Sunday 7th of July 2013 09:37:07 PM

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The first thing I noticed about this place is its size. There is a lot of seating available, especially for a mall place. There is also outside seating along Glebe road. I didn't get a chance to check out the bar, but from the look of the place it's probably a decent size along with TVs. They had TVs in various parts of the restaurant.

The list of beers is pretty expansive for a brewpub. There are five or so regulars then another five or so special beers. They also have a couple cask selections. I had a couple of their specialty beers and they were both great. Most of them are below %, several below 5%, which is fine with me. I'm not always in the mood for a high %ABV beer.

The menu has a good selection as well, and will probably have something for everyone.

It's not too far from the Ballston metro stop, and there is also plenty of parking which is somewhat cheap, especially in the mall garage which is $1 for under 3 hours on the weekend. There's probably free street parking available (on the weekends and/or evenings) if you search for it.

Overall this is a pretty good place to go. I will definitely go back.

Wednesday 28th of December 2011 09:26:12 PM

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Rock Bottom is a chain of (as of 2011) 34 brewpub restaurants across the US. They consistently produce a good variety of high quality beers, and while the franchise shares a core standard offering of beers, each location's brewmaster is free to create unique recipes too. A typical sampler at Rock Bottom includes: light Kolsch, crisp Gold ale, relatively mild Belgian White Ale, robust Red Ale, Brown Ale (usually Molly's Titanic), Milk Stout, Pale Ale (names vary), and hoppy India Pale Ale. Also, Rock Bottom celebrates Oktoberfest with a seasonal "Rocktoberfest" marzen and special menu of German cuisine.

I visited the Arlington VA RB location after a day trip to the historic National Cemetery. Located in a mall, like most RB's, Ballston Common Mall has a pay parking deck. Enter and the bar area is on the left with a 14-chair wooden bar with several overhead televisions. Visible through windows behind the bar, the brewhouse has several stainless steel brewing vessels. Further past the bar to the right is the kitchen and dining area. Past the dining area is a second 8-chair wooden bar. Beyond that there are doors to a small outdoor patio with metal tables. In addition to the usual RB sampler, I also enjoyed a Hefeweizen, Porter, Jazzberry Razzberry Ale, and "Revenge of El Chupacabra", which were better than average beers. The also had two cask-conditioned and dry-hopped ales, red and pale, and the extra hoppiness greatly improved the base beers.