Yuengling Draft Haus & Kitchen — Restaurant in Tampa

Was super excited to go. Great venue. Super large. Big enough for indoor/outdoor events. This warehouse style location is sure to be used to its fullest potential as the sports season comes up. Lots of seating inside, outside - high tops, bar seating, and regular table placements. The staff is friendly. Knowledgeable about the menu. I'll applaud the staff for trying new menu items. And the new coffee bar and potential brunch option and brewery tours sound like they may be cool.

The yuengling store area where you can buy 6 to 24 packs of beer, t-shirts, knick knacks - It's cool. And if you sign up for their rewards you can use those points for money off things like your meal. *bonus points - if you buy the 64oz thermos, you get to fill it up for free with beer the first time. Every time after that is 15 bucks.

However, I felt that this particular brewery, boasting America's oldest - should have taken a more traditional approach with some of the menu items. Or at the very least offering a separate menu of straight up bar food that rivals five guys. It was giving instead...5 star restaurant items that really fell below expectations. They either didn't have the item you wanted, or it sounded so off the charts...you might not even want to try it. The size of the food items left some to be desired. I was glad I ate before I came because nothing on the menu screamed get me. Not the title, the way it was described, or the price. Luckily the waiter had options. I did try the lemon meringue pie. Different. Subtley sweet. Not enough Graham cracker. It was like a deconstructed pie. I liked it, but for 10 bucks...meh.

Timing to get food items, was lackluster. There were moments we were waiting 15 to 20 minutes just for water refills. We entertained ourselves with the history on the walls, but...after so many visits, who wants to do that?

And what's with the beer choices? That's cool we can get beer. That's why we came, but not creating a flight option for your beer seems odd. If people have never tried the beer, I would want to offer some traditional options or your crown jewels so people want to keep coming back to try your product.

Im not opposed to something new and quirky for the newbies, but it seemed so over the top that it missed the mark on simple concepts.

Hopefully, when they open up the tours and finish the renovation, and really open up...they'll have made some...

We had visited the smaller tasting room about 5 years ago and were thrilled to see the new building when we came this time. The space is very nice, both inside and out. And the beer is a great price and fantastic. However, there needs to be some serious overhaul to their operations and hospitality training. We started off with about 5 other groups waiting around right at opening at lunch at the host stand wondering if we seat ourselves or wait to be seated (since the restaurant is HUGE and it takes forever to walk groups to their tables, you need one host to seat people and another to greet people). Eventually a very inefficient host came and told us all it would be a wait for a table (there were maybe 3 tables seated in the giant room) and started taking names. We opted to go sit at the bar where there was no wait. But there was a wait! Because of the three bar tenders working, none seemed interested in taking orders (one was on the other side and never moved to help, one was on his phone and obviously avoiding eye contact, and one was serving another group but not making eye contact or saying anything to show he would come soon to welcome those of us who sat down - and we watched this same thing with every new person/group who arrived at the bar). Eventually we got drinks but it was again difficult to get another round when the time came. Our bar tender started showing a wee bit of personality at the end but really none of them seemed like they knew how to be efficient or how to create an atmosphere where people want to stay and enjoy themselves. We didn’t eat, and I’m glad we didn’t because it took a very long time for people to get their food. And the kitchen is far back yet the server was bringing out plates two at a time to a table of about 10 people. Why do they not teach them how to use trays to bring out a lot at one time? It’s a shame because the building is fantastic and it is set up to have a great atmosphere, but everything is so inefficient and the staff all seem...

Positives: friendly and attentive service, Bren was our waitress. Clean environment. Good natural light. Food was served timely. The fries were delicious. The desserts were good.

Opportunities: the menu could be more descriptive of how the food is prepared and ingredients. We ordered the cheesecake cupcake to share and it came with chocolate shavings which wasn't listed on the description. My friend has a chocolate allergy. Quality control for food coming out of the kitchen to include plating. I ordered the potato crusted snapper. There was a lot of breading and it was over fried, which resulted in an overcooked fish. I didn't expect the fish to be deep fried, instead I expected a pan fried snapper. It had a lot of coating and the fish was probably 5oz. It wasn't flavorful. I removed the coating because it was burnt. The dish came with mac and cheese and cole slaw with fish placed on top. The mac and cheese wasn't baked. The cole slaw was flavorful but the mac and cheese wasn't. The menu could be more descriptive on how the food is prepared. I could have asked but didn't think of it.

One friend ordered the mac chilli bowl. She didn't enjoy it. Again the cheese sauce. The ground beef looked like beef crumbles and the water of the black beans made the dish watery. She said the guacamole on it was good. The description said avocado not guacamole. She left more than half and didn't take left overs home. Another friend ordered the salad with duck and she enjoyed it.

I think this restaurant wants to elevate dishes but the execution wasn't good this time. I think they should concentrate on the dishes they do well and build around them. Like the fries, cole slaw, salads, and desserts were good. Improve the mac and cheese by adding flavor. Highlight great burgers. Have fish and chicken options. Simple and flavorful is always better.

I don't plan on returning soon but I may try it again in the future to see if the food improves. I think the concept...