Small Brewpub

We have been coming to Small for a while… probably 7 – 8 times. Great food, cocktails and beer and always a solid, lively atmosphere. Chef Norris and her crew do a fine job. The menu changes often and we certainly appreciate what they are doing in the kitchen, always unique and thoughtful in their approach.

I love the concept, but I am not sure they hit the mark. I wan to like it but the whole experience fell flat. We live in Oak Cliff and support local business so I was disappointed. We intended on having dinner but we were so under impressed we finished our appetizers and drinks and left for dinner elsewhere. The food looked great but tasted just ok.

Five minutes in, and I am so not impressed. And sadly I want to be. When I walk through a door to any new place, I am always secretly hoping the trifecta of service, drinks, and food are going to blow my socks off in a fun social way. But not so much here.
It starts out bad when one isn’t greeted or acknowledged for a good 3 – 5 minutes. Then there isn’t the usual have you been here before conversation to help in selection choices. A former co-​worker mentioned they have the best pasta he has ever eaten. Okay. I am starving and want to hunker down on a hearty warming starter or entrée. Hit me on my palatte chef. I look over the appetizer menu. It’s hob snobby at it’s worst. Nothing that screams elegant, just radically so edgy that it is annoying. And the selections are for warmer months. It is winter. Where are the going to warm you up from the inside choices… no where. I cannot be the first to notice this or want something heated.
And there are no daily specials. If you love hand crafted beer, this is your spot. With a smattering of European liqueurs, Small offers unique cocktails no one else does. Which is cool cooky in itself. But don’t expect a mojito, margarita, or martini perhaps without a smirk from the staff that is way to hip to serve something so boring.
Will drink my Cockney Sling, which is Pear Gin, Applejack, and a small splash of grenadine, per my request. A single anise pod garnishes this mash of flavors. With my stomach growling, I will head out as soon as possible. It sucks having to drink while starvin marvin. But I really cannot find one thing that sounds normal and good.

Killer place. Great service, & unique beers on tap. Highly recommend you try the Wild Pale Ale made with cascara. What is cascara? Just ask them !!

Such a delightful surprise. I came thinking I’d get some good bar food and, boy, was I wrong. Wrong about the bar food part, not about the good food part. ;o)
The most surprisingly impressive part about the food here was its presentation. Each dish came out beautifully prepared with unexpected garnishes and ingredients. So pretty you HAD to take a picture.
And it wasn’t just good looking, it was good tasting. My favorite appetizer of the night was, hands down, the fried mushrooms. Perfectly breaded and fried; wonderful texture; great flavor. My entrée was the Windy Meadows Half Chicken. Like everything else my friends and I ordered, it was beautiful to look at. And like everything else, it was also flavorful and delicious.
One word of caution: the portions are small. So either be prepared to order a LOT of food, or come for just a light bite of wonderful food.

It’s located somewhat near the Bishop Arts District (more like outskirt) so the traffic around it was pretty much non-​existent. The restaurant is cute with a hipster kind of atmosphere. There were a number of bench-​tables inside which filled up quickly as the night went on. We managed to snag the last table since we came earlier in the night and that allowed us to try some of their foods.
My favorite food was the beef ravioli! I was so sad that it was a small portion and we were craving more after the ravioli disappeared quickly in our stomach. The sweet touch from the pecan and whipped goat milk was fantastic. I highly recommend you to just give this dish a try ’cause it was that good. The charcuterie was a fun plate to try with different meat and jam on crackers. Another dish I also really enjoyed was the windy hill goat tartare. Goat meat is one of those meat that if it’s not done right, it tastes and smells weird. I didn’t know what to expect because I never had raw goat meat. When I took my first bite, it blew my tastebuds away. One thing to note is the portions are small and we were still hungry at the end of night.
Since they are known for their drinks, you have to order a drink. I didn’t try their own brewed drinks (which I have to next time) and instead I had husk fiz. It was super good! I couldn’t taste the alcohol but surely enough, I felt it later. Overall, I enjoyed my experience here with great service and delicious food.

Fun fun place. Super chill. The drinks were a lot of fun. I don’t know much about the old fashioned cocktails or anything about alcohol really, but the drinks I did have were good. I don’t really remember the names bleh. Their fruit dessert was super duper interesting and yummy. We also a cheese board. It looked small but with five of us who had already had dinner, it was a pretty good amount. Their beer flights were interesting too but I think the cocktails make it worth going there. I like the feel of the place and I love that’s it’s in the middle of the more old-​school side of oak cliff. Hopefully more people will to experience the charm on the other side of bishop arts.

Great hangout spot in a more quite less busy part of oak cliff.
The drinks are top notch. The New Hat is refreshing and bold at the same time and my favorite. Charcuterie board is excellent.
The food program is really progressive and well done, but I do wish I could get a simple burger/​sandwich/​fries sometimes. I’m a foodie and like fancy things… but at the end of a long day or week sometimes a well done simple comfort food dish and two bourbons can really just set shit right.

Welcome OC-​TX at it’s most refined and hip.
Everything Small Brewpub does, they do exceptionally well. The cocktails are expertly crafted (and affordable!). The home-​brews are adventurous, balanced, and delicious. The food is some of the most exciting in the city. To top is off, the knowledge staff is totally dedicated to serving the all of the above with an honest warmth.
This is the type of establishment that a community is built around. In a few years, we’ll see Jefferson Ave in a whole new light and remember it all started with Small Brewpub.

What’s not to like about this small space tucked away in the Jefferson Tower in North Oak Cliff? One of the most beautiful bar spaces in Dallas is elevated even further with adventurous food from Misti Norris and house brewed beer.
Recommendations:
Beer — Black Pepper Pils, Cheap Beer, Saison
Food — Chicken Feet, charcuterie board
Go on Tuesday nights for $ 5 classic cocktails and live jazz

I went to Small Brewpub for a $ 100 6-​course meal. It was definitely not worth $ 100.
Let’s start with the beer. It was not good. The light beers were watery. The dark beers were overly bitter or even sour. Small Brewpub will not be able to compete with local breweries like Rahr and Lakewood at all. The only beer that was tolerable was the watermelon wheat. Still, no flavor of watermelon was detectable.
The primary problem with the food is that there are efforts to make things fancy for the sake of being fancy without actually adding any flavor or value to the plate. For example, popcorn leaves were added to dishes with bold flavors so that the popcorn taste was completely lost. A lime leaf was added to a drink, but it wasn’t muddled or anything. So, no flavor from the leaf got into the drink. They made noodles out of pork fat, which were rather unpleasant to eat. A banana leaf was used to roll a tamale rather than a corn husk. The only way we knew it was a banana leaf is because it left behind what looked like a long hair. The chef’s choices were creative an original. But the reason that many of the choices he made were so unusual is because they are bad ideas that other chefs would avoid. Many decisions seemed to increase cost without increasing value.
There were a few things that did work. The tomato basil soup sorbet was creative and delicious. I heard a lot of the other guests give good comments on it. The scotch quail egg was a very good idea and well-​executed. I enjoyed that a lot. Also, the peach pie for dessert was very good, however, the pork cracklin’s really didn’t add anything to the dish.
The service was bad as well. The servers forgot our drinks and silverware on more than one occasion. This is a less excusable given that everyone was being served the same thing at the same time. So, it should be easy to spot a table without drinks. Having a standard menu should make things easier for the waitstaff. I can’t imagine things would be better when the restaurant is full of tables at different stages of the meal.
The service was also slow. Dinner was supposed to start at 7:30. It started at 8. We left at 11:30, not having been there for all of the courses. Half of our party left at 10:30 before the 5^th course had been served.
The atmosphere is okay. The acoustics make hearing conversation over live music difficult. The hard, wooden benches are uncomfortable. You definitely feel it after sitting on them for a while.

Great ambiance. Drinks are made with a distinct & niche brand of alcohols and spirits. One of my favorite Craft cocktail bars in Dallas and truly a gem in oak cliff. Happy Hours Wednesday’s are great hell of an old Fashion I recommend. Something for everyone as well as a decent beer selection.

I have been to Small several times over the past couple of months.
The drinks are awesome! The food is awesome. They are so informative and friendly and parking is easy. It’s a great place for a first date, a get together with friends, or just to grab a drink.
I love the fried mushrooms and the Newhat is a killer drink.
Check them out, you will not regret it!

A gem in Oak Cliff! Thanks to a fellow Unilocaler it would’ve never been unearthed.
After a hard day we ventured out for drinks. In our area most places were closed except for Fuzzy’s. We went there and grossed ourselves out. Then I remembered the review here. They close at midnight! We got here as soon as we could.
The bar was empty. Lucky us. We had the undivided attention of 2 friendly bartenders. They recommended a drink for me and my fiancé. They were right on target.
We ordered fried wild mushrooms which has picked onion, sunflower mousse, and mayu served on a slate plate. The flavor combinations blow my mind. The words earthy, savory, and meaty come to mind.
My drink… a Gimlet consists of gin and house lime cordial. It’s served in a little glass. Reminds me of the antique glasses from the 30’s. Vintage!
My love has a Penultima which consists of tequila, smoked tea and ginger. He was fascinated by the smokey flavor. A manly drink I thought.
The drink recipes were taken from café royal cocktail book from 1937. The food is made in house and fresh. They also stock a lot of liquors I’ve never seen. I thought our liquor cabinet was well stocked but it is lacking refinement. I could learn something from these folks. They try to encourage people to try drinks out of their comfort zone.
We got rid of the stale chip taste and washed it out with great food & drink. We will be back!

An annoyingly echoey almost uncomfortable room with an unfinished nakedness leans toward a less polished stark post industrial décor with an ironically contrasting homey German beer hall set of long wood communal benches where individual proud groups sip beers and dine on jewelesque small plates brought out by modern saloon hipster young men with stylized beards, mustaches, suspenders and long craft cocktail chef aprons.
On a stretch of little Mexico on Jackson Street less seedy seeds of change glow amongst nuclear pink and baby blue chiffon quincenara gowns and swaying palm trees.
This little slice of heaven is chock full of enough crunchy idiosyncrasies that are both sacrosanct and gritty — aloof proud bartenders that might not know all the answers slamming out careful drinks with bangs of shakers and calm stoicism, cozy couples engaging in bliss in this Cold War Bomb space, only a couple of wine offerings overshadowed by its beer list and drink recipes and a dazzling local small plate menu.
Charcuterie plates glisten with a seeming perfection. The miatake mushroom board over a thick sunchoke sauce with white seaweed won our hearts. Outside, boys on cellphones discuss their artistic aspirations
in a fractal foil that embodies the spirit of this small brew pub, quirky, raw and singular.
If they keep the clunky oddness of cold and hot, the fantastic food and drinks and don’t waiver as Jefferson becomes a new hotspot — things will be right in the world.
No you’re not in Portland Oregon at all, you’re in the new epigram of Dallas 2014 —
Charming, clumsy, and ambitious.

Finally found some notes from one of of handful of visits:
Excellent music just makes the atmosphere SO unique in Dallas & so perfect– please never stop playing great jazz music.
We have enjoyed the cheese board with prodigal farms Dirty Girl, pickled pecans, KY Rose non-​marbeled blue, Camembert with a biscuit, PIG TROTTER (OMG) with cow-​chow (picked sour mustard based relish) and more sour kraut. Awesome, all. Seriously, Small Brewpub– I wish I were more eloquent, I would make my review a love letter to you. Please, please keep it up. You are amazing even without the beer– even though the beer is what we originally came to experience… and will always return for. You are doing it right, all of it.

Truly a wonderful addition to the Oak Cliff area! Small Brewpub definitely receives 5-​stars in my book for providing great service, stellar drinks and preparing impressive bar bites/​eats (I mean the chef does have a notably great background coming from FT33!).
So, I didn’t get a chance to try everything I wanted on their menu but the charcuterie board — was outstanding and probably one of the best in Dallas. As for their cocktails, they have some pretty great options on their menu and if you are indecisive on which to pick from their bartenders are more than happy to offer suggestions. They also make beer in house which is definitely worth trying! Great place to go with friends, a group date or just simply a fun night out! Tuesday night is jazz night by the way.

Small Brewpub is a good concept. I dig it, I really do, and as you might expect from Misty Norris (of FT33 acclaim), the food is meticulously thought through, crafted, and served. Having said that, I just can’t quite justify in my mind deciding to go to Small Brewpub again in the future when there are so many other options out there with as good brew variety but much better food variety. Yes, Small Brewpub is small with regard to the breadth of the menu, but in my eyes there was simply too limited a food selection to lead me to recommend it to others.
Star 1: How were the service and atmosphere?
The service at Small Brewpub is absolutely on point, and the atmosphere, while oddly spacious for a joint called «Small» Brewpub, is cozy and tucked away in an oasis of sorts within an otherwise somewhat sketchy part of Oak Cliff. My server was excellent, and knew everything there was to know about my drink and my dish, which I can thoroughly appreciate. Service was a bit slow considering I was one of only four people in the pub at 1645 on a Thursday late afternoon, but I can forgive that considering the uniqueness of the menu. Star Granted.
Star 2: How were the portions relative to the cost?
Knowing that the chef was formerly of FT33, I was a bit worried that I’d be spending an arm and a leg for a simple dish. Low and behold, I did not, with my drink a very comfortable $ 5 and my house pasta dish $ 10. Sure, neither were huge, but both were suitable for a sitdown drink and snack. Star Granted.
Stars 3 and 4: How was the food?
My house pasta was unique to say the very least. Mustard greens fell in tandem with house crafted pasta that acted as a dumpling casing of sorts with a bean purée in the center. A boozy vinaigrette brought everything together with the help of a sprinkling of walnuts. Good? Yes. The mustard greens were too salty (by quite a bit), but were saved by the creamy bean purée and the pasta, allowing me to enjoy the flavorful combination of mustard and pasta, which I can’t say is something I’m all that familiar with.
One thing I need to point out here is that only appetizers and very small dishes are served prior to 1730, and even then the menu is quite small, with maybe only five entrees or so to choose from on a menu that I imagine changes seasonally. For groups larger than maybe three or so you’d be hard pressed to turn a visit to Small Brewpub into a full meal. That point aside, my dish was unique and i enjoyed it, although not to the degree that I’ve enjoyed other meals at spots with a similar concept (Deadhead Brewery in Deep Ellum comes to mind). Single Star Granted.
Star 5: Would you eat here every day if you could?
The drink selection is worth emphasizing here at Small Brewpub, but if we’re being honest, the location is a bit off of the common stretch over here in Oak Cliff, and a limited menu makes it such that I simply can’t widely recommend individuals or parties going too far out of their way to pay a visit. Single Star Granted.

Imagine yourself just strolling along Jefferson. Enjoying all the scenes and growing part of Oak Cliff. You come across a sweet little place, farm tables inside, small little bar, and just the cutest damn thing ever. Then you see bartenders with bitchin mustaches. Done. You enter.
You approach the bar, because obviously. You look around, all sorts of yummy smells wafting your way. The bartender approaches (with his sweet ‘stache) and tells you a little bit about the place. Crafted home brews, original cocktails (think prohibition era) and Misty Norris (formerly of FT33) serving up some banging food. BANG-​IN! Like fo real.
They change their signature cocktails often and they are killer! The food, is on another level. I had the gnocchi and MP had the lamb belly. Flavorful, hearty and just near perfection. I ate so slow because I wanted to just savor every morsel.
The have their small/​shared plates everyday of the week, but their entrees only Thurs-​Sunday.
The main reason I love this place — it’s real. People just chill. The place isn’t covered with ridiculous pictures or crazy lighting and silly furniture. It’s all about the food, the cocktails and just people being people. We ended up having a 2 hr dinner and chatting with the bartenders, making friends. Classic Oak Cliff.
BAM! 5 Stars.

Fried Wild Mushrooms– ⁵⁄₅ (needs more purée because i love it)
Pig Trotter– ⁵⁄₅ (it’s like a sausage stuffed in a pig’s foot)
Lamb Belly– ⁵⁄₅ (truly incredible! best dish here possibly)
Rice Pudding– ⁵⁄₅ (the most creative chocolate pudding ever)
Cocktails ⁵⁄₅ (Decent prices, all drinks very tasty)
Atmosphere– ⁵⁄₅ (beautiful, but picnic style tables are uncomfortable)
Service– ⁵⁄₅ (Very helpful and informative)
*Overall me and my wife loved it and will be back next week. It’s really hard to dislike anything about this place. I have been assured by the owner that, essentially, the menu is seasonal so there will be no way to get tired of it!