Gordon Biersch - Palo Alto

No Longer In Business

Visited January 19, 2014.

Stopped in for a quick tour through down town Palo Alto for some place ticks and because I haven’t been here in a long while. Used to occasionally go bar hopping here with some friends but these days I’m too busy when I’m in the bay area to do much of that. There really isn’t a "good" time to visit Palo Alto as it’s jam packed with people at all hours but I suppose a warm Sunday afternoon is as good a time as any.

It turns out that this is the original location of the Gordon Biersch chain. The very first one. Naturally I went with the Winter Bock. Actually I asked if they had anything on the rotating handle but they didn’t so I went with the standby. The AFC championship game was going on so a lot of football fans were in the building yelling at the TV. The tap list isn’t overly inspiring, containing half a dozen of their beers. Not sure what the purpose is but they have two of every tap, on the same tap tower. I understand putting two sets of taps so that multiple bartenders can pour beers simultaneously but these were all right next to each other. Anyway, they had the couple of year round beers plus the Winter Bock so not a real exciting selection.

As always the prices are pretty high, though during Sunday happy hour my mug was "only" $6. Food prices are pretty high as well but I didn’t eat. I was tempted when on my way out I saw some employees eating an omelet / taco thing that was a sheet of scrambled eggs wrapped around a pile of ground beef. Some other time. Service was pretty good despite being busy.

I’m going to preface this by saying that I love garlic fries. If you aren’t into a well made helles, this might not be your brewpub. The beer selection is small (golden export, pils, hefe, marzen, schwarzbier, and rotating seasonal) but they make some of the best authentic lager styles outside of Germany, and their beers truly shine here as opposed to their bottled products that tend to be less than fresh in stores. I’m not much for the food besides the garlic fries, mostly because I’m vegan and that’s about all that I can eat off of the meat-heavy menu. Still, a great stop for their sunday night trivia, with great beer specials. All beers served in marked half-liter glasses, which earns them a lot of respect from me.

A pretty big place - very deep and quite dimly lit in a high cealinged room - seemingly a bit dungeon like. A very modernly brewpub. I was a bit disappointed, that they had no special beers on the original GB brewpub - the lineup was exactly the same as everywhere else, so the only reason to go here is if you haven’t been to a GB on the westcoast - there supposedly should be regional differences.

If your looking for good beer and food. Keep Movin’ This place leaves a bad taste in your mouth and a hole in your wallet.

Decent brewpub. Very spacious. Food is average to a little above. Same for the beers. They sort of pander to the ignorant masses with their brews. Prices are average for Palo Alto. Service is decent, but the average person working there doesn’t really understand beer all that well.

Not great, not bad. The food is decent, and the beer is what is expected from a commercial restaurant-brewery. It can get pretty loud, and too hard to get a table during peak times.

Like El Gaucho, this was my first brewpub, visited in the early 90s. At the time we pretty much despised the wanker clientelle (now we’ve more or less become them). It was a noisy place full to the top with peroxide trophy-wife wannabes studiously ignored by dot-com nerds playing with palm pilots. And fifteen years later not much has changed. The beer? Same old stuff. Yawn then, yawn now. Decent food, at least.

The beer selection almost never changes (a seasonal or two float into the mix every few months) and they only brew lagers. The beer quality is a base hit by most standards. Good but not great for the style. The food is relatively expensive and the restaurant and bar are loud and without much character. The food isn’t bad but they don’t have the kind of pub fare that I expect from a brewpub.

went here with a large group of work people and it was loud! large center area, tries to have a fancy look for a gordon biersch because it’s Palo Alto. try going early before it’s too crowded, but this is not a must see place.

This is the first brewpub I ever visited. It opened in 1988 and was the first in what would become the Gordon Biersch chain. I have never been a huge fan of their beer, perhaps more than anything due to the fact that I am not overly enamored with most German styles. They did come out with a really nice Dunkles however, which is seasonal. The place is acoustically challenged. When it is busy it is hard to hear the person next to you. Plus, the narrow walkway leading into the bar area makes it difficult to navigate when busy. Otherwise, it has an upscale feel and the food is both upscale and a bit eclectic. Worth a visit over other GB’s if only due to its historical significance (being the 1st GB).