Bubes Brewery

5/19/2008 8:01:22 AM, monday, may 19, 2008
Bube’s is a cool place, I recommend eating in the Catacombs and getting the little tour of the old brewery as they take you down there. Not a good idea if you can’t stand confined places, or eating in a very dark setting...stay upstairs. But otherwise I find that the atmosphere here is very interesting and different. The food was very good, I ordered the NY Strip it was cooked to order and the portions were good. The biggest complaint I have is that their menu is not more extensive, but you get that a lot of times with restaurants in this price range. Service was good, once we were seated we were taken care of rather quickly and they keep your water glasses full and constantly stop by for drink orders. This place makes a great special occasion outing. Bube’s gets a lot of so-so reviews, and I don’t know why. If you are into the setting and just wish to have a relaxing meal, its a great place. Upstairs they have all kinds of live music and a biergarten which I haven’t really checked out yet. Very cool place, stop in if you are in Mt Joy.

4/3/2008 1:04:17 AM, thursday, april 03, 2008
This place has a very cool European flavor to it. There are old bottles in the walls, glasses on the ceiling, they have a Catacomb, and a Beer garden too. The beer is average to good, the service was ok, and the food was enjoyable!!! But i must tell you we were attacked by a Kamikaze fly.......lol. Anyway, If you get a chance to check this place out, do so!!! Hooray for Boobies........... :)

4/2/2008 6:46:36 PM, wednesday, april 02, 2008
What was an old small brewery from the 1800s is now a new microbrewery. If you get the chance to do the special feasts they have in the catacombs it’s worth the extra money for the show. Cool old world atmosphere with a nice outdoor beer garden. The bar Bottling Works is neat with the old objects, bottles and atmosphere but kind of small, especially when trying to watch a live band. There is a lot going on and the food is pretty good too, nice selection. Beer ranged from good to great, really like the Belgian Dubbel. You can even buy beer brewing supplies there. Take the free tour and hear about the haunted happenings. The service can be a little hit or miss depending on how busy.

3/20/2008 7:01:32 PM, thursday, march 20, 2008 [ Updated monday, july 28, 2008 ]
While this place does have a bit of an identity crisis what is there is quite good. They typically have 4-6 of their own beers on tap at any given time, which range from ok to pretty good, as well as a few other local micros. The food is pretty good for standard pub fare, though a tad bit pricey. Service was good and the bartender was knowledgeable about the beers she was serving (and cute too). Worth checking out if you are in the Lancaster, PA area.

1/23/2008 1:41:42 PM, wednesday, january 23, 2008
This is one weird place. It’s in a historical building with a museum and a homebrew shop upstairs. While I was there they were having some sort of medieval feast in the catacombs (yes, there are catacombs). The weather was nice, so we sat outside on the patio. The service was a bit slow, but they were pretty busy, so that’s ok. There were only 3 house beers on tap, none of which were that good. I sampled them, then tried to order some other local beers from the beer list. It literally took me 4 tries to order something they actually had. I think it’s time to update the menu. The food was ok, but nothing to rave about. Better as a museum than a brewpub.

10/21/2007 1:45:17 PM, sunday, october 21, 2007 [ Updated sunday, october 21, 2007 ]
I like Bube’s. Built inside a historic brewery, there’s a dusty bottle museum / homebrewing shop upstairs, old brewing equipment, dank, dark atmosphere and wet brick everywhere. It’s easy to get lost when you first enter, with a restaurant next door and downstairs, a bar to the right, brewing equipment forward, the museum upstairs: I felt like I was in one of those old text-based computer games where I have to pick a direction and don’t have any idea. Expect long lines on the weekend. We didn’t get to see the Catacombs or the Biergarten, but even the lesser features of the brewery were damn cool. Service was a bit slow, and the women at the front desk (who didn’t really seem to fit in their pseudo beer-wench attire) weren’t exceedingly pleasant. Our waitress was nice enough, if a bit slow. Only four house beers on tap when we went (plus some other random macros and micros): Cream Ale, Scotch Ale, Saison, and an IPA. All decent but unremarkable. They had a number of vegetarian options, and their Santa Fe (Black Bean) burger was quite good. Really neat place, and I definitely wouldn’t mind going back (with reservations to either the Catacombs or the restaurant next door this time).

10/21/2007 9:31:31 AM, sunday, october 21, 2007
Went here with hopdog...see his comments below on the service. I didnt really like my food either. I got some gourmet grilled cheese. Was made with thin cheap white bread, regular American cheese and fishy smelling crab meat. The building is amazing though. Worth stopping by just to explore this historic landmark. I would like to make it back out for one of their murder mystery dinners. Beer was ok...the Saison was well done,

10/20/2007 8:36:50 PM, saturday, october 20, 2007 [ Updated saturday, october 20, 2007 ]
Headed there on a Saturday at 5pm. One of the 1st people seated. Talk about potential. What a beautiful place inside. Shame the service was probably the worst service I’ve gotten in a long time. I’m talking 30 - 40min for drinks. 1.5 hrs for my soup and a almost a total of 3 hours from the time we sat down to the time we finally got our bill. Half our food was ice cold with some of the order messed up to boot. Waitress had some BS story about how she got ’frazzled’ during the day. Tough shit. Shame as the service was so bad, I will second guess ever stopping by again.

7/8/2007 4:02:10 PM, sunday, july 08, 2007
July 2007. What an awesome building! We ate lunch and had some beers in the biergarden. Service was good enough I guess -- maybe a bit inattentive, considering we were the only ones there for a while. The food was decent enough, too, as were the beers. I would’ve like the opportunity to check out some of the rest of the building, but by the historic location has quite the charm. Worth a visit.

5/6/2007 12:34:13 PM, sunday, may 06, 2007
It’s pronounced "boobies" - seriously. Named after a German brewer who owned the building back in the 1800s, his name was pronounced "buBESS" but everyone in town calls it "boobies". Awesome old building, the catacombs, old wooden mash tuns and fermentation barrels, there’s a hotel in the back for banquets, and the original steam engine which powered the brewery sits in the courtyard. Beer quality was so-so, they had a fresh ESB on tap when I visited that tasted like a good homebrew. Food was decent, nothing special. But the building is the thing to see here.