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Beer Works
Rating Details »
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
15 reviews for Beer Works
Beer, beer, beer. Meat, meat, meat. That's the kind of place this is. And sometimes, that's exactly what you want.
I am not a beer person. I would buy a cheapo bottle of crap wine over a six-pack any day of the week. Yet, I appreciate beer, and trying beers that don't include words like "Budweiser" in the label.
Our waitress was quite impressive. She knew everything about everything when it came to beer, and you could tell that the staff studies the menu hardcore. My first and favorite beer was the Merrimack something-or-other. It was light with a nice tang to it. I also tried the Sho-shanna-whatsitcalled (I'm really bad at this game, can you tell?). Didn't like it as much, tasted like warm water.
The nachos were sub-par, but then I got a Chicken Penne dish (lunch-sized) that was perfectly done. Had a really light garlic and lemon sauce and mushrooms, my favorite, and the portion size was great.
Lowell Beer Works is a cool place for groups, beer-drinkers, and people who want to watch the game and eat bar food. It was also cool that the brewery is connected to the restaurant and you can look over and see all the giant tanks and machines that produce the beer. Maybe beer will be my new obsessh? I'll stick with my bottle-of-Merlot-a-night habit but nonetheless I had a pleasant enough experience at Lowell Beer Works today.
True Story
Waitress #1: "Did you order fries?"
J.M. "Yes but only like 2 minutes ago from Waitress #2."
Waitress #1: "Just take them. It works out that way"
J.M. eats fries for about 5 minutes. Waitress #2 comes back with a plate of fries.
Waitress #2: "These are your fries not those (indiciating to basket of fries that J.M. is eating from)"
J.M.: "Oh, well Waitress #1 said to just take them."
Waitress #2: "But they're for another table. These are your fries."
J.M. : "But I've already started eating them."
Waitress #2: "But they are for those KIDS over there. So can I take them?"
J.M.: "Um. Okay."
Waitress #2 gives basket of cold half eaten fries to unsuspecting family of five who begins to devour them.
J.M. to rest of table: "Did that just happen?"
Beer was ok, a bit below the normal beer works standards. Jalapeno poppers were not spicy at all, watery, and I was really disappointed because I love them normally.
We were the only people there for lunch, but somehow they still gave me a completely rare burger...I mean on-off the grill in 2 seconds rare...gross! Lost my appetite, so I declined any offers for a free dessert or soup (won't even comp my beer?). Also had to send back soda since the mixture was way off. Other people I was with did love the chili.
I think they are just off their game here compared to the other locations. I don't think we will be back for a while, and if we do go I am staying away from anything that needs to be cooked to prevent illness.
+1 star for the sweet potato fries, which are always good.
Place only seems good if you are travelling in packs or with a few friends. Otherwise, not a place to meet people and some superficial people seem to hang here and they dont seem to play very good music so..
As far as beer goes, Id say its quite good although I've had my fill of homebrew brown ales so if I go again (with people now), I will try something else.
Beer Works is nothing great, but it's okay if you have limited options.
The mister and I went up to Tyngsboro to pick berries today and it was HOT. I mean, so hot that we could feel the sweat pouring down our backs in the fields. When we got done, we were in need of some cold beverages and some sustenance. He had been wanting to check out the newest Beer Works location to see if 1) it had changed at all since its mediocre roots and 2) it differed from any of the other Beer Works locations. So we headed there and got ourselves a booth.
Unfortunately for him, they were out of most of the beers he was interested in trying, so he was stuck with some of the less flavorful varieties. He was not impressed with the beers. But the iced tea was flavorful and good, which made me happy.
Food was actually pretty good. I ordered a pizza with kalamata olives, mushrooms, and jalapenos and he went for the veggie burger. When the pizza arrived, I was slightly disappointed that it was topped with regular black olives, instead of kalamata (why have both kinds as options on the menu if you're not going to be vigilant in making sure the right ones get on the pizza??). But the pizza itself was good. He enjoyed the veggie burger, which had a mustardy sauce of some type. Many of the dishes can be made vegetarian, which is nice too.
Service was a bit forced, but nice enough. Lowell doesn't have all that many decent food options in that particular area, so I guess I would go back if I was visiting someone at UML and we wanted to get some grub without driving anywhere. But I certainly wouldn't go out of the way for it.
Gravy Fries. Sour Cream & Chive fries. Fiery Fries. Chili Fries.
Holy batman, there's a lot of fries here. And beer-battered onion rings, mounds of nachos, messy hamburgers.
This is a pub, so lots of junk food thrives in between the microbrewery. They have an extensive list--it probably took me seven minutes to finally figure out what I really wanted.
FYI, the live band sucked. Looked like a bunch of high school hooligans trying to make it happen. We had a table out on the outside patio and then requested the waitress to move us inside. Please lady, can I enjoy my cheese fries in peace?
This place is a hidden gem in Lowell. I had heard about, but we could never find it. The other day we got determined! We finally found it and were glad we did. We decided to risk sitting outside despite the coming rain and eventually got caught in. The poor staff had to lock up all the patio furniture in the pouring rain, but it looked like they were having fun! Great place to go for very good bar food and service!
Only thing I thought was a bit odd was they seemed to be out of a lot of beers? Didn't bother me because I wanted the light beer and they had that one.
It's great having a micro-brewery here in Lowell, but again, as I've said many times, the rating is a little skewed just because there's nothing else nearby to compare it to. If you're sick of drinking run-of-the-mill beers like Coors and Bud, etc., try the local selection at Beer Works. There's a brew for anyone's taste. The Nut Brown is, IMO, the tastiest all-around beer they carry.
Food is REALLY good here, ESPECIALLY by Lowell's standards. Awesome pizza, sweet potato fries, and the ribs are better than Village Smokehouse downtown, who supposedly "specializes" in ribs.
The Brewery Exchange, next door, looks like part of the same place, but I avoid that side. It's like a huge frat party all the time. If you like that sort of thing, it's probably heaven for you.
Inside Beer Works, though the ambience and decor is non-existent, you can have a conversation even with a table of 12 because it's not too loud. The have a bar area as well, but it's rather stale like a freshly painted office in a cubicle-stuffed business building. Blah.
Rather pricey for Lowell, but at this place you really do get what you pay for. VERY attentive team of servers, friendly and they were all running each other's food, which I always think is a nice touch.
Can't decide on a beer? Keep ordering samplers, and you get little 4-oz glasses of 4 different beers in a little tray. You can actually throw these down like shots if you want to wash away the memories of why you ever moved to Lowell in the first place.
Just kidding...
...or am I? ;)
EDIT: be wary of the burgers. they are so thick, it's pretty much impossible to get one that's well-done. sometime too much of a good thing becomes gross.
Lowell Beer Works is in a prime location, between the Tsongas Arena and LeLacheur Park. So if you're doing anything sports-related in Lowell, chances are you're right around the corner. The main attraction to Beer Works is the outdoor patio.
The menu is pretty big, but the food is basically pub-grade. The beer battered onion rings were very good, and any place with deep fried pickles is ok in my book.
Obviously, the beer is another big attraction. They have monthly specials with trendy sports related names.
For me, the most impressive aspect of my visit was that I was able to watch a non-Bruins hockey game while a Red Sox / Yankees game was on the main screens. There was also some NBA game on, but who watches that garbage?
This was the first stop on a day trip outside of Boston. We wanted to drive through and see Lowell. We were going to try the Egg Roll Cafe, but it was closed either because it was Monday or Columbus Day, I'm not sure which one. We rolled in here at around 11 am and the place was very quiet. It was almost empty. The hostess said it was because they had just opened, but the entire town of Lowell seemed to be a ghost town yesterday morning. Kind of strange. Parking was easily accessible to the beer works, as they share a parking lot with a warehouse across the street. There was a great view of the actual brewing equipment through large glass windows in the restaurant. The look and feel is pretty much the same as the locations in Boston. We had a nice sampler of the all the fall seasonal beers which included the pumpkinfest, centennial ale, red october, and octoberfest. I really enjoyed the red october, which was a red ale, malty in flavor. It is also a GABF gold medal winner. To eat, I had the half sandwich, half salad. The sandwich was steak tips with cheese and onions. Very good.
excellent. i came here with the boy and our mutual friend right before seeing Wilco at lelacheur park. hey, girls that don't like beer: have no qualms about coming here! there are three kinds of fruity, girly beers here: watermelon, blueberry, and cherry. I wasn't particularly impressed with the blueberry, but the watermelon beer tastes JUST like the fruit, and is served with a baby wedge of watermelon as well. the cherry beer had a delicious, tart tang to it.
the food here was all right -- nothing fancy that will send you to ecstatic culinary convulsions, but still, simple and tasty. My friend got the artichoke and chicken pizza, which was delicious. The boy and I split spinach and artichoke dip with tortilla chips, which was all right, too.
Service was quite good, despite the fact that the place was overflowing with people, as we went right before a large concert. The bartender was a sweetheart and filled drink orders really fast, although we did have to stand on our tippy-toes on the bar stool footrest to get his attention.
As I read Keith Y's review I'm having dejavu...we too were ignored because no one was standing at the hostess desk and then after we were sat (at a dirty table), we had some of the worst service I've had in a restaurant in recent memory.
I'm a huge fan of Beer Works food and beer from going to the one in Boston, but even the normally tasty blueberry beer and chicken sandwich with bacon could not save this experience. The waiter pretty much forgot about us and had many, many excuses which doesn't help when you're hungry.
If you can stand the spotty service, don't be afraid to pig out on the yummy sweet potato fries with different dipping sauces. The portions overall are generous and the for the money the price is right on.
I went on Memorial Day (5/25) and had a great time. I had never been before and we were looking for light food and an afternoon brew and it was such a nice day we wanted to be outside. We live in Lowell, that leaves Panera bread (lovely view of the parking lot) or the Beer Works. We went, had a sampler of the beer and split a few apps. Nothing like it that I know of close to home and even if there was, this was pretty good. Food was good, large portions; it wasn't write home good but for the price, excellent value. I will be back this summer, probably more times then I'd care to admit online.
Oh, I do have to add that the afternoon experience may not have been as positive for the couple that got an entire beer spilled on them. I didn't see, so I'm not sure if it was the waitress or the patron but they were soaked, they'd gasp at my rating.
The food is pretty good and the beers are great. I loved their Imperial Stout that they just had on for February. The service has been between excellent and Ok, but the best I've had compared to the Salem and Boston (Fenway) Beer Works.
Recently went back after reminiscing about the cornbread that I just had to have again. The table service was much improved from our first visit, however one thing I didn't mention the first time was the confusion at the hostess stand. Perhaps its because the hosts are blinded by the sun and can't see people as they walk in, but if you want a table somewhere other than the bar, you generally have to wait by the host's desk before they'll greet you- this I'm not a fan of, but part of it is poor entryway design.
This time I actually ordered the beer. They had one hefeweisen as part of their regular line up, but I decided to ask if they had any more wheat beers on tap. Not on the menu, but on the tap was the Beer Work's Victory White witbier. Not quite Bell's Oberon, but it was good dinner companion with a light hint of citrus up front, that creamy wheaty texture on the tongue, and a soft finish. Now if only they would brew a Framboise Lambic... then I would definitely change my rating to five full stars. ;-)
This time I ordered the BBQ Steak Tips with mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, cole slaw and you guessed it... corn bread. ;-) The BBQ seasoning was just enough- more like a marinade that created little bits of BBQ char on the steak tips- definitely more sweet than smokey, which I prefer. The tips were cooked exactly as I'd asked for (medium well). The cole slaw wasn't as bland as I remembered it the first time, the green beans were snappy and not overcooked and the mashed potatoes were a bit mushier than I would have liked- which made me second guess if they were real or not, but the occasional unmashed chunk of potato reassured me that they weren't just instant flakes. The cornbread was just as I remembered it, and I ate that puppy like it was a decadent dessert. This was the first full meal that I've actually finished in a long time. I don't know if I was extra hungry, but everything was really tasty and I'd have no hesitation about ordering the exact same thing again.
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8/22/2008 First to Review
**Beer Works and Brewery Exchange are located in the same building, but are separate businesses with… Read more »
