The Flying Saucer Draught Emporium

wedge

North Carolina

3.3/5  rDev -22.2%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

The Flying Saucer is a local bar, 10 minutes from my door, with a long wall of some 50+ taps...and I hardly ever go there.

Dude, the beer selection is huge. Most of it I skip over. When I go out to drink, I like to try the current seasonals or other special beers floating around. Often, I'll stick to the locals or a select few classics. All the other taps are just fluff for me. There's a good selection of bottles too - but I buy bottles at the store, you know? I can drink them at home for much less. I come to bars for draught beer. Basically, I don't even look at the impressively large, multi-page, small type beer menu anymore. All I need is the chalkboard above the bar with the "recent landings" and there are other, better places that offer what I seek.

They do get rare kegs/casks, sought after seasonals and local one-offs, and seem to treat their "UFO members" well. It seems to cater to the college crowd though...big loud room, short skirts, some sort of phony attitude vibe, plates (sorry, saucers) lining the ceiling celebrating the personal achievement of drinking many different beers. I like the idea, getting people to break outside of their narrow beer universes...but those damn plates. The acoustics are terrible, so it's near impossible to hold a conversation on a busy night.

The food is pretty average bar grub, with everything feeling just a little bit more bad for you than it should. There's just nothing that's ever stuck out. I feel like my wife and I have been told they were out of a certain beer we ordered multiple times. Not sure if that's just coincidence, bad luck, or what, but we joke about it, so it's left an impression on us.

Service is really spotty. We've been ignored for too long several times at the bar and honeslty, I haven't met an outwardly friendly or remotely memorable bartender yet. Call me crazy, but I'm attracted to bars where the guy or girl behind the bar remembers your face or at least tries to interact with you in some way. We're not hard to please. Service at tables is fine, I guess.

I just don't really enjoy being there. I don't get the attraction.

04-08-2011 04:35:48 | More by wedge

tsing

North Carolina

4.4/5  rDev +3.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 2.75 | $$

Great place to go drink great beers in Raleigh. It is almost always busy, and they have something special going on every night. Rare Kegs, glass night, locals on special, etc...
I go here almost everytime I am in Raleigh.

Their Beer selection is great
The Food is average.
The Service is usually good, they do get busy often though.

They have a big patio that is in high demand when the weather is nice.

04-27-2013 21:19:16 | More by tsing

SteveMi

North Carolina

4.18/5  rDev -1.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

A - It's a bar but with a nice large bar area and plates everywhere honoring those who have made it through 200 different beers at least once.

Serv - The service has been good every time I've been there. The bartenders make a point to learn your name and help find drinks you'd be interested in.

Sel - Seriously? It's amazing!!

F - Better than average bar food but not by a whole lot. It's the normal dishes and a few salads. I ordered one of the salads last time I went and was surprised at how well it was presented (and good it tasted).

05-07-2012 03:41:29 | More by SteveMi

VncentLIFE

North Carolina

4.6/5  rDev +8.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $$

This place is kind of downtown, sort of near NC State. Parking can suck if you have poor timing, as its mostly on the street. The draft selection is amazing. Im down with any place that has Bell's Two-Hearted. I went down to hear what everyone was talking about. I didnt get any food, just went down for the beer selection. The prices were fair (about what I would expect for the area). I do like the saucer club. Kind of shows you how much beer they really offer. Im guessing this place is the equivalent to The Winking Lizard in NE Ohio.

It was a small room, with a low ceiling. Kind of dingy, but appealing if that makes sense.

The service was helpful, and even gave me amazing directions over to the Big Boss Taproom.

01-16-2012 20:10:03 | More by VncentLIFE

BeerNoobNC

North Carolina

4.09/5  rDev -3.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

The best thing about this place, in my opinion, is the atmosphere. They have a decent selection of taps, but they tend to stay mostly the same. If you're going to try something new, they probably don't have it on tap and if they do have it, it's probably something you could easily get in a bottle for a third of the price just down the road and Tasty Beverage or another store.

I usually go on Monday for $3 pint nights or Wednesday for Brewery night (where you keep the glasses from the brewery of choice for that night). They also have a "fire sale" every day (except Mondays) for a select beer for $3. The brewery night and the fire sales have prompted me to try several new good beers. The pint nights usually involve just drinking stuff I have had before, as the taps are quite limited (they only have about seven very common IPAs on tap, for example).

If you have a group of friends that you want to go drink some good beer with, and do not care about trying all new beers, I recommend going here on Mondays or Wednesdays. Wednesdays are more likely to bring new selection and you get a cool glass, but you will probably come away with a cheaper tab on Mondays (after fighting the crowd).

11-27-2011 09:30:34 | More by BeerNoobNC

bikehorn

North Carolina

3.4/5  rDev -19.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

The Saucer is definitely an interesting place. They offer tons of beers - but often are out of stock of the things I'd most like to try. They occasionally have events with some interesting/rare type stuff, but the place becomes a mad house and I'm just to cynical to elbow through that crap. The draw is always what they have (or don't have, as it may be) on tap. They also have a great selection of bottles, but I don't like to order bottles when I could get something on draught.

The food is German-style pub grub - you like sausage and you may like this place. Personally, I like things on the lighter side, and I know that I'm not necessarily going to be successful there. They did recently revamp their menu a bit, which has streamlined it and added a few options. My hope: that they perfect the items that they have on there.

And the service...if you go into the Saucer and want to find the right beer for your mood, don't rely on your server. Ask a friend instead. You could ask the bartender, and if she looks clueless, get a sample. I've had patchy service both at the bar and at inside/outside tables. I appreciate that the servers are young, marginally attractive and wearing short skirts, but if I am curious about a beer on the menu, I'd love to talk to someone who's been over the age of 21 for longer than 6 months and who has tasted some of the beers.

Overall, I like the Saucer, but it gets loud and rowdy even though it does appeal to a (somewhat) professional crowd.

10-05-2011 18:53:24 | More by bikehorn

LittleDon

Texas

3.85/5  rDev -9.2%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $

Great selection, clueless but attractive waitstaff, loud young professionals crowd.

Now that I've been to my third Saucer, I've seen the formula. Find a trendy spot in town to open a place with a dark interior and plenty of outdoor seats. Staff it with beautiful women under 25 who need know nothing about beer, food, or service. Use just about the same large beer selection found at every other location with a few locals thrown in for variety. Add some decent bar food.

You've got a winner.

This Saucer is similar to the other two I've been two. The main difference has been:
1) How much attention has been given to what's on tap beside the standard micros and,
2) How much the waitresses/bartenders know about beer
Some are better than other. Overall, it's formulaic. Novel at first, but tiresome after you've seen the show a few times.

My visit produced several mediocre local beers (all my doing as I tend to order what's made close by), served by a cute but clueless server (I'll give her points for trying, perhaps too hard, to be attentive). The food was surprisingly good and the prices were dirt cheap (Sheboygan Side-by-Side and six pints for under $30 + tip during happy hour). Deafeningly loud by the time I left despite it not being very crowded.

Would I go back? If I can find a place in Raleigh that scales back the quantity, focuses on quality, and gives a shit about beer more than what the servers look like (and I'm sure I can) absolutely not.

04-05-2011 01:04:41 | More by LittleDon

NCBeernut

North Carolina

3.7/5  rDev -12.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 2.5 | $$

A nice big open space with tables and a few tvs over the bar. A big chalkboard lists the new/roatating stuff. Normally packed and pretty loud, not from music, but just chatter from everyone - again it's a pretty big place. Live music around the weekends. When I say packed, I mean it. Finding a place to sit can be frustrating sometimes.

Kegs are stored in a huge walk-in right behind the taps, so shorter tap lines that never taste "off" are nice. I've always had good tasting beer there. Beer is served in appropriate glassware. I don't drink bottled beer at bars, so I can't speak on that.

The girls (aka Beer Godesses) are nice on the eyes, and generally have decent beer knowledge...but damn if it doesn't take forever to get one of them at your table. Service at the bar is better. Those guys are on point. I really have to take some points away here though from the VERY slow service at the tables.

Selection - I had trouble rating this one. I mean shit, they have a TON of different beers. If you aren't a seasoned beer geek, this is absolutely the place to go. For those vets looking for a heavy stock of rotating/seasonal/new release stuff on tap, they aren't the best. However, they do have a good stock of new bottles. This could go 4.5 I guess...I am going to keep it at a 4 though.

The food is typical bar food. The cheese fries are good, but really, nothing too impressive by any stretch.

03-21-2011 23:47:07 | More by NCBeernut

wchollif

North Carolina

4.2/5  rDev -0.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Dropped in for brunch this weekend and thought Flying Saucer Raleigh was deserving of my first beerfly review. The brunch buffet food was good, but not stellar. Pastry, egg burritos, sausage, fruit, and such. The price on the other hand, stellar! The food is free on Sunday if you're a member. The tap beer for my brunch included Duck Rabbit Baltic Porter and Founders Breakfast Stout (both around $6/each). The selection at FS Raleigh is exceptional, soon I'll make it to a Thursday cask night. Overall a great experience, great value, great start to a football Sunday!

01-11-2011 17:57:52 | More by wchollif

slowbie

North Carolina

4.4/5  rDev +3.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

This place is almost always packed when I go. Granted, I am a grad student, so I rarely go before 9 pm and usually go on weekends, but it usually seems to be pretty full and loud.

However, I guess I should be thankful for that, because even when I order an IPA that's more obscure, it always seems to be fresh, which is really impressive considering the number of taps they have.

The service is good. It's pretty clear that they hire their waitresses for their looks and not their beer knowledge, but they're very helpful when they can be and are obviously trained in beer knowledge at least a little bit.

This place has the best selection I've ever seen. It's one thing to have a lot of taps, but they fill most of them with really interesting stuff. All of their BMC options are in bottles and they have a rare beer night every Thursday.

They don't have a dinner menu, but their pretzels are really good after two beers.

A note about pricing: Most of their beers are very reasonable and their $3 pint night is about as good of a deal as you'll find on craft around here, but it seems like there's this arbitrary line where a beer suddenly jumps up in price. It's usually around $8 for a snifter of any imperial stout, but a couple (Brooklyn BCS, Bear Republic Big Bear) come in a pint glass for about $5. I'm aware that those are two cheaper RIS choices, but the $8 snifters usually aren't nearly twice as expensive outside of the bar.

01-06-2011 15:33:10 | More by slowbie