Key City Brewery & Eatery — Restaurant in Vicksburg

Our experience here was such a mixed bag that it is hard to rate fairly.

To start, we were greeted quickly with no smile and a sense of apathy. The hostess asked if we planned on doing trivia, to which I replied "maybe" but was instantly followed up by both my wife and daughter saying YES- quite emphatically.

So, we are seated a couple of tables away from the hostess stand and are quickly greeted by a server, who realizes we weren't her table. This server was VERY nice and checked back on us often throughout the first part of our visit. The correct waitress was also nice but lacked the enthusiasm of the first.

We ordered some fries, fried pickles, and corn fritters(I'm a sucker for anything with hot honey) The fries were good although a bit starchy, I can't decide if they aren't being rinsed and soaked or maybe they aren't being blanched and rested before final cooking. The pickles were awful: they were they texture of potato chips with no discernable pickle texture or flavor, it was like eating a basket of mildly pickle flavored chicken breading. I assume this particular batch of pickles was redipped, maybe just blatantly overcooked since we did see another batch go out later that looked much better than ours. The corn fritters were OK. There was a very small amount of hot honey, and it was completely overwhelmed by the grits.

At around 6:45 we realized that we must not be where trivia happened, so we asked our waitress and she very kindly showed us out to the patio and even made sure that Mike, the trivia guy, gave us the chance to get caught up on that round - very cool.

Unfortunately, that was the last we saw of our server for the next hour or so. She didn't tell us if she had passed our ticket to someone else or what was going on. Sometime later, we decided we wanted desert, so I tracked her down. She walked right past me at the bar twice, and finally, the bartender got her attention. She was great for the next 10- 15 minutes and then disappeared again. After trivia wrapped, I had to find her sitting at the bar talking to guests so I could pay our bill.

During our trivia time, the kids ordered pizza and we got the GF crust. The sauce was still cold, the cheese mostly unmelted, the crust was a strange mix of burnt on the bottom and uncooked on the top. To make matters worse, I am almost certain they cooked that pizza on the same stone as the normal crust. Shortly after trying a piece, my wife's heart rate sky rocketed, stomach cramping and head ache set in - all signs that there was gluten in something. It could have been that the fries were cooked in contaminated oil, or that the pizza was cooked or prepped on the same surface as regular pizza. Leaning toward the pizza given the amount of time between the two items.

Anyway, that was a pretty cruddy way to end our night.

Recap: At points the service was stellar, at points it was pretty awful, the servers could have done a better job communicating who had our table after our move and not leaving us abandoned. The hostess could have done a better job of seating us for trivia. I HATE having to track down someone to pay- that should be the part that the business wants the most, Trivia was fun and the host was great. The dessert was different but worth trying. Kitchen needs better training, the pickles should have never been served, the contamination of GF products shouldnt happen.

We will probably go back for a beer but will shy away...

This was my first visit to the Cottonwood Public House and more than likely my last. The food was good, prices were good, beer selection was great and environment appealing. My issue with my visit were server related issues only. I'm not sure if she was just hot, mad, didn't want to be there or a combination of them all but it just wasn't a good attitude that she projected as if she just didn't want to be there.

Needless to say me and lady stayed, ordered, ate and drank (well I drank) and asked for our check. The check came and like I mentioned their prices are very reasonable (check was only $44.00). My lady could see that our server wasn't in the best of moods so we decided to tip here $20.00 seeing that this might bring a little bit of brightness to her day (I have a daughter that worked as a server for 2 years, I somewhat understand) . She brought the check, didn't even hand it to my lady (who had her hand and arm extended to get it) and sat it on the table instead and walked away.

Ok, no big deal let's just pay and head out. Server comes back, my card and the $20 tip are on the check board and as my lady hands her the check with card and tip our server looks at my lady and asks with what sounded like disdain to us both "so you want to put the $20.00 on the bill and the rest on the card right? I was like, wait what? And at that time while still holding the items my lady simply said "no sweetheart, that $20.00 was your tip. Please bring me change for that $20.00 now." we still tipped her, but only...

A Diamond in the Rough!! what a clean fun experience!! The bar has an open front with an antique referb look which adds to it’s charm. The staff were very friendly and quick to bring our dishes. Now for the highlight; Brew and grub. Hubby was put on beer tasting duty. He sticks to IPAs so he started with The Lord of Lightning. This beer he said had notes of a sour. He recommended the Death on Two Legs. A hoppy beverage with that grapefruit like nip to it.

As for the food, the hubster got a brat with an amazing course ground mustard and horseradish sauce.I’m gluten intolerant and chose their GF buffalo chicken wings with a marvelous tangy dressing for dipping. What I liked most was that the wings were seasoned with a rub and not a sauce so the flavor was delicious without being too salty or overpowering. One of their highlight foods which many folks were praising was the brick oven pizza but alas no GF so I could not review that delight.

We had to leave just before the entertainment arrived unfortunately but I’m sure it would have been the cherry on top for our adventure. My one recommendation would be to serve a flight so that the patrons could partake of all the pubs brew artistry.

After you enjoy your meal and brew, head to the bottom of the hill to gaze at the beauty of the Mighty Mississippi.

Let this little...