The Fireside Featuring Brooklyn Brewery Tonight

Okay all, we had a bad day and we can't make up for it with one good night. That doesn't mean we're just going to lie down and stop living. The Fireside Bar and Grill in Sellersburg, Indiana is having a Brooklyn Brewing tapping party tonight.

I was there today at the tail end of lunch as they started tapping the following beers:
Monster Barley Wine
Brooklyn EIPA
Brooklyn Brown Ale
Mary's Maple Porter
Brooklyn Lager

Craft beer bottles will be half priced tonight!

The special menu for tonight created by Marshall Jewel is as follows:

Piled High Rosemary Chicken with mash, caramelized onions, mushrooms, & a rosemary chip crust.
Blue Cheese Bison Sliders
Fish cakes w/newspaper wrapped chips & a spicy tarter
Welsh Rarebit – Roasted Pork loin and Texas toast covered with beer cheese & stewed tomatoes
Fried pickles
A big pretzel with beer cheese
Dark chocolate mousse w/Frangelico whipped cream

I'll be at the table in the corner making the most noise. Come by and introduce yourself and I'll buy you a beer. Cheers!

http://www.facebook.com/dinnerbyfireside

Shane, if you feel like I'm highjacking your thread then please tell me and I will move my comments. Also, I apologize if this runs a little long.

When I saw your post yesterday I was immediately interested. We enjoy Brooklyn Brewery products very much and was excited to see an event of this nature on the Indiana side of the river. After we got off from work and picked up our toddler we headed to Hamburg for dinner.

Once we arrived things headed south quickly. At the hostess stand we requested a booth and were told that they didn't have any booths. As the hostess proceeded to seat us we passed two large, but empty booths. Not that big of a deal but if the issue was that the booths were reserved for larger parties I think that should have been her response. Looking at our menus I noticed there was no information regarding the special beers or food pairings. I approached the hostess stand and found the beer information for myself.

Our waiter arrived to take our drink orders. My wife inquires about the beer specials and the waiters says "We are out of beer.". He didn't say we are out of the Brooklyn beers simply "We are out of beer." Another server approaches the table and we ask about the beers and special menu and she says we have beer, let me go check about the menu. Meanwhile the first server asks what to drink for me and my daughter. My wife asked if drinks were included in kids meals. His reply was "I don't know." At this point we no longer felt comfortable dining here and decided to leave.

I went back into the restaurant because I felt like if I was the manager I would want to know about these issues. I simply informed them of the sketchy service and we left. I know that both you and Todd Antz have really good things to say about Fireside on this forum and I hope that this was an isolated experience.

Shane, if you feel like I'm highjacking your thread then please tell me and I will move my comments. Also, I apologize if this runs a little long.

No apology necessary Dan! Communicating with fellow foodies about our experiences is one of the best benefits of this forum. Getting together in person is an even better one. Apologizing about the length of a post - to me is hilarious. I for one, truly appreciate the details. Having said that, there is nothing funny about your experience last night and here is what I have to say about that!

Well shoot! I've been trying to get some more Hotbyters to try out the Fireside for awhile now. It seems the stars finally aligned for a minute and when one of you decided to give it a try, it all goes “pear-shaped.” Isn't that always the way?

The restaurant side of the Fireside is often staffed by mostly teenagers and is subject to sudden turnover. I've noticed quite a few new faces in the last couple of weeks. With new employees often comes the unfortunate side effects of their learning curve. Then service suffers.

Several long time employees have gone on to other things recently and will be missed until their replacements can get up to speed. I suspect that with all that was going on in the bar side last night, there may have been a bit less adult supervision available. No beer indeed!

One of the owners or managers is usually patrolling both sides to make sure that the snafus that will inevitably occur are quickly corrected. I suspect something must have prevented that last night and I know Patty and Neil will be upset to know that you guys were not treated properly. Of course you can't get that bad experience back but be assured Neil and Patty value their customers as much as any place I've ever been. I believe one of them will contact you. I will be in on Friday or Saturday and will take a copy of your post to them myself just in case they don't already know.

Dan, I really appreciate that you came in and I feel bad that your family did not experience the great service that is typical at the Fireside. I also appreciate your gracious attitude about situation and I hope I get a chance to meet you myself.

Not that it has any bearing on your disappointing visit, but we were over on the bar side at the corner table drinking Brooklyn beer by the pitcher, eating special apps, and thinking all was well. PM to follow. Cheers Dan!

Apologizing about the length of a post - to me is hilarious.

Well Duh !!!

I went back into the restaurant because I felt like if I was the manager I would want to know about these issues. I simply informed them of the sketchy service and we left. I know that both you and Todd Antz have really good things to say about Fireside on this forum and I hope that this was an isolated experience.

I stopped by the Fireside today for lunch. Patty was beaming as she shared some wonderful news which I'm not at liberty to reveal here. I felt really awful to be ruining her good mood but I knew she would want to hear about Dan's experience on Wed night.

Turns out that she had been apprised that a customer had left after being given poor service. She had not seen the post on Hotbytes. Patty's daughter Lauren has a Hbyte account but she is out of town. I pulled up the post on her laptop and as she read Dan's post her distress was plain to see. Patty is very passionate about what she does and even after twenty five years in this business, she approaches every day as if it were as important as her first.

She described to me the sequence of events that led to the incident and the steps that she had already taken to address them. She then asked how she could contact Dan herself. I logged on and let her use my account to send Dan a message. She also gave me her card to give to Dan on Saturday at the CPC.

Dan's response to this situation was very reasonable and actually helpful. I hope he will respond to Patty's attempt to make this situation right.