Looking Glass Brewing Co. — Restaurant in DeWitt

I had high hopes for this place, small town brewery serving smoked meats. Well unfortunately my hopeful expectations were thwarted by several easily corrected issues. First off, my friend and I don't drink alcohol, we were going there for dinner not to drink. They serve you with cans of faygo, instead of a fountain drink where you get refills. A buck fifty for a can of faygo is a bit much... Next I was going to order brisket as I had a craving for it all day and thought this would be a good time to try a new bbq place...out of brisket...so then I needed more time to look at the menu. But not before I ordered a appetizer, the loaded tots, they were good but my friend and I got about 2 bites in and our meals showed up. We were sitting at the smallest table in the place and had nowhere to put anything. Food coming out too quick is just as bad as too slow. My friend had to put his cookie sheet tray of food on top of the galvanized bucket on our table just so we had some room to move. The meals: well let me tell you, it was at this point where my disappointment was set into full effect. The pulled pork that I ordered was pre-smothered with bbq sauce which I cant stand. I use very little sauce if any, when I eat bbq. The one side dish I ordered, mac-n-cheese was pretty good, but the other 2, not so much. The corn bread was absolutely tasteless, even with the sugar it was topped with, it had no flavor. But the fries were probably the worst part of the meal. I asked the waitress when I was ordering, her opinion on the fries and she said there were made in house and really good. Well, they were shoestring fries and ice cold. Couldn't even eat them. When the waitress asked us how everything was, I let her know, politely, my complaints, she apologized and said we can probably take 50% off. A few minutes later a guy came out who I assumed was the manager, he was nice enough and offered us new fries, I was already full so I said it wasn't necessary, and I told him they need to not put the sauce on the meat for the customers. He said the "front of the house" wants the kitchen to do that for presentation...no, that's not presentation that's potentially ruining someone's food. Finally, our bill came and I looked to see of they gave us any sort of break...nope nothing, full price on everything. When you screw up this bad you need to make things right with the costumer so they don't go on google reviews and write a book about their bad experience in your establishment. In conclusion, I will definitely not be going back here ever again...its too bad, it seemed like a...

Comments from this point down are regarding business response. Thank you for your quick response to our review. As stated in our review, we enjoyed your venue, which is a beautiful old church. I hope you find the following helpful. (1) Thank you for discussing our concerns with staff. We're sure all of your patrons will be appreciative. (2) Your establishment is not the first brewery we've visited. However it is the first that required us to get our own water. (3) Being from the vicinity we like to support local businesses. We had seen people eating outside so there was no reason for us to visit your website or social media. (4) Many establishments started adding a 3 to 4 percent fee for using a card prior to the pandemic to cover their bank fees. You shouldn't assume that all clientele will pay by card. If the 4% on our receipt was due to cost increases as you suggest, it makes more sense to pass that on to everyone, regardless of how they pay. (5) We appreciate your generous offer of a gift certificate but will decline.

This was our first visit to this establishment. The venue is interesting with seating indoors and out. We visited mid-afternoon so there wasn't much of a crowd. When the waitress asked what we'd like to drink we asked for water; she said that we could get our own, and pointed to 2 canisters along the wall - Strike 1. We ordered a burger and a pulled pork sandwich, and both had the mac and cheese. The burger was average but didn't come with condiments so had to ask for those, which took a little while so it was almost gone by the time they arrived. The pulled pork was very tender. The mac and cheese was better than average. During our entire stay, the waitress was more intent on the conversation she was having with a gentleman at the end of the bar, perhaps a friend of hers. We felt as if we were inpositioning her - Strike 2. When we got our bill there was an automatic 4% non-cash amount included - Strike 3. We paid cash so deleted that amount from our bill. The food was okay, but because of the lack of service we received we wouldn't recommend...

Edit Gave the place another go, absolute night and day difference. Prosciutto gorgonzola flatbread as an app, wife tried the in-house made black bean burger, I went with the brisket / mushroom / pepper special - House red wine, chai cider - Not a single thing that hit our table wasn't absolutely delicious, service was top notch and attentive. Gonna absolutely be back, a well deserved 5 stars. Edit

Visited today after the lunch rush. Party of 2, only other patrons in the entire establishment were a group who had already cashed out and a customer sitting at the bar.

Seated immediately, but felt like we were forgotten about somehow despite being one of the only tables in the establishment. Can chalk that up to labor being a premium these days and having a full crew isn't easy as it used to be, no biggy.

Wife had an oktober fest beer and mushroom pizza, delicious - even had to snag me a slice. I had the cowboy burger and wine - Wine was great, solid red without too much sweetness; great for being brewed in house locally, solid stuff. Burger: ...avoid the burger. That may be on me for not being too familiar with the joint and what to steer towards, but the patties are straight up frozen highschool lunchroom patties; two bites on that and I'm set. I'll have another glass of wine. ...Soon as my server remembers me again, it's been a while; where did you go?

We did have the brisket tacos in a corn shell for the appetizer though, and holy heck those saved the day. I'd have probably been upset and left without a full stomach if not for those tacos - generous brisket portions, plenty of topping, solid almost-entire-meal as an appetizer, loved it.

Long story short: Local joint with what I'm sure are some solid food entries; but like everywhere else these days they are struggling securing reliable labor - avoid the burger, stick to the slow cooked meats...