Wicked Barley Brewing Company — Restaurant in Jacksonville

This rating is based off of the 2nd experience my family had at the End of Summer luau event. If I could give a negative rating it would be a negative 1 star.

There are multiple issues with this event beginning with:

1. On the Menu for all events it should be placed a disclaimer that "Please stay and enjoy the events and drinks with out hogging the tables for new customers who still need to eat during the event."
2. Due to no such disclaimer had countless tables inside and outside open to seat people that had been on the wait-list until 30+ minutes after the main performance of the event ended without clearing up the wait-list
3. I spoke with countless people at the event that agreed this lack of tables is an issue.
4. If Main dishes are NOT PERMITTED as a to go order eaten at big the event. This could RISK ALCOHOL POISONING with the individual: 4-i) Attempting to be PATIENT with the bad organization of the event and eating a main dish ordered to go at the event still. 4-ii) Which had been my original plan if all things had worked out. 4-iii) For you main dishes and/or salads are more substantial within filling and coating the stomach in a way to prevent ALCOHOL POISONING.
5. Earlier in the evening the outside staff specifically recommended making an order to go to eat at the event.
6. So all I had requested of my man is that he does exactly as your outside staff instructed me to do!!!!!!
7. We had literally waited an hour to an hour and a half being on the waiting list for a table to open up. That is when I humbly accepted following your outside staffs instructions to request my man to go inside to the bar for our to-go orders. The curly haired worker inside at the bar was RUDE concerning not being permitted to do as your outside staff instructed us.
8. So your establishment basically STARVED me and 2 year old daughter due to this experience.
9. When I personally went up to seek clarification concerning the conflicting information your outside staff and inside staff said was on a LOW-SUGAR STARVED state.
10. Your outside staff RUDELY dismissed the conflicting information initially with me.
11. They did not clearly define when the outside manager stepped up either. And it initially felt like she was being initially to me within dismissing the conflicting information
12. Only after it was made clear that one of the two I was speaking with had been the outside manager did I find a claim to more clearly state the above issue.
13. At that point I ran off to get my man to inform her himself about the exact experience...

This may be a long review, so if you are not here for it, you may exit now 😆 If this was an establishment and didn’t take care of their mistakes, this would be a different review. I have been a supportive and proud customer since day 1. I could name people from day 1 to shout out to ❤️ I loved the staff they brought on day 1. It made it feel like home❤️ Shout out to Kat Layton. She was my favorite bartender, a beautiful soul and may her memory live on at Wicked Barley. It may get old to some, but I considered us the Brierwood Brown’s from day 1. We lived in Brierwood. Last name Brown. There is a beer named Brierwood Brown. 😆 Everyone has always been accommodating on my adjustments and things I wanted to try. “My adeventure in the menu”. Yes, there are a couple things I miss. None the less, they are willing to try my new ideas. I ordered cheese curds with the garlic ginger fries toppings (which honestly have changed a little), - love the lemon aioli sauce with garlic ginger fries btw. I ended up having to take it to go. It was busy and I could have gotten their attention earlier about my food not being out yet, but I was chillin. So I waited. When it came, there wasn’t cheese curds. It was fries. They did everything to make it right. The server apologized and I really didn’t want her to do that. The manager came out and apologized too. The curds were brought out as a full on appetizer with all the sides. I believe they adjusted our check when I really didn’t want them to because I truly believe, I know, I will be a loyal Wicked Barley fan and customer and appreciate the good people they hire. I know they want to make sure every customer feels that way. Many restaurants, breweries, companies, in general have gone through such hard times. They have had to hike up prices, etc., but the important thing is the integrity stays the same (and food). The kids and dogs have fun in the beer garden and it such a great family atmosphere no matter how you feel about going to a brewery. The events, the bands, I could go on. *Knowing the food, tasting the drinks, catching up with friends and getting to know the great people of Wicked Barley is fun every week, month, season, or year, you pick! They have great memories to make and I can now say I have been making them for years now. So, thank Wicked Barley!

-I have a plethera of pictures I could post over the years, as many people who appreciate, enjoy, and recommend Wicked...

I have been to Wicked Barley around ten times, I have always stuck to their delicious beers (they probably taste good due to a combination of brewing and water filtration) and their great selection of beverages. This time I went with a few friends and we not only enjoyed the beers but ordered a few appetizers as well. While the beer exceeded my high expectations, the appetizers did not. The cheese curds were tasty, having never had curds before, I could best describe them as being similar to fried mozzarella cheese nuggets (not sure what type of cheese was used) with ranch dipping sauce. They varied in size average was about a piece of popcorn, they were fried to a golden brown. Not bad, but I would not write home about them. We also ordered the beef nachos! A medium sized portion of tortilla chips, lightly topped with ground beef, jalapenos, and queso blanco (which I seriously thought was white gravy drizzled on the chips until I read the menu again). The high point was the tortilla chips, they were nice and crispy and did not taste like they came out of a bag. We ordered wings as well but I did not try them.

My mediocre scoring of Wicked Barley this time around was the food value. The nachos were smaller than some other area restaurants, while the tortilla chips themselves were a higher quality, the toppings were fairly sparse as well in comparison, the nachos rang in at $10. The curds (fried cheese nuggets) $9. Considering portion size and ingredients there are definitely better quality appetizers for a lower price elsewhere.

I will say that we were there on a Saturday afternoon and the staff was fairly busy, that did not diminish the service at all, it was still to their usual high standard, our server was attentive and had a solid knowledge of the menu and beer selection. Also, the food came out amazingly fast after being ordered. I will add that my friend had "The Curd Burger" while I did not have a bite of it, it looked and smelled amazing and my friend did enjoy it.

My advice, come for the beer, maybe have a burger, and skip...