Terrible Customer Service. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
I called this brewery in November about having my family in on 1/12/19 for my parents 60th birthday, there are 12 of us in total (9 adults, 3 kids). I was going to rent the entire space, but was told in January there would likely only be a few patrons in and out of the brewery, if anyone at all, so we opted for the "show up and make your own space" option, which was free. I also asked about purchasing pints in advance and giving out drink tickets or something similar (something my old brewery and many others do for large parties) and was told this was not something they did.
I called again a few days before we planned to go in, to give them a heads up when we planned to be there (around 3/4pm) and to go over the details I had already discussed when I called in November. I asked during both phone conversations if they wanted to take my contact information down, just in case, and they told me there was no need both times.
We arrived to the brewery on Saturday (1/12/19) around 4pm, and were surprised to see quite a few people already inside and that it clearly appeared another event was happening. I saw one table with a reserved sign on it, and had been told they were reserve a few for us when I called a few days before, so I went to the bar to talk to the staff and see what the plan was, there were three people working. I spoke with the female working behind the bar, I told her we were apart of the birthday party that had called in advance, and she proceeded to tell me she thought we would be arriving at 3pm and when we didn't, they removed the reserved signs from our tables. She also informed me the chamber of commerce was having a meeting in the brewery at 4pm, which had been planned for quite some time. Keep in mind I initially called in November, and again a few days before Saturday, and during both phone calls NO ONE informed me there would be another large group there, or that they were also apparently putting on a presentation. I also noticed someone passing out drink tickets to each person who arrived for the meeting, saying "your first drink is on us", which is something else I had also specifically asked the brewery about both times I called, and was told could not be done. Needless to say, we were all quite annoyed and confused.
Understandably mistakes happen, but the fact that we were spoken to in such a belittling way, with an air of "we don't care about you", was simply terrible customer service. The female working did at least ask a couple on the opposite side of the bar to switch tables so we could have two tables, which they kindly did, but she also quietly explained to them that we were supposed to arrive at 3pm and basically just blamed it on us, while we were standing right next them. Again, taking no responsibility for the situation and again, terrible customer service. After the ladies switched tables, no one working in the brewery even acknowledged us. They all stood behind the bar and acted as though everything was fine. A simple, "I'm so sorry for this inconvenience", "I'm not sure what happened", or honestly anything would have been better than how we were treated. As a former brewery worker and event planner, I was appalled. We debated just leaving, but the town is very small, and there were quite a few of us so our options were limited (not to mention the fact that we were trying to celebrate my parents birthdays). The icing on the cake of this night was then having to sit through the chamber of commerce' presentation to the rest of the room. I also found out later in the evening the owner of the brewery was one of the people working behind the bar, witnessed all this happen, and again didn't even acknowledge the situation or our group aside from pouring our beers.
As a customer service professional for many years, I highly suggest you do not visit this establishment, or even consider holding any type of event here. To the employees and management a few words of advice for future events and general customer service: 1) If someone calls and says their coming in with a large group, take their contact information. It would of been very easy for someone working to call and ask if we were still coming when we didn't arrive at 3pm sharp, as your female beertender informed me. 2) If someone calls over a month in advance about coming in with a large group, and again a few days before, and you already have an event happening, you should definitely give them a heads up. Had my group known we were walking into a Chamber of Commerce meeting, we would of obviously made other arrangements. 3) If an error like this occurs, your staff should understand how to properly communicate with the patrons instead of completely avoiding them and taking no ownership in the situation. Had someone had even a 2 minute conversation with me about what was going on and how we were treated, it would of resulted in a lot of less awkwardness and annoyance. read more