Craft Beer Bar

Laura and I decided to try the Craft Beer Bar in Cuyahoga Falls on Thursday evening - it had been on our radar since opening last Summer. At first the place itself seems perfect - edison lighting, the pallet wood back bar, tap handles for sink faucets, beer kegs for pillars - all perfectly trendy, maybe to perfectly trendy. Its like their horrible name in a way - I'd say the vibe is almost as if Target opened a brewpub. No big deal though - we were there for good beer and good food. With thirty taps and plenty of local options the beer was great - almost all draught - which is what we like. I started with a Belgian Pale Ale and Laura had one of Great Lakes new beers - a High Striker - a Belgian single. We polished off those and then ordered dinner...

'The Interior'
We ordered how we often do when getting sandwiches - with the intention of splitting them and and each having half. We choose a burger and a beef brisket sandwich, 11 & 13 dollars respectively. "Pints"
The food turned out to be ok at best. If they marketed it as bar food and it cost half the price I would give it a good review, but seeing the term "gastropub" thrown around and paying $13 for brisket I expect way more than chewy beef, average flavor, and a bun that didn't seem the freshest. We tried to like the burger - blaming its shortcomings on being a little more cooked than we would like - but the fact of the matter is it was only a 6 dollar burger. It couldn't hold a candle to the other over-10-buck-burgers we've had around town.

As we finished our beers we decided it is a place that we only come back to if we wanted a few good drafts - unfortunately we rarely go out for just beers. I can't say I would stop here over a Winking Lizard....and there are plenty of other places around with good draft lists now(like right next door at The Office, which has much better food).

'Black Out Stout'
Reading the Yelp! reviews had me questioning if we just hit on a bad night - we're usually willing to give a place a couple chances before dismissing it - but I really feel like it wasn't average cooking, but average ingredients.
"Great beer, good service, over-priced food"