OHSO Brewery + Distillery — Restaurant in Scottsdale

Staff is a bit young and inexperienced but mostly very friendly and helpful. Generally the atmosphere is welcoming. It would be nice to see a few older faces that have the full understanding of face-to-face customer service and different personality types that aren't "profile" based. However, everyone did have eyes on the tables and were obviously well trained and stopped by to check on you regularly, which was nice, and refreshing. My server was great.

Love that they are trying "tasting" menus and asking for public input - such a great idea! However, while the food is fine, I think it's stepped down a notch, at least at the Hayden location, since the expansion/renovation. The food previously was always consistent and excellent. Guests I brought in from out of town would request to return.

On my second solo venture since the renovations I tried the Croque Madame "Brewery Style" for brunch. The bread was barely toasted so it was soft and the Swiss was still in store-bought slices versus being melty gooeyness so everything was just had "nursing food" texture. I'm sure this item is a fan favorite because cheese...cheese...meat is always a drunk crowd pleaser, but if you used to come with the food as one of the draws, it's disappointing.

That leads me to the atmosphere. Before the renovations, the vibe was cool and appealing to the vast demographic that is Scottsdale. The music used to vary and was eclectic. You never knew what you would hear. I heard the same GoGo's song twice within the hour I was there With the outdoor/indoor openness and fake purple flowers and "BAR" front, it is now the same as almost any other Scottsdale "beer drinker in good weather" hangout and has lost some of its uniqueness. You are sure to be "treated" to some biker or car afficionado stopping out front to impressively rev their engines. That is actually a great draw for the Cave Creek vibe, but OHSO cheapens its brand by catering to this vs. being the innovator they once were. The new bar is TV, TV, TV, TV, TV.... Is OHSO a Sports Bar or a place to be able to experience awesome beers, spirits, elevated "grub", music, and people? I think it might be swaying toward Sports Bar.

Hanging out here is not a bad experience and I'll be back, but without the excitement I once had. This is no longer a "must go to" culinary and atmospheric destination. I won't take my out-of-town guests here anymore and while I'll stop by, I won't add extra miles to do so. Love that they're experimenting, but I encourage hanging onto what made them unique to begin with versus caving to what seems like it brings in dollars. The place was often full before and while they're not struggling, they haven't been full on either of my visits since the renovation. If you want to seem like you're thriving and 'the place to be" to the public - crowd your dance floor.

I struggled between a 4 or 3 rating. If you haven't been here before, it's a 4. If you have, and you're not drunk yet, it's a 3. Their prices are also great so 4 it is. I appreciate you OHSO... just not as much...

Category: Comfort food. This place has plenty going for it. First, it’s huge, both inside and out. It can also be all outside-ish when all of the garage doors and windows are open, as they were on the day of my visit. The line between in and out is blurred by the skylights, which bring sunlight into part of the high-ceilinged, steel-trussed, catwalked interior. The part of the restaurant that really is outside is shaded. If it’s hot, the ample patio misters will cool you. If it’s cool, the built-in heaters will toast you. If you want to bring your dogs, the patio welcomes them. If booths are your thing, there are plenty inside and out. If you need a big table for lots of friends (this is a great place to meet up with lots of friends), they are a-plenty too. Hightops too, which somehow make a meal seem more exciting. And if bars are your thing (we love to dine at restaurant bars), there’s a big one inside and another big one outside. The outside bar is our favorite kind, rectangular, so we can people watch across the bar. There are also plenty of TVs, just in case you can’t dine without them. For additional fun, there’s an arcade, where some adults we saw sent their kids so they could have adult fun while the kids arcaded. And to catalyze the adult fun, there are plenty of adult beverage selections. Of course there are plenty of beer selections, as OHSOs are known for. There were also enough wine selections to keep us happy, and they were almost all in our less than $50/bottle sweet spot. And if you prefer your adult beverages to be more spirited, they have a distillery too, where tours are offered (with reservations and for a price). But just in case you want to eat too, this location is unique among the OHSOs as its test kitchen. If a dish from the rotating menu makes it here, based on guest feedback, it can — as Sinatra crooned — make it anywhere and be added to the menus in other locations. I hope this is true of the Southern Sampler that my friend and I shared. With generous portions of tender brisket, pulled chicken, two large sausages, and accoutrement, it was too big not to share. Suggestion: include a small dish of the two sauces (tomato-based and mustard-based) as part of the dish, and maybe some potato salad or slaw (or both) instead of the bread. I decided to try the Test Kitchen after I had the excellent Southeast Asian Fried Rice test kitchen dish at a different OHSO, which was making a cameo appearance there. OHSOs also have a frequent flier program. We will be back, and I especially like the test kitchen idea, but I must admit that we have difficulty choosing between the three OHSOs that are roughly equidistant from our house. Maybe we’ll let the dogs decide. YouTube’s...

Update 7/25/19 – The last time we were in was almost a year ago. Now I know why. Nothing has changed, maybe even worse. We were there 4:30 on a Thursday and the place was almost empty. It took almost 10 minutes for our server to even come to the table. He dropped off menus then disappeared. After waiting another 10 minutes and looking everywhere for our server, a woman comes by, I assume the Manager, and says I see you looking around. I said yes, our server is MIA. So finally she sent a different server over to help us. To add to the pain, my wife had ordered a dinner salad, specified her choice of dressing and asked for it on the side. Not only did the salad come drenched with dressing on it, they still included even more on the side. The dressing on the salad was not even what my wife ordered; only the dressing on the side was correct. Stupidity is rampant in this place. We’re done here.

Original review:

Things have really gone down hill over the last few times we've been in. We dined on Friday 8-17 and were seated in the back of the restaurant. It appears that the back of the place is the black hole, and if you get served timely you're lucky. Our server brought over 2 waters then disappeared for 10 minutes. We ordered 3 beer samples which took another 10 minutes, then waited for her to come back so we could order 2 full size beers. When we finally did get to order the beers, we asked for one additional sample in addition to the 2 regular beers. After another wait, someone brought out 3 beer samples, not 2 regulars and one sample. So once again we had to wait for our beers. After this painful process, we have now been here over a half an hour with no beer in front of us. When we finally did get our beers, one was a full glass and my wife's was half full. Our server said they just ran out and that was all they had. Why didn't she tell us that before bringing out a half beer? My wife ordered a dinner salad requesting the dressing on the side. The salad came already with the dressing on it, so we had to wait again for them to make a new salad. Our server apologized and said it was her mistake. We didn't even get time to order a 2nd beer because we had now been there an hour an half and couldn't take it anymore. On top of all of this mess, we were charged for 2 full beers, even though one was half full, and not even offered some kind of compensation for all the issues we had. Next time we will go to Four Peaks. They know what they are doing over there. There is no OHSO in our future,...