Firehawk Brewpub — Restaurant in Mount Holly

Well, I hate to say this, but after FINALLY getting to try this place (we always seem to try to go when they're closed), we were severely disappointed. I went in and placed a to-go order about 530 tonight for my family, we live just a few minutes away. Service was okayish. I greeted the lady at the front since I didn't receive one. She wasn't rude, but could work on her service skills a bit, as her lackluster attitude made a negative impression. There was a gentleman server that had walked by that was really kind (wish I would've gotten his name). The food was edible....not good. Portions of meat we received were very VERY small, okay fine. We were hungry, so at this point if it's delicious, we wouldn't care. Unfortunately all the BBQ meats we had were dry/over cooked: pulled pork, chicken and the ribs. The flavor was fine. The ribs had the best flavor of the three, smokey good. Was just a bummer that it all was so dry. Really just ruined it. The wings were not overcooked, though. Yay right?! The doneness was on point- tender on the inside, crispy on the outside, BUT the oil they were cooked in was either old or cooked in the same fryer as the fish...it was 'off' and they tasted gross because of it. So we wouldn't do those again for this reason. After asking if the "chips" were made fresh in house, I was told yes and ordered those. However, they are actually skinny fries. Okay, not mad at it, but we were expecting actual potato chips and not English "chips." So just note that if you order any. They were okay. Not sure if the seasoning has sugar in it, but tasted sweet (which we don't like. But that's a personal preference). Which brings me to the cole slaw-creamy and tasty, but also too sweet for us. Sauces: BBQ was tasty, but a tad too sweet for us so we didn't eat it, vinegar one was just gross (and I LOVE vinegar), the passion(?) one was like pure sugar, so that was a no, the mustard one was good. The boiled peanuts were pretty tasty! But also a little disappointed in the portion size for the cost. Will have to keep making my own for that. I bought a 4 pack of the Down Below Smoked Red Lager beer for the hubs and he said that it's good. Overall we would not eat here again. Portion size for cost, dryness of meats and unsavory oil made it an x in our book which is a bummer because it's so close to us. Will just have to keep driving to Gastonia for BBQ:/ I'm sure my hubs will want to go try their other...

I'll start by saying we were extremely excited about trying this place. We live very close and have been monitoring progress for months. We finally made it by on Wednesday at 5 pm and holy mother, was it packed! Was not expecting that at all!! So with that said, I understand any restaurant in their first week will have hiccups and we in no way hold it against them but since I was unable to voice this to management because I couldn't find them, here I am leaving a mediocre review.

Now, there was plenty of seating which must reduce wait times and the food came very quickly; however, the seating was by the creek (which is just picnic tables down a hill), far from the kitchen where runners have to run back and forth because they don't carry silverware or straws on them, which leaves you waiting 5-10 minutes for anything from cutlery to ketchup. Lots of potential for the creekside dining, I'm sure with time it will be spruced up a bit.

One thing I was very surprised by was that while the service was actually fast considering the amount of patrons, the food was stone cold. I've never been to a bbq place that served me cold food. We just wanted a quick bite to check out the scene. We had dinner in the fridge but decided to give them a shot instead, so it was quite disappointing when our poutine and our bbq sandwich was cold. We could tell the food is food, but being cold definitely didn't allow us to truly taste all it's glory. Nothing like paying for cold food when you have beef tenderloin ready for the grill.

Some caddies on the outside tables with napkins and condiments would help both runners and patrons. Speaking of the runners, which I consider greatly due to the amount of running they have to do down to the creek and back with full beers and hands, we actually saw one hitting his vape while delivering our food, which he so graciously exhaled all over said (cold) food. Needless to say, I'm certain this isn't allowed. But it really just was another reason we left disappointed.

Considering they just opened and the proximity to our house, we will happily return and give it another chance, where I will update my review.

Definitely don't let this review dissuade you from trying it yourself. It's a great vibe, but it just wasn't what we expected. Maybe that's our fault for being overly excited and having high expectations for a...

Okay, take this with a grain of salt. They are still relatively new, a few months old.

The staff I interacted with seem to care. They want to know how things are so they can improve. So, the rest of my review I tried to be constructive.

Got the pulled pork sandwich, and it had super huge chunks, and small bits, unevenly chopped, so I was constantly picking up meat to stuff into the slightly stale potato bun, in order to get a bite. Choose whether you want to have big, tender juicy pieces or small bits, and try to keep your cut/chop to similar sizing.

The pork is lightly smoked, that's fine, but when it's chopped they didn't season it. So it lacked flavor, lacked salt for sure. And it seemed a tad dry - did they let it rest, before they chopped it? I'm sure they did, but mine just seemed a little dry and flavorless.

The sandwich had coleslaw, which I completely forgot about until I was nearly done and saw some limp green sticking out. So, it wasn't crunchy, was a bit lacking in flavor, and missed its opportunity to add value to the sandwich.

The chips and pickles are homemade and awesome!

Some guy was hanging at the bar, obviously part of the inner circle, helping the bartender mix drinks and delivering beers to his old boss and old ops manager. (How did I know? Because the whole place could hear him.) Not sure if he's a partner, owner, whatever but he's hogging two spaces at the bar for customers and trying to impress. To me, he was louder than he needed to be, annoying, and needed attention.

The layout is open space, and the sauces are at a sauce station (even though your food is brought to you).I say put bottles on the tables and the bar, or in cups in the food trays. Once I'm sitting down, I'm not wanting to get up and down and up and down, to try sauces.

The bar stools are a little low, seriously!

There's a great outdoor seating area and you can spark up a fire pit and hang with this small black and grey striped tabby cat. PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND DON'T RUN HIM OVER! Maybe, share some food with him, he's far too skinny...

I'm just not sold on it, myself. The dining room and bar layout, it's... I can't put my finger on it. I'm hoping that as the seasons change and the staff find their groove, that my next visit will...