The Little Brown Barrel — Restaurant in Minersville

This little gem is a diamond in the rough. Found this place with the help of Google when we were looking for some place new in the area to eat. It's a gastropub that might be a little out of place in Minersville. We had a large party (13), so we called ahead. They wanted to be sure they could accommodate us... so they checked with the manager and owner and called us back. Great customer service with the phone call. When we showed up, they were ready for us. Mostly, it's a bar with a small seating area in the back... so if you have a larger group, I would call ahead. Drinks came right away, and the 3 children at the table were served first, so we had no problems with them waiting. Their smaller kitchen had to put the food out such that nothing was waiting... that takes planning and kitchen organization. We had the pretzel, crab dip, and truffle fries appetizers while we waited for our meal. The wide variety of beers on tap and in the cooler were fun. Sours, IPAs, and lagers were mostly local with some things I had never tasted before. Also, their craft cocktails were amazing. When the food came, we were not disappointed. Sandwiches, salads, steaks, and pasta... Everything on the table was flavorful and delicious. The server was knowledgeable and so easy to work with for food allergies and the picky eating kids. We will be back. This place is now at the top of our regular rotation of places...

I'll start out with the owner seems like a nice guy and is the main reason he's even getting 3 stars. I think he really wants to do well but as a manager with an insurance company for 25 years all we deal with is customer service, so I can tell you this. Never have arguments with employees in front of customers, it doesn't look good. And make sure you have a team meeting with your employees advising the same. If they have an issue, take it back behind closed doors, never out in front of the customers. Now onto the food. They do smoked wings but then put a wing sauce on them. Huge no no. Either do smoked wings or do deep fried wings with flavors. I think the wings could be really good but you can't flavor sauce smoked wings. The entrée was the New York strip. It was a very nice size cut of beef but loaded with butter and garlic on top so the first bite was a mouth full of garlic. Even with that, it had no taste to the steak itself. The problem was it had no sear to it at all and once you scraped the garlic off it was bland with no seasoning. I will be back to give this place another try bc like I said, the owner seemed pretty stressed that day, I want him to succeed, and I truly believe he's a nice guy. But his food has to be looked at closely. Hopefully when I come back things...

5 stars is not enough. Amazing experience all-around, the bartender and owner went way above and beyond. if you are anywhere near Minersville make sure you stop by this place, you won't regret it!

First off; the bartender, Abby (sorry if I misspelled your name!) was incredibly nice, she's got those good small-town vibes that makes you feel like you two have been friends for a long time even if you just met her 5 minutes ago. She's attentive and helpful in every way, and it was a blast to get to know her plus the history of the town a little bit.

Second, the food was out of this world. The recipes are dialed in and the chef is a master of making the menu work for people who have allergies, such as me. The flavors are amazing, the textures are on point (fries and Bavarian pretzels are outstanding!) and the sauces are big and bold.

I would seriously drive out of my way to come here again. This restaurant is proof that you don't need to be in a big city to put out some seriously impressive flavors and...