blue star brewing company restaurant & bar

failed to meet expectations.. i have visited bluestarbrewing a number of times when i have been in san antonio on business. as someone that was raised on cask conditioned ale i want to support what bluestarare trying to do here in the usa. i do understand that there is a very limited amount of knowledge and experience available and always try hard to lower my expectations accordingly. however it seems that no matter how low my expectations are when i enter the establishment they always seem to find ways to fail to meet them.

tonight the cask offering was a mediocre oatmeal stout served from an angram beer engine that looked as though it had not been cleaned in decades. ( well kept angram engines gleam like burnished gold.) while sampling the stout i became aware that the same was probably true of the beer lines.

i would love dearly to find that some part of the experience had improved since my last visit but sadly the reverse seemed to be true. the food was once blue stars redeeming quality but sadly even that was a disappointment tonight.

i am sure that the folks responsible for the business will never read this unfortunately.

bluestardesperately needs a brewmaster and a cellarmaster.

i hope that bluestaris a profitable business venture because it had no place in the quest for brewing excellence.

when i went to bluestarthis past week i had a great time, the food was ok. the atmosphere was off-putting, the whole time while i was dineing near the bar i could hear and see the owner joe harassing a waitress. he repeatly cussed at her and threatened her. i will never go to bluestaror any other of his establishment.

bluestarbust. a disappointing experience. in a room that was filled with few diners, it took over 20 minutes to get drinks, 1/2 hour to get a coffee (made one cup at a time --no free refills) and over an hour to get what was a passable lunch. no salt and pepper were on the table, and the chef went a bit crazy when the waitstaff dared to put s&p shakers on the table. these were ordered removed with kosher salt and cracked pepper from the kitchen to replace them. it was a long, comical, and expensive ( the waiter kindly added a 20% tip for our table of five) afternoon. with so many other great restaurants minutes away, don't waste your time and $$$ here!

awesome changes. we were excited to come by for charc week! so glad we did! the charcuterie was devine - presentation and flavor was spot on! followed it by our favorite steak sandwiches and burgers with those awesome fries! the chefs at bluestarare rockin' it!

much better experience. thank you. it'd been a few months since we came down to bluestardue to a lackluster service experience. we went on slow afternoon that was slow. although at a brewery we forewent the beer on this day although we did see a couple we want to try on a future visit. the value at lunch and brunch looks great. we just missed it. i settled on a turkey avocado blt witha side of vegetables. the vegetables were cooked perfectly and the sandwich was fresh, well made, and full of flavor. my girlfriend and stepson enjoyed the chicken nachos and since they are individually topped all of them had great flavor. our dessert was the winner here. homemade chocolate cake and homemade gelato ice cream. a wonderful finish. service is still not top notch, but efficient enough.


-----02 may, 2011-----

service quality going down. it's been awhile since i visited bluestarand i must say the service has taken a dive. the food is sub par and they were out of some brew selections which made for a very limited drink menu. it will be awhile before i return again. perhaps until i see a handful of recent good reviews.

good and bad experiences. we had a great experience and then a bad experience there in the same week. the first evening my husband and i took our dog for a lovely walk on the river. after the walk we stopped at bluestarbrewing for drinks and nachos. the waitress on the patio welcomed our dog and even brought her a dish of water to drink. i really enjoyed the sangria and the bean nachos. we enjoyed the experience so much that we took my parents, our two kids and the dog back a few days later for a walk on the river and dinner on the bluestarpatio. after we placed our dinner order the manager came out and told us they didn't allow dogs. it was too hot to leave the dog in the car so my husband had to drive home to drop off the dog and come back. we wouldn't have minded them not allowing dogs but they had just welcomed the same dog a few days before with open arms. so we were confused and upset about the unexpected eviction of the dog. the service was also very slow that night so it was a disappointing experience all around.

good food, good beer, good atmosphere, good service. i'm not sure what sort of experience the folks writing below me might have had, but i dared to try bluestaranyway and i was pleasantly surprised! i'll definitely be a repeat customer.

the brisket sandwich was tasty, well-made, and filling. it paired quite well with their own pale ale and the mac and cheese (believe it or not). i got excellent recommendations and timely service from our waiter throughout our meal. and the patio was wonderful to enjoy a pleasant summer evening.

thanks blue star! i'll be back.