World of Beer — Restaurant in Virginia

My family and I visited this past Saturday, and within 20 minutes we left hungry and completely turned off by this place. We’re from out of town and drove over an hour just to eat here but never again.

I thought it was just me thinking it was a race issue, but now that I’ve read other reviews referencing race I can see that it seems to be the norm for people of color.

We ordered loaded tots as an appetizer which were out in about 5 minutes but served missing toppings and cold to the touch. We could see our server (forgot his name) from our table chatting up a couple of girls at the end booth, but he never came to check on us OR take our entree order. Most servers in my experience come check on you to make sure you have what you need and everything is tasting okay when food is bought out, and we didn’t get that.

While waiting for him to return, he walked toward our table and instead of stopping he yawned as he continued to walk by. He then walked to the back and returned to the register area with a stack of plates. He continued just kind of avoiding us making conversation with the girls and side conversations with co-workers. I gave up after about 10-15 minutes of just watching him ignore us, and flagged down another server. I asked him for change for a $20 bill so we could just pay for the tots and go. He gave me change, and FINALLY the server who had been ignoring us returned asking “were you guys ready to close out?” I replied “well we were waiting for our order to be taken and to give some feedback about the appetizer, but we’ll head out.” He replied “Oh, I didn’t think you were ready to order since I still seen you working on the appetizer.”

Since when do you complete a full appetizer before ordering your entrée? And even if that were the case, you didn’t think to I don’t know.. ASK if we were ready to order?! The appetizer was still sitting there for a reason, but you never returned to see why.

The service was obviously horrible, and you all certainly do not have to worry about having our business again. I have never felt so unwelcome. We visited for the first time about a year ago and experienced the same thing, but I wrote it off assuming it may have been a bad day. I was wrong.

Because the servers are acting this way and have been for some time, I can only assume it’s coming from the top and management either doesn’t care or isn’t aware of how customers are being treated.

Avoid....

Now I know going to a place called "World of Beer" you shouldn't focus too much on the food, but my wife took me here for an anniversary date to try something new. Since this is a restaurant focused on various types of local and international beer, you should expect the food to act as a nice sidekick to soak up the many ounces of tasty beer you consume.

The beer choices are plenty and there is even a option to purchase a sampler of 5 different beers of your choosing for $15 in a semi-reduced sized glass tray. Everything we both tried was amazing.

Now the reason for the 3 stars is because of the food I alluded to earlier. We started with 2 appetizers which was the Char-grilled shrimp, and Parmesan Truffle fries. The shrimp was luke-warm upon arrival and 2 out of the 6 or 7 shrimps that came over the flat bread was burnt beyond being able to be consumed. I give the seasoning a 6 out of 10 and the dipping sauce a 2 out of 10.

My entree I chose was the Steak Frites, which I asked to be cooked medium and it wasn't that great. The garlic butter on top was decent, but it was still solid and on the very middle of the pre-cut pieces of steak. And since the steak was served lukewarm, the butter didn't really get coated enough on every piece you try to dip on it. Steam broccoli was ok, fries were kind of cold and burnt. The steak itself was cooked to medium well which isn't what I asked for.

My wife had the street tacos which she rated a 6 out of 10.

We both thoroughly enjoyed grabbing drinks at WOB, getting kind of twisted...and in that state, the food is beyond passable and does the job. But there are other options around short pump that offer better food and beer choices similar to WOB.

Our server was great though. She was prompt and answered menu questions we had with confidence and exuberance.

All in all, not a bad choice for a date night with the intention of getting drunk, or with friends for the atmosphere and fun...

We went there on a Friday night at about 8pm and the place was packed. It only took about 10 minutes to get a table for four. The atmosphere was lively with a lot of people talking.

For our appetizers we got the giant pretzel and an order of truffle fries. The pretzel was very good and I would recommend it if you don't mind paying almost 14$ for a pretzel and cheese dip. My kids were disappointed our pretzel didn't come hanging on a hook like other tables had. I guess they ran out of hooks.

The truffle fries were also very good. They came out hot and crispy. The portion is small though. I guess it turned out our server rang it up as an add on side instead of an appetizer. I don't know if that affected the size and mad eis smaller, or it's the same size and our server was trying to help us save money. At 11$ I would be upset at how much we got. But at the add on price of 6.75$ it's ok sized...

Our entrees were also very good in taste. My crispy buffalo sandwich was crispy, hot and we'll seasoned. Same with my wife's crispy fried fish. Her fish was flakyand moist inside, AND a generous portion. We both opted for sides of broccoli instead of fries due to ordering the truffle fries. My son enjoyed his steak and our daughter thought her Mac had to much cheese (I thought her Mac and cheese tasted great).

The portion sizes could be better (my chicken was thin and not that big, and my son's steak was probably about 8oz) for the price. But the quality of what was served was top knotch. (maybe I am just a greedy fatty). The fish portion was very generous.

Bonus: my daughter was able to get pineapple juice with her kids meal.

I would definitely come here again if I felt like splurging on...