Faces Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Malden

We’ve visited Faces Brewing Company many times, and each visit has been consistent: the beers are excellent, the food is high-quality pub fare, the cocktails are creative, and the atmosphere strikes a perfect balance between modern and comfortable. It’s a reliable spot we’ve always enjoyed.

However, on our most recent visit, we decided to check out the back area with the live music stage, and unfortunately, this is where things took a disappointing turn.

In the North Shore Boston area, it’s not hard to find great spots for live music, though options in Malden are more limited. That said, the parking situation around Faces Brewing is a nightmare, which already makes it tempting to drive elsewhere. Adding to that frustration, we arrived to discover a $20 per person ticket fee to enter the music venue. My initial thought was, “$20 per ticket? This must be something special.” Sadly, I was wrong.

The venue itself was underwhelming—small, crowded, and lacking in amenities. There were only a handful of tables, one of which was covered in swag with no one attending to it, rendering it useless and taking up valuable space in an already cramped area. The setup felt poorly thought out.

If $20 is the standard cover charge for the music venue, Faces Brewing needs to rethink their approach. Asking that much to enter a crowded space with limited seating and varying-quality local acts feels steep, especially when better live music experiences are just a short drive away. Cambridge, for example, offers more value for a similar or lower cost.

The quality of the music was mediocre at best, though I imagine that varies from night to night. For us, it was a complete miss. We stayed for a couple of drinks but ended up leaving after the second act, as the music took a bizarre turn that our group of seven just couldn’t get behind.

Overall, while Faces Brewing continues to deliver on food, drinks, and ambiance, the live music experience was overpriced and disappointing. With the added headache of Malden’s parking situation, we’ll likely stick to enjoying Faces for its core offerings and look elsewhere...

Great atmosphere and location in a former bank right in Malden Center. Spacious digs with a modern bar in the middle and communal tables off to the side. Parking was surprisingly easy and affordable on a Saturday night. #suburbs Went for a friends birthday and our party included around 10 people. All the beers were excellent. Took Nunchuk Taylor home (pictured here in my kitchen), had the Strawberry Sour, the Zeeland IPA, and a traditional NEIPA on tap at the brewery. Wife and I split a phenomenal fried pickle starter. She got the dry rub wings and I got the Nashville hot chicken for the main. Both were solid but not spectacular , I wish my entree had been advertised as a southern style fried chicken since it definitely was neither Nashville nor hot enough to earn that moniker. It was a delicious fried chicken sandwich though. The wings were also good, but not great. Our friends got the mushroom pizza which was bomb and other folks in our party had a sausage pizza that also was bomb. So stick with beer and pizza and fried pickles and you’ll have a great meal. Music was a little too loud to have a conversation, but there are two wicked cool rooms in the old vaults you can reserve ahead of time and I’ll be sure to do that for my own birthday. If they can add some actual heat to their “Nashville” chicken, hire more staff for speedier service, and lower the volume on the music this would be a 5 star rating. Definitely coming back for my own birthday and I’m confident they’ll have fixed any glitches by then....

My husband and I decided to try brunch after ordering take out from Hugh O’Neils on a Friday night and seeing how busy it was for dinner. We ordered 2 breakfast appetizers ( the Avacado Toast with arugula and goat cheese, and the Baja breakfast tacos). I ordered the chicken and waffles, my husband ordered the Benedict with hash browns. Let me first say that the Baja breakfast tacos were the BEST- flavorful and filling. Everything else was sub par. The avacado toast was barely toasted- the avacado spread was bland and any flavor was overshadowed by the arugula and goat cheese. The chicken and waffles- both the chicken and waffles were SO overcooked that even a coating of powdered sugar couldn’t hide the holes in the burnt waffle. I think most disappointing for us was the Benedict. Served on jalapeño cheddar biscuits sounded amazing (eggs Benedict is my husband’s favorite breakfast food) but what came out was inedible. The eggs were so undercooked that the whole meal was like soup- destroying any potential flavor that might have existed in the hollandaise sauce or biscuits. I will attach pictures to my trip advisor review. Total cost for the meal with 2 glasses of orange juice- $92. With tip $120. The ambiance is unique and spacious but can’t make up for the either completely undercooked or completely overcooked food. We will try again for dinner and I will post a review (hopefully it...