Schlafly Bottleworks – A New and Better Menu

Date Dined: July 12, 2014

Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

It was the first real sweltering day of the summer. The heat beat down in a steady stream, sweat pouring from my skin. I swam through the air, and it cloyed at me, weighing down my limbs. It was the perfect day to drink lots of cold beers, and so we ventured to Schlafy Bottleworks for the first time in a year and a half.

Décor Rating: 4 Stars

I’ve always liked the bottleworks more than the taproom. That smell of hops as you walk through the doors, the intricate machinery that you can view through the large windows, and that easy feel of a city suburb. It’s more family friendly, in a better neighborhood, and your as likely to play poker here as you are attend a farmer’s market.

The inside is large and I appreciate that even when the entire dining area is full you never feel squished. Inside you’ll find mismatched wooden chairs and tables set with simple white linen napkins and silverware. This place is all about taken it easy from the comfy chairs in the waiting area to the servers in their laidback t-shirts and jeans. The bar area is a little more trendy, with a smartly designed bar, and classic light brown wooden chairs.

The outdoor dining area is especially cool. Tented so that you can enjoy it in any weather, steel topped tables line the patio. On the colder nights they’ll light up heat burners and you can huddle by them while sipping your pumpkin beer.

Service Rating: 4 Stars

Decent service for a laid back location. When you get seated a server will be right up to greet you and take your drink order. Even when they’re slammed, you’ll get your beer in five to ten minutes and then they’ll take your order. Food comes out about fifteen to twenty minutes later and they’ll come check up on you. Really all you can ask for. You’re not being wined and dined, but the service really is quality for the laid back atmosphere.

Price Rating: 2.5 Stars

The first real eh of Schlafly is the price. They know people love them and they know they could charge even a little more and people would go. Since the menu revamp, some of my favorite items have had a buck or two tagged onto the price. For example, I’m pretty sure the beer bread used to be $4.50 and now it’s $6.75. The Bison was only around $10.00 at one time and now it’s $13.25. The desserts used to be around $5.00 and now they’re a whopping $7.50 and smaller.

I’m a little disappointed in the price hikes, but at least the beer prices have stayed pretty consistent. Still, don’t expect a cheap night here if you grab a couple drinks, an appetizer, and an entrée. You’ll be surprised how fast you ring up that $50.00 bill with tax and tip.

Food Rating: 3.5 Stars

I have never cared for Schlafly’s food. It’s just always been lackluster. The burgers were fine, but a little dry, the ribs were like shoe leather, The black bean burger tasted like it was from a sleeve, and the chicken was a little too chewy. Everything was always edible and fine, but not worth the price. Now Schlafly has upped their menu and unfortunately their price.

Since we first started going here, they have added some wonderful new beers, that have since become staples of ours. The first is the summer lager. The minute the first whiff of spring flows through the air I go to the store to see if these are in stock. They’re light, crisp, and just a little sweet. The Yakima wheat ale has become another of my favorites. Introduced to me by my good friend Shawn, this thing isn’t too hoppy, and it still tastes like my beloved Hefe. A word of advice, stay away from the fruit drinks here. Schlafly excels at many things, but a good fruit beer or cider isn’t one of them. At best you’re going to get something that tastes like a strong bud light with the watery taste of whatever fruit it’s claiming to be.

Dining out with our very good friends John and Kate made the experience just that much better. And lucky me, they let me taste their dishes. We started out with the baked goat cheese. Not much to say here. There was goat cheese, tomato sauce, and about four too few crostinis. All things that were very good, but something I could easily make at home. Unless you're really craving some goat cheese I might skip this thing. You'll want the extra room for beer or at the very least the beer bread.

Jess ordered the grilled cheese and potato salad. Again, something that I could probably have whipped up for her on the stove, but I’ll admit it was excellent. They definitely don’t skimp on the cheese which I appreciate. The bread was lightly toasted and wonderfully buttery, the cheese oozed out the sides, and when you bit into it, it brought back memories of being a kid. The potato salad was creamy and I appreciated the use of red spuds. Grilled cheeses are usually a rip off, but I could actually justify ordering this thing.

Our friend Kate ordered the meatloaf and I think of all the dishes this was probably the most lackluster. In fact, I’ve had my friend Kate’s meatloaf and it was way better than this thing. But it’s understandable, it’s hard to keep bulk meatloaf moist. It was edible and fine, but sort of heavy and a little too dense for my tastes. I would have liked a little more veggies in with the mix. The scalloped potatoes were pretty delish, and the cream corn overshadowed the meat loaf. They managed to make them creamy without being mushy. How I ask you, how?!

I ordered the ribs since I was in a red meat mood. They’re ribs have gone from god awful, to okay, not decent. For the first time I could really taste the smoky flavor of the meat, and while it didn’t fall off the bone it was tender enough. What really ruined it was the ridiculous amount of sauce on the thing. It looked like the smoked the thing then slathered it with sauce from some sort of container. The “ale BBQ” BBQ sauce tasted like sweet and chunky ketchup sauce. The mashed potatoes were thick and creamy, just the way I like em. The coleslaw was meh.

Our friend John definitely won the dish of the night. The pretzel encrusted chicken is delicious. The only downside is that I wish there was another piece of meat. The breast meat inside is tender, juicy, and steaming hot. The breading is crisp, choppy, and it doesn’t taste heavy like KFC chicken. It tasted exactly like what I wish my chicken parmesan dishes tasted like. The veggies were soft, but not mushy which I find a lot of restaurants can manage. Definitely grab yourself one of these despite the steep $18.00 price tag.

For dessert we settled on the peach cobbler with Serendipity ice cream. As always, Serendipity was delicious, rich without tasting overly sweet, and better than most American made gelato. The peach cobbler has seen better days. Once upon a time, Schlafly had a delicious berry cobbler. Berries enclosed into a crumble loaf and topped with whip cream. The whip cream is just as good, thick, homemade, and just sweet enough, but the peach cobbler was disappointing. The peaches were a little too tart for my liking, and the entire thing tasted sort of like a high quality Marie Callendar product.

In Conclusion

If you’re looking for someplace to chill out on a Saturday night check out the Bottleworks. You might leave a lot poorer than you anticipated, but you’ll have a good time. Depending on what you order your mileage may vary, but you likely won’t walk away upset. It’s the perfect place to take some out of towners who just want to hang, and the new menu shows improvement.