Victory Brewing Company

OldeBrickHouse

New Jersey

1.27/5  rDev -69.8%
vibe: 1 | quality: 1 | service: 2 | selection: 1 | $$

Visited Victory on a beautiful June day. I went there along with my homebrew club. We had scheduled ahead of time a "brewers tour". We paid for this tour and we were very excited because earlier in the week they had announced no more tours. We showed up like a bunch of little kids on Christmas only to be met by ole Grinchy himself. From the moment we were "greeted" by the staff we were treated like trash. Our club has had many great experiences with breweries, brewpubs, and bars none like this one.

On our "brewers tour" our tour guide knew nothing of brewing and admittedly told us so. So much for getting what you pay for. I was hoping to gain some knowledge of the brewing process but was told bad information. When a plate of hops was passed around I asked what kind they were. The tour guides response "I don't know probably something they just swept off the floor".

After getting our samples on the tour, which happened to be the 3 most popular beers, we headed into the bar/restaurant area for lunch. We were given 1 server for our 30 or so people and only about 20 chairs. We were denied service at the bar because we had a server and were part of our group. At this point in the day the MANAGEMENT had sufficiently treated us like trash and the server apologized for it. I have never in any eatery had a waiter apologize for their boss.

Our day ended when one of our group was kicked out. The manager ripped a glass out of his hand with such force that a good portion of it spilled on the floor. She then screamed at him to leave. She said he was "visibly intoxicated". He was far from intoxicated and he left. There was at least 5 people that were visibly intoxicated standing with 15 feet of him when he was told to leave. When our club president asked for an explanation none was given.

Victory has really lost touch of what is important. The customer. The only thing that is of any importance to them is your money. They don't care about good beers, good times, or good food. Just to get your money. There is plenty of other breweries and brewpubs in the area that care about the customer that visiting Victory is not worth your time.

I will never buy or suggest their beer to anyone ever again. I have never in my life been treated with such disdain and disrespect. Which is quite incredible since I work with juvenile delinquents.

07-09-2011 03:17:52 | More by OldeBrickHouse

MsRogueRed

Maine

2.35/5  rDev -44.2%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3 | service: 1 | selection: 3 | food: 2.5

This was my third trip and both previous trips I didn't find this place that great, but figured I'd give it one more shot. Well, I shouldn't have bothered.

Service was terrible. It was late Saturday afternoon, so it wasn't crowded. A number of time, servers and bartenders were standing around in a group chatting while the customers at the bar sat with empty glasses.

Beer selection wasn't anything special because I can get their beers at the distributor.

The bathroom was clean, but the bigness of the place and lack of decoration is cold.

I don't need to return.

05-22-2004 20:37:32 | More by MsRogueRed

TimDuMont

New Jersey

2.55/5  rDev -39.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 2 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

We were seated very quickly. Upon being led to our table, we were in a very large room with what I described to my dining partner as a "caffeteria feel". There was a very large party in the room (maybe 30 people) who were very loud. I had never been impressed with Victory's beer in the bottle at home, but I thought I'd give it another try since it had been a while. I got a sampler of 5 different beers. Honestly, I don't have much good to say about the beer. I did enjoy the Scarlet Fire Rauchbier, but only because I had paired the smokey, bacony flavor with my food just right. I wouldn't drink it by itself. The food was very good, but the selection was a little lacking.

Overall, I don't understand what all the hype over Victory is... I've read reviews and maybe I'm not drinking the same beer, but of the 5 breweries I visited in PA that weekend, this was by FAR the worst.

02-12-2013 01:45:13 | More by TimDuMont

derekrick420

Pennsylvania

2.55/5  rDev -39.4%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 2.5 | service: 1 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

The service was quite horrible. Since it was just myself my wife and daughter, we seemed very unimportant to her. She forgot or ignored our drink order, and I was forced to go to bar to get them myself. It was greatly disappointing. The potential here was great but overall I would pass when there are so many other great options in the area.

03-24-2013 21:47:52 | More by derekrick420

ezatnova

Pennsylvania

2.6/5  rDev -38.2%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | food: 2 | $$

*** NEW REVIEW as of 11/08 ***

Living right near Victory, I frequent the place quite a bit, i.e. weekly at least (or at least I used to...I have not been there in almost two months). I felt like I just had to come revisit my review and adjust it for the landslide that the place has taken since its remodeling.

Apparently, they not only were intent on remodeling the physical restaurant, but also remodeling what used to be quality food and great service in a REAL BREWERY atmosphere. All of that is gone now. Welcome to TGI Friday's of the beer world.

The physical remodeling has made the place boomingly loud (much moreso than even before), due to the removal of all of the carpet and the expansion in size to nearly double what it was. Tables are much more difficult to manuever and set up for impromptu large groups, meaning equal or longer waits than when the restaurant had 1/3 the seats that it does now.

More importantly, the food quality has simply plummeted. I used to like nothing more than a Victory oven fired pizza (Kennett or StockYard were the best). Well, along with the old kitchen's demolition went the great old Pepperidge Farm brick ovens. The new ones don't do the job. In addition, the topings are now super sparse and they always just taste bad and funny. We've tried to move to other sandwiches or appetizers, but all have been marginal at best. Thank God the pretzels haven't been ruined completely yet.

MOST importantly, the beer selection and quality has gone down the gutter. For WELL OVER A MONTH, around August/September, I think they were out of well over 60% of their beers, apparently due to "lag of kegs". COME ON, YOU ARE A BREWERY. On any given night, they would be out of: Hop Wallop, Saint Vic, Baltic Thunder, V12, Golden Monkey, and others. Unacceptable. Now in the past month or two, they have introduced around 6 news beers. 4 out of the 6 are downright forgettable, light and tasteless. 1 is downright disgusting (a new version of Scarlet...mmm, beef jerkey beer!), and one is half decent. A far cry from the days where almost every new beer introduced was outstanding.

Last, the service, as a result of the massive restructuring, has gone down the tubes. It's not that they aren't attentive, but the whole "feel" is just off. Waiters and waitresses now skip over and crouch at your table to take your order and make recommendations on some terrible beer that they obviously need to start selling (cough...Scarlet....cough), like it's a freaking Bennigans. Also, when trying a new beer, rather than plunging in for a pint, you can still get the little 2 oz sampler...FOR TWO DOLLARS. Unreal. Also gone are the days where the ultra-loyal customers like my friends and I could get the occasional "thanks for coming so often" round of beers, or free top off's here or there. Now it's a regime of waitresses and waiters not being allowed to fill or touch drinks behind the bar and ANYTHING and EVERYTHING must be entered onto the system by the bartender.

VBC has changed from a really incredible local place that appreciated regulars and was a brewery that just happened to be a place to grab amazingly good bar food and have some beers, to now being a copororate mainstream feeling place with no personality or outstanding qualities anymore.

---OLD REVIEW BELOW---
Victory! More like a Victory for us fortunate enough to live close by! I absolutely love this place. In fact, it is my favorite casual place to dine out on a Friday of Saturday (they are quite empty on Saturday nights!). Expect to wait on Friday night, but don't believe the time they tell you. I'm always told 45 minutes and I only ever wait 10 - 20. There are plenty of beers at the bar to keep you busy. Atmosphere is weird...certainly not formal, but it's kind of cool. The atmostphere says "beer first, frill second!" I love all of their beers, especially the Moonglow in season now. Best Fall beer I've ever had. All of the food is pretty good, but you need only oder the pizza. Somehome this brewery manages to have the best oven fired thin crust pizza in the world. They rotate them every once in a while too, but they are all phenomenal and inexpensive. One $8 pizza feeds two or three with an appetizer. Service is always excellent and quick. There are some glitches beyond their control sometimes...but it's a brewery first, restaurant second. What I love is they are always ready to make you happy if they mess up. If service is slow or a beer runs out, etc. they are quick to offer a round on the house. That makes for happy customers that want to come back. The high cielings help this place be much less smokey than it seems it should be. I hate smoke and am never bothered while there.

Favorite beers always there - Hopdevil, Workhorse Porter. Favorite there now - Moonglow

11-19-2008 21:01:41 | More by ezatnova

marcpal

New Jersey

3.08/5  rDev -26.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 1.5 | selection: 4 | food: 1.5 | $$

This is a place to go for some great beers and far from great food. It was exactly what I expected based on reading the reviews here beforehand. Have to say also that the service is horrid but again, the beer is worth it.

Went on the tour on a Saturday and it was fairly interesting, informative, and the guide seemed to know what she was talking about.

Atmosphere of the place was very warehouse like but it had a good drinking vibe to it. Big, long bar with taps a plenty.

The quality was terrific for the beer but lacking for the food. The service here was not good at all. The bartenders, waitresses, and clerk in the gift shop were all confused. We were told we could not get samplers of beer at the bar by the bartender but later saw people doing exactly that. That hurt- we asked the waitress for a couple samples and she brought out all of them- oh well, they didnt go to waste.

Another annoyance was the fact that the menus and draft lists were all out of date and they didnt have a lot of the offerings I was hoping for- festbier, moonglow. I have to say though, this was all then made up for by enjoying HopDevil and Storm King on the pump.

The food was bad, very bad. Pizza, pretzels, sandwiches were just not good. Value was okay but worth the trip for the beer.

10-28-2007 15:16:00 | More by marcpal

leftmindedrighty

Pennsylvania

3.38/5  rDev -19.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 1.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

I've stopped here many times to fill growlers, but never actually hung out and ate, until now.

The service was just awful, I drank a 14oz Prima Pils and had to wait 15 minutes for the waitress to come over and ask if I wanted another one. That really pissed me off, as I was eating some spicy food and was dying for another beer.

But on the whole, this place is good, not great, good. The prices for the take out beer are no cheaper than my local bars, which I find strange. The food is great, the beer is great, its just that everything doesn't come together to make that perfect experience. All in all, go there, and drink. You won't be dissapointed as long as you don't have high expectations.

12-11-2006 01:15:22 | More by leftmindedrighty

Spacegrass

Maryland

3.43/5  rDev -18.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3

After spending a few hours driving up here and having just come back from Munich a week earlier I was disapointed. If I am ever through the area again I will definitely stop back though. It's hard for me to talk about the beers because quite honestly (shhh...) I needed a little break from beer after being in Munich. But I've had their stuff and know that Victory is top notch so I'll rely partly on that in my recommendation. The service here is pretty bad, and all the locals seemed to know it. I waited over 2 hours just for a tuna wrap, when everyone around me ordered, received, and had already eaten their food. Eventually when I got it it was free along with a pint of the porter which I liked cold, it got a little icky after warming. We went on a Sunday afternoon and the atmosphere wasn't amazing when we went in. We basically just got stared down by a bunch of people. Eventually though as the place filled up it got better, maybe if I hadn't been worn out from driving I would have made more conversation with people I wasn't with. The place looks nice though, and they've got something on tap for everybody so I would still recommend going. I wouldn't recommend making a day trip out of it though, but that's just me.

06-11-2003 20:44:30 | More by Spacegrass

akajimmyd

District of Columbia

3.43/5  rDev -18.5%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

A buddy and I made the trip down from Bethlehem on a Friday afternoon. We arrived a few minutes late for the 4:00PM tour but had no problem joining part way through. (Grab a brew for the trip.)

We sat down to order an early dinner. I sampled the Storm King while we review the menu. We had the trice fries (very interesting, sweet potato and regular with veggies) while we waited for our sandwiches, which were ample but average.

We proceeded to sample an excellent selection of beers. (A taste is free.) Samples are a decent 6 oz. Any all beers come in either 12oz or 20oz glasses. The brews are potent so watch out. We caught the tail end of the summer seasonals. I was upset that we missed their Bitter, their cask offering du jour was the Midtown Mild which didn’t do it for me.

The main dining area is wide open and lacks the ambiance of a brew pub, however the bar seems to be a popular gathering place for locals.

Decent food, good service, great brews, a nice afternoon.

09-21-2005 04:28:44 | More by akajimmyd

boelker62

Pennsylvania

3.43/5  rDev -18.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

I have tried this place a few times, and I leave every time with the distinct feeling that this is a brewery first, restaurant second. The atmosphere is average, and not very welcoming. I can't blame them for using the spacec as they did, they squeezed it into the corner, but designed the space quite oddly. The quality is of course good, butI have never had good service there. 6 bartenders, and 6 walk right past you, have been unattentive and uninterested, seemingly. Of course the selection they have on and rotating and great. Can't beat Sorm King on tap.

06-08-2007 14:16:30 | More by boelker62