Gordon Biersch - McLean

No Longer In Business

One of Gordon Biersch’s brewpubs with an indoor patio. Small selection of beers that aren’t bad but not great. Service is hit or miss but usually good. Food is average to good, really enjoy the garlic fries. Not a bad choice before/after a movie at AMC upstairs or some shopping.

Located in a mall which is kind of weird but I like this brewery very much since the stick to the beers they are good at instead of being like most American chain ice cream parlor flavored brew pubs. Call me old fashion and stuck in the old German mentality but I like this chain a lot (at least their beers). and for all the same reasons others don’t like it.

While this is located in a mall, it is still nicely done and offers a nice respite from the mall traffic, unless you sit on the "patio". The service is attentive and house selection average, with roughly 6 beers available. The food is nothing special, but is well prepared.

Just stopped in for a quick bite and drink. Ordered a salad and the schwarzbier. Salad was good, the beer was better. Service was very good, though the place was relatively empty at the time of my visit.

Same 6 beers as each other location. This one is in a nice mall. Not much else to say, if you’ve seen one, you’ve seen em all.

Typical "upscale" trendy resturant, nothing really different from the other location I’ve been to. Average atmosphere, but far better than the typical mall setting many would expect. Surprisingly not as crowded as I would have expected - since other places surrounding it were packed with yuppies for their daily after-work happy hour. No wait for a table of 7, at 7 - very nice! Service was pretty good, and attentive to our needs. The "seasonal" was out - which was probably the biggest disappointment of the evening. I wish there was more diversity in their beers at each location.

Holy Jesus, I might be being too hard on Gordon Biersch but giving each location its own place rating seems completely redundant. I’ve only been to a couple, but they all seem to have the same boring tap selection (note: I recognize that it’s possible that the franchise only allows for corporate recipes, but to be honest I just can’t muster enough interest to research this), the same non-beer-focused clientele, and the same impersonal feel. Although, the bartender was very polite and offered me a sample of their seasonal Marzen without me even asking, which was great (the fact that he offered, not the beer). And, the beer I ended up ordering (the Schwarzbier) was reasonably tasty, but it didn’t meet my craving for hops (not a single hoppy brew on the menu) and probably tasted good primarily due to the fact that it provided a temporary exile from following my family around the mall.