E.J. Phair Brewing Company and Alehouse

Oh my… the mussels in wine sauce was so delicious i ate them before i had a chance to take a photo. It is on special right now. Definately order something from the special menu first the chef takes a lot of time preparing these jasmine says and she also gave us wonderful service. Yum and the beer is great too!

Food was not what I ordered. I sent it back and waited, and waited, and waited. Meanwhile, the rest of my party had almost finished with their lunch and the waitress came by and said she’d check on my order. I waited and waited again. After about 5 minutes, the waitress was standing around by the cash register chatting with other waitresses and we caught her attention and asked he about my order. She snapped «I’ll check on it, it’s not my fault».
She returned with my meal, basically throwing it on the table and walking away. The meal was cold, indicating it was sitting around for a while in the back while her chatting with co-​workers was more important.
The meal was a fish sandwich (apparently too exotic to get the order right). It came on a hard French roll with almost no tartar sauce. Dry and hard. Not good.
I won’t be returning. Should have gone to the hot dog place across the street.

Don’t bother. Could not get service. Never been to a brew pup that makes you wait at your table for 20 minutes with empty glasses, brings out appetizers 40 minutes after ordering, and only after the lunch was served. The hostess at the restaurant at lunch today could not be more useless. When we asked what happened to our appetizers she just shrugged her shoulders, as if we ought to go find out ourselves.
We were finally so upset we walked out, leaving our food and half empty beers. Never in 50 years have I left a beer unfinished in a restaurant.
We sat at our table while the server took orders from three parties that came after us before he finally took our order.
Not going back. We left there and went to Claim Jumpers instead. There we got service.
Too bad. I would have liked to go back.

This review is only on the food and atmosphere; I have no experience with their beer and drink menu.
This location is in a prime spot and has a nice ambiance from the outside. However, once you step in, it is extremely dark and just poorly lit. The starters, entrée, and burger selection make sense because those are things you would find in a pub. They could nix the wrap and salad section, in addition to making the sandwich selection smaller. The menu is too large and all over the place. It is better to have a smaller menu and have those fewer items be executed well.
I ordered the chicken quesadilla and fried calamari. The quesadilla was runny and super messy to eat, even with utensils. It was overly packed with onions and peppers, therefore giving it a soggy texture. I was not a fan of the salsa either.
The calamari lacked freshness and seasoning. I also did not like the type of breading that was on the squid.
The service was great, the server acknowledged everyone promptly and the food came out fast. We had a larger party of 8.
However, I do not plan on coming here again. I can make a better quesadilla at home with organic ingredients at a cheaper cost.

One of my favorite lunch places. I am creature of habit on my food and I like good customer service. This place after day one has remembered my lunch order every time I go In there and they are so sweet to me through out my lunch time there. I am a loyal customer here now and they help me get through the tough work day and week. If you need a good pick me up on lunch get a glass of wine and relax with good customer and service and food.

5 star happy hour. I haven’t purchased any food here, yet, only come here for drinks. But it looks good. The people look satisfied. Good beer on tap. I go for the FacePuncher IPA. Do it.

This place is so good in so many ways! Food, beer, and service and did I mention beer? Yes this place has the best house beer and different choices every other week and their beer nachos are the best! Highly recommend going here for food and beer and good customer service.

Stopped in while driving through town.
Good craft brews and good food. I would recomend this place for a bite and beer.

I didn’t like the melt hamburger because the meat was burned, and the bread was not of my taste to but the potatoes salad was AMAZING. The service was ok.

Yes, I am an asshole. EVER
I have worked in the service industry for quite some time and I must confess, I have NEVER… EVER had a bad experience here.
The food is ALWAYS on point and the service is so homie, it needs no other explanation than perfection.
The server, Alison (??) is so great and always on point, and she knows her beer too!
It would be a shame NOT to come here!

It is one of the best pubs in Concord. Toe to toe with any other local beer/​grub spot it has a great selection of its own craft beer in addition to great visiting brews not to mention it’s good good menu.

Other then it being slightly on the loud side — the price, selection, service and speed were all great!
Two people at under 60 bucks and leaving the place full means a lot to me.
Parking is always going to be an issue — afterall — it is California!

–good draft beers
–good service
–okay food (lol) it was more like lunch time food rather than dinner time food.
–some bar tenders have 0 personality, but they’re never mean or rude. More importantly, they keep your beer filled.

Really happy we came here for dinner. Our kiddo had a PB&G with fries, I had The Meatball Hero, and my husband had El Diablo Burger. The food was great, the restaraunt itself is very nice. Happy camper.

Ordered a few pitchers, really great beers and great/​courteous service. Can be a little slow with service as it was packed on a Saturday night. And the waitress said the food ticket fell in the kitchen. my friends waited an hour and 15 for their food. It was an accident, but she still could have noticed much sooner. So deducting just one star for the accident that was noticed a little too late.
Will be back in the future, just get a pitcher as it ends up being about 3.5 beers for around $ 15. They were only open until 11 pm on a Saturday, think they could do a little later than that in the future.

We had not been to EJ Phair’s in sometime. I had fish and chips in mind as I have really enjoyed that entrée in the past. At the last minute, I decided to go with one of the specials: Penne Pasta with Shrimp. What a mistake. The pasta was way overcooked … to the stage of being mushy. The veggies were very sparse but even worse was that the dish came with only five small shrimp. Nothing special about the special.
If it were my meal alone, this would have been a one-​star review. However, DH really enjoyed his sausage duo which came with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut.
His beer was «okay,» not great. My wine was in the same category: «okay» but not great.
EJ Phair’s has always been a «reliable» spot in downtown Concord for a beer and lunch or dinner. Perhaps this was just an off night …

EJ Phair has been around far longer than most businesses in the area. Due to good business I assume. With the rising craft beer drinking demographic in the Concord area I am sure they will continue to flourish.
I like that this place stays true to themselves. Local Brewery and restaurant. They welcome families with a pretty hefty food menu. Appetizers, entrees, burgers and a kids menu. Bar seating, outdoor tables, booths, private event space and standard dining tables to choose from.
I come often for Monday’s all day happy hour. Beware Shorty’s Revenge. Two of these house beers and you may be a bit tipsy. Sit at the bar for the best seats for watching the game on their flat screens, chat with the bartender or meet someone new who also loves craft beer.

I was so amped up to try this place! I always love the close, dark intimacy of having dinner and beer at a brewery. Since we’re in Concord for a month, this was definitely going to be a place we had to try and get a t-​shirt at. (My husband collects brewery t-​shirts, he’s obsessed). Our waitress, Natasha, was simply amazing. She was friendly, prompt, bubbly and on her game when it came to giving refills, napkins, whatever. She deserves 5 stars, alone.
There aren’t a lot of «regular» tables here and this place was pretty busy on a Thursday night. If you aren’t into sitting at the bar or the high tables, get here before the dinner rush. We were seated fairly quickly and would have liked to sit outside but it was raining and very cold. They do have those really cool outdoor heaters that I love though!
We started with two appetizers because we couldn’t make up our minds. We had the calamari and the «Frickles». Why hasn’t anyone else called fried pickles «Frickles»? It’s perfect. Unfortunately, they weren’t perfect. Both appetizers were sorely lacking in salt. The calamari, although cooked perfectly, were just bland. The red sauce that accompanied them was not a favorite and I didn’t think it paired well with the calamari at all. The «Frickles» were very crunchy and although the breading was crispy, they weren’t full of flavor. They were also… bland. I probably wouldn’t order either of these two again.
For the main course, my husband and I ordered the «Spicy Steak Wrap» with garlic fries and the «Athena Burger» with potato salad. The spicy steak wrap comes cut in half on a flour tortilla with steak (cook whichever way you ask), lettuce, tomato, cheese and some sort of spicy sauce. It was just okay for me, personally. I don’t think there was enough steak to fill the huge tortilla they used and I would have maybe liked a dipping sauce? It was also kind of bland, although I did enjoy whatever sauce they used in the wrap. My husband enjoyed the Athena burger which was his first taste of lamb. It was cooked the way he liked it and had bean sprouts, feta cheese and onions. The potato salad wasn’t anything special. We both tried it and I’ve had better and so has he. Overall, he’d order the Athena burger again and I would not order the spicy steak wrap again.
I will definitely be back. My husband loved the «Face Puncher IPA’ and the Shorty’s Revenge and his burger was fantastic. I look forward to trying the other appetizers and maybe getting that Korean BBQ sandwich next time!

Food Review Only.
I decided to come here with a large group of friends after hiking the Waterfalls Loop at Mt. Diablo State Park. I chose this place because it was a brewery and also served food.
We got seating at a large table in the middle of the restaurant which sat all 12 of us. I was happy that we could all sit together, but not so happy when our waitress told us that they do not like to split checks. She agreed to split our checks anyways, which I appreciated, but still was disappointed that this was a policy that had to be negotiated in the first place.
The food menu here pretty much sucks if you are vegetarian. First of all, there is no pretzel and beer cheese available, which is my favorite thing to order at these kind of places. So that was definitely a bummer that it wasn’t available. I got The Alehouse Burger with a veggie patty which was obviously not house made and tasted super generic. The food is definitely below average for the price. Our waitress also was not very attentive to our table and I found myself searching for her several times.
This was a two star experience for me based on the food and service, but I would like to come back and try only the beer to see if it’s any better. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and give them three stars for now since I’m willing to come back.

We had reservations for a large group (12) and although this place appears to be set up for such an event, the results were less than appealing.
Our waitstaff was generally friendly but the service was «clunky» at best. We didn’t get enough menus to start and when they came to take drink orders, several had no idea where to start. Once we were able to order beverages, several came out wrong and the staff was trying to switch them around, even after people had already drank from the glass. Awkward.
Food orders also came out interestingly. Different people brought out food and nobody seemed to know where anything went. With a table of 4 it isn’t a big deal to announce the dish and let someone claim it. With a large table it was uncomfortable as people almost had to bid on dishes. Perhaps they should have a table numbering system so they know where food goes.
The food was average at best. They were out of several items (on a Thursday) and the burgers, sandwiches, and other fare were just «meh.» I sent back most of my dry Turkey, Avacado, Swiss, and saw a lot of other plates go back with a lot of food left on them. Burgers were reported as overdone and dry.
Probably not the best place for a large party.

This place is solid. We have never had to wait to be seated. The service is always friendly. The Thai chicken salad is fresh and has just the right amount of kick. I ordered the shrimp & risotto special on Thursday night and it was unlike anything else I have ever tasted. The shrimp were cooked perfectly and the risotto was so velvety. The flavor of the sauce was comfort food x10. I would have never thought to cook arugula into a risotto but I will now! Their fries are always crisp and seasoned nicely. You can tell the oil they fry them in is changed out often.
I haven’t tasted anything I didn’t like here. As if it couldn’t get any better, the Shorty’s Revenge is the Mac Daddy of beers. They will fill a growler on Wednesdays for under $ 10!
It’s a modern day Cheers with 5 star cuisine.

Minus two stars for Miss Depression 2015 manning the bar on Friday night.
The fried cauliflowers probably should have been blanched in spiced salt water prior to being fried in the crumbs, because they had almost no taste and were weirdly firm.
The one beer we had was alright. Nothing to write home about.
Overall, yeah. Bad experience just because the bartender appeared to hate her job and maybe also life, in general.