Arcadia Brewing Company

Reneejane

Illinois

4.9/5  rDev +23.7%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

Wow, am I glad we made the drive out to Battlecreek. We were ambivalent about going out here as we can get Arcadia beers in bottles all over the place. We were visiting Michigan for a weekend getaway, and headed on over. We visited on a Saturday afternoon. The game was on. The atmosphere was really nice, I liked the old meets new look going on with the vast brewing setup in shadows behind.

We sat at the bar and ate an appetizer: Bruchetta, which was out of this world fabulous.

The bartender was EXTREMELY knowledgeable and gave us some literature on their beer as well as answering any questions we had, very thoroughly include details such as yeast. Surprisingly the have an open fermentation system! I say surprising because the quality of the beer and the clean absolutely un-tainted character makes you wonder if rigorous sanitation is really necessary!

The beers we had were top notch. They also did a nice sampler system as well. The beers available on tap were extensive. I was very very happy that I got a cask pour of their amber. mmm.... I love it when breweries have their own beers on cask (something that isn't a given always!)

There are definitely a number of people i need to come back here with!

09-22-2009 01:40:50 | More by Reneejane

SupaCelt

Michigan

4/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5 | $$

arcadia had a nice atmosphere. like a local bar except with really good beer, I enjoyed that the lady working the door podium had no idea what a growler is. haha. nice. at least there wasn't any bs'ing or pretentiousness.

the quality was fine. the beers are fine. we didn't eat anything.

service was good. we were treated like human beings and without any snarls from the locals. always a plus.

selection was fine. there were no amazing treats, but my pint was imperial huge and the b craft was good.

reasonably priced. nice joint. no attitude. friendly locals. I will say do yourself a favor and stop in there if you are rolling through. the friendliness of the staff was refreshing after dealing with the folks at the prior stop. thanks.

09-07-2011 05:49:07 | More by SupaCelt

Mothergoose03

Michigan

4.63/5  rDev +16.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

I just came away from Arcadia's Big Beer Dinner at which they celebrated their GABF Gold Medal for a special brew that was created when their Cereal Killer Barleywine was aged in a Bourbon barrel. The prize brew at dinner was accompanied by their other high gravity beers, one each to accompany an appetizer, 3 entrees and a dessert, all approaching gourmet quality.

(I am a local and this is my home brewery so I hope I am not sounding too partial in this review.)

Beer? I enjoy each and every one of their beers, and they do a great job with them. (A GABF Gold is proof enough.) But the gourmet feast that I experienced at this special dinner is not unusual for the food that can be prepared in their restaurant. Their normal menu of sandwiches, pizza (from a wood-fired oven), and barbecue items are regular menu offerings, and all of them are great. However, on Friday and Saturday nights there are usually two entree specials that go above the 'pub fare' and are always a special meal. A couple of special desserts are usually available of weekend nights too, frequently utilizing one of Arcadia's beers in their preparation (yes, in a dessert).

So you can come to the brewery to experience their beers, but you should also come for a meal to experience their quality food offerings, and Friday and Saturday nights are extra special if you time your visit for the weekend.

11-05-2009 01:08:54 | More by Mothergoose03

ahking

Michigan

4/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Sitting here at Arcadia using the wifi connection to write this review. Points for sure for having wifi. Seven beers on tap today including the London Porter and Hopmouth DIPA. It's 4:30 in the afternoon on a Friday in July. It's a little slow right now, maybe 10 people here. It's a big space. Long bar, pizza cooking area, good amount of tables, and a good amount of open standing space. I can image this place very busy on a Saturday night; people standing at tall tables, couples sitting at low tables, regulars at the bar. Nice cracked concrete floors and tall ceiling. Nice wood bar, flags of great beer nations, and lots of brewerania complete the decor. This isn't some fancy-schmany brewpub though. Nice gritty feel here that the hipsters would love. The beer Arcadia makes can certainly satisfy the prototypical beer-geek and having it fresh from the brewery makes it that much better.

08-03-2007 20:39:55 | More by ahking

BMoney575

Michigan

4.28/5  rDev +8.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Visited on 10-3-08

On a trip to Battle Creek last weekend, a few friends and I decided to give Arcadia a visit. The atmosphere is nice, almost more restaurant than bar. The main seating area is right as you walk in the door, with a sizable wood-fired brick oven in the corner. The bar is in the back, and you can see the brewing/bottling/packaging area through large windows. The quality and service were very good, the waitress was fun and helpful, and the beers were served in the correct glassware. The selection was great, with almost every beer Arcadia makes available on-tap. I had a London Porter (one of my favorites) and an extremely tasty cask Hopmouth. We didn't have any food, but the menu looked very enticing. The beers were very well priced, being about $4.75 a pint, no matter what you ordered. I would strongly recommend a stop at Arcadia Brewing Company if you're in town.

10-06-2008 22:40:19 | More by BMoney575

moshea

Michigan

3.35/5  rDev -15.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2 | $$

I dislike giving a less than stellar review to any Michigan brewer; however this was my least favorite stop on my Michigan brewery run.

The room was a dimly lit standard brew pub. We ordered spinach artichoke dip for an appetizer. We were served an onion soup crock bowl of pesto with at least an inch of oil sitting on top.

I ordered the sampler platter and asked for a Hop Rocket as part of it. I was told that it was almost out and it could not be part of a sample platter but I could buy a pint. I am unsure why; if they were almost out they would serve me 16oz and not a 4oz sample. I explained that we were on a Michigan brewery run and really would like to try it. She checked with her manger and was given the same answer.

Between the poor food and puzzling service we had about half of our sample platter and moved on to the next stop.

I do not want this review to be totally negative so I would like to mention that the Sky High Rye and London Porter were both excellent.

04-18-2009 13:30:04 | More by moshea

RedBaron

Illinois

4/5  rDev +1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Arcadia is a better-than-average brewpub located in downtown Battle Creek, MI. The large dining area has ample seating, is bedecked with nice brewerania on the adoring walls, has a large open brick oven for pizza making, and generally caters to a mix of folks: business types getting out of work, family people out for a good meal, arty types just hanging out, and beer geeks.

My friend and I ate dinner there, and due to the large and wonderful portions of our meal, we were only able to have a few beers with it. It took about 20 minutes to be seated for dinner, so we opted to have a pint at the bar. I had an Imperial pint of Angler's Ale, which is best described as an English-style bitter, and was quite tasty and refreshing. During dinner, I had a half-pint of the Nut Brown ale (also in the English style) to accompany my outstanding 3-meat BBQ platter (pulled pork, chopped beef brisket and shredded chicken). Yummy! My friend had one of the brick-oven pizzas (BBQ chicken), and two pints of their IPA to accompany.

Overall, we enjoyed Arcadia quite a bit. I wish I would've had a few extra stomach chambers to indulge myself further with their brews, but I was more hungry than thirsty going in. Gotta pick and choose your battles! Next time, however, I'll make sure to get a more rounded beer experience there.

11-11-2008 02:02:35 | More by RedBaron

HarmonMW

Michigan

3.34/5  rDev -15.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.25 | food: 4.25 | $$

Pretty standard brewpub feel. Beer selection broken into "tiers" much like Founders. Haven't had a ton from Arcadia, so I opted for a sampler of Brigid's Irish Red, Loch Ness, Whitsun, IPA, and the 16th Anniversary. All were solidly above average, but wouldn't classify any as mind-blowing. Also had a pizza that was delicious. Total price for the sampler and a pizza was about $20, not too bad overall. Service was just average - waitress wasn't too helpful but was there enough. If there weren't the other stellar MI breweries to compare it to, it would have probably come off much better, but in comparison, it's just average.

04-22-2013 02:26:05 | More by HarmonMW

Biggness

New York

2.7/5  rDev -31.8%
vibe: 2 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 3 | food: 4 | $$

While in Michigan we ate dinner here one night. I saw their draft list and I started drooling, many things sounded wonderful. I started off the coco loco which I could have sworn would have been a safe bet but NO it was horrid, I see others like this beer maybe I had a bad beer? I don't know right from the brewery so you'd have to imagine it would be fresh. Overall I had 3 beers non of which impressed me in the least. The food was nice though, bbq and they had probably the best baked beans I have ever had in my life.

07-21-2008 00:40:42 | More by Biggness

MDekker

Michigan

4.08/5  rDev +3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Located in downtown Battle Creek. We drove past a lot of empty storefronts on the way. The restaurant itself was alright, but not spectacular. This stop was the third leg of a brewery tour, following Bell's and New Holland, which both beat Arcadia. They had a nice selection of their stuff on tap - I had a cask-conditioned Hop Rocket in an appropriate glass, and it was quite good. The waitress was helpful, polite and knowledgeable. We ate some of their brick oven pizza, and that was good too, and we finished it with the last piece of pie they had, and it was good but not worth $6. It was nice to go there, but they have lots of competition in West Michigan. If I lived in Battle Creek I'm sure I would visit, but it's not necessarily worth a special trip from Grand Rapids.

09-30-2009 17:09:28 | More by MDekker