Hyde Park Brewing Company

PotownAl

New York

2.45/5  rDev -30%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 1.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 2.5 | $$$

What happened here? I used to really love this place. Good beer, good food, great prices. Five years ago, I'd drive over 45 minutes to eat and drink here. Ever since the change to the Steak House motif , this place has gone downhill fast. I now live 5 minutes away and won't stop in anymore.

Where do I begin? Before the change, the menu was spot on. You could find all kinds of food for under $10, which is average for a brew pub. These days, the one burger on the menu starts at $10 and everything else is extra. I could see this working out in Westchester, but this is upstate NY. They took a great menu and really screwed it up with this upscale garbage. If I want steak, I'll drive to the CIA.

Then there's the beer...come on already. I've stopped in twice in the last month with my future father-in-law and we've had to turn back our pints on both occasions, for the same reason: a nasty sulfur smell and a wicked infection taste (the Stout, the Shwartzbier, and the SOB.) Each time, the bartender was very friendly about it and would offer us something else (the Red Rider seems to be OK). What really shocked me was both times the manager was sitting only a few stools away from us and he neglected to come over to talk about the issue. Talk about poor customer service. The last visit, I heard him discussing the issue with the bartender. The manager said "Oh, that's because the beer stays in the lines over night, you have to flush some of that out." Give me a break. They have a nasty issue in their process somewhere and it needs to be attended to quickly.

In summary, this place used to be right on. It's really too bad that the Gilded Otter in so far away. Maybe Darren will purchase the HPBC and right all the wrongs. A guy can dream, can't he? As I jokingly stated to my future father-in-law...This place is dead to me.

08-16-2007 23:37:26 | More by PotownAl

sscf

New York

2.58/5  rDev -26.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 3.5 | selection: 2 | food: 3 | $$

It's a brew pub that sells food. Nothing more, nothing less. I did like the viewable brewing, yet the lighting is too bright for a place who's purpose for being is beer. The end product regardless of style was bland and generally had the same underlying taste. I expected more from a place located so close to one the finest culinary schools in America...The food is bar and bistro. That being said, what comes out their taps is superior to typical tavern, but is less then I would expect from a business that brews it's own on premises.

05-18-2007 11:50:42 | More by sscf

belhav0322

New York

3.65/5  rDev +4.3%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Being the ONLY option for any decent beer in Hyde Park, I find myself here about once a week. While a bit on the dank and dark side, the large rectangular bar area, with a few tables scattered about, is where we most often sit. I find that the dinning room lacks any personality whatsoever.

As other reviewers state, the focus of the brews here is on lagers. While all are decent, none tend to stand out too much. I find the porter to be one of my favorites. There is always a "Barrel 9" selection which is a special, revolving selection. Most often, these are the standouts. The alt. amber and the barley wine being two of the best that I have tried. The Irish stout is very good as well.

They also feature a bottled selection of macro crap, which I always find odd in a brewpub. It's as if they are saying that they are not comfortable enough with their own brews to win over the average beer drinker. This is especially odd when your brewpub specializes in rather easy drinking lagers in the first place.

There are no quality bottled selections to speak of.

Service is usually hit or miss. They seem to have a really high turnover, which means you are most often dealing with a bartender in training (though there are some exceptions, and the bartenders who have been there for a while a good). Even on a slow night, it seems like it takes a while for refills, orders, etc.

The food is not too bad. Good wings and other pub food selections. On Tuesday's they have $10 pizza and pitcher, which is a great value.

Despite my gripes this place is rather endearing and worth checking out, esp. if you are not looking for some sort of Imperial IPA or other extreme beers and just in the mood for a nice session beer.

05-03-2007 20:21:42 | More by belhav0322

Boppar

New Hampshire

3.3/5  rDev -5.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 3.5 | $$

I spent many a Trivia NIght here back in the day.

The weirdest thing about this place is that is has eight different beers on any given day, and usually at least half of them are lagers. For example, the Rough Rider Red is basically a modified Irish Red Ale brewed with a strain of lager yeast, and definitely an interesting take on the style.

I like the glass cases that let you see the brewing equipment. Always soild. The place itself is a bit on the small side, but it's fairly cozy. It is clean and is (thankfully) not garishly decorated the way many places are.

The quality of the beer is pretty decent, but this varies largely on what you order. It took us a couple times to try all of them (except the Vienna Lager, which I think they don't make anymore... maybe they were just always out of it). Anyway, there are a couple really solid beers there. Mary P's Porter is a really solid choice, and the S.O.B. had a lot more personality than I typically find in a Bitter. But overall, there's nothing there that'll really knock your socks off or make it worth a trek there just to try the place.

Still... if you're in the area and are looking for a decent micro pub, you could do one hell of a lot worse. Also, it's right on Rt. 9, which makes it incredibly easy to get to, and get back to wherever you're going.

What food I have had there has always been good, although over-priced. Your best bet is splitting a BBQ chicken pizza with a friend.

04-30-2007 23:40:51 | More by Boppar

maximumsheehan

District of Columbia

4/5  rDev +14.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

4s across the board on this one. Went there for dinner and also sampled some of their brew. Nice building but kind of odd looking, kegs act as sign posts in the parking lot. I went at about 7pm and the bar was filled with folks 40-50. I hear it get younger during the school year with students from the Culinary Institute of America which is about 2 miles down the road. Their beer selection is all made about 10 feet from where you eat, nice glass window looking in on what seem to be copper tanks. I had the Chaos Dry Stout which stood up nicely to the Big Boy Bleu Burger. Service was good, nothing spectacular, but she was nice. The price is very reasonable pints were $4 if I remember correctly. Great place for a burger and a beer.

08-02-2006 20:41:25 | More by maximumsheehan

jimbotrost

Michigan

4.28/5  rDev +22.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Don't let the outside fool you. What looks like a funeral home or an old folks home is the home to some very nice beers. I love the fact that they retrofitted an existing building with brewing equipment and it is working. THe brewery is visible, the walls do carry some breweriana. There are TVS, big ones if you are in to that. A seperate diing room leads you to believe you could be someplace else. A nice effort and a very historic town. I would definitely return with or without family, it is that comfortable.

09-01-2005 10:21:07 | More by jimbotrost

vladtheimpaler

New Jersey

4/5  rDev +14.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4

Last place on a stop from a recent trip. I have been to the place in the past, and the beers seem relatively consistant overall.

Anyway, neat bar area with seating on all sides and the brewing equipment overhead. Boob Toobs are around as well as some games.

Beers are clean and easy drinking. I wouldn't expect anything too assertive here, but German lagers are rare and they have a couple of decent ones. Excellent pils.

Barkeeps have always been friendly and attentive.

I like the selection with 8 taps, and having 4 ales and 4 lagers when I was there last. I don't know if they usually keep this many on at all times though.

You would expect the food to be good, being across from CIA. Did not have much this trip, but what we did have was good: A spinach dip and some Chili and French Onion Soup. In the past I have had excellent meals here though.

Woth the visit, and only a short ride from Half Time...

03-09-2005 21:02:37 | More by vladtheimpaler

etho1416

New York

2.98/5  rDev -14.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3

This place is locate about 2 hours north of NYC near poughkeepsie and is right across the street from FDR's house and near the vanderbilt mansion. The bar was huge and the service was good. The beer was not very exciting, kind of tasted like big chain brewpub beer. The sampler tray was cheap and good sized along with the logo pint glass. The beers were pretty mediocre. The only really bad one was their lager, which had the awful aftertaste of a budweiser. I did not try the food but the menu looked good.

02-26-2004 17:25:51 | More by etho1416

Gavage

New Jersey

3.88/5  rDev +10.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4

This place is convienently located on northbound Route 9. It has a decent size bar of about 20 stools, and other high top tables surround the area. A small stage is in the corner for weekend entertainment. I did not look into the restaurant area, but it does exists if you prefer a table.

There are usually about 6 beers on tap (Easy Blonde, Winkle Lager, Rough Rider Red Lager, S.O.B bitter, and a special brew or two), but with my luck, I arrived at noon time on a Saturday and they were out of everything except the blonde, pale lager, and red lager. Before I left a seasonal Santa Lager became available, but the Mary P's Porter I was waiting for did not.The beers are good and enjoyable.

The food was also good, as the fish and chips and appetizers we had were tasty. The service was pleasant and knowledgable about the beers. Nice place to watch sports and enjoy a few pints.

12-24-2003 16:42:23 | More by Gavage

Suds

Pennsylvania

3.75/5  rDev +7.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 4

I think that it was 1997 when I first visited Hyde Park Brewing Company. It was interesting to see how little it changed when my wife and I stopped in this weekend. The atmosphere is open, bright, and friendly. Staff was helpful and knowledgeable. I just had a burger, and my wife had a duck quesadilla, but the food was better than your average pub fare. The beer is extraordinarily well made: clean, flavorful, with no apparent flaws. They had an alt on tap that was very tasty, and the pilsner was quite good too. The beer selection, though, was a little lacking. They could have put some more challenging brews on the selection.

11-23-2003 01:47:13 | More by Suds