Brew Bird — Restaurant in Fargo

Kind of sucks to be writing this out but I'm kind of in shock of the excuses I just had thrown at me from an otherwise professional business. Brew bird and 701 Eateries (Prairie Kitchen & Camp Lonetree) have long been favorite spots due to my severe gluten allergy, their excellent plays on flavor, and what I'd come to be used to as excellent customer service. The food is still great, and many of the higher-ups still provide excellent service, but there have been many occasions over the last year when I've ordered takeout and by the time I've gotten home, I've had no sauce or the wrong sauce. Now I get that I have the burden of checking my order before I leave the store, if I haven't ordered through a delivery app, so I've never said anything up to date. Tonight, however, I was on pregnancy-craving duty for my wife and ordered nothing for myseld and was picking up an item that I'm not used to getting(onion rings) and didn't know it came with a different sauce that was given to us(in order, I'd asked to be given whatever sauce comes with the onion rings(yes I checked this time and both were seemingly there)) Well I get home and my wife was clearly disappointed, stating that the thought of the onion/sauce combo was the whole reason she chose there to begin with. Now mind you, I may have been irritated from all the passed experiences of lost sauces and meals that were not exactly what I'd payed for flavor wise, but I retained professionalism when I called in. I stated that since I was going to drive back for them to make it right, I'd like a gift card or some form of compensation for the fact I live 5+miles from the store and I'd taken twice the time and gas to receive what I'd ordered once. At this point the assistant manager, Agnieszka, that I'd been handed off to, proceeded to seem defensive and tell me that many of their loyal fan base lived 15+ miles out of town and if they compensated every ill-given order that they would go out of business, but reassured me that because of my wife being pregnant, they'd make a 1 time exception to avoid stressing her and offer her a 10 dollar gift card. I was kind of in shock. Isn't the point of being tired and not wanting to cook and spending often 5× markups at a restaurant, to get exactly what you payed your money for? Isn't that the point of the contract written on the receipt? But I was being fairly compensated for dually investing what I'd eventually ordered and didn't want to be rude so I accepted. I then asked for replacement onion rings since the ones I'd driven home would be cold and soggy, to which she responded since onion rings are an expensive item and the economy is bad, I'd have to forfeit the 10 dollar gift card for a 5 dollar one. Being too tired and over stimulated to want to debate, I foreited for my wife's sake asked for the hot rings and left it at that. After having been to all 3 of the owner's locations over the last year, I'm surprised since none of their stores appeared as if replacing a single onion-ring order would break the bank, nor appeared as if their success had been built from management making excuses for poor quality control. However, I am going to be thinking twice in the future on if I want to spend my time and gas going there if I'm tired and may not be compensated for not getting what I payed for if I forget to double check everything was made 100% up to what was verbally agreed to before leaving and driving home. (Rockstar customer service, excellent flavor, high quality ingredients and at a...

Update: Having been here probably ten more times since this review was posted, there's been a big change at Brew Bird it seems.

First, the pricing. Both the sides and the chicken fingers have gone up in price. I understand price adjusting after opening, but multiple price adjustments over the course of just a couple months is a bit too accelerated. Basically this place has quickly gone from a slam dunk easy drive across town at any point we felt like it to being a more of a "night out" occasion. While it's only a few bucks here or there, in the food space, the difference between a $10 entree and a $12 entree is pretty substantial.

Second, the consistency of the food. As I touched on in my review, the chicken was a complete knockout initially. Huge strips of chicken, large servings of the sides. Over the last ten or so occasions, sometimes you'd get large, juicy, crispy chicken strips that fill you up, other times the strips looked like something you would get in a Dairy Queen kids meal. It's the same with the waffle fries, occasionally they would basically be spilling off your plate, this last occasion I received about 4 or 5 "full" fries and what seemed like a handful of bottom of the bag crumbled pieces of fries. The consistency of the cooking is also out of whack as well. The chicken sometimes incredibly crunchy, while still being juicy to other times it's basically sort of soggy or on other occasions its deep fried too long. Same with the fries, occasionally the perfect golden color and a great crisp, other times, they are lukewarm and soggy.

Best Chicken in Fargo, hands down. They've only been open about a month and we've already been here 6 times. The chicken is juicy and just rightly seasoned. Perfectly cooked, with the right amount of crispy crunch. The waffle fries are also tossed with the right amount of seasoning, which just sort of coats your palate for the rest of the meal, enhancing the chicken flavor. Apparently the OMG sprouts are amazing as well, as I know multiple people who swear by them. They are slowly expanding their menu and flavor offerings and easing into the opening process, hopefully succeeding in a tricky location. The interior of the joint is a quiet little garage style building, with a small amount of tables, but it's always cozy and warm. Brew Bird...

We ate here earlier today for something new to try as this place is fairly close in the area.

1st the good:

I ordered the Flying east and the crispy chicken breast is about the size one would expect it to be (comparable to KFC) in a sandwich format. It was really good, although Its not as spicy as I thought. Wifey got the 5 piece chicken tenders meal which despite the low numerical value were large. She wishes she got the 3 piece only because they were delicious and filling. Sides; Waffle fries were good but crunchy. Side sauces were labeled what they were to make things easier for tired eyes. Cheese curds are the best in the valley. Just the right amount and perfect. We both enjoyed. Also we liked the fact that "dairy-free, gluten-free, etc..." are "Color-Coded" on the menu. Once again giving the ol' noggin a break from having to "decipher" menus at other restaurants. "Adult beverages" hover around what you would pay in Fargo. Ambience was okay but no music, just a some loudmouths trying to be louder than each other. I'd rather listen to music however! The resturant setting is a cross between Sickies and The Wurst.

Now the bad: I do realize its a sit down restaurant but the pricing really adds up. For 2 adult meals, 2 sides, 2 drinks plus a "standard tip." The bill was $50 which seems kinda high and would dissuade people from coming in. Look at Sickies, priced fairly and they are always jammed packed with customers...Although to be fair, Sickies is right next door to Interstate 29 and 13th Avenue. Service; They make you pay before you eat instead of after. Gives me a different vibe paying that way since you don't know what your getting quality wise. Also, it frees up the waitress from taking the time to process your transaction and/or bringing drinks to you. What got me though was the waitress never checked up on us, nor grabbed our finished trays to empty them. Instead like a high school cafeteria my wife had to empty our trays. So all in all, the waitress walked 15 steps to bring us our food and thats it, gets a good tip cha-ching! I wish I could make extra money that easy.

Will we go back? Maybe,...