The headline here is that Lawrence Beer Company is most definitely worth a visit for great beer, great food, and awesome staff. (EDIT: I'm updating from 4 to 5 stars as their rock-star social media team clued me in to some helpful info, so read on.)

The building is huge with high ceilings and lots of seating. The aesthetics are interesting and fun with a real community vibe. The downside of such high ceilings and open space? The noise is crazy.

This is not a place to bring a first date, unless you're hoping to avoid the awkward business of actually talking to them.

Bring people who aren't afraid to yell at you. Before our evening at LBC, the last time I screamed at someone that I had to go to the bathroom was in 10th grade gym class when I was asked to do a sit-up.

When you walk in you'll be met with the hostess station where you'll be asked for your phone number so you can be alerted via text when your table is ready. I put my cell on vibrate because there is no way I would have heard it ping.

If you click on the text link you'll see how many people are ahead of you. You can also peruse both the beer menu and the food menu on your phone while you wait. Love, love, love that.

There is a small merch area you can take a peek at while you wait. I wanted to buy it all because it was cute. I didn't actually buy anything, but I did sternly chastise my group when they each took a small lapel pin out of a dish that had no price on it.

"They're free," they said. For all I know there is now a wanted poster on the front door with all our faces on it. I would like it noted for legal reasons that I did not take a lapel pin. I wouldn't last a day in a Lawrence, Kansas prison.

(Edit: LBC replied that YES, they are free! It's such a relief to know I am not going to prison soon...for this.)

If you plan on a visit to LBC, eat a snack before you come. We were told to expect a 45 minute wait. It turned out to be more like an hour and fifteen minutes. When I captured a screenshot of the wait on my phone, we'd already been there more than 30 minutes.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I submit the whole illicit pin thing never would have happened had we not been standing for so long.

We stood looking at two empty tables in front of us while we waited. I'm not in the restaurant business so I have no idea whether there was some reason I wasn't aware of that left them empty almost the entire time. Maybe a secret upstairs security team had watched the pin incident go down and wanted to punish us.

(Edit: Thanks to LBC for letting me know that those tables were taken via reservation. So YAY! We can make reservations!)

By the time we were seated we were, as you might expect, tired and hungry. Thank goodness the service was on point. Our server was super quick and knowledgeable about the beer. The food was brilliant. Worth the long wait? That depends on how hangry you get.

All in all, I'll for sure be back. I'll eat a snack before I go, I'll practice hand signals with my friends, and I swear on all that is holy I'll rat on them immediately if they even go near a dish of lapel pins. (Edit: lapel pins are a go per LBC, but I will for sure rat them out for absolutely anything else they do that I don't like.)