July 18, 2009
I stumbled over this place by acident - was looking for a place to have a tuna steak, but on the way wanted to see if the original locoation of Gorden Bierch might have something appart from the standard lineup, which they didn’t - saw an ale house and found that they had 3 beers on tap and 4 in bottles I hadn’t tried. Was hungry, so I had their fish and chips, which was edible, but not great in any way. Two of the beers were from Palo Alto Brewing Company, brewed under licence at Mayfield in Belmont - I have to enter them on RB - and the bottled beers were the three Iconoclast from Mayfield, though at 45 USD a bottle I didn’t buy them and they had one bottle left of Sonoram 100 at 85 USD, which I didn’t want to spend either. The service was OK, but the different waitors didn’t know that I had a tab running, so they kept asking - that’s what happens when there’s 3 waitors overlapping with no coordination, but they were friendly and had an OK beer knowledge. The place is tried to be kept in English style - and for a place in the US the job is done quite nicely - except for the fact that they had no cask beer. If you find yourself in Palo Alto or the vicinity you should go - if for nothing else the seldom Palo Alto beers.

July 5, 2009
Good place to grab a beer before and after you eat.

February 11, 2009 [ Updated August 5, 2009 ]
I go here pretty often but never for food, just beer. I mean screw food - Living in Palo Alto, it’s probably the only decent beer bar within a 30 minute drive. The beer selection is pretty good and they do a solid job of offering seasonal beers. I would like to see at least some American brews on the menu however - I would say that 90% of the menu is imported. The decent list of Belgians is a plus however. It would be nice to see local breweries (Russian River, Bear Republic, Speakeasy, Lagunitas, etc) featured on their menu more often. My main complaint, not that it’s a major one, is that the service is average at best. Bartenders will sometimes sit there seemingly in a daze for minutes while people are waiting to be served. In addition, they are not very knowledgeable about beers on the menu. Last time I was there, I heard someone ask, "What is your favorite tripel on the menu?" to which the bartender responded, "I don’t know, I haven’t tried any of them." I really don’t trust

August 16, 2008
Good selection of British beers. Nice patio and some good events (e.g. comedy night). Hasn’t changed in many years and is probably the best place to drink some real beers in downtown PA.

August 15, 2008
Best place in Palo Alto to go drink all night but still have a good selection. Four pints of Drak’es IPA served from a cask coupled with a dozen games of darts is a good way to spend the night.

November 22, 2007
Some time between my mid-twenties and today, the crowd traded their rough look for sweaters and scarfs, the smoke cleared (blissfully!), and tap list went from boring imports to a quite enjoyable if modest-sized selection of California micros (I had a SN Harvest and a Racer 5). Pain in the ass to get a beer, though, from the solo bartender who was badly swamped. This is a decent place to drink, despite the cheesy faux-british decor.

November 10, 2006
The beer selection is fairly limited. The most interesting thing on tap when I went last weekend was Drake’s IPA. Everything else was fairly widely accessible English Ales and the like. The place feels a little dirty. Nevertheless, they now have a narrow outdoor patio. On a Friday night at midnight, neither the Empire tap room nor Gordon Biersch were open, but this was. So they get points there. Can be a pretty fun place. If you’re in Palo Alto and looking for good beer, start at Empire, then Gordon Biersch and then to Rose & Crown. All are on Emerson street within walking distance. Fanny & Alexanders, also on Emerson can also be fun and they have a decent selection as well.

September 20, 2005
Good place for your Pub type ales and English/Irish imports. Don’t go looking for the rare microbrew, but quiz night is pretty fun.