Historic Brewing Barrel House - Flagstaff — Restaurant in Flagstaff

I have hesitated in writing this review. A few changes and this would have been a five star. I hope the owner takes this under consideration.

Fix your staffing. Yes, easier said...

This place has fun-to-try beers. Historic has a good location with a nice patio. Their food ingredients are great quality.

What went wrong?

First, everything took forever. They suffered from all the classic poorly trained/managed/motivated staff problems. Like, all of them, all at the same time.

Then we got the food. The frys were like a chopped noodle dish. Frys are not a black art of secret knowledge. My guess is they used waxy potatoes and were overloading the fryer. Waxy potatoes will never turn into mealy. Overloaded fryers will never get to temp. Employees who can only set a timer will never really know if an item is done.

And the burger... if you, as a manager, come by the table and ask how the burger is, expect anything but adulation. In the burgers defense, it was very tasty and made of high quality ingredients. It was quite overcooked.

Overcooked is fine at McWhatever, but you are trying to be a gastropub and that burger cost $14. So yeah, get an instant read thermometer or experienced staff. Both?

These failings all points back to the coach. A good manager would fix all of this. Instead, the manager made excuses after having asked me what I thought and telling me I am confused.

Well coach, telling me that my well done burger was not well done and while looking at firm gray meat said it was the seasoning...

Customer is always wrong, I guess.

Not only have I done every job at your place, I have been cooking burgers longer than most of your staff has been alive. I also dabble in controlled temperature bath/sous vide cooking. I have and use instant read thermometers. You should, too.

You are walking distance from one of the best HRM schools in the country. Get some consulting. You have invested way too much to have these easy to correct issues. Easy to correct as long as that manager I spoke with wasn't the owner. If so, well, good luck!

Historic could be great, it just isn't now. I would still get a beer there, if touring the breweries. I would not sit...

This place was the worst brewery experience I’ve had in a very long time. The food was barely edible high school cafeteria level fare. My wife and I both ordered cheeseburgers that were 1/4 or 1/3 pounders for $16. Hers came out well done and mine was almost rare, even tho their menu states they cook everything medium for health concerns. When I ordered a beer flight the bartender didn’t know anything about the beers and the beer menu on the wall contained nothing but an overly decorated name to choose from that was barely legible. I choose 6 including their Piehole porter which I’d had before from a can down in PHX. Now I understand why that was the only beer I’d seen from them down in the valley, it was the only beer of the 6 that was decent. Then as we were finishing up I went up to close out (they don’t have a wait staff, you order everything at the bar) I decided to fill my Stanley growler with Piehole. Nope, the bartender sited some bogus rule? About having a surgeon general label on the growler. When I asked her to explain she accused me of trying to get their license revoked and I was putting her in an awkward situation! I googled this after we left and could find no such law!? We travel a LOT, I have filled this growler in states all across North America from Maine to Baja and have never heard anything this shady. Just a way to get you to buy one of their growlers I suppose!? I tipped 20% even tho there wasn’t any service to speak of, and was charged $95 for a 6 beer flight, 1 kombucha, 2 cheeseburgers and a 6-pack of Piehole to go… unbelievable! reply I believe you should re-read the document, it clearly differentiates between "when is a growler a bottle or a glass" and in my case it was a "glass"! "What are the requirements for growlers that are “glasses?”.... When the brewer fills a growler at the tap at the brewpub, and not in advance of sale, we consider the growler as a large glass.These growlers are not subject to Federal labeling requirements." I hope your bartender gets the training she needs and I will definitely stop by for some more Piehole the next...

If historic means old and run down, I guess this place qualifies. You seat yourself and go to the bar to order. Strike one. My wife had the credit card when I ordered the beer. The waitress asked me to pay for it. I told her that I didn't have a card but had my phone. She said I'll remember you just come back when you know what you want for food. I paid with Google pay. That made me smile.They were out of Porter and wheat beer, so my wife and I had to go to our second choices. I had a pilsner and she had a lagger. My beer was just okay. Tastes kind of like Coors. My wife said her beer wasn't that bad. But I don't know how much that means. She's not much of a beer drinker. I had the pulled pork and she had a hamburger. The pulled pork had plenty of pulled pork that tasted really good. I guess what they put on it was coleslaw, but it didn't add anything and could have been much better with just plain onion and pickles. Of course there was no sauce. My wife said her hamburger was good. I tasted it but I couldn't give it much more than a two. French fries had chili powder on them but they were frozen french fries and not crisp and didn't have much flavor. The dog at the table next to us like them though. But then if their dog is like my dog it doesn't take much to please them is when it comes to french fries. $45 including tip. I'm not absolutely certain but I would say they've seen the last of me. The service was good and the waitresses were...