Beards Brewery — Restaurant in Petoskey

We were greeted promptly by the lady at the front and told there was a thirty minute wait. She took our name, phone number and sent us a text. The waiting area is small so we were face to face with the people seating others with reservations. I just happened to look at my phone and noticed that a text message came in stating our table was ready. Great I’m standing five foot from you and you sent me a text. First sign of non personal service. We get to our table and they explained that we had to order by scanning a bar code and entering our order. We placed our order or so we thought after a 5 minute wait I flagged down a waitress and asked her to verify we had entered the order. Nope there’s more steps she explained, at this point there was a request for a tip on the payment app. Well maybe I’m old school but I think a tip is earned by providing good service. I put no tip amount in then entered all my payment information before it would allow the order to be placed. Second sign that this was going to be a bad experience. Our food and beers were delivered after another 15 minute wait. I must say that the taco pizza and beers were excellent. I liked the beer so much I ordered another one or so I thought. I know you can see a pattern here. After about 10 minutes I Flagged down our waitress and told her I ordered a beer and two waters. Great she says did you enter it on your order app yes I said. A few minutes later she comes back oh our system didn’t receive the order, so I pull it up and it’s there but she says there’s one more step. I saw there was a remove button and promptly cancelled the additional beer and waters. At that point I closed out the tab and guess what no prompts for adding this frustrated waitress a tip. (Bad geek program) As we were leaving I Flag the waitress down for the final time to pay her a cash tip. I did explain to her my frustration with the ordering situation, needless to say it needs some revisions. I could tell she had heard this message before and I could tell she was frustrated with it just like me. To recap good food, good beer, non personal service and lousy...

Beards sits in a prime location. From the deck or window seats one can view the harbor and see the sunset. Location is great.

Bathrooms were super clean. Positive highlight here.

Beer is not so great. While it is a microbrewery, the flavors really didn't hit home. There are better beer options nearby.

Food is really, really good. We ordered the marghertia and it was soooo good. Pizza is really, really good. Pricey ($21.00 for a pizza!) but tasty.

Service, is not great. It wasn't because servers were not friendly (they were) it is because to order one must use the QR code and order online. This process took us over 15 minutes to figure out. We had to flag someone down to come help us. We had two iphones (a 6 and a 10) and it was tough. Please note: sometimes you must turn your phone sideways so the screen will completely show. This happened to us. This message is also NOT anywhere on the instructions printed on the guide given to us. Why?

Also not great is that the tipping guide says, "18%, 20%, 25%, no tip." There is not an option for a lesser tip if service was not great. So I was "voluntold" to tip a minimum. I have worked in the service industry for 15 years and standard is 20% for me. But given that no one actually took our order, and a committee brought our food, I had no actual contact with a server except when she cleared our plates. Why does this warrant a 20% tip? Ended up tipping cash - but bad on Beards for forcing patrons to give a high% tip for what is essentially an oder-online experience.

Also, what would have happened if I only had cash? Would the restaurant have refused legal tender?

What we did like was the little store inside. I would suggest patrons to buy some of their beer and take it home to try. I did like that they offered several other non-alcoholic products (which we tried) such as sodas and flavored waters. Good selection here.

Overall rating: 2/5. Felt like a tourist trap, and a microbrewery shouldn't...

I love this place so much we went three times in one week. The first time we went at night and our server was Lauren I think. She was attentive and really friendly. We got there right at closing time but they weren't rude about it at all, in fact they insisted that it wasn't a problem. We ordered the Bear River Bread sticks and Buffalo Wings which were both delicious. The bread sticks came with delicious a generous amount of cheese spread and marina, but I suggest getting a side of ranch because they make it in house. It goes well with anything that can be dipped! The wings were just the right amount of spicy. Our drinks came quickly and even though the place was busy, she was good about asking for refills. I also appreciated that she asked me before giving my kids more soda. The manager, Jenni, stopped at the table to see how we were doing and I was impressed by that. My boyfriend ordered their Deez Nuts beer and thought it was so good he purchased a shirt from the gift shop.

Second trip was takeout and I ordered the Up North Pulled Pork sandwich which was the best I've had. The sandwich is huge as well as the serving of fries. The cole slaw they add to the sandwich gives it a unique flavor. The pickles are spicy though, so be careful letting your kid steal it!

Our third trip was during the day and our waiter was Cory. He was also great. My kids were a little unruly and messy and I was embarrassed, but he was understanding about it as well as the busser and one of the hostesses that came to help me out. (I can't remember their names, but both were blond) The Lakeside Fries with Luna beer cheese gets a big A+ from me and my kids. We went upstairs to see the mezzanine and my kids want to come back so they can play the board games. The picture I posted is of their little nook to listen to records. Seems like a great idea for...