Brew It Up Brewery & Grill

Monday nights is trivia night! Love the variety of beer they have here.

All-​in-​all this place was so-​so.
The food didn’t really stand out much and it was basically your typical bar food. They do have a wide selection of brews though.
What pushed my review down from 3 to 2 was the service. We were sat for 10+ minutes before an employee noticed us to ask if we had been helped yet. Needless to say we haven’t been back since.

Brew It Up is a popular establishment. I have been here only once when it wasn’t packed to the rafters, with all the tables filled, the bar almost inaccessible and people standing in the aisles. This is great if you are coming in for a quick drink or to join in talking very loudly, but not so good if you are coming in for a relaxing meal.
There’s no doubt about it — their brews are all great. I just wish the service, which is awfully slow for a sit down meal, was equally on par. Also, and this is just a personal quirk, it has an awfully «chainy» feeling for being what I assume is a unique business to Sacramento.

Went here last night with my family before Music Circus. I have been a couple of other times, but it’s definitely been awhile.
I thought that the service was great, even though they were really busy since it’s right across the street from Wells Fargo Pavilion. Our server was very attentive, and didn’t get any of our order wrong. He also didn’t seem to even blink when we asked for our food without dairy.
We started out with the blue cheese balsamic kettle chips (I think between the six of us we got two orders actually). I had remembered them as good before, but since I don’t eat cheese anymore I wasn’t sure how it would be to just have chips with balsamic reduction. They were still REALLY good. For dinner I got the portobello mushroom panini, but without the cheese or mayo. It was dry, which is my fault, I should have asked if they could add avocado for me. The fries that came with were really good. My husband got the California burger with no dairy and a veggie patty and he liked it a lot! I wished that I had gotten that, as it looked great (I should have taken a picture of it before he started eating). We also shared the onion rings, which were a little too tasty, as we ate them all and were super stuffed! I also recently started drinking beer, and I got something called a Shandy that is a light ale mixed with lemon lime soda. It was so good that I had a hard time not finishing it, which I really couldn’t do since I’m not used to drinking beer and would have been too buzzed.
I wish the vegan options here were more plentiful, but other than that we really enjoyed ourselves and had good food. We’ll be back!

Not impressed.
I went to Brew it Up twice last week (to use Groupons I had purchased) and was frankly disappointed both times. When you have doubts about using a Groupon because your experience was so bad — that is not a good sign.
I first went on a Friday at lunch time. The service was terrible and I do mean TERRIBLE. The waitress was friendly enough — but it was clear she was in over her head. It took forever to get service, we never got the water we asked for at least 3 times, or the salad we ordered, and it took forever to get our drinks and food. We had another server and a manager ask if we had been helped — that’s how long it took us to get any food or drink.
We had a Groupon for a beer and food sampling experience and if this is the impression Brew it Up wants to give its customers I am suprised they are still in business. My brother and I both prefer darker beers and we tried 8 different types from amber ales to stouts, etc. Between the two of us (him especially) who both like darker beers there was not one that either of us liked or would order again. When I asked him his opinion he indicated there were one or two that were mediocre at best. We chose their artichoke dip and fish tacos as our «food experience» and I would say for the almost $ 10 they normally charge for the artichoke dip… it isn’t worth it — I’ve had better. The fish tacos were good though.
I returned the following day for a late lunch/​early dinner with my son. I did not order the beer… frankly had no desire to. Our service was MUCH better and we got our food and drinks in a timely manner. Our server was friendly and efficient. I ordered the prime rib sandwhich and it was disappointing. I was expecting a cut of prime rib… what I got was thinly sliced beef that frankly didn’t resemble any prime rib sandwhich I’ve ever had before. The mushrooms on the sandwhich tasted canned (not sure if they were or not). The bread for the sandwich was its one redeeming quality — and their fries are good. My son ordered the Ahi salad and he seemed to enjoy it, but said he wouldn’t order it again. I tasted it and it wasn’t bad — but it was weird. Strange flavor and the capers on the salad just didn’t seem to belong.
I really struggled between giving them one star or two. I went with the second star because the server and the busser on day two were both efficient and I felt they should be given some credit for redeeming their business from the previous days terrible disappointment.

I love this place! But I still feel that three stars is an adequate rating, I come here for specific things!
1. ONION rings, fantastic panko breadcrumbs habanero ketchup. mmmm
2. The Burgers, had them all… they are all delish
(of course) — My tip… sit at the bar, better service than any of the waitstaff and you can sample the different beers and no cost. Versus, sitting at a table and buying a flight!
4. Brew Parties… always a great day… lots of options, and you truly do all the work… cant wait to pick up my latest brew!

This place has such a cool concept to brew your own beer! I came here for the ⁶⁄₁₄ Sacramento Dishcrawl and I’m so glad it was a featured restaurant! The hosts and servers were all extremely welcoming and friendly, and the layout of the restaurant was very spacious.
The Dishcrawl was set up in the back near the bar and they served amazing food! Large platters of onion rings, kettle chips drizzled with balsamic vinegar, mac cheese pizza (they used truffle oil, yumm!!) and asparagus prosciutto. Everything was absolutely exquisite! Paul (manager) was also very nice and made sure everyone got a plate of pizza and offered great happy hour prices. This is definitely a place I will come back to!

I go here often with my grandma for lunch on the week days, but after we had dinner last night (Sunday) and I feel compelled to write a review at this point.
Service SUCKS (period) the hostess is always rude and lacking basic industry knowledge — I’m sorry to say. I’ve been a hostess and it’s not that difficult to seat people, with a smile at that. We stood at the front for a couple minutes and the host was nowhere to be found and when she finally ran up she ran to the table to put our menu’s down. When we sat, we waited about 10 minutes for anyone to even come by to say hi, or give us waters. Also, host, when you’re attempting to be a food runner and bring out our appetizer with a stack of plates and then don’t give us the plates and walk away, it’s a tad annoying. Everyone is running around so quickly I can hardly grab someone to give us plates … and it wasn’t even busy. The wait staff is generally nice, but rushed every time I’ve been there even when only 5 tables are there.
**On a good note, my drink was never empty, the food came out quick, and my finished plate didn’t sit in front of me for longer than a few seconds.
The food is OK, but I’ve definitely had a better burger at Carl’s Jr. I would say those appetizer chips and beer is all they have going for them.
STORY: One time I order and Irish coffee at the end of our meal. The drink was OK and the whipped cream was good, however, towards the end of the drink I caught a big chunk of something in my mouth texture and shape of an un-​ground coffee bean. I almost bit it, but I don’t like coffee like that, so I spit it out in my napkin — IT WAS A FLY. I was going to say something like, «might want to check out your coffee maker» or whatever, but as usual everyone was sprinting by not giving me a second look (since we’d already paid)
I’ve had enough experiences here, I won’t be back.

I used to come here a lot when I went clubbing/​drinking downtown. They are open decently late and have good burgers.
Here’s the only tip I really have to offer: Order a burger! I’ve had various other things on the menu and it almost always has been pretty bad. However, they get it right on the burgers! Every burger I’ve had there is really good.
Service here has always been, «meh.» Servers don’t seem particularly enthusiastic. I did notice this last time I got stuck in the kids n’ minorities corner though… There was a couple with a kid next to us, and everyone else seated in the corner were minorities. Maybe it was a coincidence? I hope so.
Anyway, I haven’t been back in a while and the place is pretty much as I remember it. It’s not a fantastic experience, but at least it’s open late and the burgers are good!

Firstoff, beware of the street parking signs around here! Especially when its dark and the parking signs are camouflaged by the darkness and tree branches. I parked around the 14^th and H St intersection, right next to my friend’s car. The nearby parking sign nearby says 2hr parking until 6pm and I parked @ 8. When we returned to our cars, there was a $ 50 parking ticket on my car and not my friend’s. Apparently a third of the way down the street, the parking changes to 1hr parking until 10pm. and my spot happened to be the cutoff point between those parking limits. Seriously, @ least clearly distinguish which spots between the 6pm and 10pm signs apply to the corresponding signs. [This doesn’t affect my rating for this place though, it’s more of an FYI]
Service: Upon my arrival, the hostess ignored me for the time I entered and stood in front of her – she didn’t even bother looking up or replying to my «excusez-moi“s. Perhaps my movements were so stealthy that she didn’t sense my presence (??) After a while, I wandered off in the restaurant in search of my friends.
Our waitress was okay for the first half in serving us food, but then she was no where to be found. We sat there for a good 30min or so before attempting to track her down to get our bill. We asked the other servers passing by, but apparently they couldn’t do anything since we were not their table – and our waitress at the bar. More waiting for her return: Oh she left?! And still no bill in sight! We could’ve simply walked out w/​o paying, but we know better. Finally another server swoops in to apologize and print our bill.
Food: Overpriced and not that great. We had the sampler and a veggie pizza. The sampler wasn’t good at all! We substituted the taquitos for fries – which were probably the best thing on the platter. The wasabi chicken wrap (??) looks like a fried wonton and was really dry and bland inside. The fried shrimp tasted old and stale like it’s been sitting out all day and the onion rings weren’t that good either. Like other reviewers had mentioned, the ketchup is laced with possibly hotsauce (??) I happen to actually like it, but yeah, you would have to ask for ketchup if you wanted it. The pizza was okay compared to that dreaded sample platter. We packed the leftover pieces of pizza to go and gave it to this homeless guy we saw earlier as we were parking our cars. We would’ve packed the sampler leftovers too, but we’re not that cruel to give him such atrocity.
Nevertheless, this place is way overpriced and not worth it. Note to the manager: if you’re gonna have the prices that high, with that small of a portion, you should at least have the food taste good – or have some sort of taste to it period. Maybe try adding salt? Or call Gordon Ramsey?
Since I don’t drink, I wanna say that perhaps beer/​alcohol is their specialty. but both of my friends who ordered drinks couldn’t force themselves to finish more than half of their glasses. And they typically never waste booze. We went elsewhere afterwards to sate my friends’ booze fix.

Update: Christine from Brew It Up contacted me and made sure we got our beer labels. It sounds like they’ve had some hiccups with the logistics of making individual labels and have taken steps to make a standardized label for each Brew Crew until they can make the process more efficient. Thumbs up to Brew It Up for reaching out to its customers to make things right.
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(This review is for the Brew Crew beer brewing experience only.)
At 11 a.m. we were the first brew party appointment of the day, so at the start the restaurant was empty, save for our group of six. The restaurant gave us the option of right away starting with our samplers, of which you each get four 5 oz. tasters of your choice, and «bar» appetizer, which seemed to be on the small side. We flipped through the label book and decided on making our own at home and emailing them to the restaurant.
That day we were making the Engine #2 Pale Ale and the Nut Brown Ale, so after we waited for everyone to arrive, a brewer came to round us up, and off we went to measure and grind grains, pour malt extract, and begin the brewing process.
After the grain bag was steeped, the yeast was pitched and the final steps were taken care of by employees, we were taken on a tour in the back rooms to see where the beer would ferment during the following weeks.
At this point, the experience was a solid four stars.
But then, things began to get a little chaotic. There was a brief mention of the «bottling party,» but details were sparse and we were left not knowing if we had to confirm if we would be there (we wouldn’t be there because of other plans). Also, another brew crew had arrived for their appointment, and the space wasn’t really large enough for both crowds, let alone the brewers and patrons who were just there to enjoy lunch and who ended up having to sit next to a group of people who were up and walking around their tables for the entire meal.
In all, even though the website says to expect to stay «3+ hours» for the process, we were there for well over 4 hours, so don’t make any immediate plans after your Brew Crew experience.
Within two weeks of the final bottling party, we created labels and emailed them to the restaurant, but we never received a response saying they had gotten them, even with follow-​up emails. In the end when we went to pick up the beers, not only were our cases of beer unlabeled, but the bottles of our friends were also unlabeled, and they had chosen from the pre-​made labels provided by Brew It Up.
When questioning why there were no labels, the employee replied that the label guy wasn’t there that day (which was several days after the bottling party and several weeks after we had emailed them the labels, so that really shouldn’t have mattered) and didn’t offer to follow up. It was quite a letdown, especially since my boyfriend had designed the labels for our cases himself.
I also question why the 22 oz. bottles aren’t incorporated into the per-​person price since the «Brew Crew» parties seem like they’re geared to newbies to the brewing scene who aren’t going to have their own set to bring along.
Overall it’s a fun experience, but I feel like they need to get their act together from start to finish, not just the first few hours.

So I have been here twice. The place is a loud and fun atmosphere. To my surprise they take reservations which is pretty awesome! And be prepared to walk into a strong smell of hops and be prepared to leave smelling like it as well.
The service is kinda slow though, so be prepared to wait a few minutes before you get your drinks or even before you get greeted at your table.
The appetizer sampler is pretty good, especially for 2 people. I ordered the classic burger. Honestly, I probably would get a better burger from Carls JR. It was not that good, nor were the fry’s. Stick to the pastas and the meat items and I’m sure you will be ok.
All in all not a bad place.

Fact: I’m not a big beer fan. At all.
But, I went here for the champagne tasting, and I loved it!
$ 10 for 16 different champagne tastings? The chance to buy the ones you taste at a really, really good discount (especially the ones from France and Italy)? And you get to take home a bottle of Kentwood for free? Uh-​mazing.
Apparently you can brew your own beer here, and the first thing I can think of is: excellent date idea. Let me know if you try it and whether it worked on him or her.
PS — Loved the location! I parked in the structure and once I got off the elevator, there I was!

When I first started coming here, I didn’t know the owner and now I do but that has never stopped me from being honest (and it wont now).
You are either going to love the beer or not. If you are a beer snob, the previous sentence still applies. Some beers just don’t work for everyone. I like most of the beers here. Their Honey Porter is die for. Also, if you have a few of them, you will pass the heck out. It is one strong ass beer.
I have pretty much done it all here. Brought a date for dinner, brewed beer with a bunch of friends, stopped here on St Patty’s day and Oktoberfest, and also for numerous happy hours. I have also had them cater a business luncheon.
The food is still very good and the service is very good also. The kettle chips are DA bomb. They are like Chinese food, you cant stop eating them. Other foods are good too.
The only negative I have is that when I first started coming here was that there were not enough TVs (or even modern ones) but in the last month or so, Mike has invested money in new ones and now they are all over.
I try to come here often and I would come here much more often if it was more geographically desirable for me. You should come here for the food or the beer, I like them both.

It was 2:30 pm, the BF had not had lunch yet and he was starving. He was trying sooo hard to hold his temper, but I knew the evil hungry monster inside him was slowly coming out. The answers to my questions were becoming short and the attitude starting kicking in. I knew I had to get him food before it turned into World War III in my Little Rav 4. It wasn’t my fault that the Costco Eye Center took 30 minutes to fix my Marc Jacobs glasses and order contacts because they didn’t have my prescription in stock. I thought the Costco samples would hold him down. but boy was I wrong!
I originally planned on taking him to Zen Sushi since it was the closest restaurant from the 160, but by 2:30pm they had closed (why are sushi places only open 11am-​2pm, close, and then 5pm-​10pm??? People are hungry from 11am-10pm.effin stay open!!). This was an emergency! We passed by Brew it up so I parked and jumped out of the car. Luckily this place was open and there were only a few people in the restaurant. The hostess seated us right away and our waiter handed us menus. He ordered the fish and chips ($ 12.99) and I ordered the Paella (15.99). We didn’t wait too long for our food. The fish and chips were really good. It was lightly battered and came with crispy fries. My Paella wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, it was just ok. It had salmon, mussels, baby shrimp, chicken, and sausages. It came with two slices of bread. The paella sauce was pretty good, but I wasn’t feelin the small baby shrimp. I guess after having Aioli’s Paella; I have Paella standards now.
The service was great, the beer was great, but they need to work on their menu items. The menu is always a hit or miss.

All the previous times I’ve visited here, it has always been great. I have the fondest memories of their crab melt that I ordered every single time (except for last). Sooo good! So I was surprised to see all these three and two star reviews lately.
It was freezing when we got there and no amount of alcohol warmed me up! So if you tend to be cold, bring a jacket.
We ordered the Appetizer Sampler Platter which was ok. The chicken taquitos sucked — they had this horribly weird chicken taste. The shrimp poppers on the other hand were my favorite. My other not so favorite, their ketchup. Where is my regular ketchup? Anyone else notice that theirs always has this weird flavor? When I finally asked, I found out it’s Chinese Five Spices. Bah! If you don’t like the flavor, make sure to ask for some regular ketchup which our waiter forgot to bring out and I had to ask another employee who brought it out in no time.
The baby back ribs were so-​so. Advertised as «fall-​off-​the-​bone-​tender» the actual dish required full use of your teeth and hands. False advertisement! I didn’t even finish it all. Next time I come back, I’m sticking with what I know. The crab melt.

First of all, the location was perfect for me, as I was going to see a play at Music Circus which was directly across the street.
I arrived without a reservation on a Saturday evening, and my wife and I only had to wait about 5 minutes for a table. I ordered the glazed Ribeye Steak. The ribeye came out perfectly cooked and was a decent piece of meat. It came folded over a heap of pepper-​jack mashed potatoes, which were unique and delicious. The vegetables seemed to be sauteed in a sweet butter which made them some of the best I’ve had.
The only drawback was that it was loud in there. If you’re looking for an intimate environment, you won’t find it here, and the other diners were so close it was difficult to concentrate on your own conversation.
I’ll be back. The quality of the meal will ensure that!

Another work shin-​dig, another review for the Unilocal gods.
So, we had a pretty good range of foods and drinkage. my work paid for an array of appetizers that ranged from wtf to gross. There was something called «irish nachos» that was basically kettle chips with balsamic vinaigrette with blue cheese and basil, don’t get me wrong… i mean for what it was… it was tasty… but really? potato chips? come’on bud, you can do better.
the other appetizers were some standard fare… your onion rings, calamari (which was good… and im not generally a fan of calamari) there were these little taquito’s that i thought were pretty gross… and this… what im guessing was crab and cream cheese wrapped in a fried won ton thingy… that tasted kinda gross. they also had fried brussels sprouts that was pretty tasty… but this doesn’t hold a lot of weight with me because by its very nature fried food should be tasty.
anyways…so after ingesting a whole bunch of fried crap… me and a few people at the table decieded to actually order some food with substance in order to save our bowels.
one guy at my table order this prime rib sando, that made me immediately regret ordering my patty melt sando. It looked great, although my patty melt was really tasty, you could tell the patty came from a single cow which speaks somewhat to the quality of the meat. My girl had this seared ahi tuna salad and it was the bomb… she said they were a little over zealous with the poppy seeds but otherwise the salad was fantastic. i sampled a bit of it and i have to agree, it was tasty, it had romaine, pineapple and strawberries and this yummy wasabi dressing. it was a really awesome combo and worked really well together.
my service was pretty good the little lady was on my drinks… and i was kinda impressed because it seemed like she was our sole waitress for the whole party. besides…50 bucks for 2 plates and three drinks… not bad.
we did the make your own brew thing, and that was fun… but i kinda was over it after the jokes about tea-​bagging stopped… i also had a seven and seven which was kinda watery but at least there was a lot of it. all in all, i had a pretty good time and who knows i might even be back.

My friends and I came here on St. Patty’s day. It was a laid back kind of place. Made reservations for 6 people. They had the whole restaurant in St. Patty’s theme and the beer garden outside. The majority of people were in the theme as well. They had a special St. patty’s menu that night also green beer! lol
I had a few green beers and ordered some fries. We also had some Irish bombs. :) We started off with the steamed mussels in creamy garlic sauce it came with a slice of soda bread. The sauce was really good, the mussels were tiny! lol
My sister ordered some type of curry chicken pasta… the chicken was very dry and I do not like the smell of curry. The rest of my friends ordered the philly cheese steak sandwich, banger and mash, and shepherds pie. Overall, the service was friendly, but a little slow. The food was not anything to go crazy over… especially being a little pricey on the items.

Homebrewed ROOT beer is incredible, and when I saw it on the menu, I asked for one immediately. Only they were out. Thus I started dinner with a broken heart.
The four of us weren’t terribly hungry, but none of us were terribly into our food, either. I had half of the veggie pizza, sans cheese. It was ok. Forgettable, with an overload of onions. A friend’s chicken strips looked like alien fingers or something, they were shaped really weirdly. The drinkers enjoyed their beers. We weren’t hungry enough to try dessert, although they sounded good. I was not interested in entering the sports bar section of the restaurant.
It was open at 10pm and little else was, what can I say.