Schlafly Bottleworks — Restaurant in Maplewood

I had the worst experience at Schlafly Bottle Works I have ever had and may never go back. My wife Julie and I have gone to Schlafly several times, I love their products. They have great beer and superior food, and a fun atmosphere, however all that has been tarnished by the service we received tonight. My wife planned a happy hour for her coworkers at 4 pm, Friday, August 11th, 2012 in order to celebrate the start of a new year. At the bar we all wanted to sit outside at the new patio to enjoy the cool temperatures. Before being seated we ran into who would eventually become the rudest employee in the history of customer service. First, this gentleman was wearing completely unprofessional attire, including a giant jungle hat complete with chin straps and sunglasses all while indoors, which is fine for a themed restaurant but not for anyone trying to give any air of professionalism. Then, this greeter rudely and sarcastically explained about the fire code for the patio and the rules of the patio. His entire body posture, tone, rhythm and inflection suggested air of attitude and problems serving people. We all felt very uncomfortable around him, even the other staff seemed uncomfortable around him. We were finally sat and were obeying all the rules of the patio. We did not have more than ten at a single table and we did not move any tables. It must be said our server was very kind and understanding a complete contrast to the problem employee. So, we all ordered and were enjoying our beers and considering a menu when the embarrassing and harassing employee decided to strike again. He came out to our group and rudely shouted that if we were being loud and that our group was to large for the patio. Let it be noted there were hardly any patrons on the patio at that time. Furthermore, this employee said if we were not going to order food we would have to move to the bar. We had not even had a chance to order. This was very embarrassing because we were trying to show off St. Louis to people who were new to the area. This has created a stain on St. Louis and on Schlafly which will be hard to remove. I am sorry I ever became a patron of Schlafly and Schlafly beer, and until an apology is given I will not go, not recommend and not consume Schlafly product. This behavior is completely unacceptable, the only reason I did not complain immediately was so shocked by this abuse that I couldn't create a coherent,...

We just had a terrible dining experience here. And we’ve eaten here before! We’re guessing it’s just gone downhill.

Our waitress kept pulling disappearing acts and when you’re sitting there with a hungry 17 Month old, the rest of the restaurant is going to hear about it… It took forever to get our order in because she was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t busy. The 4 tables around us all had different waiters. This wasn’t a case of being swamped. The other waiter visited the table diagonal 4 times, getting their drinks and their order, before she visited us once.

My husband ordered a beer, which they guessed on how much to pour in because they didn’t have the right sized glasses, which honestly is the least of the problems. Our food came out and my fries were ice cold, my daughters broccoli was hard and uncooked, and my husband said his sandwich barely had meat on it. It’s a Rueben… We couldn’t say anything to our waitress about it, because she wasn’t there, or in the room, or anywhere.

To top it all off, we were attacked by gnats and flies when our food came out. I killed 2 gnats by slapping my hand down on the table because they kept flying onto my food. I wish I was exaggerating here, but I’m not.

Ready for this terrible experience to be over, we just wanted to pay and leave when we were finished eating, but our waitress again, was absent…I grabbed my kid to head to the car and left my husband to pay. As I passed the hostess stand, I looked into the bar and I saw our waitress standing in the bar, talking to coworkers… I stopped by the hostess and said, “Can you please get our waitress, my husband is waiting to pay.”

Even with asking for her…I waited in the car another 10 minutes before my husband finally came out. I asked what took so long still and he said she just wasn’t around. I told him I even asked the hostess for her and he said she didn’t come. Floored. We’re floored. He wanted to get a manager but didn’t want to be there any longer and we had to get our kid home.

50 freaking dollars man. It’s just not worth it. The food, the experience, none of it was good. Wish we could...

Food is good but the service is horrible not worth it in my opinion- we ate there two weeks ago and the hostess about had a fit that we wanted to be in the shade on the patio. (the table they wanted us to sit at was in open sun and it was 92 degrees out. But it was that servers turn so they wanted us in her section) We were the first ones there and all of the tables were open- customer service is really lacking- the servers look at the ground to ignore you and make it impossible to catch their attention.

Yesterday I called up to Schlafly to check and see if a particular vendor was at the farmers market and they gave me a disconnected phone number to call the market manager. I called back thinking I wrote it down wrong and confirmed that the phone was correct. Since the number was out of service I asked him if he could check and see if the vendor I was looking for was there. He told me he was too busy because they were slammed with customers. I asked him if he would rather that I drove from Kirkwood in 5:00 traffic. He replied yes. I told him I would remember that the next time I was thinking about eating at Schlafly- he hung up on me. I called back and asked for a manager- after waiting nearly 5 minutes I guessed that they were just leaving me on hold so I hung up. When I arrived there (20 minute drive)- the vendor was not there and the 2 gentleman that answered the phone were standing around talking with the manager and 3 servers. From what I could tell there was about 4 tables in the dining room with people. Super packed (obviously sarcasm), I asked to speak to the manager and told her what happened. As I was leaving I remembered to point out that there were 6 of them standing around when I arrived- I turned around and walked back to find that the manager and the 2 boys working the front- were standing there talking and laughing about me. When I confronted them the manager told me to leave (which I was clearly already doing- but you would think they would want to improve the service not make a joke of it with the employees. I hope the...