Friday 22nd of January 2010 11:59:23 AM
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This GB located on the 4th floor of a high-end mall. The “patio” over looks a couple of other restaurants, the escalators & the move theater. Once inside, I thought this is a good looking space. The high ceilings that are painted black, the tanks are on display behind glass, lots of wood tables, cool light fixtures and a nice marble topped curved bar. There is a large dinning room in the back.
The bartender was friendly and well versed in their beer. Speaking of beer, 5 regulars and a seasonal, which was a dunkelwiezen.
My Golden Export was solid but my Schwarz was infected or the tap line was dirty. Either way, it was a disappointment!
Food is standard GB offerings. Steaks, pastas, fish and sandwiches. Special happy hour pricing on aps and house beers reduced by a buck. Decent quantity and quality.
They had a fair sized happy hour crowd. I got the feeling that they were there because they happened to be shopping instead of making a trip just to go to GB.
Selection: 3 |
Atmosphere: 3.5 |
Service: 4.25 |
Food: 3.75
Tuesday 2nd of September 2008 03:01:25 PM
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This Gordon Biersch is in an upscale shopping mall in downtown Seattle. And as a Gordon Biersch, it sticks to the formula. The general atmosphere is generic (certainly not neighborhood and without a particular spirit) but it’s still an OK place to visit, especially given that there aren’t a huge number of great places right downtown.
The styling is modern but with retro 50’s touches. There are stained concrete floors, black ceiling with exposed heating ducts (a bit of a “Brazil” flavor if you look up), dark wood, dark red and black polished granite table tops, and wooden chairs. The wooden bar is long and and curved with tall chairs and orange 50’s modern lamp shades to illuminate. There are many flat screen TVs (sound off) and loud music.
The brewery is nicely visible through windows behind the bar. The fermenters are on one side and the mash tun and brew kettle on the other
There’s also a front “patio” section that opens out from the bar area onto the “sidewalk” of the mall through three double doors. It does oddly have something of the sensation of being outside because of the glass ceiling in the mall (and it’s on the top floor), though of course, you’re in a shopping mall.
The separate restaurant section is in the back of the space and is quite large, filled with booths and tables and with very good lighting due to the large windows on the outside of the mall. It’s quite popular with families, especially on the weekends.
The beer here isn’t particularly exciting. All beers are German style lagers (and Czech for the Pilsner) and are well executed (i.e., no flaws) but lacking somewhat in character. The choices are Pilsner, Blonde Bock, Hefeweizen, Dunkel, Maerzen, and sometimes a seasonal.
Service can be slow here and the servers are not knowledgeable about beer, which seems odd given that the range is not that big and doesn’t change (only one seasonal). The customers vary - families, shoppers, and office workers, especially right after work. Since the dollar’s been low, we often have seen shoppers from outside the US happily demonstrating to each other their great shopping purchases.
The food is upscale but not really healthier pub food (i.e., it’s fairly generic).
Selection: 3.5 |
Atmosphere: 4 |
Service: 4 |
Food: 4.25
Monday 4th of February 2008 02:17:15 PM
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Back in 1987, a few years after the beginning of the so-called "microbrew" revolution, Dan Gordon and Dean Birsch sat together to have a beer & discuss their love of the brew.
Dan had attended the Weihenstephen School of Brewing in Germany; Dean was a restauranteur. It was, as is said, a marriage made in heaven.
Their partnership eventually extended outward from the initial Palo Alto brewery into 5 Western states; Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii & Washington.
With all that going for you, one would think such a brewery was a "can't miss." Sorry to say, our Washington location does.
First, the beer: nothing but lagers so if you desire a nice Brown or barleywine, this is not the place. If you're a "Bud" drinker, you can find a variety of knock-offs that will satisy your elementary tastes from
a non-descript Hefe to a tasteless Dunkel. Nothing offensive but no stand-outs either.
Second, the location: stuck on the 4th floor of a downtown indoor mall, your "beer garden" looks out over an escalator & sits next to the requisite 12-theatre megaplex. Your people watching desires are severaly limited to the mostly young wearing "Megadeath" and "You Suck" t-shirts.
Third, the brewpub: a huge faux-Mexican motif affair frequented by the dozens of lawyers who lunch due to the close proximity of nearby offices so instead of Ozzy Osbourne biting off the head of a bat on a black, torn tee-shirt, you get brown-haired governor wanna-bes with $2000 suits and an "I'm-better-than-you" attitude.
Is all this worth fighting the downtown shoppers, $20 parking and a $6 glass of beer when less than 3 blocks away is a McMenamin's with their unique personality pubs & beer?
Not for me, thank you very much.
Selection: 2 |
Atmosphere: 1.5 |
Service: 1.5 |
Food: 1.5