Goose and the Monkey Brew House — Restaurant in Lexington

Long overdue review for the Goose and Monkey. We have been coming here for a couple of years, This will be a detailed review! Let me start off with the only negative element, so I’m not ending on a negative note. They don’t really do growler refills. Not in the traditional sense, which is unusual for a brewery. They have the smaller growers, and they refill for $10 or $12. And that’s all that they have. And they won’t refill other bigger growlers from other breweries when you bring them in. And the bartender the other day didn’t even know what to charge for the smaller growler refill. So it feels like the growlers are not a priority, but I think they should be! It would be lovely to take home some goose and monkey! OK, that’s the only negative. Let’s get to the rest of it!

The staff is super friendly. Everyone is usually smiling. They seem genuinely happy to be there.

They have really good brews! We live in Asheville. So that’s saying a lot. And I’ve written articles for different brewery magazines, and I think the goose and monkey brews can stand up to some of the best of them. Especially some other IPAs. I love the fact that they have a spicy IPA. I think every brewery should have a spicy IPA to balance out some of the natural fruitiness.

Trivia night! And bingo night! And so many other fun things. We’ve seen different iterations of the trivia night over the years; we prefer when there’s a live person facilitating it. And when we write down our answers. At one point, they had a person facilitating it, but we recorded our answers on a computer or phone... I can’t really remember; I think it was something we had to download. That wasn’t nearly as much fun and did not provide the type of interaction a trivia night should provide. I will discuss my suggestions and tips for a trivia night and a few other improvements at the bottom of the review, but overall really fun to have the amount of reoccurring trivia and music nights etc.

I think they have a great fit there with having food, and I will review that food place separately. It’s so nice to have the kitchen basically embedded in the goose and monkey. This makes a lot of sense, and is a lot better than a food truck. And the food suits the venue. Pizzas and bowls etc. Again, that’s a separate company, so I will review that on a separate review and mention their name there.

Lots of parking. Outdoor seating. All pluses.

Love the atmosphere. The high ceilings and the colorful chairs. It always feels celebratory, even if there’s only a few people there.

I also like the fact that they partner with the coffee company, again, reviewed separately, and they have a lot of nonalcoholic offerings. That’s really nice when we have our teenagers who are not quite of drinking age. The lemonades, the coffee, all really great options.

A couple of tips for improvement. We’ve already mentioned the growlers; it would be really great to be able to take home a full-size growler of some of their offerings. This would also supplement their income on days when it is not that busy. I could walk in at noon and grab a growler, and then even if they’re not busy, I’m taking the Beer home.

I would love for the trivia master to announce the winners of each round at the end of the round. They did it that way at some point, and now they just tell tally them all up at the very end. They certainly tell us what the answers are after each round, but it would be nice to announce a winner after each round, because, basically, there are only four rounds! I do love the fact that when we win something we get money at the goose to spend and we can pay down the bar tab that we have for that night!

Overall, a lot to love, with just those couple of suggestions. Those small things certainly do not prevent it from being five stars!

Long live the...

Had a very bad experience here. I was breaking a rule I did not know I was breaking which I definitely apologize for. While I was in the bathroom an employee told my boyfriend about it so when I came back he told me. My friend I was with said something to me so I turned to her and before I had a chance to rectify the situation the employee very aggressively approached us and grabbed and threw away my drink and the koozie we had purchased before I even had a chance to try to fix the situation myself. My boyfriend tried to get the koozie we purchased out of the trash and the employee told him he could not have it and then my boyfriend asked for the $4 back and the employee said no you need to leave. My boyfriend then poured his beer on the bar which he should not have done but I’m baffled as to how the employee felt justified throwing away something we had just purchased and why being asked for it back warranted is being kicked out. We bought multiple drinks and 2 koozies so not like we were not supporting the establishment while there. I then tried to speak and the employee yelled at me which I did not deserve. I don’t recall ever being so embarrassed. They were absolutely both wrong but the employee definitely started things by being so aggressive towards me which caused by boyfriend to feel the need to defend me. This happened when I was just coming back from the bathroom and my boyfriend trying to tell me I needed to get rid of my drink which I would gladly have done given the chance. I had just sat back down and my boyfriend was explaining it. My friend said something and then bam the employee was there looking angry and aggressive. We were leaving as quickly as possible as asked and he followed us very closely continuing to loudly tell us to leave and acting aggressive while we were actively trying to do just that and he seemed to be doing it just to cause a scene and show us who was boss. His aggressive angry behavior was actually scary and at a minimum he was displaying bullying behavior. It was just weird and we have been to many breweries and never had anything similar happen. The employee then felt the need to explain his actions to our friends we had to leave behind which just confirmed he knew his actions were beyond what the situation called for or he would not have felt the need to explain himself to strangers. Too bad because we initially...

I usually have a great time here. But last night the way the lady that was next to me treated was unacceptable. They were very crowed but this lady pushed her way to the front to be a good samaritan and return the BARTENDERS CREDIT CARD. She explained to me she was not cutting she just want to return the card that was left so I let her in front of me. She tried to get there attention. She manged to get a young man's attention who ignored her the first time. While watching him role his eyes. Very polite she tried again . As he was bringing drinks she tried to explain that the card was his coworkers. He replied I'm with these customers so wait. She did at this point the way she was talked to I offered to give the card back but as she stated she doesn't know me she wants it in reliable hands that know her. He than returns to the the front and tried to give him the card to get out the way he replied I DONT CARE NOW WAIT. At this point I felt the lady was being treated unfair honestly because she looked different from us. Finally she gets the card to the right person and leaves. He than makes the comment them people think I'm going to jump for them. I don't know what he ment but we left. If it was his credit card he would want some one to do the same . He treat that lady bad. I dont know her but It was a nice thing she did just to be treated like...