Hidden River Brewing Company — Restaurant in Union Township

Firstly, I have yet to try the beer, so feel free to read no further if you're on a mission. I've just got thoughts about the space and the food.

Hidden River has great character. Word on the street is that the building is circa 18th century and true to that vintage you'll find yourself in a frank, rustic backyard with distinct zones that include a porch, a deck, and a grassy picnic area down by the stream. It isn't polished - this is noncosmoplitan hipster; the flannels will have looked at home here for decades rather than seasons. The seating area on the interior feels like a refurbished wayside pub. It's small, dark, and homey. To reach the taproom, you have to wind through the hallway of a formerly domestic area that feels like a roped path through an historic residence. Very unique. I hope they don't sanitize those bones as the venture grows as I'm sure it will.

Space: A+

Hidden River boasts farm-to-table fare and begins serving late in the day (4pm on Saturday). The late start means that the large and happy, if hungry, crowd of drinkers put the staff right in the weeds when we all eagerly placed orders at 4 sharp. I tried the Cuban, the Soup!, and the soft pretzel (when they came out around 4:45).

The Cuban is great on soft, crusty bread. Well-formed and easy to bite; the meat tender and flavorful; the fixins married well. It may have been just a tad dry but that's a thin line to tread. It came with a small, fresh side salad with an earthy balsamic and featuring pleasantly crispy seasonal root veg.

The pretzel is huge and good. Not greasy at all, but yeasty and somewhat dry on the interior. A little longer in the heat and it'd be a heckuva crunchy sourdough. (I think it was sour dough.) It comes with a carafe of Dijon mustard (I'd prefer a spicier brown) and one of pickled root veg (unnecessary and dull in my opinion - why not whip up a sauce of that jalapeño cheddar cheese mentioned elsewhere on the menu?). A dry pretzel needs better dipping opportunities. Granted, its purpose is to soak up beer.

The soup is odd to my tastes. It was listed as vegetable soup topped with jalapeño cheddar cheese. The broth was overspiced with what I think was chili and cumin and the only vegetable to speak of was a wad of greens that I suspect were spinach. The cheese was hard to detect. The rest of the bowl was taken up by strips of seasoned tofu. I suppose on menus these days, as vegan cuisine becomes more ubiquitous, the distinction between 'vegetable' and 'vegetarian' is getting lost in translation, but that's a growing pain I'd like rectified sooner than later. Still I think that vegetable lovers of most stripes would find this soup bad.

Overall I'm happy to have locally sourced, purer, fresher stuff on offer but there are some odd choices being made here and perhaps a bit of a communication...

The experience we just had is absolutely appalling. It’s a shame because the bartenders were amazing and so nice and we love the beer as frequent customers. An older woman working the tables came up to our children who were in the field not even six feet away from us asking where their parents were. Mind you nothing was said to us as parents. Then, as soon as we were leaving, the woman had the audacity to tell my husband and friends that a parent needed to be with our kids… I was down there with our kids, but she didn’t see me before berating my husband and friends. Her response “well you should have told me that then.” I’m embarrassed at the scene she caused upsetting our families, our children, and others. This encounter made 4 families with children leave at the same time. The past few times we have visited the brewery was so pleasant and now this time completely put a bitter taste in my mouth. Our kids were being kids. Not bothering anyone. And there was ALWAYS a parent with them. We read the signs and knew a parent had to be there. But there were no signs saying kids could not play. We were under the impression this was a family friendly facility, but apparently that is not the case. Please do not try to make a rebuttal because there is no excuse for how we...

What a fantastic place! My husband and I stumbled on Hidden River by total accident. En route from TN to NY, we decided to make a rock climbing pit stop at Birdsboro Quarry in PA. After, we needed refreshments. BBQ was actually our first choice, but it turned out out to be just a food truck, so we saw Hidden River was nearby, served food, and had good reviews, so we decided to give it a shot. Boy did we stumble onto something great. We’re both craft beer enthusiasts and tend to be a little picky about our IPAs. Lucky for us they just released a new peach IPA, the name eludes me, but apparently it’ll only last through the weekend anyway. It was hazy, hoppy, and just phenomenal. We also tried a local cherry cider in a can from Frecon Farms. Amazing. Reminds me of the cherry beer they make in Hungary. Our awesome bartender told us they don’t sell the cider to go, but we should really visit them 15 min up the road (we did and he was right!). They also have great food. We ordered the Italian Italian sandwich. Holy moly was it tasty. Far better than an average sandwich. The pickled peppers made it. Will be back anytime we come close...