Tied House Cafe & Brewery
Categories: Nightlife, Beer, Wine & Spirits [Edit]
954 Villa StMountain View, CA 94041 (650) 965-2739
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street, Private Lot
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: Yes
- Best Nights: Wed, Fri, Sat
- Happy Hour: Yes
- Alcohol: Full Bar
- Smoking: No
- Coat Check: No
10 reviews
Los Altos, CA
"When you go on a weeknight for tasting you get the place to yourself ( : Wonderful place- terrific, unique selections (am going to buy Bitch…" read more »
111 Reviews for Tied House Cafe & Brewery
It's a microbrewery so come here for the Beer and not the Eye Candy. I've been coming here for a few years and the beer is always good. The place is typical for a beer bar; good food at fair prices. Nothing extravagant, but good. If you like sports on the big screen (I personally don't) then there's plenty here for you. If you like hot chicks, then try a wine or martini bar.
The Tied House is ok. A friend of mine always insists we eat here when I go visit her because she absolutely loves it, so I reluctantly give in and just go. It's great as far as sports bars go, but the food kind of sucks.
One time I went there just for drinks and had a great time sitting at the bar. It was a week day evening and there were a number of suit wearin' executive types schmoozing and making asses of themselves. It was some solid, free entertainment. And the servers were friendly and I never went a few moments without a drink. Props!
The food options are not so enticing. Especially for a vegan. The gardenburger is ok (probably not vegan though) and the fries are good. But I pretty much think the menu is way overpriced for shitty pub food.
I strongly believe, however, there is a place and a time for shitty pub food. But I'll probably go somewhere else to get it.
I've been to the Tied House a number of times, but when I visited on Sunday it seems like it dropped a few pegs. First of all, there were maybe two other tables being used when we sat down for dinner on Sunday night. I know that Sunday is maybe not a great night to go out for dinner, but I remember when this place would be packed. Has something changed at this place?
We started with the Onion Rings as appetizers. I have to say that they were quite good and the highlight of this meal. They were battered perfectly, had the right amount of onion, and were piping hot. The meal could only get better from here right? Wrong.
Maybe it is what we ordered but neither myself or my wife wanted a burger or their exotic sausages (heh heh...exotic sausage), so we opted for something different.
She ordered the Salmon fish and chips. Maybe Salmon is just not suppose to be battered and fried b/c my wife thought it was gross. She literally had to pick through the fat to get to the meat portions of the fish. Not being a lover of salmon to begin with I had to take her word for it that it was unpleasant to eat. Her fries were good though.
I opted for the chicken quesadilla. I swear I've had it there before and liked it but this time something was just off about it. I want to say that they had to much of a particular seasoning that I didn't really care for, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was wrong with it. I got through 1 wedge of 4 before giving up on it.
Considering that my wife and I don't eat out all that much we were pretty disappointed and wished we ate somewhere else on Castro Street especially when we got the $40 bill for a meal we didn't eat half of and didn't want to take home.
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If I was rating Tied House on it's ability to pass as a normal restaurant, it'd probably get a 3.5, instead, as a brewery it gets a solid 4.
Given that it's a brewery, you really have to judge it on three things: It's beer. It's food. And, it's service.
First, the beer. The selection is typical for a "tied house" (a pub that can only serve beers by the brewer who owns the place [in old England]), relatively small, one of each major kind of beer. My party and I ended up trying all of them except their fruit beer, most of all of which were pretty good. However, their American Wheat beer is really something to write home about, and could easily keep me coming back by itself. A completely different wheat beer from other places - this one is very clean and refreshing and -clear-. It's worth at least a trip by itself to give it a try.
On the food front, I opted to try something simple -- a burger. I was actually pleasantly surprised. I'm normally pretty picky about my burgers, but this was really great. Needed nothing more than a little mustard. The variety of the menu was really out there, however that seems to be common at breweries around here. Some of the things on the menu just didn't sound very good, but with solid classics like their burgers, who cares? No restaurant can get everything perfect. Why should a brewery? I thought the selection was solid, and easily found several things that sounded interesting. Alligator and Boar Sausage? Awesome!
The service was really the only downside, a bit slow at times. Food seemed to come out relatively quick, but we were stuck near the back of the place, so I'm not sure what to think.
All in all, it had it's moments. I'd go back in a heartbeat for another burger and American wheat, and I'd probably even give some of the other stuff a chance. It's definitely got some of the better beer in the South Bay, and for that, I can award no less than four stars.
After someone explained it was "Tied House" and not "Thai House", I felt a lot easier going. We went about 4pm on a Sunday and it was pretty dead empty. The thing is...cough...i don't get a sports bar that plays techno music and serves all of their food with garlic. I got the Apple Chicken sandwich (i know, i was skeptical as well) and it wasn't bad, but they added pesto sauce and that overpowered the chicken and the apples. The best thing about the restaurant was the TV they had in the corner that was playing Telemundo which was showing something that involved young women at the beach.
The crowd was hip and young. I was being handed beers from all directions. The server was friendly and the manager was adorable! It was a good hair day...or night. I was wearing my skinny jeans. The nachos were so delicious that it brought tears to my eyes. I didn't want to leave and I have no idea how I got home. I'm going back tonight.
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I can't help but love Tied House. It's never going to surprise me, but I find I crave a burger & beer from them every week or two. The beer is pretty darn good and the menu is diverse enough that my wife and I can always find something. I usually fall back to the pastrami-topped, artery-clogging Brewer's Burger.
The service is surprisingly good for a beer hall, too. Crowded during sporting events, but not overwhelming if you aren't interested in watching.
Pretty good place for happy hour. Typical Chili's like food, but we were really there for beer and chit chats. They have a couple flatscreen tv's on the wall if you want to catch the game.
5 for the beers! 3 for the food! Love the beers. Tasty and reasonably priced. Even 3 is a strtch on the food. Apps leave something to be desired and much of the rest taste like Sysco foods prepackaged kind of stuff...Nonetheless, the beer keeps me coming back!
I love the pesto calamari appetizer here. Love it. Perfectly cooked, crispy, never rubbery. Whenever I come here, I always get that as my main entree. I wash it down with some great, fruity raspberry beer (I'm a lightweight).
Aside from those and a few other appetizers though, the rest of the food here is, eh. Not bad, but no better than average brewery food. I feel they try too hard... ostrich meat? grilled ahi? sea scallops? I wish they'd focus on the basics.
Regardless, this is great place to hang out with large groups. There's plenty of seating, you can be rowdy yet it's still comfortable for conversations, and there are lots of large TVs to distract you if you get bored of the people you're supposed to be paying attention to (oops, did I just write that?).
In summary, great place to hang out with friends or to chow down on appetizers, but don't expect 5-star dining.
I like the beer. The food is ok. I would only order the fruit beer and a half portion of one of the salads. This is a good place for sports watching though.
In spite of frequently filling the coffers of this establishment due to its proximity to my workplace, I can only give it three stars. The beer is tasty, but the food has gone rather downhill in the past year or so. The appearance of the menu itself changed, and my associates and I have speculated that the brewpub switched ownership--or at least management--during that time. It's pretty loud and the acoustics don't lend themselves to close conversation, but if you're just looking for a place to have a quick pint with your buddies, Tied House is a reasonable choice...especially since they have a dedicated parking lot directly behind the establishment!
I went here for lunch with the purpose of leaving with a 5-gallon keg of whatever brew I thought was best. I had a very hard time finding a beer that I thought was good, and even my partner in this expedition agreed that we were definitely 'settling' by getting any of them at all. Very little flavor and lots and lots of water. It's actually sort of shameful that the stuff is made on site-- it should taste phenomenal! We tried every beer they had on tap. The star was definitely a fruity spring beer (I'm not usually a fan of these), but the rest were forgettable within seconds, or not forgettable at all because you want that damn taste out of your mouth. The food was extremely bland and almost cafeteria quality. I was extremely hungry (and we were drinking), and I could hardly finish half of whatever the Quesadilla was. That says something. I will never return.
The water shortage in the Bay Area just may be due to the excessive water in the Tied House beer... he he he ;)
A Silicon Valley institution, the Tied House has been the scene of off site meetings, reunions, informal gatherings and a meeting place before heading off elsewhere in the years I've lived here. It's like an old friend, you know it will be there when you want to catch up again always welcoming you back. The beer is tasty, the atmosphere is friendly and fun and food is good. The garlic pesto fries are addictive, the Achiote Chicken Quesadilla is deliciously spicy and the tri tip steak salad is amazing! Get your friends together and head there today, you won't be sorry!
Check them out at:
http://www.tiedhouse.com
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The beer is not bad (I always get the wheat), and the food is actually pretty good. The mango and shrimp salad is spicy, sweet, and huge. The skirt steak is tender and delish. The burgers are good too, but skip the buffalo chicken strip appetizer. The restaurant is usually busy at night, but there's hardly ever more than a few minutes' wait for a table. They've got some TVs, too. There's a parking lot across the street, but sometimes on Friday and Saturday night it fills up, so head for the parking garage around the corner.
I was hoping for "awesome," but I was dissapointed. This place could be tops if they would make "awesome" beer, but they don't... it's barely so-so in my book. I'm hoping they will work this out because the atmosphere and service is great. In fact, it has a great, local vibe. Good energy in the house.
It's clean, not overly noisy. Food is decent enough.
But the beer - weak taste, poor spectrum of flavors.
I'll try again in a year hoping for a change in brewing.
If you want a great place to hang out after work and don't expect much from the beer - you'll love it in my opinion.
The things you learn from your mistakes - Mercedes mistake #10,538, don't order a well drink at a brewery. My friends and I decided to go out for drinks, and I didn't feel like having a beer, and I was feeling the scurvy coming on, so I ordered a gin gimlet. The gin was ok, but the gimlet wasn't - the gimlet was just some crappy sour mix - which I should have expected, because Hello, I was in a brewery - but still. blech. I guess I got spoiled on making my own gimlets with actual lime juice. the appetizers are decent, and the beer is great. just. don't. order. any. well drinks.
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It's Friday and who doesn't need a drink? You're scrambling last minute to find your friends to rope into hanging out with you for a pitcher of beer and some pub fare for happy hour. Forget about lining up at Cupertino's BJ! Just head over hear and grab a spot. There's plenty of room and no waiting. Service is so-so but not the worst because you know once you start with that beer, nothing else matters...expect until you ask for the next pitcher.
The crowd consist of other professionals in the neighboring area, so you're basically drinking with a bunch of other techies in the Mountain View area. A great starting point for Friday night as you navigate through the strip of slim restaurant options on Castro.
It's a loud place, mediocre to poor pub food, ok selection of beers., prices aren't great. Still this place is packed every night. People must see something I don't. Went there for my husband's tri-club party. The hors d'oeuvres were greasy and meager. If you're going to serve bad food, make sure there's enough of it!!! Admittedly -- there may not have been enough ordered by the group, but I'm sure whatever we got was overpriced. I think Molly McGees on Castro is the same idea but a little better.
Their beer was tasty, the atmosphere is pretty typical brew pub, the waiters were nice enough. The food wasn't very memorable, except that they have a few unusual meats on the menu including gator and boar. They were stingy with the toppings on my salad (it was overpriced) and the onion rings were so-so. It was a good place to catch up with friends, though, and convenient to the light rail so that I wouldn't have to drive.
Good hang out within walking distance from Castro street. If the bars on Castro aren't really your thing like Limelight or that other schnazzy bar with the bouncers then Tied house is for you.
I enjoyed their raspberry wheat beer. I would have to say it's better than 21st Amendment's watermelon wheat. Since the watermelon is really subtle while the raspberry brings a crispness to their weizen. I wish I should have went for their beer flight since you get to try all their beers on tap in 6oz glasses for like 9 bucks or something.
This would be a good place to go for a group since a lot of their samplers are intended for large groups. The have 3 samplers that are friggin huge. I actually have some leftover french fries, shrimps, and calamari. Since I haven't finished it yet I guess you can say the quality isn't exactly awesome but hey it's bar food.
I would go back if I'm in the area with a large group of people and don't want to deal with the bouncers in downtown Mountain View.
This is my regular burger and beer joint. They have two nice vegetarian burger options, oilier but also tastier than most veggie burgers in the area. They start you off with some good wheat/black marble bread.
The real reason to come here, of course, is the beer. I'm partial to the Cascade Amber and the Oatmeal Stout.
For the nostalgic, this is the original Tied House location as well.
The only downside is the service. It is slow at times, even without big crowds, and they have a habit of forgetting pieces of your order.
Great beer, good food, and cool environment. Love the fact that you can become a member and have your very own beer stein waiting for you upon arrival. Great for just two or a group.
Yuck - the food is pretty greasy/mediocre, especially for the price. I feel like it'd be a lot better if they stopped trying to make fancy food. The calamari appetizer is good though, and I've never been opposed to ordering an appetizer as an entree.
Plus, outdoor seating with heaters.
This turned out to be perfect for our after work gathering. Seven were seated at an array of combined tables at the front window, and our server took immediate care of us. Three of us ordered on of the three sampler flight offerings. They basically come in small, medium and large: 3, 5 or 7 6-oz. servings of their brewed beers. We opted for the medium, which was comprised of the light, medium, amber, wheat and dark varieties. Hard to choose a favorite. They naturally got better as you worked your way up the line. The fresh bread brought out in advance of the meal was outstanding. My wild crocodile and boar sausages were very tasty, though I'm not sure which was which. Probaby better that I don't know. I subbed the black beans and rice for what normally comes with that dish (I think it was whipped potatoes), and my plate was completely clean by the time I as done. Good food, good beer, good times.
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This place is was just O-K to me. I went in on Sat night with a group of friends for dinner and there was no waiting to be seated and the atmosphere was good for table conversation. Everyone agree the food was good. One issue. They wouldn't split up the check so we sat there an extra 30 minutes with the waiter trying to figure out how to put what amount on what person's card. You think he would have just put them all in the computer separate from the beginning. The bad taste in our mouths leaving was the waiter keeping us so long because he had to get someone else to help him pay our bill.. if you are going to come as a group everyone bring your cash to throw it in at the end or you might end up taking forever to leave.
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I like this place for lunch but not dinner. THey have a good variety of beers and their burgers are really good! The rest of the menu not bad for brewery food and they have great salads! Service was ok nothing great or bad!
This goes under the category of no one but myself to blame....
I order a beer and I decide to get one of those yard glasses.
It made sense that they provide plastic yard glasses in case of an all out brawl (and breakage..) but the plastic edge was fairly rough.
It is a fairly daft way to drink beer.
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I'm the 74th review so I'm not going to surprise anyone with any unique information about Tied House. The beer is good. Their oatmeal stout, amber, and seasonal fruit beer are my favorites.
The best part about TH? The happy hour! 1/2 price beer and 1/2 off some of their appetizers (including their awesome nachos). You can't complain about filling up with beer and nachos for under $10. :)
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Came here for lunch the other day and had some buffalo wings and the tortellini with chicken. The buffalo wings were good but a tiny bit too dry on the inside. The tortellini was awesome. The chicken breast was surprisingly super tender. However the Alfredo sauce in it seems a bit too watery, it tasted really good nonetheless. Didn't have a beer for lunch tho.
Also.. they say they have a 120" HDTV for super bowl? Where the heck is that? I don't see it? Maybe they're talking about some projected thing cus 120" is pretty damn big for a plasma or lcd.
The food at Tied House is solid.. not your typical brewery food. However, the beer is just average to me. I prefer Rock Bottom's brews vs Tied House.
If you're in the area, check it out. I wouldn't say it's worth going out of your way for.
I came here on a first date once, it's like one of those places where you can go for drinks and if it ends up good then you can continue on for a snack or dinner. Plus on a normal night near happy hour it's pretty filled. The beer actually is not bad. I forget what I ordered but it was a light beer and smooth and refreshing.
For dinner I had a Cobb salad. It was overridden with blue cheese and I just wish I had known how much there would be everywhere because then I would have asked for it on the side or not at all on the salad. I think my date had a pizza, but he said it wasn't all that great. Not bad place for drinking but for eating it's just so so.
Since I'm not a drinker, most bars and breweries don't hold that much appeal for me... Still, Tied House has decent burgers. Plus, the wild game burger is interesting, though I can't imagine how they would get ostrich meat. Prices are a touch better than Gordon Biersch and I like the atmosphere better.
Got a table relatively easily. Didn't get a beer since I was driving but my friend liked hers. The food was just average, nothing too special. Actually, my burger could've stood to have been cooked 3 minutes longer. Would probably go back, but not overly anxious to.
I went here today for an early dinner since my brunch was not too good or filling. It was ok. I had a brewers burger with onion rings and their oatmeal stout. The burger was decent, although I would have preferred it more rare but it still had juice to it which is good. The onion rings were so so, apparently the waitress told my friend and I that people usually order fries, so it might not be their strongest show of fried creations :)
The beer was disappointing. It was drinkable, but had this seltzer water aftertaste to it. I like stouts to be heavy and bitter, and this was just more like beer flavored soda. Sort of weird. The service was nice and the setup of the place was decent too (typical sports bar on one side, quiet cafe on the other). If it wasn't for the beer, this place would have gotten a 4 from me, but thats just my tastes.
This place is a cookie cutter "microbrewerybrewhouse" type establishment that would usually not get time of day from me if it were not for their game burgers. They profess to having a rotating choice between elk, ostrich, buffalo and venison but each time I've been there the game burger has been venison. This is no bad thing because the venison burger is really good. It is the rest of the accompaniments that really doesn't do it for me. I usually have the side salad at lunch to go with the burger and I would say avoid the vinegarette dressing as it is not a good emulsion and nor do they re-whip it just before bringing it to you so you end up with a pool of oil on top of the aromats in a tiny pot that doesn't really lend itself well to stirring.
The artichoke dip is overly cheesy and I don't see why you have to deep fry the pita bread that goes with it as it is just too greasy and the net result is a gummy mess in your mouth. They do make these cute little loaves of bread with two different types of bread dough baked together but then ruin it by serving that nasty whipped butter with it.
All the appetisers seem to have some kind of deep fried component to them and I can't pass comment on the beer because I don't drink the stuff. Full bar though! :)
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Great Beer! Good luck on the service, tho.
Rosemary is an awesome waitress! and Patrick is a wonderful bartender.
But, beware of Raul. Not only did he practically NEVER come by our table, when people got sick of waiting for him and went to the bar to get their drinks, he ran over and told them that they were only allowed to order from him, since they were at our table. WTF? Not that this would have been an issue if he would STOP BY THE TABLE OCCASIONALLY!
Manager was very cool and made it right, though.
My recommendation, first question to your waiter, "what is your name?" If you have Raul, ask for a different section.
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I'm not sure I'm the right person to review this, since I haven't had beer in about 15 years. Nope, don't like the stuff. Nope, not missing a thing. But I met my friend Amy there the other night for a little drink (water) and dinner (salad) before we headed out to see the Holiday Tree Lighting thing in Mountain View. Missed the tree lighting. Didn't stay for more than a few minutes. But I digress.
I liked it! The atmosphere is cool and laid back, the food is tasty and well-priced, the servers are nice and prompt. And for the single ladies...there are boys! Lots of boys!
One of the few places where you can get ostrich. The wild game burger is absolutely fantastic. They have a weekly selections of buffalo, venison, elk and ostrich. But you don't get to pick. They serve you whatever exotic meat they have for the week. Juicy burger, fresh fries, and excellent service. A great place to get your burger fix.
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The Tied is tried and true. Consistent brewery fare and good beers - try the Marzen, a refreshing deep honey hued amber ale. Not exceptional food or service, but it'll do when you're with a group for lunch or pre-night out drinks.
There's a covered patio out back for private functions, but of course, they only serve beer and some wines, but no cocktails.
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