Old Irving Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Jefferson Township

I get it you guys are new, you're still working out a lot of kinks from being a new business and all, but I just have to say we waited 15 minutes for someone to even greet us at the table, eventually we were able to locate a waitress and order after some time. when the food came out it was incredibly disappointing.. especially when you look at the aesthetics of this place I mean this place looks great! they have a great image but the food needs work! let me start with the firewood seafood platter there's nothing firewood about it, it came out cold, kind of bland and incredibly overpriced I think $17 for like three pieces of shrimp three scallops and some clams. Now the bean soup (I don't know what they call it but thats what it is) was served on sort of a oblong oval plate. I would have preferred a bowl and like a ham bone in there for some flavor and tone it down with the fennel. The cornbread... I can make a better batch of cornbread out of a box. Now about the burgers: they're small, they are square and actually very tastey but the portions size is disappointing there's an over abundance of fries so at the end of the meal you're pretty full on starch. More burger, less fries, and please for the love of the great and powerful Odin please give that burger a real bun! Now the redeeming factor about this place is their beer is absolutely out of this world fantastic! The beers I recommend are the Imperial stout and the milk stout. Their IPA and pale ale are also some pretty heavy contenders. The other positive or negative thing (depending on your situation) is this place at around 6 o'clock is like a day care there are so many kids oh my God I couldn't believe it if I would've known I would've brought my kid with. I guess it's good to know this place is kid friendly but I guess it's also bad to know that people (like a lot of people) like to bring their kids here and it is like a McDonald's play place in the dining area. The bar happens to be the only safe area from them. 3 stars for the looks and the beer 2 less stars for the food and service. I expected so much better, look forward to visiting this place when it gets better if it...

Right out the gate, the plate for the fish and chips was beautifully presented. From left to right, 3 fresh pieces of golden pillow battered cod strings, crispy fries along side a crunchy dill pickle-jalapeño tartar sauce and sour cream style coleslaw.

Overall review:

FOOD/TASTE: C-

Fish was definitely fresh but batter for cod was soggy at best and needed a little more crunchy and crispness exterior, along with a tad bit more salt.

Coleslaw was bland and overpowered by sour cream; needs a refresh and revisit.

Fries were good and definitely more crisper than the cod bust mostly a commercial preseasoned-bagged; not made in hosue. A in house pontnuf house cut fries might work best, if space and kitchen staff would comply.

Atmosphere: B

Chill old school Irish pub style environment with a variety of Beer selections and state of the art brewery room to match.

Service: B

Host was absent at host stand, at time of time, despite signage stating "wait to be seated", there fore chose to sit at bar.

Bar staff, receptive and on top of it and quick turnaround with beer and menus deliveries. Flight options pretty straightforward. Beers were chosen by customer, yet received no creative selections to go with the fish and chip chosen menu selection.

Fish & Chips – 21 * Della Kölsch beer-battered Atlantic cod, crispy garlic fries, coleslaw, jalapeño tartar sauce

Della – Kölsch (5.2% ABV) Brewed with high-quality Pilsner, a touch of Vienna malt, and lightly hopped with Zuper Saazer, Hallertau Mittelfrüh, & Tettnang. 2021 GABF German-Style Kölsch Silver Medal Winner. 7.5 (16oz) / 5 (10oz) / 3 (5oz)

Til Death – Pilsner (4.9% ABV) Brewed with high-quality Pilsner malt and hopped with noble hops Saaz, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh, & Tettnang. First brewed in 2018 to celebrate the wedding of our head brewer, Trevor, and his better half Amanda. 8 (16oz) / 5.5 (10oz) / 3.5 (5oz)

Ursa Major – Baltic Porter (6.2% ABV) Dark Lager brewed with high-quality floor-malted Bohemian Dark, Munich, and chocolate malt and hopped with noble hop Tettnang. 8 (16oz) / 5.5...

Great new brewery on the North Side. It is a brewery so let's start with the beer, which is very good across the board. I'm an IPA/APA guy and while the IPA (Sentinel) is by far my favorite, the APA is solid and the Kolsch was awesome (especially for a Kolsch). I'm generally not a fan of darker beers but the milk stout is also really good.

Now on to the food. Although a brewery, unlike many other breweries, OIB has Chef Matthias Merges involved so it is not your everyday bar food. The menu is very diverse so definitely more to try but what I had was impressive - especially the burger and fries! The wings were good too, nice dry rub, but must say I wish they would add buffalo sauce as an option as that would make good wings even better.

Finally to the scene / atmosphere. The space is big and certainly feels spacious, but also has some character; you definitely know you are in a brewery though as the tanks are on display for most seats. There are sufficient TVs if you are interested in watching a game, but they don't dominate the scene by any stretch (and when I was there they had music on and not a game feed). But they do have a big projection screen so imagine for big events it would be a cool place to watch if they do put the sound on.

Overall a great new local brewery (that really isn't too hard to get to from downtown because it is right off the highway) if you are looking for great beer and some quality...