Alvarado Street Brewery Taproom — Restaurant in Salinas

8/1 Updated: Alas, in the blink of an eye it’s finally open! Alvarado Street Brewery: the radical fun loving and well championed brew producers in the world of beer today, is back, and now wearing a fur coat and a string of pearls.

Entering Alvarado on Main you are greeted by a host station adorned with mesmerizing green tile facade. Your first thought is we are no longer at Kings Den, Todo. Three questions: Do you have a reservation? How many in your party? Bar or Booth?

Across a chevron patterned wooden floor are green velvet lined booths and comfy chairs that flanks the circular bar area. You are handed two menus, one premium-grade textured thick stock Lunch menu or depending on time of day, a Dinner menu. The other is the double sided beer menu on basic office paper white because that menu changes nearly daily.

A new menu, God bless! New vegetarian tacos, large wedges of artichokes. New sandwiches! The Moroccan chicken sandwich with flavors so correct I could feel the sand between my toes. I would use one of those modern day typing machines to send word home, that was the most interesting chicken sandwich I have had all year. Currently the menu does accommodate with vegan, vegetarian and gluten options, a modern necessity.

The service is formal, warm and well versed. The servers are happy to talk beer and steer you towards the new and popular. Which is quite welcoming because every day folk need the guidance. There’s a brew for near every occasion, every palet, every craving and pairing, a hard days work reward, the weather, a sweet and sour tooth, an afternoon treat. Alvarado Street has got you covered.

Sitting comfortably and taking in the ambiance you can’t help but to appreciate a few things that make Alvarado On Main magical. Acoustics are softer compared to their Monterey location. Art deco style is oozing with elegance. Local artist Lisa Haas was brought in to paint and texture walls and ceilings with period correct charm and design accents. On the way towards the restroom you will find the old bank vault door proudly mounted at the service pass. The tail end of the room, the most glamorous mother of pearl crane panel you could feast your eyes on, trés chic! You forget that you are sitting at a modern day brewhouse, instead it feels like you have been whisked away into a bustling hotel lobby bar in the roaring 20’s. I’m imagining this place is going to be an absolute riot during New Year’s parties. I will be booking my next few lunch dates here soon, highly recommend you make them on Open Table for...

My wife and I were driving down Main Street Salinas in the Old Town district and while stopped at a traffic signal, we admired the beautiful facade of an old Art Deco building. Upon further review, it turns out that this building is the home to a brewpub. It was lunchtime on a Thursday and so we decided to give it a try. The exterior of the building was just a tease. The interior of this former bank building has been recently renovated as well. It is a voluminous space with lots of fine deco details. Beautiful bar in the center is a focal point for the space. There is a second story mezzanine which is probably used for overflow dining but did not appear to be in use on this day. It’s a very impressive, comfortable, and inviting space. The mood and ambiance is slightly elegant but definitely casual.

We were seated immediately and I ordered a coffee-infused nitro milk stout and my wife ordered a Czech style pils. Both house made brews were outstanding! I'm not a IPA guy so I cannot comment on any those but there were plenty to choose from. My wife ordered pork tacos which came with three different salsas. She quite enjoyed it. I ordered the double patty smash burger with fries. It was honestly one of the best restaurant burgers I have had in a very long time. I was tempted to try another beer but given that it was middle of the day, I did not but I plan to return again soon. Some beers are available for take away sale but unfortunately the nitro milk stout was not one of them.

The decision to visit Alvarado on Main was very coincidental as we did not set out to try it but we are very glad that we did. It turns out that there are locations in Monterey and Carmel both of which are closer to where we live. I can highly recommend Alvarado on Main and plan to try both of the other locations soon. If you like great beer and tasty pub grub, you should try Alvarado on Main. You won’t be disappointed. I always forget to take photos of my food (but I'm not apologizing) but here are a couple of interior shots. Service 4/5 Food 4/5 Beer 5/5 Value for money 4/5 Overall a solid...

This place could have been great if it wasn't for the staffing. We had a birthday dinner for 15 women. We called days ahead to make a reservation and left a voicemail. They took a long time to return the call but finally did. They took the reservation and they were informed it was a birthday dinner. When we arrived they had set up at two separate tables; one table of ten and one table of five. We asked politely if we could arrange the tables to accommodate all of us at one table. The manager was called over and we were told very rudely that no, they wouldn't be doing that. The manager said when there are larger parties they are offered to rent the mezzanine. However, we were never offered that option even though we gave them many days notice. The mezzanine was unoccupied. (They didn't have the staff to let us rent it right then, which is understandable.) The waitress was incredibly rude and sullen all night even though none of us had been rude or demanding. Everyone in our party felt extremely unwelcome. Also, one of our party brought a homemade dessert for our birthday girl since she doesn't enjoy most sweets. They told us there would be a per-person "cutting" charge, although we had ordered 15 dinners plus lots of drinks. We decided to just not have any dessert, except did pay one cutting fee for the birthday girl. We have gone to many area restaurants as a group (including Mangia and Patria) who were all wonderful and accommodating. I would NEVER go back...