Basic City Beer Co. — Restaurant in Waynesboro

The most artsy brew pub in the region: grungy-chic NYC paintings about* (& for sale –recently added), street art murals out back, funky upcycled scrap pipe lighting, wood slab window tables, even hand-tooled stempunk tap handles. Picture a Chelsea art gallery reusing an old commercial-industrial space like they do --but also with great ale plus a billiards table and a music space. Keenly crafted IPAs have the subtle floral notes intact instead of muddied up with the gunky molasses flavor of a quick-and-dirty IPA. The D/IPAs have a complexity many visitors might fail to appreciate. (I haven’t tried the darks yet.) The scale of their brew vats (and presence of a particular terribly pricy specialty tank that beer snobs will recognize) shows seriousness way above what one usually sees in a startup craft beer operation. (Artsy bonus points: a co-owner also enthuses about the “minimalist aesthetic” of the stainless tank array.) The food truck that homeports here makes shockingly tasty creations --even out of vegetables. The Hops Kitchen truck was setting up partly inside the big space in late 2017. The front’s parking is a smidge cramped, but there’s a big and smooth secret extra parking area in back on the east side. (* Disclosure: I am really really biased in favor of...

This was a rather lame experience, sadly. They haven't anything to do there. They used to have pool tables, skee ball, shuffleboard, ping pong, a few arcade games (like Galaga), live music, and occasional events. And now they've not just closed off the games, they've removed them entirely. The place feels enclosed and uninviting in comparison to the past. It's no longer a unique place in the area, it's just another place to sit down and have decent beer.

On the plus side, Basic City added a brick oven for pizzas, I believe, as well as acquired the building on the hill where Blue Toad Cider had their short stint. They call it the ShowRoom. The service there is friendly, but lackluster. My companions cold cider was lukewarm, and the table next to us complained about cold appetizers.

I will certainly give them another chance in the near future, for everyone has off days. My previous experiences were always...

Had a bad experience with Hops Kitchen. Ordered the nachos with jalapeños. After a 20 minute wait time, I wanted to see if we could get our nachos to go. The girl at the counter told me that my card didn't go through and that I had to resubmit the order. She said that she went to look for me but forgot what I looked like. First, our party was at a table right in front of the kitchen. And thankfully I had emailed a receipt to myself that I was able to pull up and show the girl that I was charged. After another 15 minute wait time we received our nachos and our first apology for the mistake. As we were headed for the car, my girlfriend decides to take a look at the nachos, only to find that we didn't even get jalapeños even though we were still charged for them. Wasn't worth my time to turn around, but it did make me want to share...