Clemson Bros. Brewery - New Paltz — Restaurant in Town of New Paltz

I have been going to the Gilded Otter for the past few years. I love the 1 1/2 lobster and the price is extremely fair and have always had good service and loved the food. This summer I have been their three times. They advertise a 1 1/2 lobster. I am a lobster lover and know the size of a 1 1/2 lb. Unfortunately, mine was only 1 lb and my two friends definitely had a 1 1/2 lb lobster. We could not believe the size of mine. Three bites and I was done while they were still eating as I watched them. I asked my server, who we have gotten many times this summer. He total disregard my disappointment in the size of my lobster. At that point I just ordered another one, and again he brought me a small one. I let that go, we tipped him and left. The service was not good. never brought more coffee, never brought bread to the table. We went back again a few weeks later. Unfortunately, got the same server. I sat and watched lobsters being delivered to the tables aground us and they were definitely 1 1/2 lbs. I was so happy to see that. When he came to the table I ordered the lobster and said hopefully this one will be the correct size. He laughed and when the lobster came, again it was about 1 lb. I actually felt bad that the poor lobster was so small and had to dies in vain. As he ignored us, I finally got his attention and told him how disappointed I was again with the size and pointed around at the sizes of the lobsters at other peoples table. He ignored me did nothing about it and walked away. Finally after a good 20 minutes, he came over I had asked to speak to who ever was in charge, waited again another 20 minutes and no one came. Finally after we realized that he was not going to address my complaint, I asked another serve to please bring the lobster back that I was not going to eat this lobster and I wanted to speak to whoever was in charge. The young lady came over, I was extremely nice to her and told her that I was really disappointed in the the fact that they advertise a 1 1/2 lb lobster, and obviously this one is no where near 1 1/2 lbs. She was nice, apologized but said that they order from Gataledo's Fish Market and they were to blame for the size. Well, then Gilder Otter has to take that up with them, not the customer who is expecting to get what Gilded Otter advertised. She agreed with me and said she would send over the proper size. I thanked her and then waited for over 40 minutes and no one ever delivered the lobster. She did come over to say they were working on it. They were busy but other people were getting their lobsters as I continued to wait for mine. Finally we got up and said we were living, please give us the bill. The manager, never apologized or gave us a reason why we never received the lobster. She gave us the bill and we left. I wish I knew why I was treated so badly. I have always been very nice to the waiters and never had a problem before. Well, needless to say, we will never go back there. The score I left is for this time and the last two times with the same server. Prior to that we were happy. Very disappointment with the...

This is a mixed review. I had some good experiences, and some bad experiences.

First off, I've visited hundreds of brewpubs in my life and tried 1,000 or more beers. The three beers I had at The Guilded Otter were VERY good. I can't think of another brewpub/brewery I've ever visited where the three beers I drank were all very good, with the exception of the Laurelwood Pub in Portland, OR. I drank their IPA, Bock and Imperial Stout. So, my opinion of their beer is quite high.

But, I had a few negative experiences. The kid who brought me my chicken wings accidentally spilled one of them. He promised to bring me a replacement but never returned.

Also, I spent my entire time here during the two hour happy hour. The menu never mentioned that the Imperial Stout wasn't eligible for happy hour pricing. I paid $7.50 for this pint of beer! NYC types might be used to this kind of pricing, but it's ridiculous to charge this much for a house brewed pint! I don't care if it is an Imperial brew (although not served in an Imperial Pint (20 oz.) glass), with an elevated alcohol content. Charging an extra $3.00 for this beer is absolutely not necessary. I don't see a lot of high alcohol beer brewed in Northeastern brewpubs, so I guess they think they're something special, and therefore demand a higher price. Whatever! It's not like you used that much more malt to justify a $3.00 surcharge!

Lastly, when I entered the pub there was a big sandwich board in the foyer that indicated you could buy a $50 food coupon for only $25 on Wednesdays only. I was there on a Wednesday. When I asked the bartender how I could buy the coupon he told me they don't sell them; I had to buy them from somewhere else, I think he told me it was a local radio or television station. So why would you advertise in the bar that you can buy one of these coupons when you don't sell them there? It said on the sandwich board that you could only buy the coupon if you ordered an entree. It doesn't make sense that you can only buy the coupon if you order an entree, but you can't buy the coupon at the establishment.

Therefore, in summing up: Great beer, but uneven service. The bartenders were extremely efficient, nice and fast, but I left without feeling I had a good time.

PS I went back to this establishment three weeks later because someone visiting me wanted to try some good local beer. This is now the only restaurant I'm aware of that precharges your credit card a 20% tip. I left my tip in cash, but my bank statement shows a charge for more than my actual bill. WTF! I know I'll get my money back, but if you're not careful with how you manage the money in your bank account, you may end up paying an...

So let me start off with I've been here more than once, and the 2nd was just meh.

This place touts itself as "THE brewery for New Paltz" and the beer isn't half bad. Half bad I say because some was much better than the rest. The blueberry beer they have is pretty decent, however the Irish stout wasn't much to write home about. To be honest, if you want a true Irish stout, it's all in the pour. There was no head on my stout which is supposed to give it the aromatic flavoring it so needs to stand out. It's also not thick, and is rather thin for a "stout".

Let's talk about the food. The Jambalaya was fantastic, it actually rivals if not beats many of the places I've eaten down south so kudos there...but the burger could have been better. Over cooked, and no juice. The bacon also had no flavor. Really good fries though.

Service this time around was pretty bad. We were seated promptly in the dining room after we entered and then we waited. We waited 10 minutes and nobody even said hello to us. We decided that we were going to sit at the bar instead, which usually gets much better service. We moved to the bar and immediately were asked what we wanted to drink. It did take us another 15 min to flag down the bartender to order food though, as I think we were forgotten as she tended to the other 1/2 of the bar much more than she did for our half.

Once we got our food it must have been shift change, and a new bartender came around and gave us napkins and make sure we were set, as nobody else did.

All in all, I'm reluctant to come back. The beer is decent, depending on which one you get, but the service this time around was just terrible. 3 out of 5 stars for this and last visit, which we had much better results with. Also, for a brew pub, the prices are pretty expensive. I almost thought I was in Manhattan for a second with how much the Jambalaya and burger cost.

Also, don't get growlers here. They don't pressure fill the growlers, and they give you CLEAR growlers. If you know anything about beer, UV light will skunk your beer faster than you'd believe. That's why MANY beer bottles are browned or shaded in some way. The fact they fill clear growlers makes me believe they really don't care about their beer or giving it to...