Aberrant Ales — Restaurant in Howell

Receipt # 81636. 8/17/19

This is my second time visiting Aberrant, the first experience outside was great, zero complaints.

Today however happened to be during the Howell Melon Festival so naturally we went in knowing things would be different. We (myself +2 adults and a toddler) grabbed a table around 1:20pm and cashed out at 2:46pm according to the receipt.

At first the waitress, BW, was attentive but as soon as we placed our food order she was non-existent. The waitress never came back to see if we wanted more waters or another beer (thankfully I was nursing my final 2oz) the entire time we were there. The next time she even acknowledged us was at the end of our meal where she asked if we wanted the check (not another beer or dessert but the check).

There was only one cook and in a packed house the food orders were running behind, expected, kind of. The swine nachos were very lacking on the swine toppings, we essentially had half a bag of chips with some sprinkles of meat. The Daddy Mac was yummy but barely warm (not certain if it was sitting forever waiting on the waitress or the kitchen serving barely warm food), given the kitchen time already, wasn't about to send it back. The Hazy D, highly recommend this beverage!!! After receiving my bill, placing my card on the clipboard, waiting a couple of minutes even as the waitress was attending to the patrons at the next to me, she still didn't look up and see that I was standing with my toddler in my arms as a flag for "hey I'm ready to cash out" nope, left standing so I took the check to the bar to have the bartender run it, just then my waitress enters the bar area (assuming to get drinks for someone), he has her run it then he hands it back to me. After all is said and done and I'm done signing and heading out, no "Thanks for coming in" "have a great day" nothing from the waitress.

Long story short, I believe management needs to review staffing during large public events when abnormally large numbers of people will be visiting the establishment. The kitchen, hey it's a festival so yeah we expected a longer time, however the lack of attention from the wait staff is what took this experience and made it a bad...

We really wanted to be fans of this brewery, given that we are running out of new restaurants to try in Howell, but it really just didn't cut it for us. The beer menu seemed interesting, but, as it was 11:30 a.m. when we got to there, we decided to skip out on drinks. We started with an appetizer of soft pretzels with beer cheese and spicy mustard and those were both really good. However, it felt a little weird that the beer cheese was ice cold. Shouldn't cheese dip like that be hot? At least that is how it's been every time I have had it elsewhere. Still tasted good despite temperature, so we give those 3/5 stars. Then we got our food... my husband and I both were unimpressed by the menu selection, but both settled on getting chicken tacos. The tacos we were given were also ice cold. The chicken also had little to no seasonings or flavor and, if anything, were overly salty. the "pico de gallo" they added to the top was overly ripe and seemed like they just cut up really small, smushy tomatoes, added a dash of onion, and threw some cilantro on top (aka super bland). Feta cheese and lettuce were added to the top of the other ingredients and all in all, it tasted more like a cold, bland chicken wrap than anything near a taco.

We did get served really good chips and salsa with our tacos (watch out, the salsa is a bit spicy but not too bad), and I ended up just eating one of the tacos and filling up on the chips and salsa.

Overall, this wasn't a great experience for us. I am willing to give it another go, only so I can see if something else on the menu is more appetizing the next time we go. You can't go wrong with pizza, I suppose, so that will be our next meal if we do decide to go again to give it one more chance.

I will say, the service and atmosphere were both pretty great! We definitely felt like the overall ambiance and staff were just what they needed to be, we just wish the food didn't leave us with a bad taste in our mouths.

Aberrant Ales should take a hint from Block Brewery with their menu options! You gotta have good food no matter how great your beers may happen to be. People can get beer anywhere they want, it's the food + drinks + atmosphere that keeps people...

In all honesty, the only other time I've been through downtown Howell was when I got off at Exit 141 in the middle of the night in error.

With that said, I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and how well kept the downtown area truly is. Aberrant is nestled in amongst several other local businesses. It's easy to find and there's easy access to parking either on the street or lots nearby.

This was a terrific stop today. The wait staff are super friendly and they know the menu, both the beers and the food. It's very clean. The bathrooms are spotless.

I had two flights while I was there. It seems they focus on New England IPAs, hazy and otherwise - and rightfully so. All of the IPAs were on point. The hazies were dank and juicy at the same time, without being overly sour or sweet. Their standard IPAs hit all the right notes. I also tried all of their stouts and their amber ale. I won't offer up any comparisons to Lansing area breweries, but I will say that these folks are doing it right. The imperial stout, Elephant in the Alley, was 10 out of 10. The cream ale was also excellent.

The food was great. I had chicken street tacos with their verde salsa. My buddy had the Nashville hot chicken sandwich. I was over the moon with my tacos and the verde sauce. After I had one taco, I ordered chips and salsa just so I could get more. My friend commented several times on the crispiness and juiciness and general awesomeness of the chicken sandwich.

I look forward to coming back with my family. I know my wife would enjoy it. I'm sure my boys would enjoy the atmosphere and the food. I will definitely be back.

Again, great stop. I highly...