I won’t lie, I did not have very high hopes for the Rock Bottom Brewery. I’ve been to lots of breweries and the food has never been all that spectacular. The inside didn’t give me much hope. The design was very generic and built for high volume, but not much else.

Luckily I was proven wrong and Rock Bottom turned out to be surprising delicious. I’m even part of the mug club which gives you great deals on their house brewed beers. The ale is my favorite, but back to the food. I had the smoked salmon fish and chips, a twist on something already great. Ale-battered, alder-smoked salmon served with fries, brewery slaw, malt vinegar and homemade remoulade sauce. The batter was light and crispy and not too oily. Each piece was a large chuck of smoked salmon. Pink, flavorful and tender. Probably the best fish and chips I have ever had.

The ambiance is definitely generic and sports bar like, but the beer and most of the dishes make Rock Bottom an above average place to dine. The staff is decent, although we did wait quite awhile for our beers. However, I would recommend Rock Bottom and will definitely be back.

I’ve been to the bar on three occasions, the first with friends for their beer tour (where they basically bring out oversized shot glasses to sample their various beers) and the other two with family and both were a lot of fun. I’m a huge fan of relaxed atmosphere’s and this was one for sure.

As far as the food goes, I’ve found that they have some really amazing dishes and some that are alright. The ones that are good are really fantastic, but the others kind of lead to disappointment (like the mac n’ cheese which was all but flavorless).

I did not have the beer the latest time I went, but I’ve remembered enjoying them past visits and they do have a lovely variety of beers that they brew, which is always nice.

One thing though, the service can often be slow as the restaurant lends itself to people out for a long relaxed night out (i.e. it’s dining not eating). So when you go order a beer, sit back and enjoy your company and you’ll love the place as much as I do.

My boyfriend brought me here before a concert, hoping to catch the end of a game while downing the prerequisite pre-show booze. He has been here numerous times with his buddies (they work downtown) but this was my first time. My first impression was how crowded the place was. We squeezed in between 2 other couples at the bar and my boyfriend managed to order our drinks. He kept saying, “isn’t this great?!” I was impressed by the TVs above the bar, but it was hard to hear the game over the crowd. Also, I saw that there were several nice pool tables and I wanted to play but couldn’t due to the queue of players already waiting. My recommendation would be to hit this place up on a weekday evening, NOT on Saturday night — too crazy!!!
Pros — good beer, lively crowd, nice TVs
Cons — crowded, noisy, couldn’t wait long enough to get a pool table

Liked the food, but there were a couple of flies around our table. The ambiance was nice. I had the spring rolls they were pretty good in my opinion. The prices were a little spendy but it’s a nice place for a weekend dinner, and there is lots of stuff to do in the area since it’s in uptown.
Pros: Ambience, politeness of staff, good spicy food, great appetizer and cocktail specials
Cons: Parking