2 /5 Peter Delucchi: Go to the original Pondaseta in Amaraillo, not this one.
The nice folks at the Amarillo spot mentioned Pondasetas second location in Canyon and that they had a handful of exclusive-to-Canyon brews worth trying.
Somethings off here. Beer and food are good. Vibe is fresh and new. Service was overwhelmingly poor and not customer-centered.
First, boy theres nothing like a brewery and restaurant immediately next to an active freight rail line. Location: bad. Next, its a sprawling campus with a brewery and a restaurant. Dont be fooled by all the glass in front of The Brewery. Thats not where the taproom is. Its the door labeled Pizza Company, obviously.
A rare brewery or brewpub like this that is open on a Monday is always a nice find. So, theres a positive. Theyre open Mondays. If thats your only criteria, head on over!
After navigating the entrance, grabbed a bar stool, and asked the Canyon bartender which drafts were exclusive. Theyre all the same, man. But, they arent. A small handful were definitely unique. Mentioned that to the less-than-knowledgeable barkeep. Fine. So get those then, he said. Only, that didnt work. Tried building a flight out of the only-in-Canyon beers, but two of the taps were kicked. Ugh. Eventually a flight came. It wasnt labeled in any way. Had to ask the bartender several times which ones were which.
Figuring since this place was labeled a Pizza Company, they might have food. Had to ask for a menu though, as Mr. Bartender never offered one or even asked if it was going to be just drinks, or food, too.
One level of good service came after finishing the first beer in the flight. Bartender man engaged in a conversation and asked how the beer was! Hooray! Put in a pretzel bites order while that guy was being so attentive. 20 minutes later, on the last beer of the flight, no pretzel bites. He came over, said it was shift change, asked if he should put in any food orders, and that hed be closing the tab. You got that pretzel bite order in, right? He says, Oh yeah, I got you. Just seeing if theres anything else you want. (Pretty sure *that* was when the pretzel order went in, not 20 minutes earlier when it was asked for).
Food came. Delivered by someone new. No napkins delivered along with it. Had to wave someone down to get one. Ah, sorry about the no silver. I got all my staff doing something in the kitchen. (Is that where you hide the customers?)
Meanwhile, original bartender dudes shift was done. Someone else was clearly put on bar duty, but who knows what she was up to. Something needed done in the walk-in fridge behind the bar. And while she walked in and out and in and out and in and out of that fridge, the empty beer flight glasses on the bar just stayed that way. Nobody picked them up. Nobody offered new pours of anything else.
Not sure what their priorities are at this place, but at 4pm on a Monday, it was basically empty, and being what felt like the only customer in the joint, customer-first service did not seem like an interest of theirs. Sad, really.
