Pyramid Ale Taproom - Oakland International Airport

Visited before a flight on a Friday afternoon. Located by Gate 24 in Terminal 2. Open spot, with bar seating or tables seating. Was one of the bigger restaurant locations in Terminal 2. Selection is 7 Pyramid regulars + Sam Adams and Bud Light. Food is standard airport fare.

58 = ★½ (Place tickers only)

I only use the total score, not the component parts.

Not too far from my gate in the Southwest area of the airport. Decent enough place for an airport bar and actually kind of empty with just a few other patrons...but I guess it was like 8:30pm on a Wednesday in an airport.

Kind of a food court feel to it and it’s not enclosed like a lot of the other bars/restaurants you come across in airports, just sort of right there in the middle of the terminal/gates. But it’s fine and they have some TVs to entertain you.

They actually had a couple interesting/seasonal offerings on tap, including one I hadn’t tried before (IPL, which was actually not very good). The service was not great, though, and it’s an airport bar so the pricing is LOLOLOLOLOL.

Don’t quite understand the absolute disdain for this place. While it’s not great, it’s not horrendous either.

No draft beer here. Out temporarily. Good luck with corona. Water is okay. Crowded. Slow sketchy service. Amazingly bad. 15 for pretzels.

Visited February 16, 2014.

I wasn’t looking for this but it happened to be a few gates down from mine and since I was an hour early for my flight I figured why not. Not a bad bar for an airport, but then again the standards are pretty low for airport bars. They have exactly six Pyramid beers available, at exorbitant prices, and can get pretty busy presumably judging by the fact that I was there in the middle of the day and it was 80% at capacity. The upside is that they actually had a new beer for me to try (a saison). One of the taps was a double IPA too. So despite what people may think of Pyramid they have some of their more interesting beers available. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t prefer a glass of 3 Fonteinen Oude Gueuze or a glass of Pliny while I’m waiting for my flight but if you’re in need of a drink (ticker, alcoholic, white knuckle flier, whatever) it’s better than the other places that only sell Coors Light or maybe (if you’re lucky) Stella.

Absolutely horrible service, so bad in fact it actually makes the beer leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Stopped in many times when at the airport. I wish they changed the taps up, but the only one they change is the seasonal (not new ones). Service is slow and rude (order from the bar, it’s the best option). You can bring in food from the stores across the isle. Not sure if you can order from the servers and have it delivered. A few months ago I watched as a guy ordered from the server and never got his food, he was pissed and let everybody know it.

Yeeeaah guuuuy, so Pyramid Ale Faproom in the Oakland airport - that name just reeks of quality, doesn’t it? Let me lay my cards on the table off the bat: Pyramid doesn’t brew good beer. Sure they’ve won GABF awards for beers like their Apricot Ale, but you know what should’ve won an award instead? Whatever drug the judges who gave out that award were on. Must’ve had them seeing some psychedelic shit, because that beer, along with most of Pyramid’s selection, is mediocre at best. So they had 4 beers on tap here. No need to list them, as they were very standard and unexciting. They cost $8 apiece for a pint, with the option for a low-priced shot to go with it. Hey, bland, crappy beer and a shot of Jäger on the side: Breakfast of champions, right? Service and food are uninspired, which is to be expected for an airport, particularly Oakland airport, where the overly surly employees had just caused me to miss my flight. At least this bar opens early, like 8am, so you can drown your sorrows from being in this pitiful excuse for an airport bright and early! Cheers!

Right after the security check-in at terminal 2. Beer that isn’t BMC is a welcome sight (although they do have a BMC tap or two). Standard Pyramid taps with one seasonal. Largish, and crowded sitting area, full bar. The bartenders are always extremely unfriendly, and they have an asinine policy of carding absolutely EVERYONE (including the 70 year old next to me). Ridiculous! They also know absolutely nothing about their beer. I’ll head over to the Gordon Biersch around the corner in the future.