CRAFT on 14 — Restaurant in Plantation

CRAFT on 14 is the local beer bar I've been waiting for since the closing of Brother Tucker's in Pompano a couple of years ago. There's nothing trendy, posturing or "target market segment" about it.

I've got a huge soft spot for restaurants that are the owner's passion projects, started for whatever money they could scrape together and owing nothing to venture capital or holding company sponsorship. CRAFT's rough edges (occasional short supply on beers or menu items, a few misses on the menu) feel like the owners are anxiously taking notes and rushing to improve, not "well, this is what corporate told us to do".

The menu has more than a few interesting variations on the classic bar staples list - tacos, including an amazing Korean pulled pork version; eight different versions of wings, fried pickles or Mac-n-cheese tots, etc. You can get a burger, but you can also get that burger with some unusual trimmings. The kitchen does a good job with the ingredients; everything tastes like the cook has to consume it too and doesn't like disappointments.

There are around 100 beers on the menu, around 10 on draft and the remainder canned or bottled. Of their available selection, I've never had anything bad or poorly stored. Not much here if someone insists on a glass of wine, but I can't hold that against the place; they know what they're good at.

The atmosphere is relaxed with the kind of inexpensive-but-comfortable-enough fittings that make a bar welcoming and unpretentious. Beer and food prices are within reason, not boutique markup. There are a couple of TV's in the back (sound off) for the sports fans, but enough seating without TV scenery if you want conversation instead. Music leans grungy, it's not obtrusive and the staff was willing to turn it down while the bar was quiet. We've gotten good service there, though our visits are usually quieter weekend late-afternoons rather than evening; it starts to get crowded...

Hubs and I went here for some beer and dinner and had high hopes given how successful and cool other craft beer bars/breweries have been in South Florida. Wow, were we WRONG about this one! We sat at the bar and it took a while to get someone to get us a menu and answer questions, and things only got worse when we ordered the "food". It was beyond terrible! The chicken and rice bowl was only chicken and rice, and poorly seasoned and cooked at that. The "gyro" in theory had the ingredients required to make it, but the pita was pulled out of a plastic bag and plopped on the plate (no warming or anything) along with off-tasting tomatoes, cucumbers, and a pitiful white sauce that was appallingly thin and not at all tzatziki-like that also tasted off. I sent it back and should have just asked for a refund right then and there - but alas, I did not and I was extremely hungry so I picked at the second one until I just felt sick. Of course, after we complained about the quality of the first order all the waitresses stayed away from us and it took a ton of effort to catch anyone's eye. Not once did they offer any way to make it better or remove it from the check - they just ignored us and silently handed a new order. Also they should really consider a door to the kitchen area because from where we were sitting we could see the entire thing - which is how I know they just pulled a stale pita from a plastic bag and didn't do anything to it. Worse still, the music selection was ALL OVER THE PLACE and too loud for a conversation. Pick a theme for the night and stick with it; don't go from country to early 2000s alt rock to reggae to who knows what in the span of 10 minutes!

Tl;dr - high prices on beer, truly terrible food, and a lack of service. We will...

I only say dislike because it took 20 minutes until someone came over just to give us menus. Then it took another 45 minutes until we got the appetizer we ordered. They brought my food out 15 minutes after that and my boyfriend still had not gotten his sandwich... all he ordered was a chicken parmesan sandwich. So as my food sits here and gets cold while I wait for his food to come, I only have 1 of the items I ordered delivered. The excuse the waitress gave us was that it was a busy night.....this place is not that big and from what I see, most people were just drinking. So far, what little I've had of my tacos, isn't very impressive...kind of blah. They claim to not have any lemons, really??? So 50 minutes later, not all the food we ordered has been delivered and my food has gotten cold. The music is very loud which makes everyone else talk louder just to be heard over it which makes it even louder. I don't know about this place, I've heard about it and wanted to check it out for some time now but I don't think we'll be back anytime soon as this is has not been a good experience. The waitress also said that most of the beers on the menu she handed us they probably didn't have because it was an old menu. Meanwhile, we came here to have dinner before a movie starting at 9:30...that's not happening due to almost an hour later, all our food has still not been delivered. I'm sorry but I have to give this place a thumbs down. And here's another kicker, the table of loudmouths beside us got some of their food before my boyfriend did...???? His order finally came over an hour later and didn't have fries with it as the menu stated it was supposed to come with. He said it was mediocre. Not very...