Golden Road Brewing

RexF

California

4.55/5  rDev +12.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I went to the grand opening last week, which is kind of funny because I have been there about 4 times in the last few weeks.

Golden Road is freaking awesome.

Los Angeles has been needing a brewery like this for a long time and I'm thrilled to live just a bike ride away.

Rex (my dog) and I love it there. They have a dog deck just for the pooch people which we both appreciate.

The beers are great and the food is delicious. The service is kind of funny. You order at the bar and get a little table buzzer like you get at cheesecake factory. You get buzzed when you can walk up and pick up your food.

It's an industrial vibe with trains rumbling through and people of all walks of life drinking great beer.

01-22-2012 04:36:33 | More by RexF

chugger14

California

4.44/5  rDev +10.2%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.5 | $

The brewery is in one building and the pub is in another. Big, sprawling and airy warehouse vibe with a few patios. Fun, easy, and vibrant place.

These guys kind of stumbled out of the gate but they've gotten their act together. The service and food are miles ahead of where they were when they opened and the beer has gone from decent to superb.

Parking can be a pain when they are very busy, and service has been a bit spotty although way better than before. Other than that, this is the brewery destination in LA and it's got charm and chops to spare.

Don't miss Wolf Among Weeds IPA and Berliner Weiss and those pretzels with hot mustard.

04-07-2013 05:49:48 | More by chugger14

bfellows

4.43/5  rDev +9.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Golden Road has quickly become the home of craft beer in Los Angeles. The pub has a cool vibe with breezy patio and wide open doors. They have an interesting and surprising menu with no burgers, fries, pizza, sausages, or onion rings. Instead they have fancy sh!t like duck confit and vegan bahn mi, but it was very tasty. My favorite menu item is the giant pretzel with the spicy mustard.
The house beers are generally very good with the odd outstanding one and the odd average one. They also have a great board of guest beers.
I love hanging out at this brewery. It just feels like a brewery should.

05-10-2012 05:22:16 | More by bfellows

littlelilly

4.31/5  rDev +6.9%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | $

As a long time fan of Tony's Darts Away in Burbank, I was naturally ecstatic to try out Golden Road Brewing. Both are owned by the same people and both share the same craft beer enthusiasm that was captured my heart.
Golden Road is HUGE and cavernous but maintains a great vibe and real inside outside feel.
The beers are really great. Even on nights when the house brands few, there are tons of great beers from breweries like Avery, Sierra Nevada, and Dogfish Head etc.
Been twice and my only complaint is that the service is odd. Sometimes it flows and sometimes it flops. Everyone I met there is really nice so I'll keep from passing final judgement on this, but management needs to work out some better systems.
In any case a helluva good time and a great beer list.

10-03-2012 06:47:35 | More by littlelilly

abrethanson

California

4.2/5  rDev +4.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

We stopped by Golden Road Brewing for a lunch time meal and brew. They take up (3) warehouse spaces located in an industrial area between Burbank and Glendale. Each warehouse is slapped with a bright primary color paint job. Looks like a 'hipster' job for sure.

Atmosphere - Open & airy industrial feel. High ceilings of warehouse combined with large open patio on sunny day make great space for enjoying a refreshing brew. 'Country casual' picnic, retro beer signs, and clean industrial make for a classic & cool modern vibe. The lunch crowd was starting to pile in soon after we arrived, seems to be mostly younger business casual. Probably a fun spot after work place. Plenty of space to find a table. Would be more fun if they had standing height bar tables and music as well.

Quality - Food and beer selection both were of high quality. Had the Duck Confit sandwich, delicious. Not all the food is made to order, but it was still very fresh.

Service - Just stand in line and put your order in. The staff was fairly knowledgeable about the brew and food came out fast. Attitude was a wash. I did drop a "does your Saison have 'Brett' in it?" and received a, "that is a good question."

Selection - Simple menu of sandwiches and sides, which I prefer. Their own beer menu is accompanied by a list of guest kegs. The guest kegs were mostly local and very good (Green Flash, Hangar 24, Sierra Nevada, Stone, etc). Dig they are promoting the local scene. They even had a cask of their own IPA on tap. I had the Saison colab with Hangar 24. Pretty tasty.

Food - as mentioned, tasted fresh and it all looked very delicious. Gourmet sandwich and sides with craft beer on tap.

Value - Paid almost $20 for sandwich, tiny red leaf side salad, and pint. This is not Olive Garden, but you do the math. Even though it was delicious definitely over priced.

Overall - cool place to chill and grab some good food and beer. The set up and 'drinkable' beer menu sets will appeal to average joe and beer geeks. Off the beaten path, but probably have a promising future.

03-15-2012 20:30:00 | More by abrethanson

UCLABrewN84

California

4.08/5  rDev +1.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

We visited Golden Road after eating dinner at Mohawk Bend (keeping it all in the family). There are 3 buildings to the brewery and I am not sure what they all are for but the yellow/orange one is the pub where you can get food and drinks. Inside the pub building it is a pretty big open space that looks like it may have been a storage facility or something before. Lots of cool old beer memorabilia adorn the walls and whatnot. All food and drinks need to be ordered at the bar and they will give you a pager to come pick up your food when it's ready. They only had 4 of their own beers on tap tonight and about 10 guest brews. They only serve beer in full pint sized pours. I really wish there were half pint and taster options available too. We got a bit of food here too and it was great. The quality of everything was also very good. Prices are reasonable for food and drink. Overall, this is a pretty neat place and I will be sure to come back when I am in the area.

03-12-2012 03:24:13 | More by UCLABrewN84

mrcraft

California

4.06/5  rDev +0.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

I liked the layout of this brew pub. The actual brewery is located in another building down the street. The tasting area and pub is something like 700 feet away in its own dedicated building. I found the vibe really interesting and inviting. There is an outdoor patio area with some games available to guests. Also, the interior space is open and fairly large.

I went primarily because I found out through Taphunter that they had Goose Island's BCBS on tap which is somewhat of a rare sighting in a Southern California establishment. The price was very reasonable for the pour I received. Of course, BCBS was great. I also tried a house beer, an amber ale which was pretty tasty.

I would like to return and try more of their own brews and food. It's nice to see more and more breweries and brewpubs pop up around the Los Angeles area. We still have a long ways to go, but we have to start somewhere, right?

05-14-2013 04:44:40 | More by mrcraft

drewone

California

4.05/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

Visited day after grand opening - most of the special beers were gone but enjoyed the selection of beers that I tried. Very easy access from the LA zoo and kid friendly.

Easy parking (could see that It would be a problem if it was really busy). Nice outdoor area, and even better inside. Not huge but not small. All food is self order and pick up at bar. Tried the sloppy Joe, pretzel and a veggie roll thing. All were good - prices seemed slightly high, esp on the pretzel. Quick service.

Sound of the train going by was definitely noticeable (were there about 4:30-5sih on a holiday monday) - didn't really mind though and the kids got a kick out of it.

Got a small growler fill of Either side of the hill (they were only doing fills of their regular line up) - this was my favorite beer that I tried.

Also picked up a six pack of Point the Way. They have a small shop area with glassware and shirts and six packs (even though you pay at the bar.

Also they have a refrigerated display were they display sandwiches other pre made food items - looked good.

01-29-2012 07:34:37 | More by drewone

Retsinis

California

3.75/5  rDev -6.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

Visited at the "Grand Opening", even though they have been up and running for Growler fills for a over a month or two, and the soft opening a few weeks too.

The place is really a complex of warehouses, all in a row, (Blue = Brewery, Red = Barrel Aging store house, Yellow = Bar/brewpub/restaurant) since it use to be for Train maintence back in the day or something, so the place is pretty sprawling.

Service - You order from the bar, and pick up your order. Makes sense for the size of the space, but with it being this busy, it was a bit chaotic. We just had the truffles, which were good. Bit it did take a bit long on the order (think it wasn't put in at first), but it was very busy, and day one, so small hiccup.

Have already had 3 of their beers previously (Hefe, Rye, & Point the way) so I tried the Get up off that brown, and Either side of the Hill. All above average, and balanced, but nothing that blew me away yet, but thats ok.

Didn't have an entree, but they had about 6 vegan/Vegetarian options (thank you!) and all sounded tasty, and I look forward to trying some next time.

They did have about 8 Guest taps, in addtion to their own 6-8 beers (some kegs blew early) so good amount of options.

Overall, golden road is positioning itself to be a LA power house, as their drafts are in nearly all the good craft beer bars already (and consistently too, and have been 2 months now) They are canning, and those are already showing up for sale in a lot of the better bottle shops, and soon whole foods (probably Vons, Ralphs & Alberstons within 1-3 years I predict) I would not be suprised if they were the "Stone", or "Firestone Walker" Equivilant for LA over the next 5-10 years, which is of course, welcomed.

01-23-2012 20:09:20 | More by Retsinis

dcgunman

California

3.35/5  rDev -16.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

I finally made the little over hour drive from OC to Golden Road last week on my day off. It was kind of a hassle getting there. Once I got off the freeway it was still hard to find. A big blue building had written on the side that the brewpub was the yellow building. And this was all in a industrial area. Strange location. But once inside it was set up really nice. You had a choice of sitting at the bar and ordering your food and/or drinks or lining up at the counter where they will take your order and then you can sit at your table and wait for your food while drinking your beer or drinks. I went during lunch time and it got busy on a Tuesday. Being my first time there I just ordered at the counter and took a seat at the bar. First on tap was their newest ipa ( and I think its in cans also) Burning Bush. Had a taste before ordering a full pint. And you can order a regular size (16 oz) or large (22oz). A dollar difference in price. I believe it was $4 and $5. Ordered the special a lamb burger which was very good. But overloaded on the fries. Maybe they could of done half on the fried and threw some salad on the side. But it was good. I ordered my second pint of beer (their Lost its Way IPA) and gave the bartender a 20 and got 11 in change. Did I miss something here? Did the price go up an extra 5 in 30 minutes. It was busy for lunch inside but not that busy. So anyways he corrected his mistake and I finished off my beer and made my way out for my next stop Beachwood BBQ and Brewing.
I have tried the two beers (Point the Way and Hefeweizen) in cans before my trip to the brewery. I didn't think they were anything special. Average at the most. The Burning Bush at first taste was a little better, but didn't do anything for me at the end. Left a burning taste in my mouth. But the food helped bring my rating up for this newest LA brewery. I think its a bit above average with the food menu. Not a whole lot to chose from. But half the menu is vegan/vegetarian and regular. I guess for the average beer drinker this place is good. Or for those who's trying to cross over from the crap to craft beers their beers will satisfy most.
Maybe if they experiment more on their beers they could be more than just average.
Would I visit GR again? Maybe before a Dodgers game. Which is once every 3 or 4 years.

11-04-2012 16:24:29 | More by dcgunman