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Tied House Cafe & Brewery - CLOSED
Categories: Food Breweries Restaurants American (Traditional) Breweries, American (Traditional) [Edit]
65 N San Pedro StSan Jose, CA 95110
(408) 295-2739
- Parking:
- Street
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
kim n. said: "Stange interesting space. Part liquor store (higher end may I add), part cigar store, part travel agency? Weird. Didn't find any unusual sodas but they had things like Armenian brandy, vodka in a baboushka and tons of wine I'd never…" read more »
114 reviews for Tied House Cafe & Brewery
Review Highlights
"This is a great place to go to before a sharks game."
(in 13 reviews)
"1 Half Pints, Thursday Nights after 10pm."
(in 7 reviews)
"Go for the beer -- the Cascade Amber is fantastic."
(in 4 reviews)
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114 reviews in English
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Review from Stephanie B.
San Jose, CA
7/24/2009
The food here is whatevers. I had the quesadilla. Didn't care for it much. But! I loved the atmosphere. It's a huge sharks territory area and people love to come here right before a sharks game in their sharks gear and painted bodies. I love the sense of community that this restaurant evokes.
Based on the food, my experience was mediocre. Perhaps my experience would have been different if I was legal to consume "cheap alcohol". =) -
Review from Archie G.
San Jose, CA
1/16/2009
I guess this place loves hockey season, due to the regulars that come there to hang out and watch games. Or maybe the fans that go to games that grab dinner and drinks before the game they are going to attend.
But yeah, regardless of their reason for coming, I find it alarming they come here so often. The food is always uninspired and the service is always questionable. Of course, the prices do not help either.
I am given them an extra star because I once came here for a graduation party and their wine was decent. Well, it was free and all. -
Review from Mikey U.
6/8/2009
(repost: Previously, at the Event Coordinator's request, I took down my original review which included ominous hear-say of their closing.)
I'm sad that you're gone, Tied House.
We hardly knew ye.
From beer samplers to $1 half-pints.
For Sharks games and Warrior playoffs.
For SJGiants parking lot keggers.
For Brewer's Platters.
For the Penalty Box.
For all that you were,
all that you gave,
to downtown San Jose.
Thank you for the beer.
_______________________________
*raises empty pint glass in memoriam* -
Review from Elizabeth G.
San Jose, CA
6/8/2008
I don't drink beer, but my manfriend does, so I always end up in a pub or brewery which isn't the worst thing. I like greasy food, a little too much actually. We ended up here because the wait was too long at the Spagetti Factory....just kidding, even I wouldn't touch that place with a 10 foot pole.
The popcorn shrimp was ok but I felt a liittle strange later that night. I guess popcorn shrimp and sangria don't go very well together. I think the fries have potential but they were a little noodle-y...floppy and more mush than crunch. It was pretty empty when we went, but it was also a little late on a Sunday night. -
Review from Rhoda G.
Updated - 6/11/2009
What??!! They closed this place!!?? No more $20 all you can drink beer/wine and taco bar before the Sharks games anymore...Sad! Curious what will take its place.
UPDATE: Turns out they are moving to South First Street and reopening in Aug. Thanks for the article, Will!1 Previous Review: Show all »
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3/12/2009
I would of given this place two stars because the food is not spectacular and too expensive. I would… Read more »
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Review from Ben P.
San Francisco, CA
6/10/2008
A decent place to drown your sorrows and stuff your face in San Jose at 4:30 on a Monday.
My raspberry wheat beer was REALLY good. Question the masculinity of my drink choices and I'll smash your face with a tire iron. [I think those two sentences balance each other out, manliness-wise.] [I have actually used an actual tire iron. Not for smashing faces, though.]
The amber ale was equally good, and resulted in far less mockery when I ordered it.
The buffalo wings were really good, and done with a sauce that's different from usual buffalo fare. But different in a good way. Plus, it was happy hour and they were half-price. I can't even remember the last time I made it to a bar in time for happy hour.
I hope never to NEED to go here again (since I, and my group, NEEDED to go drink somewhere, immediately, the last time I visited), but I would be happy to voluntarily return. -
Review from StinkyTofu S.
San Francisco, CA
4/5/2007
hahahaaaa....my roommate use to work here and I hear all the stories. One of the things that I don't like is that they fry the bbq ribs when they are in a rush. The cheese they serve in the sampler is a little funky. Why did I keep going? It was the hook up and the happy hour prices on selected appetizers. I also realized that everybody that worked there at the time had porn star last names. SOOOO cooool !
stinky tofu -
Review from Karlita ..
San Jose, CA
3/2/2007
Diarrhea.
Do I really have to elaborate? -
Review from Tarra R.
San Jose, CA
5/4/2009
Now I remember why I haven't been here in so long. Its funny how bad service and food can take you back to the previous bad service and food experience.
About 5 years ago this place wasn't that bad. The beer was good and cheap and the service was super fast. It has slowly been declining over the years and wonder when the owners/managers will start making the necessary changes.
(Beer was not as I remembered it. But not as bad as other restaurant brew houses")
Get new servers that actually WANT to be servers.
Hire CHEFS, not cooks. There is a reason someone asks for their meat medium rare.
Have management actually walk the dining area when people are eating instead of chatting it up with their staff at the front/office. -
Review from Nancy C.
San Jose, CA
3/24/2008
The food here sucks, but they do have $1 half pints on Thursday nights!
It's never too crowded (even on busy downtown nights) so we'll walk over here if we need some drinks at night and want something low-key.
Wednesday nights (during the summer), we'll come early and take up some patio tables outside. Last year, it was the perfect spot watch whatever movie Cinema San Pedro was putting on.Listed in: Downtown San Jose
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Review from Brian C.
Cupertino, CA
3/6/2009 1 photo
Wow can I say, I'm happy to see that this place has below 3 stars? Came in with my boy Gabe last week, and service was not great, even though there weren't that many people. We ordered the game burgers, which was Buffalo on that day.
I had to wait 25 minutes for my burger. Are you joking? Not only that, when the burger came out, the bun was burned, and the onion rings were horrible. Let's start with the bun: I'm going to hand it to them Gordon Ramsey style. Tied house, if your bun is burned, you toss it and regrill that baby because the cost is not high and it doesn't take that much time.
Onion rings: Horrible in every sense. They weren't crunchy, but instead had the texture of overfried onion rings, left in the deep fryer for too long. Or it was old. Either one.
Even if they have good deals, good beer, it'll be hard to convince me to come again. 1 star well deserved on something that is so easy to make. -
Review from Gene A.
San Mateo, CA
11/6/2007
I was gonna give this place three stars, but nah.
The food is mediocre.
The beer is good and Thursday nights are $1 half pints.
The servers are very hit and miss (most likely miss).
The main reason I deducted a star is because the lone "bartender" on Thursday nights, the short pudgy, balding guy, is a complete douche. -
Review from Mo C.
8/29/2007
The food's not fab, but it's a brewery, yo! You go for the beer, food not-so-much.
Beer is awesome! Love it! The Wheat is my fav, followed closely by the Ironwood Dark. Stay away from the Light Beer.
$1 Half Pints, Thursday Nights after 10pm! Can't beat it! -
Review from Kristy C.
Studio City, CA
6/26/2008
Sooo not impressed...okay, wait. I'll give them beer. The Amber ale is great. But everything else is on my list.
There I am pumped for the George Michael concert, we all were. We just wanted good beer, food and conversation. Let me also mention it was scorching outside. So obviously we sit outside where we are informed we will not be served. We have to go in, stand in line and order our own food and pay. Same with the beer . we had to keep getting up. I got a turkey burger. Nothing to write home about. Frozen of course.
the inside of the place was a mess and it was like a mile long with the bathroom all the way to the back. Uhg. Rae, you were right we should have gone to that cuban place and had sangria. -
Review from Kevin C.
Portland, OR
3/4/2008
I met up with a friend here before the Canadiens/Sharks game the other night and boy, it was pretty mediocre. The beer was decent but the calamari I had was some of the most tasteless calamari I've had in a long time.
A lot of the reviews seem to stress that it's a brewery first and foremost but I believe that that's a total cop out. There are too many places in the world that can manage to combine decent food with good beer. I'm pretty sure that some of the fried calamari I've had over the years is straight out of a Sysco delivery truck but even then, it's at least passable.
In terms of nice things to say, I thought the staff handled the large pre game crowd pretty well. Surely there's better options than this before a Sharks game, right? -
Review from Chris C.
Union City, CA
11/6/2006
Tied House is good option for a place to go to after work with some friends or before a Sharks game. This is your typical Microbrew place but the size of the place is huge. Their specialty is the Beer of course! And they do a decent job at it too.
I would recommend their Beer Sampler. It's $9 and you can sample 8-10 beers all served in 6oz glasses. Give you a good taste of everything and plenty of beer. If not they have plenty of choices and beers will cost around $6 for a pint. The food here is good too for "Bar Food". It's a step up from most places but not definitely not "fine dinning". Prices here are reasonable too you can get a good size burger for about $9and most meals come under $14. I would come back here again but would try to avoid Friday & Saturday because the place gets busy and you may have to wait.
But it's a great place say on a Wednesday after work to meet with some friends, catch the game, drink some beer, and have some good food. -
Review from Berg W.
San Jose, CA
6/3/2008
Well, I don't think people should be expecting a "Cafe" with this place. It should be called "Tied House Brew Pub." I think that would clear up a lot of confusion. I'm rating them more highly on their great beer and sports-watching venue, than on their food.
The beer is fantastic and fresh. Gotta love that. They have several standard beers they do year-round, with a seasonal brew as well. Everything was great that I tried. Right now they have the IPA going as a seasonal. Lives up to that moniker.
They don't really have good food here. What I do give them credit for is the varied menu which has lots of food that you can eat while drinking a lot of beer. I just came in for appetizers and beer, and they had some decent popcorn shrimp.
I was a disappointed by the pesto fries. I thought they were one-upping Gordon Biersch garlic fries with their pesto. I have to be honest the only things I like as much as garlic are basil and parmesan. That being said, the execution of this dish was botched. Aroma: 10. Texture:2. The fries were floppy and greasy. Very little crispiness. That to me is sacrilege. If they aren't crispy, then they are steamed potatoes, dressed in oil. Gross.
They have plenty of TVs with sports playing, which makes me happy. Maybe I'll go check out an NBA Finals game there. I want to taste a burger to see what kind of pub they really are.Listed in: I'm a Fry Guy
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Review from Jeff Y.
Fairfax, VA
8/19/2008
Review in a nutshell: Choose Tied House over any standard national american chain and you can't go wrong.
This place is not bad. If you end up here, and like beer and a meager variety of smoked food, there is an excellent appetizer that can easily become your entire meal (and then some).
I ordered the brewers platter. A plate with smoked trout and salmon, with slices of bread and miscellaneous cheeses (Gouda, pepperjack?, and at least one other non-memorable), a wedge of Brie, 2 different types of spiced sausage, and a small portion of ribs. Quite the variety on one plate. Wash it down with the stout (the server continuously called it a porter - it was not at all) and really, this place is nothing to complain about. -
Review from Kelly B.
San Jose, CA
7/17/2008 3 photos
Mom and I seem to be hitting breweries this summer. We decided to go eat on San Carlos Street b/c a certain side of our family always has us going to the Spaghetti Factory which is right next door. First of all, it was 3 in the afternoon on a Wednesday. The place was dead, but they were happy to serve us.
We order a tasting of the eight beers that they offer (11.00+). These came in six oz. glasses, which gave us ALOT of beer! The nice thing about this was that they put down a laminated mat which had the names of all the beers, which went a lonnnnnng way in helping us remember which one was which!
The menu was pretty complete. Mom was going to order a french dip sandwich, but I talked her into sharing a "Brewer's platter" (20.00+) which had ribs, sausage, smoked trout, smoked salmon, cheeses and sliced bread, pickes and capers and dipping sauces galore. We augmented this with an order of sweet potato fries (approx. 5.00), because I order them whenever they are on the menu!
Beers were great, food was delicious. Service was a little casual, but adequate. We ate and ate and ate and ate... and drank and drank and drank.... and talked and talked and talked....
My favorite beer was the oatmeal, but then I tend to go for darker beers. Mom's was the Ironwood, which she stated was similar to Anchor Steam Beer. We did not drink all the beer, but we did taste it all, which was fun. Mom said we should have asked for a doggy bag for the beer! ::Laugh::: -
Review from Charissa I.
San Jose, CA
11/12/2008
I ate here for the first time last night and this place is just whatevers. It's not bad, not great. The beer battered onion rings were good-- but they're onion rings. I would have been happy eating $2 onion rings from jack in the box instead of paying $7.
Our server was really sweet and accommodating-- we ended up moving tables so we could be near our friends and we ended up being located in a section that she doesn't cover but she still took care of us so we could be billed separately. Also, she knew her shit when it came to their beers-- which should be expected but I've been to one too many places when the employees didn't know shit.
Yea, so back to what I was saying-- this place is just OK. But I guess this is where a lot of sharks fans come to eat, drink, be merry, and watch the game thats playing on the many flat screens around the restaurant before heading off to watch the game. -
Review from Tina I.
Morgan Hill, CA
7/28/2008
I'm always surprised when I see 1 Star reviews on a place that is decent. Maybe these people have never really seen a 1 Star dirty establishment, with rude wait staff, horrible food, and expensive prices... but that is definitely NOT here!!
It's a nice looking brewery and it's HUGE... impressive actually, when you walk in for the first time. A great place for groups! Nice patio too!
The food isn't the best I've ever had, but our group of 20 or so people were all content with our meals and had a nice time here. The wait staff were courteous, and served our large group within reasonable time. I tried the Shrimp Asian Salad which is new on the menu and it was pretty good... yes, a tad bit expensive.
On the Friday night that we were there -- the parking garage across the street had a $2 flat charge. We paid as we left -- but after 1 or 2 am, no one is working there and the gate was open... so it could have been "free" ;)
It's definitely a solid 3 Star in my opinion! :) -
Review from Margaret T.
San Jose, CA
1/15/2008
I want to give 2.5 but I'm being nice and rounding up.
By the time we got there, the place was pretty empty -- but for some reason got seated in the corner. You sit in the corner, the server doesn't see you, you get slow service. Yep, service was bad! Food was nothing out of the ordinary. Garlic fries (from the sampler) were drenched in oil, didn't even touch the Onion rings which looked good but the server never walked by again so I couldn't ask for ketchup. Beer was good and sausages were too. Maybe I'll come back for Happy Hour...and if we got a better server. -
Review from Esther Y.
7/24/2008
Very expensive with okay food and friendly service. My friend and I split a pasta pamodoro and they brought it out on 2 plates...but I asked them not to put cheese on it and they did! They immediately made me a fresh plate though, and were very courteous about it.
My friends got sausage, smoked salmon fish & chips, and a few other things. I asked around the table and everyone unanimously gave 3/5 stars for the quality of their food. The pasta that I shared with my friend was alright - it was kinda swimming in oil though, but it's olive oil so I didn't feel that disgusted about it.
The reason I give 3 stars instead of 2 is that my friend's grandfather created the Ironwood brew. I tried a bit and thought it was actually pretty good. I've decided, after trying Tied House and Gordon Biersch, that breweries should not be expected to have good FOOD, but their beers are pretty good! And their happy hour seems like a better deal. -
Review from Andrew Y.
10/19/2008
No complaints. This is a typical brew pub. Lots of tv's. Lots of beer. A great place to hang out before a Sharks game because it is close to low cost to free parking. The prices for food are pretty average, although two things stuck out for me. The first is that the jambalaya was ~$17. Holy cow! And the wild game burger was $9.05. Seems pretty low for the type of meat that are described for this burger. I had the garlice burger which had a pile of sauteed garlic plopped into the middle of the burger. I liked it a lot. Can't go wrong with a lot of sauteed garlic.
To drink we had the cascade amber. We had 4 pitchers to be exact between 4 people. Didn't try any of the others, but I'm sure they were good.
Anyway, as for the service, it was pretty good, even though we were seated at the very back of the indoor service, we still managed to see our server more than one or two times. -
Review from jenn w.
3/11/2009
This place is pretty horrible. I would only suggest coming here during Happy Hour from 4-6pm. Some of the appetizers are half off during this time. I suggest the garlic pesto fries. Those were pretty good. I would not recommend the Combo Platter which comes with calamari, shrimp, onion rings and fries. The only edible item on this platter would be the fries. Totally not worth the $17 dollars. The nachos were ok but not anything special. I would definitely stay away from this place unless it was happy hour. But a better bet would be the Brit who is just around the corner.
One cool thing about this place is that during every televised Sharks game, from the drop of the puck to the first score of the game, beers are only 25cents! However, the beer tastes like absolute dirt. But for a quarter, you really can't complain. -
Review from Daisy T.
4/8/2009
I got tricked! The pesto garlic fries.... gaaaah!
Me and my friend were trying to decide where to eat for a snack/light dinner. We got suckered into this place because we read on the menu they had pesto garlic fries... which we ended up not ordering anyway!
I only wanted a snack so I ordered the pesto cheese calamari appetizer. It was very... boring. The calamari itself was kind of bland. And it comes with cocktail sauce instead of the staple marinara sauce. That was a turn off.
My friend had the Hawaiian Ahi Tuna dinner. It came with sauteed vegetables and rice. And some wasabi and soy sauce to flavor the tuna. The quality of the fish definitely could have been better. But otherwise, it was practically flavorless. The taste didn't even improve that much more with the soy sauce and wasabi. Disappointing.
I walked out of the restaurant totally unsatisfied. That's rare. I'm never coming back. -
Review from Eugene F.
Campbell, CA
8/17/2007
The food is decent here. I had a garlic burger last night. The burger was actually cooked medium rare, and was really, really juicy when you bit into it. It came with a really good roasted garlic spread.
Ambiance is so so. Since we went on a summer Thursday night, there was a lot going on in downtown in San Jose: Music in the Park and just your general Thursday night partying. Parking was a little difficult because of these two things, but oh well, life goes on. -
Review from rob. l.
San Jose, CA
2/13/2008
Pros:
Good beer
Geared towards sharks game attendees
Cons:
The service
The food
It was ok, nothing great. -
Review from Alli J.
San Jose, CA
11/14/2008
Taco Salad was amazing. Patio seating is a great way to avoid the smell of old spilled beer and PEOPLE WATCH!
Go here on a Friday when the Farmers Market is going on downtown...lovely. Sit back, have a meal, sip beer, and people watch. Man jamming right out front for the market...like your own personal show.
Tres Fun! -
Review from Kimmie Q.
Alameda, CA
10/15/2007
Blah, nothing special. Thing of Gordon Biersch minus 2 stars.
Their food sucks and their servers aren't that attentive.
I'd go to Gordon Biersch instead. -
Review from Chanel F.
Albuquerque, NM
2/10/2008
3 stars for being open relatively late, and offering unique desserts. Kewl atmosphere with low lighting. Didn't eat anything here besides dessert so i can't knock them for bad food or anything. Service was good, but when I went the place wasn't too busy. The host did provide us with lots of useful information about the place like what to try, how late it's open, and he let my group stay for quite a while after official closing time.
I will have to add more to this review once I have tried their food. -
Review from Horace K.
San Jose, CA
3/14/2009
My coworkers and I came here for lunch one day, and came away hugely unimpressed and promising ourselves that we'd never eat here for lunch again. I ordered a Caesar chicken wrap, which took forever to come out, and the grilled chicken that was in it was incredibly dry and flavorless. I'm not usually a big fan of table sauces, but I pretty much had to douse that wrap in ketchup just to make it palatable.
On the upside, their microbrews are good. This would probably be a good place if you're just looking to hang out during Happy Hour. -
Review from Jasper S.
New York, NY
2/2/2007
There's just something about this place I don't like. Maybe it's the fact that even though it is absolutely enormous, with enough tables to seat a small army THAT ARE EMPTY, they still quote a long wait time and when you finally sit down, it takes forever to get your food. I've gone to the Tied House three times and each time had the same experience. They have no excuse because there was no sharks game and most of the tables were empty!
That being said, the food here is OK. Not the best bar food, but passable. -
Review from Rana A.
San Francisco, CA
11/6/2007
As far as your breweries go this isn't one to rave about.
The food is mediocre and the crowd is a mix of College students and Sharks fans.
One benefit: It's right next to the Flying Martini Bar.
If you want good brewery-esque food check out G&B's down the street or head on over to Oakridge and go to BJ's. -
Review from Ian C.
San Jose, CA
8/22/2008
In my experience, micro-brew restaurants are always going to disappoint, unless you just want beer. Tied House as others have pointed out is definitely lackluster both as a eatery and as a brewery. After having 5-6 different beers, nothing special stands out. The micro-brew from Sonoma Chicken seems to be more carefully crafted.
Regarding the food, I struggled to find something on the menu that sounded exciting, but was not intrigued by anything. I settled on a custom built burger. The burger was pretty good, but when the bill came, I re-thought if the burger was really $12 good.
Service was standard. Atmosphere is hit and miss. Again the main issue is the price of the food and beer make you sad. Happy Hour could be a solution to that $$$ for sub-bar food problem.
2 out of 5, though I still need to try the sausage on the brewers platter which one of my friends claims is redeeming. -
Review from Stuart M.
San Jose, CA
5/22/2007
I used to go here quite a bit but haven't been here for a few months. The food we had was pretty good - the smoked salmon fish and chips were terrific if not a tiny bit greasy. It was the beer that let me down. I used to really like Tied House beers. Their wheat was consistently very good. But this last time it was bad... really bad. My friend and I got the 8 beer sampler and I didn't find one that I really liked. The brown ale was passable but everything else was way too hoppy for my taste and strangely homogenous as well. The service was ok. They only had one waitress and she was running. All-in-all I wouldn't recommend it.
I think the Tied has gone out. -
Review from Nicolette P.
Berkeley, CA
8/13/2008
Okay I've only been here a couple times, and neither times does it rock my world...once for a huge dinner bday party several years ago and more recently for Happy Hour...
But it wasn't so happy haha Granted it was a Monday night....but c'mon....the food looked nasty...yes I said looked b/c I didn't partake...The nachos stuck together in some weird processed way....I dunno...
The server was non-existent, the set up isn't anything to write home about. Although the outdoor patio looks promising if it were open.
If I do return, hopefully it will be more memorable and these occasions were simply a fluke...but with a brief glance at the other reviews, I'm not so sure.... -
Review from eric k.
Dublin, CA
10/10/2008
I was a little disappointed here.
Overall the service just wasn't that good.
My friend's entree actually came before the appetizer... and when his burger did come, it was mispronounced by the server(not the waitress that delivered it) and it was delivered to the table next to us.
There were large gaps in time between our drinks being empty and being refilled( I was thirsty!!!).
The calamari was actuallly a bit odd.
Overall.... not a great experience. -
Review from Rosanne C.
San Francisco, CA
12/29/2008
Came here for a friend's work Christmas party. I am originally from San Jose and had NO IDEA this place existed. The restaurant is a very long one with many televisions to watch the Sharks games, a huge bar, and plenty of seating for both small and large parties.
Our group had a private room in the back of the restaurant with our own menu. There were several options to choose from so I decided to try out their cheeseburger and fries. The food was pretty darn good and was a decent amount. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try any of their alcohol because of medications (boo!), but next time, I will! For excellent service, a private room with a flat screen television, and free food, this restaurant was pretty darn good. -
Review from Krista M.
San Jose, CA
7/28/2008
I've visited just because i had a boyfriend who wanted the Game Burger which, i suppose, is like a hamburger but made with questionable meat. I had a pretty okay pasta dish and the price wasn't that horrible. A couple dollars more would have meant a really nice resturant but over all the experience was worth while.
OH! and the sweet potato fries. MMMMMMM! Best part of my meal, shame it had to be the appetizer.
