Hopothecary Ales Brewery and Kitchen — Restaurant in North Reading

Upon arrival and entering Hopothecary, we were greeted by a very nice and professional hostess. The time was 5:30 PM on Friday see approximately 25 patrons seated . As party of three we sat at the left hand corner of the bar and was promptly greeted by a bartender and given menus. As we reviewed the beer selection, my older brother who is a disabled Vietnam veteran was attempting to get the attention of the bartender as she was not focusing on the eight people sitting at the bar … when she came back to the bar we waved to her and she acknowledged us and came over … I know this is a lengthy introduction to our experience,however, the experience spiraled further towards the unpleasant side … asking about the different types of beer she informed us that she doesn’t drink beer so has no knowledge about the different flavors that the brewers are offering only 1/2 ounce samples … so we’re each offered one sample each and chose one … ipa and a porter … for food we chose the brisket sandwiches and a side of onion rings … the brisket was severely dried out and cold as was the French fries and onion rings … we notified the bartender and ask to please speak with the manager about the brisket and temperature of the food … the manager was busy and not able to speak with us … the bartender replaced the dishes with fresh hot dishes … it was not a pleasurable experience so we asked for the tab … when the bill arrived my brother asked if there was disabled veterans discounts which he was promptly told that there is no discounts for disabled people or veterans … we asked again to speak with the manager to convey our experience and was again denied … this is very disappointing and poor preparation and representation for a new startup business … will not be returning … what kind of business doesn’t even make time for a moment with a...

We had a decent experience at hopothecary after a week of anticipation. The beers weren’t bad, but far from some of the best I’ve had. I’ve never had a filtered, clear Witbier before my experience today. When I asked the waitress if it was the right beer, she confirmed it.

The food was pretty decent gastropub style cuisine. But the prices are very high. $14 for a few pretzel sticks was a little absurd. They were a bit overdone, but still tasted fine. The “cheese sauce” tasted exactly like normal honey mustard even though we were given a grain-style honey mustard with the pretzels. Not sure what that’s about. The BBQ isn’t smoked in-house according to the waitress, and the pulled pork wasn’t anything special.

The portions for the appetizers are very small, not sure how we’d split an order of “street fries” between more than 2 people. And again, with appetizers being $13-14 and mains being around $15-20 each, beers being around $7-8, be prepared to spend $75-100 for 2 people’s food and drinks.

It feels like the previous concept “Dos Lobos” failed and they are attempting to “hop” on the gastropub trend, especially since there really isn’t anything comparable in the area. But having better quality food and drinks at a more reasonable price would...

Thrilled to have a brewery in town, love the rotating seasonal selection of beers, and haven't tried an app or pizza I didn't like (pretzel and steak bomb pizza are faves). Rest of the food is just okay, but it's a brewery so I try to stick to the standard stuff. Have been there at least a dozen times since it opened. The reason it gets 4 stars and not 5 is that the service is consistently poor. I don't believe this to be due to staffing shortage or being too busy at this point. Each time we visit, there appear to be many staff members standing around, but we still consistently wait upwards of 10 minutes for our server to take our drink order. We sometimes decide against a second beer just out of waiting too long to be checked on after we've finished our first beers and our meals. Our last visit nobody ever came to take our drink order at all and we ended up leaving. It was not busy and we were right next to the bar where everyone was sitting, so we were in plain sight and none of the staff appeared to be doing anything. The owners seem very nice and engaging with their patrons and there is one server we've had a few times who is very attentive (we need to remember to get his name so we can request him next time), but the service in general...