Heliotrope Brewery — Restaurant in Lexington

Tonight (1-3-21) was my first visit to Heliotrope, and though the pizza itself was unique and delicious, it will be a while before - and if - I'm convinced to return. I'm not sure where to begin with my issues I experienced, but the core problem was the service. I didn't get a name, but the guy behind the bar where we placed our order (dressed in an Arizona Cardinals hat & jersey) acted like he would have rather been anywhere else and wasn't really invested in providing a good experience. What's more, at times he was wearing his face mask below his nose - totally unacceptable while serving in a restaurant during the current pandemic. He did make it a point however when settling the tab to point out that Heliotrope was trying to go touchless, so I couldn't use the touch screen to finish the transaction - in which case I would have given a custom tip of less than 15% due to the bare bones service. On to the food: we ordered the Bianca (ricotta/mushrooms/local chard/carmelized onions) and the Poutine (cheese curds/potatoes/gravy/Italian sausage/candied bacon/maple syrup) pizzas. I only sampled the mushrooms from my date's pizza, but it was beautiful with a lot of toppings, and she was pleased. Though my Poutine pie was a bit messy (and apparently Heliotrope is too hip to offer cutlery of any standard sort) it was delicious and a flavor combination that I'd never experienced on a pizza. Definitely not flavored like a standard poutine, but the cheese curds were truly fresh and squeaked when chewed, which is a mark of a good poutine. Something else that should be noted about Heliotrope's cutlery situation: they don't deliver your pizza to the table pre-sliced... they bring you a pair of kitchen shears to cut it yourself, which is a bit messy given the amount of toppings on our chosen pies. I know that this is an effort to be hip/chic, but it isn't practical and doesn't quite work. In the beverage department, my date went with lemon seltzer (made in-house and tasty) and I tried their Snoggin' Toboggan stout, which was good, but a bit too heavy on the coffee for my taste. What's more is that they used a tall stemmed glass for this particular pour, which I found to be a little pretentious, as well as the price - $6 for only 7 ounces. Between that and the poor service, the value just...

If you have the chance to go here, GO! I haven't had pizza this good in a long time. We're from DC and stopped here on our way down to Warm Springs. SO worth it. I really appreciate the number of vegetarian options, and that they're interesting! So many places have either MEAT options x100 or just a Margherita pizza. This pizza was so good that while we were in Warm Springs, we made the drive back here to eat the pizza again.

We had the Za'atar, (which is perhaps my favorite pizza of all time now), as well as the Street Corn (so good!!!) and the Burrata & Heirloom Tomato. I found the chunks of tomato on the Burrata one to be a bit too big (and cold), BUT that's just my preference, and not a criticism. If you love tomato, go for it! It's still delicious. I appreciate that they really load up the toppings on every pizza. It's also fun that they give you pizza scissors to cut slices to the exact size you want. Makes it really easy for sharing, too.

In terms of beer, the Legends of Viking Yacht Rock is one of the best IPAs I've ever had. 10/10! Absolutely delicious.

The servers were also incredibly nice--I can't recommend this...

The pizza and beer at this establishment are top notch. I really enjoyed my stay and will be returning in the future. However, I felt the aura of the establishment was committed to promoting a woke, leftist, political point of view with a conspicuous BLM poster and LGBTQ flag on the front. Being politically central, I support people having political views from all spectra. However, I feel it could potentially make some individuals feel unwelcome. While I would love to bring my mother to this establishment to have the same incredible experience I did, she would refuse to enter the establishment due to the strong, political statement the store makes. Not everyone agrees with these notions and having them on the front of your establishment indirectly tells people from alternate political perspectives they are unwelcome. True inclusivity is neutrality in regards...