Appleton Beer Factory

Awesome beers, brewed on site, especially the Hefeweizen. All the food is beer-​centric as they say on the menu. There is beer somewhere in the recipe. It all goes together well and is served in a restored historic building.

My family keeps getting gift cards for this place so we always stop in with high hopes. However, all three times we’ve gone, there’s been some mishap or letdown with the service or food.
On a positive note, the sweet potato fries with marshmallow dipping sauce are amazing!
On a negative note, last time I went in I ordered a salad and requested no cheese (I’m lactose intolerant!) It came out heaped with crumbly bleu cheese. When I pointed this out, the waiter sort of shuffled his feet and said they would probably have to remake the entire thing if I wanted to send it back. So he basically put the responsibility on me instead of offering to right the mistake. It was overall awkward.
This time, I ordered a flatbread specifically because it didn’t mention cheese anywhere in the description. Spoiler alert: it came out with a ton of cheese on it. I also asked for no balsamic but that was drizzled all over it. Seemed like a pretty minor alteration but they completely ignored it or forgot it. The end portion of the flatbread was straight up missing because the waitress had dropped it in the kitchen. It seems they have a problem with people making minor adjustments to their orders because that’s twice in a row that they’ve messed up an order and then acted like its a burden when you point it out.
The service has always just been average if not poor and the food never wows anyone in my family. If you ask for something besides beer, like water, they seem to get more unenthusiastic and apathetic toward you. There are some good items and usually I only leave positive reviews but this time I have to go with 1-​star.

Some of the best craft beer I’ve had. I live in Chicago and pass through this area a couple times a year heading up to Northern WI. and this has become our go to stop. In addition to their full line of beers, they also carry a number of other local brews. The food is outstanding and is a big step up from typical pub food. The «Hangover» burger is worth the stop alone. ¹⁄₃ burger, cheese, hash browns, corned beef, topped with a fried egg. Yes, fried egg!
Go hungry, go thirsty! Be prepared to leave there with a growler.

Meh. This is my overall feeling after eating here on Monday night with my husband. We ordered sandwiches hoping that we would get them in a timely manner since we were heading to a concert. The sandwiches arrived an hour later. Never have I had to wait an hour for sandwiches. I had the reuben and my husband had the pulled pork (both came with coleslaw). Nothing was memorable about the sandwiches and they were both barely warm. I will say that the slaw was really good. We also ordered their seasonal beers and they were also just okay. We left feeling like the place was nothing special which is sad.
Overall the only reason this place received three stars was that the servers were extremely kind and kept checking on us even though no food was coming out of the kitchen.

On the eve of the 2015 Fox Cities marathon in Appleton, WI, I found myself here at the Appleton Beer Factory for dinner with 4 other friends — all of which were running the 26.2 miles with me.
Crazy bunch of friends!
We arrived here at the Appleton Beer Factory about 6:15pm on a Saturday night and the scene was busy and popping. Parking for this place was serendipitous and I had to find parking in the nearby neighborhoods and walk about 2 blocks away. At least it was free, I thought. We sat near the door and the service was kind of slow, but they were busy that night. Not too sure if there were people here just partying it up or like me and my friends: run 13.1 or 26.2 the next morning. Either way, I had a glass of local beer and it tasted pretty good. It was Mort something or other. I ordered the burger and it tasted pretty good, along with French fries. One of my friends had ordered a flight of beers, some of which were really off and I got to sample some of them. It was fun.
Appleton Beer Factory is located at 603 W College Avenue in Appleton, WI. It was a last minute thing to come here, but I’m glad we did. They accept credit cards, which is always a guaranteed plus in my book. It was an interesting evening to say the least, but we made it a good time. The food here was definitely good, as I think I chose well. The Butte Des Mort beer that I chose seemed to taste almost like a Guinness with its dark color and rich smoothness. I would like to recommend that one if you love beer. The darker local beers are always good, but a good light beer works well too. The restaurant itself was rustic, but clean and just a pretty cool place to be on a casual Saturday evening in Appleton, WI.
As for me, the prime rib sandwich that I ordered was decently great and it just what I had needed. Ordered a side of fries to down with it. And they didn’t card me for the beer, which was awesome. Only means that I am getting old and it kind of sucks, but what can you do really? The meal was good and having it with good friends was even better. The service was a little off, since it was just a tad busy. One of my friends joked that, since service is a little behind, could we have 10% off the bill? It was kind of funny. Still, the service here was decent, positive, and reassuring that our food was going to be out as fast as they can make it. I liked the ambiance and the Appleton Beer Factory is good for what it does.
Two thumbs up, if you like liquid happiness and comfort food here in east central Wisconsin.
Support local!
B

I am writing this review while waiting over an hour for my food and over 20 for my drink. Our group has run to the bar for drinks because that is faster.
First of all, Appleton beer factory needs to learn how to brew good beer. Or they need to bring in better guest taps to supplement.
Birthday celebration. We are a party of 8 that had called to increase their reservation to 10 with no issues. When we arrived, the table we were seated at was set for the original count of 8 and because of restaurant week, there was no immediate fix according to the owner. No apologies.
I thought we were very nice despite the fact that a quarter of our party stood for a half hour. Meanwhile, the server tried to push for a food order.
Bad service. Slow service. Waited 35 minutes for our second round. No food yet. Won’t be coming back.
Incredible disappointing experience.
Oh. And while the staff is behind and can’t seem to get it together, the owner/​manager is hanging out with a new hire drinking beer. Redick.
Got food. Cold. Missing slaw. DO NOT COME HERE!!!
And the spoon given with the dessert doesn’t fit in the dessert.

After consuming a couple of beers from the Appleton Beer Factory at other local establishments, I had to visit the source. Parking sucks. As a single diner and unfamiliar with the area, I felt uncomfortable parking a couple a blocks away in front of an under maintained house. Once I got inside, I fell in love with the place. The beers were solid. I had a black ale (porter) and a merlot blonde that was heavy on the merlot. The bacon mac n cheese sandwich is the way to go! I didn’t feel so guilty eating mac n cheese in sandwich form for some reason… The sweet potato fries with marshmallow dipping sauce was the perfect complement to this glutinous meal.
I can’t wait to return to try more of the menu and to drink more beers!

Great micro brewery! Our first time there. We ran into it on our way to two rivers. The food was great and different. It definitively looks like owners are putting a lot of effort into the menu and brewed beers with very good results. We’ll stop by again if we are around Appleton.

We stumbled upon the place by accident after Lombardi’s steak house was full. Beer was good. Menu had a lot of variety. Ordered the salmon sandwich and it was delicious. I got it with the side salad which was full of beautiful greens. Tried the ale vinaigrette which was very tangy. According to the server the vinaigrette gets mixed reviews. Was a little noisy inside. Service was great. Very attentive and friendly. A real gem. I would definitely go again.