Sly Fox Brewing Company — Restaurant in Pottstown

REVISED 7/18/18: Both the owner and General Manager contacted me immediately in response to our experience on July 7 and I am grateful for their approach and the action they have taken. Their response was above and beyond what one could hope for and I think it's an accurate indicator of their commitment to customer service. I have been assured that they will be enforcing a no smoking policy and that signage will be posted shortly. Way to go, Sly Fox for taking this concern to heart! I'm looking forward to returning to our regular scheduled program: weekend dining at one of Pottstown's gems.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: Note to management: If you're going to target millennials (and let's be real here - they have to make up at least 2/3 of the craft beer population) you need to have family-friendly, health-conscious practices in place.

To everyone else: Evidently smoking is now allowed?! My family has been to Sly Fox at least twice a month for the last two years and have always had great experiences - fun atmosphere, nice customers, cute dogs, good food, great beer - aside from the occasionally grumpy employee. All in all, it WAS a great outdoor atmosphere for families to enjoy food, beer, and quality time together. All of this came to a halt this past Sunday.

While enjoying dinner with my husband and two small children, two gentlemen took a seat on the patio and were smoking cigars. We overheard them ask the server for an ashtray (PSA - if there are no ashtrays, that generally implies no smoking) - I'm not sure what the server's response was but he walked one of the guys inside. I was sure the manager would let them know NO SMOKING. I mean, only the trashiest of environments allow smoking nowadays. Not to mention people are EATING, more than half of the customers had small children with them, and the cigar smell is overpowering at best, nauseating at its worst. I was wrong, because moments later the guy returned to his table and both lit back up and were casually enjoying their cigars. Within minutes, the entire outdoor area reeked and due to a light evening breeze, we were getting all of the smoke right in our direction. We moved tables to no avail, finally we had enough and decided to pack up - the guys were sitting at one end of the patio so unless the wind shifted, we were SOL. I went inside to close our tab and asked if smoking was actually allowed outside AKA "is this really the kind of establishment you want to have?" The manager was a bit short with me and said "I can't tell them not to smoke, it's an open air environment. You can ask them to stop if you want." I responded that I would not be asking them to stop (was he really going to put me in the position to confront two men on my own??) and that I would be leaving instead. No apology, nothing.

I can only hope that the same energy it took to post a 'leash your dog - keep your eyes on your kids' sign, can be targeted towards a 'no...

Bad customer service. No hostess. No welcome by anyone at the bar. Came in with my family on a Saturday evening. Had never been there before so we weren't sure if we needed to talk to the bar tender or wait for a hostess...we stood by the door for about a minute or so while the employees were at one corner of the bar..so we decided maybe its sit yourself down and the bar tender will get our orders in minute kind of joint. could have been short staffed, So we sat down and no menus on the table so we looked around to see if maybe there was a hostess and they had stepped away for a bit and we missed them when we sat down. Didn't see anyone, so I turned around and looked at the bar..two to three employees in the same corner chatting it up. Didn't want to be rude and interrupt as maybe they were talking to a customer who I may have assumed was an employee...we waited...about 10 min went by no one came up to the table...we got up and snatched some menus from another table and browsed it for another 5 minutes or so and no one at the table..Bar still chatting it up. So at that point we just didn't want to wait or have to hunt down someone to get food, utensils and drinks. We got up at the same time and marched the family towards the door and I looked again to see if an employee or hostess was around. One of the Bar tenders made eye contact with us as we walked out...said nothing to us. Didn't ask us if had even paid for food incase he didn't see us order..nothing...walked right out the door. Just needed that one moment to know, we will never...

We went to sly fox to celebrate our friends birthday last night. It was our first time at this location. When my husband and I went up to the counter to order we were given a number for the table. And I was shuffling my change to leave a tip in the jar and accidentally forgot to grab it when I was walking away. The gentleman who was working the register was a shorter bald man with glasses He rudely yelled “ Are you going to take your number with you?! ” Then shook his head and rolled his eyes and made a sound like “ ugh”. I tried to make a joke because I was embarrassed and felt like an idiot with how he addressed me in front of everyone. So I said “ yeah I guess that would help”. I tried to laugh it off and he looked at me annoyed and shook his head and then made eye contact with the person behind me as if to say “ this girls a moron” and rolled his eyes. Didn’t even acknowledge that I said anything: needless to say it had already been a bad day for me. Even our friends who were with us mentioned the interaction and said it was rude. However, I own a local business and customer service is extremely important to me. I see people all day long. I’d never make someone feel like an idiot. Again, it was my first time there and the set up is unique. I was trying to figure out how it worked. I ended up not even eating my food and throwing it away. I’ll never go back and never...