Ponysaurus Brewing Co. — Restaurant in Raleigh

September 1, 2024 - My wife and I tried a new pub/brewery . . . Ponysaurus in R.I.W. Our daughter recommended the Neapolitan style pizza with good 18 tap beer 🍺 selection! There’s a modern vibe, with Magical half pony / half T-Rex hanging over head !

My daughter commented on the younger crowd at low top & high top tables spread throughout the establishment. We noticed several families with children, and a couple with a dog. . . Outside. Servers dropping off food at tables. Folks at the bar ordering their drinks, and carrying their drinks to their tables. Diners order their appetizers & entrees off a scan code at their tables.

I guess management can trim costs with “ self serve” restaurant model. I ordered drinks at the bar, a 5 beer flight, and several other drinks . . . I started a “ tab” with my credit card. Took only 5 minutes, then carried out drinks to our booth. Our party of 4 ordered buffalo wings & garlic knots for appetizers! They arrived by a server in 10 minutes. I didn’t get her name, but I guess it’s not necessary. 10 minutes later . . . another server brings our Hot Sopressata Pie ( shaved funnel, red onion, sliced hot coppa, and pepperoni) ! Fresh made thin Neapolitan style pizza ! Excellent, perfectly cooked, and DELICIOUS! 🍕 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

It’s a shame there’s no window into the kitchen to see prepping of the pizzas, and the cooks around their pizza oven , with the glow of hot embers as they turn those “ pies” in their hot oven! But you can look to the left of the bar, and see the BEER fermentation tanks !

“ A pair of HANDS” 🙏🏻 to the owners Nick Hawthorne-Johnson, David Baldwin, and Chef Seizer ! They started in 2013, over the decade they have three restaurants. . . Durham , Wilmington, and Raleigh. As a former home brewer, I like their diversity of beer styles ( stouts, porters, ales, wheats, IPA, sours, etc.) . . . Thank you!

I ordered the flight, my picks were:

Mango Guava Wit 5.9 %

Thunder Lightning 8.2 %

IPA (citrus rind ) 6.3 %

C C C Baltic Porter 6.3 %. Out of stock

Chocolate Milk Stout 7 %

Biere De Garde 6.3 %

🍺👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 Liked them All 😃

To wrap up . . . I’m amazed each time I visit the Raleigh/ Durham area, I see so much development in new areas! The multi-use residential & commercial mix is staggering. I like the RIW community & work space synergy! Nice to see so many young people and families in downtown Raleigh! A big difference than small towns in Maine!

Thank you for a wonderful evening, with very good beers to sample 🍺while enjoying a...

So, once again, Ponysaurus showed their true colors of peak obnoxiousness. Lucky me, I live in the same building. Earlier tonight, I went to Bordetto for dinner. Super wild, I know. I had the audacity to have gasp two whole glasses of wine over two hours—clearly, I was on the verge of mayhem. On my way back (oh, surprise!), the entire building’s alarm was going off. Because, why not? We all had to wait for the fire department to check the building before they’d let us in. So, while waiting, I bump into some neighbors I’d met recently, and naturally, we start chatting because that’s what neighbors do.

After the fire alarm situation, I had to run upstairs to drop off food (the nerve, right?) and then came back down to hang out in the game room. A couple of us started playing pool, just hanging out, nothing too crazy. One of the guys cracks open a Natural Light, which, spoiler alert, is totally fine because we’re in the game room of our own building. Shocking, I know. Then, this guy asks if I want to go to Ponysaurus. Being the rebel I am, I said yes.

We walk into Ponysaurus, he’s still holding his Natural Light (scandalous!), and he sets it down on the bar next to me before heading off to the bathroom. Meanwhile, I’m left at the bar, ready to order. Now, he wanted an IPA. And because Ponysaurus only has the most unique names for their drinks, he told me to just order “IPA”—riveting stuff.

Then, cue the bartender’s entrance. He asks, “Is that your beer?” And like the truth-teller I am, I say no. But, apparently, that wasn’t good enough for him. Oh no, he gets all Sherlock Holmes on me and insists that since the beer was next to me, it must be mine. Yeah, because in his world, proximity equals ownership, obviously.

And then, plot twist! He says I’m too drunk to be served. Yup, after two drinks over two hours, I’m now blackout wasted in his eyes. The best part? I wasn’t even going to order alcohol for myself! I was going to get a strawberry daiquiri—a virgin one at that. No alcohol whatsoever. But apparently, the all-knowing bartender had other ideas and decided I was just too far gone. He won’t serve me an IPA for my friend (who is the actual one with a beer in hand), but clearly, I’m the one out of control. Ah, Ponysaurus, always a beacon of...

EDIT as of 1/4/25 My husband had stopped in the day before and ended up speaking with one of the employees about the food options. They said they did have a gluten free crust now and a red pizza option with no cheese to make it vegan. He was also told that they had a really good cider on tap now as well for the gluten free crowd. So we took some friends that just moved into town out to dinner to give it another shot.

I have to say that the pizza was really good (and a pretty big 12") as was the cider. It was a Hibiscus cider and a but drier, so it wasn't too sweet, which I appreciated. The server was fantastic and we all enjoyed the food.

Our friends did get some really good looking hummus, but I couldn't try it because it was served with a massive amount of pita bread. If they could just change it to having an option of being served with either veggies or gluten free crackers, that would be another fantastic option. Just a thought!

Original Review* We finally got a chance to check out Iron Works and stopped by Ponysaurus for a drink and hopefully some food.

No dice on the food at all because they had very few things that were gluten free or vegan. I believe they had some hot olives that fell into the gluten free and vegan category, but that's it. They could have easily had a vegan gluten free pizza option if they chose to have any of the myriad of pre-made gluten free crusts available, but do not. So if you want anything gluten free, this really isn't your spot. Same goes for vegan.

My husband enjoyed his beer, but they have absolutely zero gluten free/gluten reduced beer options available, nor ciders or seltzers. They did have 5 different wine options and 3 pre-made frozen cocktails that were gluten free, so I opted for wine.

All of that being said, the service was great, especially for as busy as they were. And the atmosphere was a pretty cool vibe also. Definitely loud and busy on the weekend!

Overall, this probably isn't a place we'll go to again because they completely missed the mark on even attempting to cater to the large percentage of people that partake in either gluten free or vegan food and drink choices. A few easy changes or additions could solve that problem, if they so...