First State Brewing Company — Restaurant in Middletown

Service and beer were excellent and pushed my review to 4 stars, but some menu items were disappointing!

If this review was based on service & beer alone it would be a 5 star. Hannah S. was phenomenal and the beer was great! Hannah was very attentive, smiled constantly, and had a bubbly personality. The Triangle theory Lager was excellent and the The Double Circle IPA was very good!

Some menu items were excellent, while others lacked quality and value. To be clear we were out with family who had not been together in a very long time, therefore we did not complain about the food to Hannah.

The Apple Scrapple grilled cheese was awesome! Very tasty & a nice size sandwich that came with a side for $17.70. The flight of fries and dipping sauce was excellent! We all loved the fresh cut fries and sauces. Especially the malt vinegar and chipotle sauce. My daughter thought her Smokehouse burger with BBQ sauce and onion rings on it was delicious. The shrimp and pork street tacos were tasty!

My brisket eggrolls had an AMAZING smoked taste, however looking inside they were loosely filled and had more vegetables than BRISKET for $14.40 (2 egg rolls cut in half.)

The Brewer's Poutine was good, but the gravy had a sweet taste that was unexpected and a little off putting to my guest.

We were very excited to try the chicken & waffles dish, which came with 3 TINY sliders and NO FRIES for $19.20. If they had been amazing we wouldn't have cared about the price, however the waffles were not hot & fresh. We could tell they are pre-packaged and the tiny chicken pieces were dry. Plus the entire dish was not hot. We would not waste the money on that dish again.

The Nacho's were just ok for $17.20 plus add $4 for extra queso and $5 in sour cream (we did ask for extra, extra.) They lacked any REAL melted shredded cheese and I question how much cheese was actually in the "white queso" because it was very thin (almost watery) and ran to the bottom of the dish instead of sticking to the nachos. It tasted more like a money saving béchamel sauce.

The chicken in the street tacos lacked seasoning.

As far as drinks, the grapefruit and orange crushes were ok, but kind of watery and a little bitter (as if the fresh fruit juice was lacking.) In addition, our guests didn't like the lemon grass soda and wished that regular sodas were offered.

We would probably come back to visit for beer and to try some other apps at happy hour, but not for a large family gathering.

Visit date 5/17/24 @ 6:25 pm. Table 206, party of 6, check #97, Server: Hannah S. check total before...

Went to FSB to celebrate a graduation on June 5th. When we arrived and seated(reservations suggested we had a reservation), we noticed the q-code on the table. Scan the code and start ordering food and drink. We gave it a try and the experience was severely lacking. While we were ordering(party of 5), five glasses of water showed up and then the person was gone. No hello, or seeing if we were ok with the ordering system just a drop and gone. To be honest, the ordering system was relatively easy to use it was the service that was the problem. First our drinks came, beers were great, but the the bottles of soda and the can of peach drink placed in front of my kids and mom were just placed with no inquiry if they wanted a glass. Had to repurpose a water glass for mom. The food came all at once. First the entrees minus one, then five minutes later the appetizers. So much for the relaxed, casual dining experience. I waited another five minutes to inquirer about my entrée and had to flag down one of these runners(they weren't waiters because waiters have interaction with customers) to find out. My burger eventually showed up minus the lettuce for some reason. At this point instead of a relaxing dining experience and graduation celebration we just wanted to leave. The food and beer were great, the service was less than desirable. The funny thing was as I was settling the tab on my phone(with the q-code scan everything is done thru your phone) it asked for a tip with set buttons for set amounts. Tips are usually earned thru interaction between the restaurant and customer and since the service interaction was around the level of a fast food place and I don't tip there why should I tip here? No recommendations, or suggestions in pairings, just order food get it to the table, then leave. Dining is to be so much more than that even at a gastropub. We were a party of 5(3 -21+ and 2-18 years old). Great place for a casual date, or out with "guys" for anything else...

After a long day trip of driving to and back from Lancaster, my buddy and I were debating on where to get some good food and beer. He recently went to First State Brewery and highly recommended the spicy chicken sandwich. Since I hadn't been to First State Brewery yet, we both decided to go here.

It was quite busy on a late Saturday afternoon, so we decided to just sit at the bar. One of the servers/bartender immediately gave us menus and promptly took our orders.

I ended up getting two beers, Mind Elevation and Tactical Exploitation. The tasting notes of Mind Elevation was supposed to have mango and pineapple, but in my opinion it was a little too hoppy. The hops muted out the fruit notes. Tactical Exploitation contained Peach and Tangerine notes, which definitely came through while still maintaining a good level of hops.

With the chicken sandwich wars raging on at almost every restaurant and bar, I like to sample whenever I get a chance at a new established I haven't trie. My buddy told me that the Fightin' Blue Hen is massive and he definitely wasn't joking around. When a server brought it out, I was astounded at the sheer size of it. I tried eating it with my hands, but the two chicken breasts kept sliding out. The potato bun literally soaked up the spicy sauce and disintegrated. I ended up using my fork to eat the sandwich in two halves since it was such a struggle. The chicken was cooked perfectly and I loved the added pickle slices. The smaller version of the sandwich, Baby Blue Hen is about $2 cheaper. In my opinion, paying an additional $2 which technically amounts to a whole additional sandwich is worth it when it comes to ordering the Fightin' Blue Hen! I opted for the fries and I was recommended the Sweet Sriracha Aioli dipping sauce.

Loved the selection of food and drinks. Definitely will be coming back here very soon with some out of town...