Arbor Brewing Company

All I can say is whoa… definitely different. That said, I couldn’t be happier with the change! My friends and I have been coming here fairly regularly for a few years now, and this is the best it’s ever looked. I’m not sure how anybody could be too unhappy with the new menu and layout, because everything is a step ahead of where it was.
Great brew, great atmosphere (same as it has ever been), all of the food I’ve tried so far has been a win. Will definitely be coming back.

This place is the tits. They’re food is spectacular & the beers are rotational. I live in Ohio but eat & drink here every time I visit Ann Arbor.

Goodbye, ABC.
Over the past year we went to ABC about once a week for lunch or dinner and some drinks. We recently went to check out the renovations and updated menu. I’m not sure what inspired the change, but the menu reminds me of a chain brew pub you can find anywhere else. That is fine, I guess, but the preparation and quality equally as marginal. We ordered the duck poutine and it was clearly frozen steak fries topped with a single long hunk of goat cheese. This place used to use quality ingredients but those days seem to be gone.
Also, I didn’t recognize a single person on the staff. Did they replace them all? I don’t know… it just seems like the renovated the soul out of this place. It’s now a paint-​by-​numbers brew pub. I’d recommend anything else in town for the prices you’ll pay here.

My husband and I have always liked ABC, especially the old menu they had. We recently went in to check out the reno and the new menu. I was disappointed that they got rid of a lot of the items we really liked, such as the veggie wrap and the fish tacos. We each settled on a burger with a pretzel bun and were impressed with the quality we received. They were cooked just right and were delicious! While I was disappointed with the menu change, I was pleased with my meal that night. I still think they are a bit overpriced for what they have to offer but def worth checking out if you have never been or are a big fan of brew pubs.

For some reason, the beer at ABC *always* gives me a headache.

Used to go here a lot. there was many thing that were great to choose from. Tried it again tonight with their new menu. Very disappointing. Food was horrible, might as well stayed home and made a sandwich. Service was lacking big time. Do not care for the new layout. just looks like they were trying to cram more tables and chairs in. It has really lost it’s atmosphere. Didn’t even have salt and pepper on tables. Really sad, we used to enjoy ABC very much but will not be returning.

We were in on Sunday and had a chance to check out the new menu and the facelift. All in all, it was quite disappointing.
The food was way off what I’ve come to expect from ABC. One of us had the fish and chips. The chips (fries) were pretty good, but skip the salt on them — it was unnecessary. The fish was just really poor — thin measly squares, overcooked and chewy, greasy from too low an oil temp in the fryer, lousy batter. The old light crispy batter coating was gone. Kaput. The don’t-call-it tartar sauce was runny and nondescript. Stick with ketchup or the single small lemon slice. No malt vinegar was offered. Also, the tiny metal plates were not enough to hold the food — cute, but utterly impractical.
Our other meal was bangers & mash. Only the sausages they used weren’t bangers at all — not sure what they were. When your menu says you’re serving bangers, that had better be what you serve. Would you send out trout on a salmon dish? The mash was ladled with a gravy that appeared to have been based upon one of their bitter beers. Bitter may be what you want in a beer, but it sure as heck isn’t what you want in a gravy on your mash. Yuck, just yuck.
Lastly on the food, don’t bother looking for the sweet potato fries. They are no longer on the menu,
Service was so-​so. Our wait person seemed distracted and made a habit of handing us things through the large opening now cut into the side wall. It felt cheap and lazy. Come around to our table, please. Also, when you say you’ll bring us something, don’t let us see you (repeatedly) standing around on one foot after that making no move toward taking care of our request.
Finally, the remodeling. The acoustics are atrocious. It seems that every surface is now hard as a rock and bounces every little sound in every direction. After tripping over the step at the door coming in (I do hope the ramp is coming back as they complete the work), I could not even hear the hostess talking to me from three feet away on an evening that was only moderately busy. Yikes. The new tables in the booths feel really cheap. They are quite wide, leaving little room to actually sit, and the simple leg-​and-​four-​feet support does not adequately support the table. I put my hand on the table while squirming my way out of the booth and nearly knocked all the dishes on the floor as it came close to flipping over. This is not a good place to cut corners.
ABC used to be a reliable go-​to spot for a nice meal. I’m sad to say I’ll be looking elsewhere now.

Arbor Brewing has always been a favorite. Arrived last night (Saturday) with my family a little after 7. I know that they are in the middle of some renovations, but that should not excuse: poor service, running out of Pilsner at 7:30, running out of pretzel bites by 7:30, having a menu that does not align with the online menu, and overlooking all the food (my chicken breast was barely edible). When we spoke to management, they comped us two beers with very little apology — nice, but pretty weak for fairly regular customers. Two additional notes — the alignment of the high tops in the bar forces bar patrons on top of the tables, and the new menu is too eclectic for families. Sadly enough, with all the other choices in AA, I am not planning on returning.

Just tried abc’s new menu. Their veggie chips appetizer are good-​a little greasy but in the good bar food way. I do wish there was more cheese on them. I got the black bean patty on a pretzel bun with fries and it was good. It was a good choice for vegetarians and I like that you can customize it. Bollywood blonde as the beer is also a good choice. They were out of the beer I wanted as well as appetizer (pretzels with cheese) but hopefully that’s just growing pains. Glad to see the laid back vibe hasn’t changed!

Stopped in for lunch and beer. Got 4 tasters, Euchre Pilsner, Jackhammer old ale, steamroller imperial stout, and Michael Faricy’s stout. All are very good! Couldn’t pass up the hamtramck pierogi (potato & cheese, with sautéed mushrooms, beer Carmelized onions and dill sauce). Mushrooms were cold, but The hot pierogi and dill sauce are very good.
The location is doing a soft opening as they’ve been remodeling. The place does smell of fresh paint (a little off putting). But the food & beer make up for it. Service seems a bit off right now, a little slow and generally not overly enthusiastic.

Okay, I know we were here for New Years Eve, so the review is skewed to a time where its super crowded (probably similar to a U of M game), a special menu, and specialty casked beer.
We got a seat at the bar, got the special cask beers and hung out for the night. I would have loved to play shufflepuck, or darts, but it was just too crowded, the menu specials looked great, though we didn’t order any since we just wanted to review the beer.
the person I went with and I both found beers we liked and beers that could use a little more flavor depth, but all in all, exactly what I want for New Years Eve.

My friends and I went here last night as part of a birthday bar crawl. It was our second stop. I have been to the Ypsilanti location several times prior but never this one. Our waitress Brittany (hopefully spelled this way) was very polite to our party. She was quick to take our order, food and beverages. I let her decide on a beer cocktail for my beverage. She brought me a black and tan that i had no problem emptying. She also turned on the closer big screen for us to watch football, she went above and beyond what we would expect from a brewery waitress… well done.
The reason for the 3 star rating as opposed to a higher value is due to the lackluster food. We had an order of onion rings which was a 95% dough to 5% onion ratio, and it was the size of a regular sugar donut. More like an oniom grease breadball. Was not satisfied at all.
My entrée was a Reuben with sweet potato fries. The thousand island dressinf that came with the reuben was almost spicy, and i enjoyed dipping the fries (which were cooked well) into it. My major complaint about my entrée was the bread used on the sandwich. It was overtoasted and actually cut the inside of my mouth.
Lastly, the garlic fries appetizer we shared as a table… were quite delicious… so we felt as a group that it deserved a solid 3 stars.

I came here during a week day lunch. There is plenty of seating around, and thus didn’t have to wait for a table, always nice when you are need of a quicker bite to eat before heading back to work.
The place, no surprise by its name, has an extensive beer selection. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to that, but imagine they’d have a little something for any palette.
It was nice that this place does have a special lunch menu, in addition to their regular menu. I got a burger, that came on a pretzel bun. We upgraded to the garlic fries, as I tend to put garlic on everything. But a heads up that it was wayyy too garlicky and salty, even for more tastes.
The one down side was the place is a bit big, and even though there weren’t too many people, the waiter was sometimes harder to track down, if needed.

The wheat beer was out of this world. It was light, it was smooth, and the bar tender made a great person pick. Having said that, there wasn’t much better n the way for food options. But it was an awesome watering hole especially for lovers of craft beers. The bartender knows what he is talking about t and is even fri madly, though a bit friendlier to the regulars which is to be expected. The menu looked good, complicated, and extensive. I said it was my first visit but received no guidance on how to order. Service by the bartender would be nice if he was knowledgeable on food and snacks as well.

Came here with a group of 8 Friday night and the hostess quoted 45 min to an hour to get a big enough table. Fine… we’ll head to another bar for a pre-​dinner drink. In the midst of the pre-​dinner drink we called ABC to confirm how much longer we had in which the hostess said another 15 min. Great, just enough time to finish up and pay our bill. We walk over there and the table isn’t ready. The hostess said that «she didn’t know when the next table will open up» as the tables are lingering. We all grabbed beer at the bar to wait, only to find out after that they still had nothing for us. We scoped out the part of the restaurant with the darts and such and saw two tables of four. Hostess was happy to sit us there but made damn sure to let us know we couldn’t combine the tables into one. Um… ok?
The food wasn’t that good. I had the Arburger which had chipotle mayo, chive cream cheese, beer battered onion rings, lettuce and tomato with a side of garlic fries. The burger was tasteless outside of the mayo which was overpowering and the onion rings were completely soggy. Garlic fries were barely cooked and tossed in what seemed like spoiled raw garlic. Was not digging it.
The beers aren’t bad, just unhappy with my latest experience there.

We visited ABC for the first time with my in-​laws for a late (230pm) lunch. I love the space — big windows let in a lot of natural light from Washington Street. We were greeted promptly by the hostess who sat us immediately in a big, comfortable booth for our party of 5.
Unfortunately the service was a little slow — for the time of day on a slow Sunday I’m not sure why. It took our server quite a while to visit our table. Our guests were from out of town so it would have been nice for her to ask whether we had been before and explain what ABC is all about.
Our food was well received. My husband LOVED his burger and said it was the best he has had in Ann Arbor, my mother in law thought her salad was excellent and I quite enjoyed my lentil and sweet potato cakes. I wasn’t a fan of the «street corn» I selected a side dish. I didn’t realize it was «on the cob» and it was very messy to eat (grilled corn on the cob rolled in spices and cheese –needed handles!)
I’d give 4 stars if the service was better considering how much my husband loves his food. We will be back!

Came here on some reviews from friends that lived in the area. The atmosphere was nice, really enjoyed the narrow pub feel but still spacey.
The food was good, but kinda overpriced for what it was. Beers were good, a lot where hit or miss though. They have very distinct flavors, making for unique profiles and beers that are unlike those elsewhere. We got the flight, so we tried all the house brewed. Would definitely go there again.

Ann Arbor Brewing Company — which I like to call ABCo — has much improved their lunch time service. Still the same great food but in the last few visits, the staff are great. Friendly, attentive, intuitive and knowledgeable in regards to both food and beers on tap. My favorite lunch sections are the booths along the wall in the bar area. Busy traffic of wait staff running by but not as noisy as the other sitting areas. Good place to avoid visiting children. They also have a great little outdoor area with nice shade.
Today I had a sour pint along with Fish and Chips. The fish is the best I have found in Michigan. Comes with a non-​creamy slaw (much appreciated and complement to the fried fish) and fries. The tarter sauce is stellar and I love that they have an assortment of hot sauces available.
Hot Hot lunch spot.

We had a rehearsal dinner for 25 people at ABC and it was fantastic!
The tap room fee was $ 150, but the service and space we had made it a bargain.
We had the chicken buffet which consisted of grilled chicken with spinach, onions and a cream sauce with mashed potatoes, green beans & salad. Everyone loved the food! We also had the taquitos, perogies & salsa/​bean dip trio with chips. We also had one with some dietary restrictions — getting a special meal was no problem.
Portions were HUGE! We came home with a lot of leftovers, which the staff boxed up for us. We were also able to bring our own dessert at no charge which was nice.
I normally don’t care much for ABC beer, that being said I found a few I liked. Guests enjoyed the beer along with wine & a full bar.
We had the whole space to ourselves with 2 Server/​Bartenders who stayed with us the whole night.
It was effortless and all we had to do was show up. I honestly didn’t know the tap room existed (it has its own entrance on Washington) and it was perfect for our group. I’d say 40 people would have been tight, but 25 was perfect.
The food was a great value and delicious, even for a buffet. Everything was prompt and taken care of. We had fun in a laid back atmosphere with our guests. Recommended!

Cervejas sensacionais ! Execução impecável dos estilos clássicos, mas a grande sacada foi a Sour beer apresentada on tap. Não recebe 5 estrelas, porque se recusaram a me vender um growler da sour… mesmo tentando explicar que vim de longe para beber a cerveja deles e que gostaria de compartilhar esta sour com amigos… negaram, alegando que a sour era edição limitada e não podia ser levada da loja.

Jake and I decided to stop at Arbor after the Unilocal Cookie Exchange. We found a couple seats at their bar and were given friendly service from a couple bartenders.
Being our first visit, Jacob decided to order a flight of all their beers on tap. He received 12 4-​oz samples. Since we’d just eaten at Frita Batidos, we didn’t end up ordering any food. There were some winners and losers, but overall, Jake said the beers were great. It’s really going to depend on your personal tastes.
Arbor Brewing is a chill bar to relax and have a few drinks at. They’ve got a great selection of many different styles of beers, and even feature guest taps and bottles. Add in friendly service and good prices and you’ve got yourself a pretty nice bar.