Artisan's Restaurant & Brewery

Reviews about Artisan's Restaurant & Brewery

• Damion Blake

  Jan, 24 2018
  ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
  Title: Great place to dine, poor decision for large parties.
  
  Overview: This is not a negative review - Artisans is a good restaurant and has good food. We would gladly eat here again as a family or small group (8 at the most). Just don't plan any big parties here. The main reason for my 3 star review is because of the seemingly bait and switch of the rooms for our party and our overall experience. The food was definitely the saving grace.
  
  Experience: We've heard good things about the food at Artisans, and due to its proximity to the church, we decided to book them for the celebration following our daughter's baptism.
  When we originally met with a man (we are told he is one of the owners apparently), we were shown a spacious room in the rear of the restaurant. He was confident that it would easily hold our expected party of about 60-80 people, as each table back there was set comfortably for 12 people, and there were 6 tables presently set. We ended up putting down a deposit of $200 to hold the space for our party and work on the menu/ attendance.
  Once we made our decisions and received our RSVPs (70 people), we went to the restaurant to make our menu selections and final payment.
  When we got to the restaurant, we were told that another party had scheduled for the same day and they had more people - and so, our party would be moved to the front room of the restaurant. The front is divided into TWO separate rooms with a door in between! When we asked about the back room and how we were the first to book, they told us they do large parties up front all the time just fine. Now we had to decide on who we had to separate from our family and friends, and totally rearrange our seating just days before the event.
  Day of the party -
  Seating was TIGHT.
  The booths barely fit 4 people. We had to squeeze some people into tables to accommodate.
  They ran out of highchairs - despite us telling them beforehand that we would need 9 of them, we were assured that they had us covered.
  They ran out of plates at the buffet - there were more available (they had to go get them), but they didn't notice until 4 or 5 of us started to congregate at the end of the buffet, and we finally said something about waiting for plates.
  The wait staff asked our guests if they wanted any drinks from the bar, without telling them that it was a cash bar! We caught it pretty early, but we were presented with a tab for a table that had already left. However, considering we had a few no-shows, the management waived the bill, which was nice.
  Despite all the ridiculousness, our wait staff and hostess were very gracious and accommodating, and the food was very good.
  All in all, it was a chaotic experience, but again, the food ultimately saved the day - and that's what it's all about, right?

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