing with the 'meh' vibe that Zuni St. has to offer. Their FB is filled with people giving them rave reviews - and now I'm inclined to believe that these reviews are probably friends, friends of friends, or those who donated to their GoFundMe.

Okay. So... let me start off by saying that I really, really wanted to love it at Zuni St. When I saw that a new brewery was opening up I was so excited! Alas, a visit to Zuni St. is a pretty forgettable experience. I wouldn't go out of my way for a visit.

The short version of the story is: Perhaps Zuni St. spent too much time on their interior decorator and not enough time into training an attentive and friendly staff, nor into learning to brew some truly excellent beer.

If you’re interested in specifics:

The Beer: Well, the only beer worth having is the Midnight What?! I say that, not because it's amazing, but because everything else tastes the same. Unfortunately, every single beer offered at Zuni St. is nothing to write home about. At roughly $6-7 per pint, these beers are not worth it.

The Staff: I really dislike paying yuppie prices for mediocre beer and terrible, hipster service. Most of their staff does that whole ‘avoiding eye contact with everyone at the bar’ which makes it take much longer than it should to get a pint. Unless you're a friend, of course.

The Space: Their front patio is a cool space to chill on. They have accented the ground with beds of large, jagged rocks- which seems like a pretty iffy choice for a place where people drink, but it definitely looks sweet. The interior is quite lovely, with large metal trees that accent the high ceilings, and a beautiful wooden bar. And, when they open their garage doors and allow the light from the setting sun peek into the brewery, it’s quite lovely.

The Dogs: Patrons are constantly walking their dog through the brewery to get their dog to the ‘safe dog zone’ (the two patios). Unfortunately, that’s actually not acceptable by the Denver Health Department. And, I have regularly seen two dogs behind the bar and in the brewing area- which is no bueno. I like dogs, and I think it's stupid that Denver put a ban on 'em, but I really dislike the fragrant disregard of following the health and cleanliness standards required by the Denver...

I've always really loved going to this brewery... so much so that I drive all the way from englewood (20-35 mins... sometimes even through rush hour) just to go here. Great atmosphere, good beers and I love that you can bring your dog inside.

But the last few times I've been I've been really disappointed... the staff haven't been so friendly and what really irks me is they don't offer free tasters and you can't get flights of beer (they used to do flights..). Not only that, but you're only ALLOWED two 5 oz that you're charged for to "taste" the beer. This is really disappointing considering they have such a large menu and lots of interesting beers. So basically you can only taste two beers (which you pay for) and if you don't like either of them, you're SOL and just have to commit to a full size beer of whatever... and if there's more than a few beers you wanna try, you just can't without getting drunk I guess because you need to buy full glasses...

I've never heard of a brewery that doesn't offer free tasters to see what you like first and even caps you on how many 5 oz beers you can BUY. It's honestly ridiculous, so much so that I don't even really want to go here anymore and give them money......

Went on the pub pass, four fairly similar beers out of the two page list were the only ones allowed with it. Pretty much all German/sour styles, no other ones. Myself and a friend each got a different one, and we weren't impressed with either. Friend didn't even finish theirs.

Bar tenders were curt but fairly polite and attentive, no issues there like some other reviews claim, so no complaints on service. Perhaps at least offer to sample some of the larger selection to know if it's worth getting all the beers that weren't on the pass?

Some bubble machine (For Pride weekend maybe?) was set up at the entrance blasting bubbles in everyone's face as they tried to enter...maybe a fun idea, but kind of annoying getting soapy bubbles on your face just for walking in the door.

Having a larger variety of styles allowed on the pub pass (such as pales, stouts, IPAs, etc.) may have made for a positive experience, but overall wasn't worth my drive in and only seems worthwhile if you live within...