Santiam Brewing — Restaurant in Salem

Edit: The owner reached out to me (obviously, it's public). I haven't responded as of yet because I just saw it this evening. I'll be getting in touch with them for sure. I will however raise my star rating as I think that is only fair since they have reached out. The note of sarcasm in their response did not go unnoticed.

This was not a good experience. We have been going here since they were just a counter to stand at and taste their delicious beer. We had heard about them serving breakfast and were eager to give it a try. The first table we tried was dirty with crumbs all over it so we went to the next table and at first it appeared to be clean but when we sat down there were eggs all smashed into the table so we went to table #3 and it was satisfactory. We sat down and waited for quite awhile before they took our order. They were out of what my wife had ordered which is understandable so we both got the biscuits and gravy and she ordered 2 eggs over hard and some breakfast beans for us to try. It took about a half hour to get our food and it looked like it hard been sitting under a warmer for a bit. The over hard eggs were over medium at best and they never brought our breakfast beans. The size of the serving of biscuits and gravy was ridiculously small for $10. It was incredibly salty and the biscuit was so hard you couldn't cut the edges of it with a fork. We returned the eggs and asked for them to be taken off of our bill since we didn't want to wait any longer to eat breakfast. When they brought us our bill and we explained about the experience the waitress argued with me about whether or not the tables were dirty and said that she had wiped them down that morning. I said well they were dirty when we tried to sit down so we had to try three tables before we got a clean one. She continued to argue and I said I'm not lying I have no reason to make up that the tables were dirty. I would have given the service more stars had she not argued with me about whether or not the tables were clean. To their credit they did comp us our two beers that we got so we appreciated that. Since we've been going there for so long we will go back for the beer and maybe the fish and chips but other than that I don't think that Santiam Brewing will be a place...

Oh boy... I originally loved Santiam. Best thing to do here is to order beers and maybe 1 appitizer or get cans and take them home. When my husband I first moved here, we loved to stop by and get cask beers and food. The last few times we were there, we noticed the price going up significantly. I understand craziness in the industry, inflation, etc. But $55 for 2 beers and 2 appetizer is too much for me. I want to support locally, but that feels like quite a large ask. Especially when employees typically talk outright about their problems at the bar and can be quite slow, even when theres almost no one tbere. During our last visit, someone sitting at the counter (an employee) spoke up to a question a customer had about a specific beer. Even after the employee behind the bar had answered. The employee behind the counter became flabbergasted, feeling very negatively by the comment (which contradicted what she said) and a few minutes later had packed up to leave. Mind you, I don't know if she was supposed to be leaving or took it upon herself, but my husband and I were also her customers and she didn't even acknowledge us or let us know it was her time to go and someone else would be taking care of us. She was upset. She leaned over the counter to the other employee and told him that when he does that, it makes her feel like she doesn't know how to do her job and left. The employee at the counter then got up, and made it every other employees problem that she called him out for she felt it was unprofessional. I am a manager and have to have these conversations, but you do that in the back. You ask the employee to go talk to you out of sight of customers, or at the very least take one of the other employees OUT OF SIGHT and ask if you did something wrong. But contuning these conversations in view of customers, especially if you're going to charge an arm and a leg for the reason we're there is icky. Not saying we won't be back, but definitely not one of my top breweries to visit in Salem anymore. Best to just grab beers to...

Edit (changed from 3 stars to 5):

We made a return trip to Santiam Brewing this Sunday. Our experience was much better. Our server was friendly and prompt. We ordered the G.B. Fish and Chips, Shepherd's Pie, and a kid's meal.

The fish and chips was great. I'm not a huge fan of fish and chips, but this one was nicely battered, tender, and I ate the whole thing. It was delicious, made even better with the mushy peas, malt vinegar, and HP sauce.

The shepherd's pie was very good - extra hot. My husband is a huge fan of shepherd's pie and was very happy with his order, although he did tell me that the next time we visit he wants to have the fish and chips.

We don't live in Salem, but my husband really likes this place, so I imagine we'll be visiting often in the future.

Thanks!

Original Review:

As someone that is half British, I appreciate all that Santiam Brewing offers when it comes to British dishes. While not British, my husband and I enjoyed the Poutine. But the service was lacking. We came in when it wasn't very busy, and beyond the initial welcome from the woman we thought would be our server, we were conveniently? forgotten about DESPITE sitting right in front of the bar and having servers walk past us every time they needed to get a drink.

I had to flag someone to get them to come over so I could get a second drink, and we would have ordered another dish but no one came to our table again except to ask if we were done and wanted the check.

People came in after us, were waited upon, brought their food, ate, and had their check before someone even asked us if we wanted anything else.

Obviously everyone needs to be their own advocate, but it's not as if there was one person working; there were at least four servers in a fairly small restaurant.

I don't know if we will go back. I appreciate the menu, our order of Poutine was good and hot, but the...