Barebottle Brewing Company - Santa Clara — Restaurant in Santa Clara

Horrible Hospitaliy from Manager Stephanie on 10.17.21.

We had guests visiting from Las Vegas and wanted to check the local bar out in our community. This was a place I wanted to bring our friends who enjoy craft beer and is literally downstairs or walking distance from where we live. When we went to the counter to order, Stephanie the manager, in an aggressive tone said "WE HARD CLOSE AT 11". We were not expecting 5 star service, but a "Hi, welcome in. What can I help you with?" would have sufficed. I believe that should be standard hospitality. Especially, working in the service industry.

We had an hour before closing, but Stephanie made us uncomfortable in ordering anything. We had questions, but did not feel comfortable to ask. It was an awkward silence for minutes as we looked at the menu. It was our friends first time in the Bay Area and was excited to visit new places.

A few minutes pass and Stephanie said again "we close at 11". I shook my head and nodded. I kindly said to her, yes you did mention that. I had a discussion with my friends and were thinking of ordering a flight to share so we can try the different flavors and get out their way.

As we were about to order our drinks, Stephanie said again were closing at 11. At this point I was upset with the repetitive mention of their closing. I told her I understood they were closing at 11 and if she didn't want to serve us than we can leave. So we did.

If the owner of this business is reading this, please know we were not being aggressive with the staff. An hour before closing the staff already had everything closed up for the day. I know COVID hit business pretty hard and we were trying to support the business in any way we can.

It was a distasteful experience and hope others do not get treated in this matter. We understood the first time around and that's why we tapered our choices to reflect the time.

We visited the establishment a few weeks prior at the same time and did not receive the same treatment. In fact, the other two ladies were helpful with the selection. I apologize I don't remember...

Stopped in to experience Barebottle on the way to Metallica at Levi Stadium. We arrived on a Saturday evening around 6pm. While busy, we didn’t wait for more than two minutes to grab a beer and order food.

The beer selection was great, offering a mixture of IPA’s, sours, seltzers, stouts, hefe’s, you name the style, they probably had it. The quality of the beer was also very good.

I ordered larger of the two sizes available of their Hawaiian style pizza. They showed me the box size at the bar and the half size seemed small, while the larger seemed more of a personal pan pizza. The pizza was big and thick. The larger size could’ve fed two people easily. And it cost me nearly $30, so it should’ve fed two people instead of just my fat ass. The ingredients were fresh and delicious. The crust was thick and buttery. The toppings were also thick and layered well. The flavor of the pizza was a bomb that exploded in my mouth. My buddy got the pepperoni pizza and it looked amazing as well. I’m not saying the pizza wasn’t worth the price, but I’m struggling not to as well. Shave off ten bucks and it would’ve been perfect.

Afterward we both got flights. The flights are larger than what you would imagine, as is the cost per each pour. Be aware, a beer, a pizza, and a flight cost me nearly $80 after tip. Considering we went to Barebottle to avoid spending a fortune on beer and food at Levi Stadium, our mission wasn’t quite the success we had imagined. (Levi stadium was offering basic american beer for $18 and ‘craft’ beer for $22, if you still consider Lagunitas and Space Dust craft beer, since it is available at grocery stores. We did find Fieldwork’s Pulp for $22 as well, which is definitely a quality craft beer.)

They had a good amount of swag available to purchase as well as cans to go. There was plenty of seating indoors as well as outside on the sidewalk. They have an arcade room with a pool table. Unfortunately, one of the sinks and one of the urinals weren’t working.

All in all a good visit with great food and...

Update as of Feb 2026: They now also have "personal size" pizzas, more appropriately sized for 1 or 2 persons. Yay! Only two very minor issues: -When it's even slightly busy the place gets very loud. You can tell they knew about this because they put sound absorbing panels on the ceiling back when it first opened, but they did far too little and most of those panels have fallen off. -Although they do put their taplist on Untapd, it's almost never right/up to date. Still a great taproom experience. Previous review April 2025: Yay! They've finally updated their food offerings beyond full pizzas! They now offer wings, garlic knots, tater tots, some salads, and a couple of dessert items. Still wish they offered single slices of pizza, but this is good! Still the same excellent selection of good craft beers too. Great indoor space with lots of seating, a nice but small outdoor/patio area, and a small arcade area with a few pinballs and video games and a pool table. Previous update as of June 2024: Still a great place to have some good beers. But, though they've finally expanded their food menu, (and nothing against joyride pizza) they no longer have a 'quick small bite' option. I used to be able to get an empanada for a bite to go with my beer, now the only option is a whole pizza, which in their words is sized for 2-3 people. Yeah, they have salads and a couple of "starters" but that's not quite the same. Too bad they don't offer single slices. ‐------------- Old review: Good beer and freshly made empanadas! Nice patio and appropriate precautions for safe...