Independent Brewing Company

Mint Julep ❤️ Bartender (Short Hair Person With D Name) ❤️ Bread Pudding ❤️

Take the required 20% tip off. A required tip isn’t a tip - it’s the price.

In general - has an urban upper middle class feel w upscaled bar-leaning American food. It’s nice quality. The larger vibe is cozy and close and kinda works.

The servers and waitstaff were also kind, truly helpful, and accommodating.

However, don’t force charge me 20% extra - and even further - only tell me when I get the bill

This company has a history of morally grey stuff like this. Hidden Harbor next door - same company, same kitchen - used to give you a bill w auto 20% included, hiding that it’s added to the bill under three pieces of paper. You saw a bill w one total number, w no mention of tip. It still had an audacious line to ‘add your tip’! More! Server of course not mentioning anything. I will never forgot it

It all shows a disrespect to your customers and tendency to be manipulative. Most importantly, it harms trust. Nothing kills a brand more. You want to add a required cost? Add it to the price, be honest about it.

At the end, I feel mixed, it’s a fine establishment on the surface level stuff, but at the end, I find myself avoiding places like this

The drinks were good and the food was just alright. I found the seating uncomfortable and the service could have been better. I got a smash burger and fries. Honestly I’ve had better burgers of this style for half as much at my local dive bar and the flavor wasn’t great, the fries were overcooked and didn’t have enough salt for my taste.

The service was a little underwhelming. They did a decent job of seating us and taking our order but we sat for quite a while with no check after telling our server we were done eating. We had to get up TWICE to ask for our check. The automatic 20% gratuity is a total deal breaker for me. I don’t recall it being posted anywhere in the restaurant or on the menu and the server didn’t say anything about it before we ordered.

For starters, their name is misleading as they don’t brew any beer at all.
Secondly, as far as I know this is the only place in Pgh pretentious enough to automatically include 20% gratuity on your check. In my opinion one tips for good service and a pleasant experience and the only person that should and can be the judge of that is obviously the customer.
Legal or not, you as a customer shouldn’t put up with such ridiculous practices..
My wife and her friend were told that the only size beer served was 16oz, which is incorrect as my wife found out once she approached the bar herself.
The food was ok, but small portions for the amount of money they charge.
I usually overtip when I’ve had a good time, but because this wasn’t the greatest experience, I asked the waitress for the bill, not included the 20% gratuity and explained her I’d decide how much tip I’d leave. When she told me she couldn’t do that, the manager came over telling me that what they were doing with the tip was perfectly legal and that they had 3 lawyers..? I guess that being so pretentious gets them in trouble more often and therefore I do understand their need for 3 lawyers:-)
Then the owner joined the conversation, calling me his friend, to which I responded I’m his customer and not his friend and that I wasn’t at all happy about the whole experience. He didn’t get the point at all and started arguing with us.. really?
Long story short, please do not support this or any establishment that thinks of themselves that they automatically deserve a 20% gratuity. It’s in your interest as a business to provide your customers with a good product and a pleasant experience and if you do a good job at that, you’ll automatically get more than a 20% tip on your services.
I guess they’re not really sure whether they’re delivering a good product and/or delivering a good service. Otherwise they wouldn’t be including automatically a 20% gratuity.
My recommendation, spend your dollars elsewhere where people are genuinely concerned about the experience their customers have and where the servers go above and beyond to achieve that, and don’t support pretentious businesses like Independent Brewing Company.

Food and beer were good. Eclectic pub atmosphere. Friendly but astonishingly slow service.

Everything was par for a gastropub and pricing was the same. They don't actually brew beer here, it's associated with Golden Age brewing across the river and they serve there beer.

Amazing vibes, food, drinks all around. Best brussels sprouts I’ve ever had.

My new go-to for a bar visit in Squirrel Hill - stellar staff and their Golden Age beer lineup is top-notch! Food is always spot-on, too!

Great atmosphere!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Most fun beer selection in town...not biggest, but the most sophisticated

Vegetarian options: Excellent Tofu Bahn Mi

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Beer Selection

Vegetarian options: Shared menu with HH — Hidden Harbor has a variety of vegetarian and a few vegan options.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: French Fries, Smash Burger and Fries

I personally think they have the best beers in Pittsburgh and period. Never tried their foods though but was told that they are overpriced. But for beers, it is the best place.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Really gone downhill over the years. Drinks were ok. Overall hospitality was nice enough but tedious even though the place was basically empty. Coup de grace is being informed about a mandatory 20% tip only when getting the bill AND being prompted to add an additional 22-25-28%. Shameful predatory practice.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 2

The kitchen closed at 10 and the waiter didn't inform us after seating us close to 10. The kitchen was also out of items we already ordered. We had a very disappointing experience.

The whiskey buffalo wings are delicious. The beer and cocktails here (and at hidden harbor) are the best in the city.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Fish Tacos, Smash Burger and Fries, Chicken Sandwich, Beer Selection