City Steam Brewery Café

Billolick

New York

4.05/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Very easy on and off the highway to find this place. Multi levels, multiple stuff going on, pool tables, comedy club,lots of flat screens showing sports, lots of patrons having a good time, lots of tasty stuff on the menu, and also lots of pub brewed choices for beer. We went for a bite and a brew on a friday night, they had a duo playing some so so soft classic rock kind of stuff (fairly cheesy and too loud, but easy to get away from cuz, this place is so big and has so many differant areas to go hang out in.) Our waiter was friendly and prompt. Beer sampled (Dexter Gordon, IPA, brown ale) seemed fresh and were tasty, if not amazing. Crowd seemed on the younger side, this is a college town to a certain extent. Fun place, interesting building, worth a visit if in town or just passing through (DONT DRINK AND DRIVE)

11-21-2004 13:13:32 | More by Billolick

sinstaineddemon

Connecticut

3.95/5  rDev +2.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4 | $$

I hate driving in cities, even minor cities like Hartford. Parking is even worse. That's one of the reasons I love City Steam. Parking is close, cheap and easy.

As so as you walk in the bar is to the left and loaded with plenty of framed vintage advertising pieces. The bar has this clean industrial feel to the decor. The beers here are of great quality. It seems that they have about six house taps and four of them rotating.

The dining areas are creative and unique. Some dining tables are on stairway landings, some in cubby holes and other various cozy spots. The establishment seems to have done a lot with a little space.

The food is fantastic, get the chocolate cake, its huge. That slice could feed four.

07-17-2012 18:59:14 | More by sinstaineddemon

donkeyrunner

Massachusetts

2.33/5  rDev -39.6%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3 | service: 1.5 | selection: 2 | food: 2.5 | $$

Visited after checking out the Xmas lights downtown.

Supposedly the City Steam building is a former department store that represents the best example of Romanesque architecture in America. With the Xmas decorations and retro beer art everywhere it looks like a combination of Friday's or Appleby's and the toy store from Home Alone 2.

We came for an a beer at the bar but the bar was so crowded we elected for drinks and dessert at a table. We were ID'd once we entered the door and then again by the waitress who said she didn't trust anyone to check IDs for her. My girlfriend was not happy and the ensuing tension between her and the server carried out through the night. Once our server discovered we were only there for dessert and drinks she pretty much shut down and ignored us. It took 30 minutes and several requests to get a glass of water. The server wasn't familiar with the beer list and described it by listing the things that they didn't have. An extra .5 service points for a courteous and friendly bus boy that was the highlight of this place.

For a brewery cafe City Steam doesn't have a lot of beer. It's mainly a restaurant. They had an pale ale, amber ale, golden lager and saison on tap. Not that exciting. The beer itself wasn't anything special and a peanut butter ganache thing was off but my GFs chocolate martini was pretty good.

In retrospect I wish we had gone someplace else but I guess you never know until you try. Been there, done that.

12-04-2011 16:20:45 | More by donkeyrunner

spydo99

Connecticut

3.2/5  rDev -17.1%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3 | $$

I don't go to Hartford as much as I used to. But when I do, City Steam is 1 of 4 stops I try to make. I would say when I am in Hartford, I stop in for at least a pint 9 out of 10 visits to the city.

The resteraunt is very "Unique" - I want to say 5 levels. Food is average - another place you go to drink and eating is an afterthought.

The comedy club is well worth the visit - you can catch a suprise act from time to time.

The beer all have names and have a regular rotation, colt, naughty nurse, etc. I try to go when I know they will have either the Jamaican Stout or the "Russian" Imperial Stout. Have not yet hat the PV Porter dedicated to the life and times of a former local PV O'Donnell. (Gonna miss the Fiddle)

They do a nice presentation on the "yard" of beer. Designed to serve the table.

All in all worth a visit for a pint or two.

Cheers!

04-12-2011 20:05:13 | More by spydo99

socon67

New York

3.68/5  rDev -4.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$$

Went here with some friends. The place is more restaurant than beer place, but has a decent vibe. The wait staff know enough about the beer made on premesis to answer questions, and they do have a good amount of selections. I tried the Naughty Nurse and their Belgian Double. Both were solidly good beers. The "guest beers" appear to be the generic stuff. Food was good and better than most brew pubs. Trying a few beers can get a little pricey, but nothing too outrageous. I'd come back on a weeknight to see if the crowd is different.

10-25-2010 01:05:44 | More by socon67

northyorksammy

Ontario (Canada)

3.34/5  rDev -13.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | $$

A nice bar downtown. You can find parkig fairly close. Busy,but a small city crowd with a little fiendliness. it was pre-Tom Petty concert. A working guy's place, the several tables and the generous sized bar were all taken. The beer was nothing too special, the macros were the guest beers. Heavier drinking bar, cocktails and the like. Service was good considering the activity. Worth a stop if and only if you are in the downtown core. A restaurant more than a beer bar, and not somewhere I need to revisit.

08-20-2010 19:19:54 | More by northyorksammy

number1bum

Pennsylvania

3.73/5  rDev -3.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Stopped in here for dinner with a colleague while in town on business. This place was huge - couldn't believe how big it was, with a large downstairs and a lot of seating upstairs as well, plus some private dining areas upstairs. Tons of seating, which made it curious that on a Tuesday night we were told it would be a half hour wait. We actually waited about 5 minutes and passed a number of empty tables on the way to our table upstairs. Maybe they were short on servers or something; who knows. The decor and what not was very nice; lots of wood, very cozy.

They had maybe 8 beers on tap or something like that, plus a wasted guest tap with Michelob Amber Bock on. I tried their IPA and pilsener, and they also had a Belgian IPA, summer stout, light lager, etc. The IPA was solid but the pils sucked; way too sweet, sort of buttery and honey-like. Not good. Selection wasn't overwhelmingly good but seemed solid enough and looks like it turns over a bit.

Food was tasty - we shard some asian wings, vegetable dumplings and a basil and mozzarella pizza and it was all good. Service was a bit dicey. In addition to the stated 30 minute wait, our server was also working a large party and was not as attentive to us as he probably should have been. I think he realized that, however, and was apologetic for it. All in all this was a cool place to visit and I would visit again when I'm back in downtown Hartford for an evening.

08-19-2010 01:59:32 | More by number1bum

TheSevenDuffs

Ontario (Canada)

3.7/5  rDev -4.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$

This brewpub was a nice little surprise on a recent overnight trip to Hartford for a Pearl Jam concert. It was attached to the hotel I was staying at to make it very convenient too.

The place was packed given that I was there on a Saturday afternoon along with a lot of other out-of-towners who were there for the show that night. We couldn't get a table to try the food but managed to squeeze out way to the bar to get a couple of pints each. I tried their IPA and their Summer Stout. The Summer Stout was a very nice American Stout and IPA was a weak example of the style IMO. Others I was with tried the porter, pilsener and others and had mixed reviews.

The service was great considering how packed the place was.

This was a neat little brewpub. I would definitely go back here if my travels ever bring me back to Hartford.

07-17-2010 15:55:16 | More by TheSevenDuffs

gfbeer

New York

4.2/5  rDev +8.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

Had a great experience the other day at City Steam in Hartford, CT before the Jack Johnson concert. Beers were fresh and tasted great and the food was delicious. Had the IPA, which had a great floral smell and hop bite. Summer Stout was also good. The food was also good. Half the party got the buffalo chicken wrap and the other half got burgers. Everyone enjoyed the food and the beer. The place was busy and had a good vibe. Overall, we had a very positive experience and we would definitely go back!!

07-11-2010 16:19:01 | More by gfbeer

Slatetank

Pennsylvania

4.16/5  rDev +7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

I was in Hartford for a hot minute - just stopped here for a pint with friends - thought I would give a quick beerfly

Atmosphere was pretty dead while we were there around lunch on a weekday. There were a couple others there, but pretty quiet w/ a small bar area and all the beers displayed that were on tap. They have some cool art deco posters and nice beer ads/comics in the bathroom.

Quality - everything was served fresh and in the appropriate glassware I couldn't really complain as we were treated well

The service was simple basic and up to standard, without really going out of the way- pleasant and friendly.

The Selection is good I was pleased to find a Biere de Garde on and the Pale - Acapulco Gold was as hoppy as some IPA's -with a nice west coast taste. They had a schwarzbier and an unfiltered IPA on as well as a brown ale, wheat and light lager, but not over the top selection was -just a nice variety of solid brews

I would have ordered some food if we hadn't already had lunch at Willimantic, I can't comment on this, but menu looked good

The value is decent, picked up some glassware and had a pint for a quick stop, I would probably return if in Hartford again.

03-17-2010 15:57:04 | More by Slatetank