Russian River Brewing Company — Restaurant in Windsor

LOCATION: I was not expecting it to be such a massive compound. I use 'compound' intentionally because that's the feeling I had upon arrival. It has a very industrial warehouse feel and design when viewing the front side. The majority of the building contains all the equipment needed to brew beer but that's not to say this place can't hold ALOT of guests. On the far-right side of this monstrosity are the public entry points which consist of a gift shop on the left, tasting room on the right and the main dining area straight ahead. Once you've entered, you'll notice to the right is the main bar, with a secondary bar around the corner intended to serve guests located outside. To the left of the dining area, the first thing that will catch your eye is an indoor fire pit and surrounding lounge area that is very elegantly designed and works well to give the grand size of the public area a much needed cozy feeling. Also you'll notice the Kitchen, which has an very open feeling to it from a glance, even though most of the kitchen is actually not visible. Table sizes range from as small as sitting 2 guests to ones that could fit as many as 30 people, which stretch as long as the bar does. One of the parts that I found most impressive was the outdoor area. It features an Incredible open park-like setting for kids and Dogs (on leashes) to run around, play catch or Frisbee, etc. Grass dominates much of back area with a hand full of landscaped sections featuring freshly planted shrubbery. A chopped down tree purposely positioned in one of the corners was a popular hangout for many of the bigger kids present. They also had a large, multi-tiered patio area with accompanying furniture scattered about.

FOOD: If you've come to know and love the menu from their original location in Santa Rosa, then throw all those expectations away. I'm not saying that the food at the new Windsor location is bad, just not what I had come to expect based on the food choices offered at the original location. Only a couple items carried over from the Santa Rosa location. Chicken wings (only 1 flavor of wings and they don't have ranch to dip them in) and French Fries (although they don't call them that). The biggest disappointment is that they don't have Beer Bites. All in all, the menu is much more geared towards the pretentious Sonoma/Napa County wine scene than I would have hoped for or expected, especially considering the food choices at the 4th Street location.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I truly enjoyed my visit today to their new location and will definitely go there again. I'm proud to reside in an area that, while still referred to as the Wine Country, has become increasingly known for incredible award winning beers and the breweries that create them. This new location is a testament to the huge successes they've had over the years and I couldn't be happier for them. The beer was great as always and the food was good...

The being said, I don't think half of the things on the menu have any place in a brew pub...ever. Get Beer Bites and a buffalo sauce for your chicken wings. Even though your smug menu may have no place for the likes of Ranch dressing, at least have the decency to make it available upon request. Speaking of the smug menu...If you feel it's necessary to mention that your Fries are made from Kennebec potatoes, then mention that fact in the description below the title. By actually calling them Kennebec Fries, at best you give off that pompous a-hole type of vibe and it's not...

UPDATE: The General Manager Eric replied to my review within 30 minutes and spoke on the phone with us! Wow, we really appreciate his attention to this matter and really making us feel heard and valued. It's clear that this was an unusual event (as we suspected) because everything else was top notch. He clarified that they source local fresh veggies whenever they can and have a very high standard for the food they serve. After speaking with Eric, we feel confident this was a one-off and will definitely be back to eat and drink. Cheers!

PRO: Fantastic tour with Korey! He was very knowledgeable, funny, kind, and we learned so many interesting facts. We left the tour feeling like we were part of the Russian river brewing company, family! Also enjoyed the fun gift shop and came home with some interesting beers. We sat at the bar after our tour and the service was great. Every beer we tried was phenomenal.

CON: I ordered the veggies and hummus plate and the veggies that came out on the plate looked like they were about a week old. I can’t believe they could actually serve that to someone. I’m mad at myself that I didn’t take a photo but I was just so disgusted. And I was a little thrown off because the rest of the food and service was so great up to that point, I didn’t wanna create a fuss and send them back, so I just decided not to eat them. Unfortunately my husband mindlessly ate some of veggies before realizing that they were soggy and spoiled. I looked at other reviews and photos of the veggies and hummus plate from another customer and those veggies looked very fresh so I know ours were an anomaly. So unsurprisingly last night my husband was up all night from food poisoning. We know it was the veggies because we shared every meal and beer we had that day. It’s unfortunate that we came to celebrate his birthday and he ended up being sick all night. I know this was of course not intentional, but it was just a really unfortunate ending to an otherwise...

First, we love RR! Love Pliny...Love the new digs. But not sure if it's the person who was doing the seating or management change but not digging the new service. First time at the new place and here on a short trip back to Cali visiting family. Came here on a slow Thursday at lunchtime. Parking lot mostly empty and restaurant not busy at all. Asked to be seated outside on the patio (we wanted to enjoy the beautiful California weather while we're here) and the hostess Savanna said she fully sat the area (2 tables currently there, one 4 top, one 6 top) and she couldn't seat us there. We were not thrilled but understood.

I took walk out to the area to just check it out, seeing the new digs. Fast forward 10 minutes later and she seats a party 3 out on the patio (we are a party of 3). I ask her why she sat someone out there and she stated someone moved and a table opened up. She lied, I walked out there..no table moved.

This completely soured our lunch. This our last day in California and we came out of our way to visit this location to celebrate a belated Fathers Day. We wanted to have a bite to eat and my husband wanted to have few beers and relax a bit before heading out on the next leg of our trip.

This is such a change from the last time we visited at the original location. We had great service there and the vibe was great. Not sure what the deal is here with the new location. Why have a nice patio if you aren't going to use it and why have staff that lies to customers.

Too bad this will be the story we share with our friends about the last...