Platypus Brewing — Restaurant in Houston

It was Thursday afternoon; I had just finished the last presentation for the week and had some time to kill before my flight the next day. Platypus Brewing was the closest brewery to my hotel downtown. At only a mile, it would have been a shame to take an Uber. So, I strapped on my walking sandals, grabbed a diet cola, and hit the streets. Intent to take in the sights along the way.

Being mid-July, the streets were nuclear. I found myself dancing between pockets of shade. This wasn’t too hard, but once I exited downtown and neared Washington Ave, all shade ceased. My diet cola had long since abandoned me and my 15 min journey became a life and death race against heat exhaustion. Luckily, I made it… but just barely.

Upon entering this air-conditioned oasis, disheveled and drenched in sweat, I was greeted by a friendly bar maid who recommended an Ole Chit Mexican lager. (as in Ole Chit its hot outside) She assured me that this was their coldest beer. Indeed, it was sublime and utterly refreshing.

The place has an inherently friendly atmosphere with a medium to small interior and a somewhat larger patio. No loud music playing, so it’s easy to converse with friends… or myself in this instance. Platypus Brewing also offers Australian eats. I didn’t sample any as I was focused on hydration, but I did notice more than a few meat pies whizz by.

One of the most important, and often overlooked, aspects of a successful brewery is the t-shirt selection. Platypus excels in this arena. Several platypus themed shirts were on hand and all sizes were accounted for. I opted for the same shirt that the bar maid was wearing, as well as a couple stickers.

The bathroom was glorious, akin to a cold meat locker with urinals. The theme seemed to be that of a 16th century French Chateau, both in size and appearance. I luxuriated in the quiet ambiance, but alas, it’s hard to order a beer from the men’s room. I finished my experience with a hazy IPA, a 3 Mates I believe, once again, delicious. I caught sight of the owner, a gentleman with an Australian accent, so I can confirm some amount of authenticity. There’s not much to dislike about Platypus Brewing. Great beer, good food options, decent swag, and a gloriously cold restroom, all essentials for a finely tuned brewery.

Next, I screwed up my courage for the trek back to the hotel. I knew I’d need every ounce of strength of fortitude to make it back alive. But… just a half mile further was another brewery… and then another. It’s a veritable hotbed of brewery activity in this part of town. So, I took the safe option and marched onward toward...

So I had an abysmal experience with service here on July 23. Don't get me wrong the beer is great but if they have table service they should be more on top of punctuality. the night I went was not busy there is probably a total of 20 to 30 people there. We had just finished a beer from the inside when a waiter approached our table and asked if he could just get us one. First beer took him around 15 minutes to get back to us but I was having a good conversation with my guests so I barely noticed he took my card and disappeared for 45 minutes by which time are beers have been empty for a good 15 already. When he came back I ordered some pretzel bites and that's where it gets a little muddy I had to grab another server and ask him where my pretzel bites were after 45 minutes. They had delivered them to another table that just ate them and he hadn't noticed the mistake at all another 10 minutes to get the pretzel bites. I'm a little annoyed this point because the service is slow and he made a large mistake and didn't even come out and apologize about it and I've been in the service industry for a long time now and it's when something like that happens you at least you know come over and apologize for your mistake. We finish another round and I asked for the check after 15 minutes of waiting for the check I have to walk inside with my dog to see what the hell he's doing and I catch him at the POS he hands me the check and both pretzel bites are on it and he had already run the card so I was charged for the full amount they told me that once they reversed it the charge will come off in 4-7 days (hasn't happened yet) but I can't stress enough how terrible the f** Service is here because they treated it like it was a common occurrence. As I was walking out the server who had screwed everything up said hey man let me get you a beer sometime. That means absolutely nothing. I couldn't bring myself to stiff him only because of my long years working behind the bar. I hope the manager reads this review and that he has some real questions to ask his staff.

Edit: Thank you very much for replying service standards are there for a reason. I hope that this review contributes to the success of your bar. I tried to be as honest...

This place is horrible, I do not recommend their steak night. Their customer service is awful as well. The servers, females, were very rude and condescending. We when on a steak night and had their $20.00 special. This includes a steak shrimp a side and a pint of beer. It sounded like a great deal so we ordered that. We also ordered a glass of water to have along side our beer. They brought us beer, and a kids size cup of water, with no ice, ok. While we were waiting for our food I got up to go get something from my car. When I came back the server had taken my beer. There was a little less than 1/2 left and she just took it. I went over and asked why she took my beer. She responded sarcastically, with “ohhhh sorry”. I looked and my beer was sitting off to the side there with other dirty glasses and she said sorry again, in her condescending voice and proceeded to hand the glass back to me. I was like, um no thank you I don’t want that now. She rudely shrug her shoulders and walked away. Didn’t even offer to pour me a new glass with the amount I had.

When our steak came out it looked more like fajita (beef skirt), than it did a ribeye. I looked over to the table next to us and their steak was a “real steak”. Mine was flat and hard. Looked nothing like the one that was at the table next to us nor was it cooked medium as I requested. I talk to what I believe was the manager, he was a very nice guy and said that they all weight the same, but I don’t think so. He took it off our bill and said the beer is on the house. I chucked and said to him “ Thank You, it would have been nice if I could have been able to finish it.” Well I guess you get what you pay for. $20.00, knew it was too good to be true.

Should have gone with my first choice, The West End, now that’s a...