Commonwealth Brewing Co FFX — Restaurant in Fairfax

Let me start off by saying that I really enjoyed the beer here. Really great selection of IPAs. Food was mediocre.

Unfortunately, as much I has had hoped to come back to Commonwealth in the future, I had a very bizarre and off-putting experience with the manager, Cole, that has made me really not want to visit again.

I paid $50 to reserve a table for some friends and I. Commonwealth issued me a $50 gift card so that I could basically use my "deposit" on my tab. All good. I told my friends to grab the table under my name if they get there before me. When I got to Commonwealth, my friends were already at the table. I go up to the bar and the first thing I say to the bartender was "Hey, I'm Stephen. I reserved that table over there. I have a gift card to apply to my tab." The bartender said that we'll apply the gift card when I close out.

When I go to close out, no one asks for my gift card. And as this was my first time at Commonwealth and the first time I ever had to purchase a gift card to make a reservation, I also forgot to mention the gift card again. So I paid the tab with my credit card and realized the next day that I still had the unused gift card.

I called the brewery and spoke to Cole. After he basically dismissed me by saying "sorry, we can't apply gift cards retroactively", I pushed the issue (as opposed to simply issuing a charge-back on my credit card) and he finally gave in and said that he couldn't refund me and apply my gift card over the phone (despite the fact that they had no trouble charging my card over the phone), but that I could come in to the brewery and he could take care of it.

I went back to the brewery and Cole helped me out to refund my card and apply the unused gift card to my previous tab. I thought we were all good, but then all of a sudden Cole decided to try and lecture me. He said that they thought I didn't show up despite the fact that I called ahead and checked in with the bartender, and that he would help me out "this time" but in the future I need to check in. Apparently, my friends were sat at the wrong table. Why is that my problem? Long story short, Cole had a really bad attitude, was not welcoming at all, and ended up making himself look silly by making false claims that I didn't check in...

Wow! What a wonderful new addition to the craft beer scene in Downtown Fairfax!

I'll get the minor nit picky stuff out of the way.

1. No TV's. Maybe those are coming later, but if you're looking to come have some brew and grub while watching some hockey or football, you've come to the wrong spot.
2. Food seems fine (standard pub grub) but the board walk fries are a bit bland and serving size seems a tad small. The sauce and old bay on the side make up for it though!

Okay now for the positives!

VERY impressive beer selection! I'd happily bring my dad here who is NOT a craft beer geek like I am and I'm positive he'd finding something to enjoy. They have something on tap for all taste buds including some mighty boozy ones as well!

I loved the space! I'm not sure if they were aiming for this, but they may have accidentally created a very family friendly facility for folks who have small children! Plenty of space for kiddos to run around (within reason of course) and the tables are so nice and sturdy for fun activities to be spread around while parents enjoy some brew and food.

The staff are so friendly and very patient with little ones being around the indoor space. They didn't seem bothered by it at all.

Again, the food while I had a minor nitpick, seems pretty reasonably priced even if the portion size isn't the greatest. My wife and kiddo seemed satisfied. Besides, you don't come to a brewery with food in mind first, you're coming for the BEEEER!!!

All in all, it's a very nice spacious facility with lots of compromise for families and if you don't want to be bothered with kids, they've got a great outdoor patio section. Beer selection is an easy 5/5, food is satisfactory just don't expect a 5 star dining experience and you won't be disappointed.

Will definitely be back and welcome Commonwealth Brewing to Northern VA!!! Glad to have...

Great beer!! Come for the beer! Seriously. The beer alone is 6/5 stars. Pizza is also really tasty and there are a lot of great flavor combos. Staff are friendly, helpful, and fun when you need them... but you have to flag them down.

I don't love the business model of minimal service, similar to the Caboose brewery. It sucks to not have enough napkins, do everything yourself, and not have staff check on you to see if you need something. That's the model and I don't like the model. Also don't love the bench seating and having to kinda sorta share tables with people you don't know until you can hop over to another free one like you're in a HS cafeteria. Wish they had a more extensive menu as well. There are also always random free range kids running around with no adults telling them to not collide with people carrying glassware. But I digress.

If you're here just for the beer and don't care about anything else in the paragraph above, then, hey! That's why I didn't rate it 3 stars 😅...