Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe — Restaurant in Eureka

What a let down! I am particularly drawn to brewery cafes/restaurants because I love beer and food. I had yet to visit a brewery restaurant, associated with a famous commercial brewery that serves crappy food, until I came here.

We called ahead to make sure no reservations were needed, they said they weren't and we only waited about 5 minutes to be seated. The staff was friendly and helpful.

My hopes were so high. I love Downtown Brown and the other great brews Lost Coast has been making for years. I just couldn't believe the low quality food being served here.

We ordered the fried calamari, meh. The half dozen garlic butter oysters were warm, but weren't well seasoned nor had a good garlic/butter taste. Did I mention they were tiny, just slightly larger than a quarter. When I asked if these were Kumamoto (given their small size), the waitress wasn't sure what I meant. OK, so you don't have to know all oyster varieties, but at least know what you're serving and where they're from. That's not too much to ask, is it?

My wife and oldest ordered fish and chips. Soggy fries, no French fries were larger than 1/2" long and the fish was soggy too, their grease must not have been hot enough to fry. Amateurs.

I ordered the coconut prawns. Not prawns, no coconut. These shrimp were at best 26/30 size, the batter was a light tempura type and there was no visible (or palatable) coconut anywhere. The accompanying dipping sauce was straight-out-of-the-two-dollar-bottle Thai sweet chili sauce I buy at Smart & Final. I expected more than stuff I can make better at home.

Others around the table ordered the burger. Ok, not great, but decent at best.

Bottom line, the kitchen is putting out some real crappy food to go with some great beers. Not on par with any brewery I've ever been to. In fact, it has started to make me think twice about Lost Coast brews in general. There should be the same level of care about your product, whether it's a beer or hot food, if it has your name on it.

My 11 year old ordered clam chowder. She thought it was sub-par. The potato cubes were so large, table spoon size The clams were nowhere to be found. She's a clam chowder hound and she gave it a thumbs down. Not even an 11-year old was satisfied.

Also, I bought a Downtown Brown T-Shirt while I was there, not sure if I'll wear it. I'm not endorsing the product as I was before visiting the...

Sadly unpleasant and void of customer service.The food is decent. It stops there. I've gone to the brewery since it opened. I used to play music when they had live bands. Brought my little boy. The eclectic decor, flatmo's art on the many great local beers. Great food. That was then. Fast forward to last week. The waitress was complaining to the manager, stating, " I'll not serve anymore because of want to get out of here by 10:30 pm. I was taken aback by that. I sat as no one even came up to me. I got my menu. The waitress brings me my food in a to-go box. I explained I was eating in. She was angry. I told her as a young man I'd been a waiter in many establishments in Europe and the USA and I would stay until they were done. She yelled at me that in the USA, "We go home when we are done", oh ....okay. The manager was at the bar making jokes with a patron about not having teeth, and how handy that can come in. Suddenly. Felt like a dive bar. At this point, I was ready to go. To my surprise a chubby little guy and a guy with an apron on followed me outside, it was clear they wanted to intimidate me, cigarettes in mouth. That's interacting with customers...lol. They asked me why " ya hassling the girls' bro", at that point I had enough. I was gonna leave them with a special tip. I told them to go back and do their work as opposed to being entitled silly people. Luckily the manager, fed up, grabbed each of them bringing them back to reality. " get inside" she told them. I give fair reviews. The food was okay. The service. Terrible. Ambiance. Like a dive bar. The Free beers given to me by the manager didn't take the bitter taste out. Anyways. More customer service. Less...

I have to amend my review after visiting the other breweries in the area, 6 Rivers (House made Pretzel so good!), Eel River, Red Curtain. The only thing from Lost Coast worth visiting is the Brewery itself. The Café needs a full revamp and revival. All the others had food, atmosphere and cleanliness that were so far above Lost Coast. I hate to say it cause I have such an affection for this brand. To qualify my review I am a chef and restauranteur. The service was great. That is because the server was great. The atmosphere and cleanliness was very lacking. The men's bathroom was horrible and I don't say that lightly. It was impossible to breathe in it. And the floors and urinals were disgusting. I reported it but didn't seem to be much of a concern to the management. It took a long time for it to get that bad it didn't just happen. If we wouldn't have ordered already I would have left. The women's was reported to be just fine by my wife and daughter. We just had our appetizer and drinks and left. The pretzel was frozen (to be expected, not after having 6 Rivers handmade one) but badly prepared. The whole place felt gross and sticky. The brewery is great the café is resting on its laurels and needs to be paid attention and not taken for granted. My three stars is because I like you guys a lot. ( changed this after comparison to a 2 star and that is being generous) If I weren't familiar with your beer and food I would have given it one star. Contact me with any...