Libertine Brewing Company — Restaurant in San Luis Obispo

Called ahead of time to ask if the pong table and room was open for a group of us to come spend money on drinks and food while playing ping pong, and was told yes it is. Came in, asked again in person if the back room is available and was told it was but not set up, so we ordered food and drinks and spent time reorganizing the whole room and setting up the ping pong table and sweeping the floors. In our group there are a cpl of us that are servers ourselves, so we didn't mind setting the whole room up for us to use ourselves. But 15 mins after finally being able able to play, right when we paused to have a sip of beer, a guy came in and started taking apart the pong table. I said "Oh, hey we are using that." And held up my pong paddle in my hand, and he apologized and said he was just told to take the table apart. As I began to explain to him that we just got set up in there to use the table and enjoy our drinks and food, a gal came in and interrupted our discussion to inform us that they had a reservation they forgot about, and that we needed to leave the room. I started over in explaining to her that we just set up there and we specifically came to Libertine and spent money to enjoy their nice pong table and room, which we made sure ahead of time was available. She just repeated that the room was reserved and we needed to leave. Since she never acknowledged my valid complaint or made any attempt to sympathize with me or offer any other compromise for ruining our experience, I felt very mistreated. Her and the gentleman then hastily moved all the furniture and chairs and tables all around us as we were awkwardly standing around our table we have food and drinks on, with our pong paddles still in our hands. I said to my friend, "well I guess we better slam our beers since we gotta get out of here." Then the girl in the room said, "Sir, you don't need be rude and talk like that." Although I was very frustrated and offended at how rude SHE was to us, I only said, "Well it looks like we need to leave, and I was speaking to my friend." She said we just needed to leave the room. So, we picked up our own belongings, pong stuff, food, drinks, and we moved all of our stuff to another table in the main room, no help offered in that process. While there, the same girl gave us dirty looks and mean mugged us. We ate and paid quickly and left sheepishly. Our server was nice, the dude that started taking our table apart when we were clearly using it was as least apologetic and nice, our off-duty Libertine employee friend who was there was also nice. But the management was non-existent, and whatever girl that was (maybe a host?) That kicked us out and was completely rude to us about it, and then accused me of being rude to her when I simply stated that we came here and ordered food and drinks to play pong and were given permission ahead of time; she was extremely rude, dismissive, and unapologetic for the situation and her treatment toward us. We still tipped our server 30% who was nice and had nothing to do with kicking us out of the room. We won't be back though, with a very rude front of house employee, no clear leadership/management overlooking things on a busy Sunday, and no protocol for room reservation or customers utilizing room usage already when they apparently double book (told us available but didnt realize they had a reservation).

Also one girl in our group after we got permission to use table and room stopped at store to buy a paddle and came a few minutes late, and she showed up just in time for us to get kicked out of the room, which was again very embarrassing for me and part of my frustration with...

We came in as a big party. They cleared out the large room for us and we ordered food. They came in and said "oh, we actually had a reservation in here and we thought you were it, but you're not so you have to leave". They told us that they didn't take reservations when we had called. The birthday girl in our party had a similar name to the name on the reservation, and as the hostess left she said "maybe you should change your name". It was said in a slightly joking manner, but it was out of place and left us a little shocked as she then immediately left the room. They sat us elsewhere, took our orders for a second time, and then basically forgot about us. Otis, our waiter, was fantastic. But the food came out slowly over a 30 minute period. It took about 45 minutes after ordering our food for the second time until everyone had their food. No one ever came over to ask how we were doing, and we had to grab napkins and silverware for ourselves. Overall I would never recommend Libertine for a large party and personally I am not planning on coming back here after this experience. The only redeeming qualities is that the host Josh and Topher were nice, Otis was nice, and the food was good. Everything else was...

Friendly bartender & nice atmosphere. The Bangers (Elk sausage marinated in Wild IPA) & Mashed was a nice meal & a cut above most "bar" food...more of a meal than the other apps which looked tiny. Took a few bottles home, but did not drink there...only tasted one & drank lemon water. The only problem is the horrid hard metal stools or chairs....they worsen my Neuropathic pain. No clue as to why new places have to do this post-industrial medieval thing. What is next...sitting in an Iron Maiden? Anyway, it is worth a visit. Their beer club & growler 32oz take out bottles really look intriguing. If I like their sour-type bottled beer/ ale (which aint cheap at over $20 a bottle), I will like do either the Growlers (@ $12 + bottle refill) &/or the club. They have a Gold or Platinum club...but you do not get to choice the types of beer. Interesting new place, which is a bit off the beaten downtown path. Later in the night, I am sure that this place will be filled with the usual noisy College crowd...so go early...like 4-5pm...on a Monday. Will try their burger next...since the Banger...