Pangaea Two Brews Café

jasonmason

California

4.08/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

Great location with an excellent selection...and then there's gouge-worthy pricing.

Everything about Pangaea makes me like them - the stellar selection, the great bottleshop, the knowledgeable staff, the events. The interior is comfortable and conducive to community, with large, dark, thick wooden tables and a curving bar, and the cave-like bottleshop off to the side. The feeling is always comfortable, with a definite atmosphere of beer knowledge and of a place that knows what they are doing.

But.

Their pricing is outrageous. Entirely out of line for the area; by comparison, they would be high in socal. Yes they get rare beers, and yes they know their product, but holy hell; they generally are 20-30% higher on any giver beer that you can find in the area. It's very unfortunate, because they turn off a lot of the local beer community simply because of this attitude.

I rate them high based on statistics alone. I wish I could speak better of them, but being blatantly gouged makes Pangaea difficult to recommend.

03-01-2013 17:20:15 | More by jasonmason

JustinQ

California

4.64/5  rDev +14%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | $$$$

Great Bottle shop, but the prices are wayyyy off. Other then that great Joint.

Grabbed a bottle of 3F Golden Blend, Cost me 27$ for 365mls, WHAT!!, Bruery Oud Tart Cost me 25$ not bad but still a bit steep, I understand they have some extra tax they have to pay but still. Geez

Have no sat down and had anything on tap though I do know they have Pliny usually, some DFH and a large selection of Belgians/Sours

Definantly suggest trying them out. Love this , and they are only about ten minutes from home. which is always a plus

09-21-2012 07:36:39 | More by JustinQ

2ndloveofmylife

California

3.48/5  rDev -14.5%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $$

Visiting Sacremento and looked to BA for places to visit. And Pangea Cafe came up. The staff is very knowledgable and friendly. Very good tap selection. 27 offerings on tap. Everything from a dubble ( grimbergen & Brother David's ) to Tripel's ( allagash curieux & chimay white) to Belgain Quad's. With a nice selection of local micros. Samples from Drake's, Russian River, Ruhstaller, just to name a few. But if that wasn't enough they had Oud Bruin's and a gueze's on tap too! All this "and" a great bottle selection that you can cork there or take to go. Highly recommend.

02-15-2012 22:35:01 | More by 2ndloveofmylife

roblund

California

4.38/5  rDev +7.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$$

This is one of my favorite places in Sacramento to have a delicious brew. The atmosphere makes you feel like you are at a cozy coffee shop but instead of coffee, you have amazing beers. Yes, the prices are high and you do not get full pours on most beers. If you like to complain about spending money on good beer go somewhere else or stick to cheap beer that has no taste. The guys working there are extremely helpful and knowledgeable when it comes to their beer.

Not only does Pangaea has great beer, they also have bomb sandwich, and I highly recommend the BBQ chicken sandwich.

Please do not go to this establishment thinking you can get $1 PBR's and then complain about this place, and say how bad it is.

01-16-2012 00:05:47 | More by roblund

bluz4frank

California

4.44/5  rDev +9.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$$$

This is my first ever review of ANYTHING on BA. I am a long time fan of good beer and mostly think I know the best places to go. Went to Pangea Sunday 11/20 to kill some time waiting for my son to arrive from Humboldt State at the Sac Airport. Nice selection and EXCELLENT customer service! They had a "Franklin DIPA" that I swear tasted like Pliny. Staff was great. A patron even shared his last few oz's of FW XV with me! My major gripe is that they had Alpine Pure Hoppiness, and Duet for $18.99 for a 22 oz bomber. THAT'S RIGHT! $18.99!! I told the staff that they were rip off artists. If I lived in the area I would be very happy. I normally frequent Perry's in Livermoore and I though THEIR prices were high!!

11-24-2011 02:02:24 | More by bluz4frank

MLucky

California

4.13/5  rDev +1.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

A great selection of Belgian beers on tap makes this place a must for Sac-area BA's.

The place is set up like a coffee house, and indeed they do serve coffee--the place is even subtitled as a "two brews cafe." There are couches, simple wood tables, relatively dim lighting, music on low in the background. Nice low key vibe for chatting and quaffing.

But the reason you'll come here is the beer selection. The night we were there we were able to sample Delirium Tremens, Chimay tripel, Grimbergen dubbel, Odonata saison, Affligem Noel, Port's anniversay IPA, and Pliny, all on tap. Some of these were in samplers--they'll give you a four glass set of four ozers--and some in full-size servings, which are usually about 10 oz and served in appropriate glassware, often with the brewer's logo.

The beer ain't cheap, and those who like to calculate pennies per oz may want to stick to the corner Quickie Mart. This is a beer experience that's unique in Sacramento (you'd have to drive to the Trappist in Oakland to find anything like it) and if you know your beer, I doubt if you'll mind paying $7 for a goblet of Delirium.

They also serve food. We had sandwiches, and they were pretty good, went well with the beer.

The people working there were nice, and offered information when asked, but I wish they would have volunteered more. For example, I had to ask if they did samplers. And I wish they had some kind of menu for the beer: the selection is listed on a chalk board over in one corner of the place, which isn't easy to read unless you want to walk over there. Would be nice if they had something printed that you could peruse at your table, ideally with a bit of info on each beer. Maybe they'll do that eventually.

Anyway... definitely check this place out.

12-10-2010 17:12:08 | More by MLucky

marksweiner

California

3.15/5  rDev -22.6%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 2.5 | $$$$

This is a revised review from what I originally posted several months ago. went in the other day with a couple co-workers to grab a couple decent beers before a rivercats game. Perused the list and then noticed that they had Pliny the Elder on tap so I went for that. Since the price wasn't listed on the aforementioned list I was quite surprised when I was told the price: $6.50 for a 10 ounce pour!!! first of all, everywhere I have ever had Pliny (from Seattle, Portland, San Diego, to Sonoma County)serves it in the standard 16oz pint - so what is with the 10 ounce? Second of all, $6:50? Really? That works out to $10.40 a pint!!! (and that is not including tax) I know it can be hard to keep PTE on tap in the Sac area, but you can go to Manderes and get it for $5 (and yes, they serve in a pint!). As I noted before I was caught off guard with the price and when I questioned the fella who served me he replied with: "you can get it for $5 at happy hour." As if that is a deal?

I have been here a few times before and feel that the owner and staff are pretty good folks. Also, as they primarily serve Belgian ales I realize that it is a rather high price-point place. But I have a hard time reconciling the fact that they gouge their customers for a pint of ale made 80 miles down the road. Furthermore, the only other domestic ale they have on tap is Lagunitas IPA - and at $5.50 a pint it is rather expensive (Lagunitas IPA, although a forerunner in west coast IPAs, is rather insipid due to its high hop content and low alcohol - and should only cost $4 a pint tops).

I will have a hard time going back...
...

06-23-2010 12:51:15 | More by marksweiner

MisterClean

California

4.72/5  rDev +16%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Visited 2/23/10

At - Awesome. We stopped in at about 6:30 on a Wednesday and the place was 1/3 full. 30 minutes later, there was an overflow. Rob Archie, owner/bartender, extremely friendly and helpful. The set up is kind of interesting with stools at a deli counter, which allows you to talk to other patrons.

Qu - For Sacramento, top notch. Mostly belgians, with hard to finds on tap such as St Bern 12 and Odonata Water Witch.

Serv - Pretty good. Rob let us try samples (friend just getting into beer) and unfortunately it was just him and another server/cook. They may need to add staff as it was difficult getting the bill.

Sel - They had about 20 taps with everything ranging from Dogfish head 90 to St B 12. They also had about 30 bottles in a fridge too.

Fd - Looked good, but didn't try. They had a George Foreman sized sandwich press for sandwiches. Food looked fresh and good. Next time, next time.

Va - The food was very comepetitively prices with sandwiches costing about $7 a pop. Some of the pours were expensive for Sacramento ($7.50 for 10 oz of St B. & $6.50-$7 for other Belgians), but most of Pangaea's brews are not easy to come by. Again, if you want these brews, be prepared to pay.

02-26-2010 20:16:17 | More by MisterClean

lfrouse

California

3.6/5  rDev -11.5%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Pangea Cafe is a comfortable, coffee house like hangout with world-class beer on tap. Their draft list is Belgian-dominant, and mostly cream of the crop beers. I had a "premium Belgian" flight offered on their menu, which consisted of samplers of St. Bernardus Abt 12, Tripel Karmeliet, Dupont Foret organic saison, and Rodenback Flanders red. What a flight. I've had those all before, but they are not easy to find on tap. They have a brief, but good menu of salads and sandwiches, with good paninis. I'm happy to find such great beers on tap so close to home. I will be back.

02-15-2010 04:31:41 | More by lfrouse