Alter Brewing + Kitchen — Restaurant in St. Charles

Usually I love this place for the atmosphere, food, drinks, and good service. Unfortunately, this evening my girlfriend and I tried to go there for a late night dinner. We saw online it closed at 11 PM, so we decided to call them to double check what time their kitchen closes. When we were less than 10 minutes away, we called and they said “10:30”, so we kept heading there. We ended up having to walk around the whole block because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the front entrance due to the whole outdoor courtyard being blocked by a fence. We make it inside and sit at the bar. We are greeted by a bartender who asks how he can help us and we ask for waters and say we need a minute to choose a drink on the menu. We ask for food menus and are told to scan the coaster for the menu. After the bartender delivers our waters, within one minute of us asking for food menus, he tells us the kitchen is closing at 9:30 PM (it was 9:28 PM) and if we want food we need to let him know right away and put the order in. So we both picked whatever entree at the top of our heads and ordered. The bartender goes to the computer to put the order in and for the next 10-15 minutes, socializes with his coworkers and fills multiple glasses of beer. Granted, there was a table of 12 people behind us and 9 other people sitting at the bar around us. Another bartender comes around and asks everyone AROUND us if they need refills. We are still sitting there with our waters looking around waiting for a bartender so we can get their attention and order a drink. Once 15 minutes passed by, we gave up and walked out. Usually when we come to Alter, no matter how busy it is/what time it is, we get excellent service and there is more than one bartender and they all take orders from everyone, not specific people. I’m sure we will be back some time but not any time soon. This was a disappointing experience for one of our favorite places in...

Read reviews stating this was a great place for vegans...that there were "options" including a vegan charcuterie board. When we walked in at about 4pm, we were told we could have a table, but that it was reserved at 6:30pm so we would have to leave by then. It was just kind of a weird, off putting experience.

I searched the menu for the vegan options about which I had read online. In reality, there was one vegan sandwich - a replica of an Italian beef. My husband ordered it, and I asked if anything else could be made vegan - but our waiter told me most vegans just order that one sandwich. So we both had the vegan Italian 'bef' with fries and shared a flight of beers. The sandwich was fine, fries were good.

When the check came, our waiter asked us to double check it to make sure he hadn't made any mistakes, which seemed odd. It was fine, but when he ran our credit card and came back, the total was higher - turned out they charge a fee for credit card processing, which was pretty surprising.

Our waiter was very friendly, and the beers we tried (after finding out one we ordered was unavailable) were really interesting (in a good way). The food is probably good for non-vegans.

It was our first time here and, sadly, probably our last. I was hoping to find a new spot with at least just a couple of decent vegan options, a knowledgeable staff, and a welcoming atmosphere. But I appreciate the restaurant for making an attempt...

To each their own and this is just my opinion. My wife and I LOVE the location and it would be easy to get enamored with that alone. But, if you take the outstanding location out of the equation, you are left with kind of a meh place. I mean, the first time we went there we thought: Yes! A new hangout for us!. And we have given it a couple of more chances since then, but it is really just has the location and beer going for it and not much else. We SO wanted it to be more, but it isn't. The biggest problem is the menu and the food and if you were just going to go hangout on the patio and drink beer, it would be a fine place. The beer is actually pretty good, and it would be a great place to go to IF the menu weren't so lacking..We both look at it and struggle to find something we would come back for. My wife is more a seafood person and there are very few choices of that ilk. I just like normal food. It seems the menu relies too heavily on trendy and the chef's own peculiar spin on regular stuff and sort of ignores normal food (except for burgers, in a way). We wish it would overhaul its menu so it would be a place we would want to come to. I am giving it two stars because is the location alone and the beer. But, to eat, go elsewhere. I know that is just our thoughts, but it is not a really special place and fortunately there are a lot of options...