Woodward Avenue Brewers

So I met a group of friends here for drinks and appetizers and I must say I was thoroughly disappointed. I got there a little bit later when all of my friends had already gotten a table, I was greeted and I sat down but the waitress took forever to come over to get my drink order. When she finally brought my drink, she forgot my water and didn’t even ask if I wanted anything off the food menu. The drink was pretty good so I wanted to get another… again the waitress was nowhere to be found! I ordered my second drink when she SLOWLY made her way over and had to chug it because we were ready to leave by the time I received it. I will certainly NOT BE RETURNING and cannot recommend it in good faith to anyone. Sorry WAB, you missed the mark!

WAB is classic… I’ve been a dozen times over the years. We had good eats, great service, fun times this evening. I don’t know, if someone suggests it, I never resist… is it the first that comes to mind… not always, but I wouldn’t poo-​poo it either…
Just go… quit being so «I’m too better than this» :-P

Great brews and a nice well put together menu. Been here for years and keeps going strong

Have gone here twice. The first time, I found the drinks to be subpar, but thought perhaps it was an off night. The second time, the service was so bad that I left before even receiving my drink. The bartender was very rude to two members of my party and refused to serve them. When I tried to complain to the manager, the manager threatened to call the police. Based on an overall poor service, poor quality of food and drink, and mediocre quality of atmosphere, there is really no reason to go here.

I had previously loved this bar. I have visited many times and have had a great time, however, this evening we were treated very poorly. I was accompanying a group of 5, and prior to even approaching the bar, we were profiled as «unruly» and «out of control». Simple attempts to speak with the bartender left us nowhere, and unrightfully, unserved. He described the demeanor of members of our group as «slurred and incoherent»; inaccurate accusations. If you have an urge to be profiled prior to interaction, please enjoy this bar. Otherwise, I suggest any one of the vast establishments along Woodward, and avoid the WAB.

I was super excited to go here (as a vegan) because of the menu I read on their website!
It included a vegan beer cheese AND vegan chorizo option for their pizza or calzone. However, when we showed up-​it turned out the website had not been updated and they no longer served those items.
The atmosphere was ok-​it was 5pm on a Saturday so a little slow and quiet. The beer-I’ve had better. And we decided to eat somewhere else.
The waitress was really nice though :)

Waitress greeted us Quickly. But the wait for our food took over 45 minutes. We ordered a margarita pizza but the were out of basil… pizza with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese… basil makes the margarita pizza! Ordered turkey pastrami sub and they’re out of turkey. honestly the thing that was good was the chips.

I went to the WAB last night after walking around downtown Ferndale. A friend and I were just looking for a place to have a beer and an appetizer. The beer was alright, the food was mediocre, and the service could have been better.
I will go back and try some pizza and give this place another chance.

Yikes, this place has yet to deliver.
Mediocre food.
Mediocre prices.
Mediocre beer.
I just think their quality has slipped and there are far better places in the area.
They can accommodate large groups which is a plus and have a prime location but that can’t carry you forever. I hope they up their game!

I am adding a stay because the food was much better this time. The pizza we got was hot and tasty with lots of cheese. We also got the dessert pie which was amazing with strawberries and chocolate. The only issue was it took 30 min to get! Our server never told us it would take that long or that it was a pizza pie in dessert form. Service is still super slow and our water was never refilled. He pretty much only came by to drop off food otherwise we had to flag someone down to get another round of drinks.

Very cool and unique local brewery. There are two different seating areas. We sat in the upstairs lounge at the bar.
The designs in the building are super cool. Give it an updated yet rustic feel. Very hipster atmosphere. Food and drinks were well priced, and tasted incredible. I got one of the daily special sandwiches. It was super unique and tasted delicious!

Two story building off Woodward Top level is a bar with taps, lower level is able to open up to air with sidewalk seating. The house beers range from okay to good. The happy hour prices are good. The food is lower end pub but well made. A fun vibe in a simple setting.

The WAB has some great specials, which is the main reason I’ve visited. For example, every Sunday, all their beers are only $ 2. Their happy hour, which runs Monday through Friday from 3pm-​7pm, offers a slice of pizza, a beer and a shot of Jim Beam for only $ 10.
Would I come here without HH prices? Probably not. The service is lackluster, with servers hiding in the back rather than ever coming to check on customers. Also, the beer is good, but not great. Their Raspberry Blonde is an easy-​drinker and I really like it, so I stick with that one. My husband has tried them all, and as a homebrewer, can make tastier and more complex brews.
Check it out for happy hour, but skip it if you’re looking for great service and a huge selection of beers.

This is the the bar that introduced me to Ferndale. It may have lost its luster over the years because of all the shiny new and trendy places that have popped up in the Fern, but it is still a solid bar. I think much of the hate is based more on the fact that it had the audacity of becoming popular. Back in the day you could walk into this place on a Thursday night and grab a seat pretty easily, have a bite, shoot pool and listen to music without much trouble. Eventually, this became impossible, with the explosion of the Ferndale bar scene. It was like those people who got pissed at the Black Eyed Peas or Liz Phair for going mainstream. To those people, I say, «Get over it.»
They had a solid selection of craft beer, good booze, solid views of the area, interesting seating, an eclectic jukebox and reasonable eats. It is not a place looking for accolades, it is just a bar and judging it on this basis, I don’t see how you could knock it down to a three.

I’m sure I wrote a review for the WAB. In fact, I distinctly remember writing it in my car right after I ate there…
A small recap of my experience…
I went here after their menu revamp and was super excited to try their food. The menu looked cool. The food sounded good. It had all of the makings for a fresh new start. Pre-revamp…The WAB in my book has just been «OK». They weren’t horrible, but they weren’t awesome. I honestly never go here unless a friend wants to, BUT I was willing to try it again because of their revamp and the food descriptions.
The following is the nice version of my review since my other disappeared…
I ordered two gluten free pizzas and a mushroom appetizer (balsamic, goat cheese, and spinach). The gluten free pizzas, both the WAB bahn mi and the Optimus primavera were really quite horrible. They lacked toppings, i.e., they didn’t have enough to actually cover the whole crust… And the crust was no Rene’s Gourmet Pizza… When you think of pizza, you think… Warm, fluffy, cheesy deliciousness. Was it that? No. No it was not. It was like a hard, stale, thick, cornmeal cookie. I was really sad we ordered two pizzas and even sadder when I got the bill and saw how much it was. It was not worth it.
I had high hopes for them. With gluten free and vegan options popping up in more dining establishments one would think this would be spot on considering their menu boasts these options.
Oh, and the appetizer was slimy and soaked with balsamic. The spinach didn’t seem fresh at all. I didn’t think that those ingredients could be bad…
I eat everything and anything and… I walked out of this place with my boxes of leftovers in hand (I debated whether to leave them there but it was so damn expensive) and tossed them in the garbage outside. I know this seems harsh but… Unfortunately it’s all true.
Now to give them their due… They have an awesome venue. It’s really a nice place to dine and look out over woodward. Also, I am aware that maybe their regular gluten menu is delicious… But alas I will never be able to try that. I would love it if they could do their vegan and gluten free options better.
Hope they make it…

We drove out of our way to get here after church, and it was just ok. Apparently their menu had changed a lot since the last time we had come here, because my husband’s favorite, the quesadilla, the ONLY reason we came here from Redford, was not on menu that was handed to us anymore.
We don’t drink beer, so I can’t tell you how the brew is, but my husband and son weren’t fans of their root beer. (It could be because they’re not used to home brewed type of soda.)
My daughter thought her kid’s pizza was ok. My husband didn’t like his meatball sub. My son couldn’t get his mouth around his huge sandwich (not that it’s a bad thing at all. ;) but I enjoyed my Balsamic chicken sandwich with tomato soup instead of fries or chips.
If we head back out to that part of town again from Ypsi, I’d probably pick somewhere else, like the Emory across the street… that is, unless they bring that quesadilla back.

On a cold snowy Saturday night, a couple girlfriends and I were tired from a long day and looking to grab a bite somewhere in Ferndale and then head out of there before the nightlife bar crowd filled in for the night.
We stopped by 2 other places that were packed out the door with people before heading just across Woodward to the WAB, which was oddly not crowded at all. I’d been here before in some years past, but being that I don’t live on this side of town, sometimes forget about it. The upstairs is clean, and warmly lit. Our server — whose name I can’t recall — was attentive and pleasant as can be. The menu was a lot smaller than I remembered, which surprised me — mostly pizza, calzones, and a few sandwich offerings. But, even out of those few options there were a couple things that caught my eye. I ended up settling on a sandwich with turkey pastrami (which you don’t always find on a sandwich menu) and other delicious fixings I can’t quite remember, but man was it good. Came with a cup of tortilla soup that hit the spot just right.
As we stayed and chatted after our meal, we saw the place filling up as the evening got later. Even after we cashed out, our server kept returning to check in on us, refill waters, etc.
As I left I found myself thinking that I need to keep the WAB in mind more often, because we really had a great dinner here.

The rumour goes the WAB recently underwent major changes due to the involvement of the owners. On a cold evening during the dinnertime rush in January, prime time to see all sorts bellying up, the bar had an almighty two people. What happened to this cornerstone of Ferndale dining?
You need only look so far as the menu. Gone are the kitschy menus squashed between vintage Michigan license plates with a broad assortment of quesadillas, nachos, grinders, and sandwiches served up using chips. The missing items were part of the kitchen’s charm and sorely lacking in replacements.
Now the paper menus are clotted by a strange assortment of pizzas, and very limited supply of sandwiches, salads, and appetizer combos. Sandwiches are served up with noodles or salads, which may serve to please the vegans, but noodles rarely go well as a side with a tasty pint of beer. My fellow diners and I were mildly repulsed by the kitschy candied bacon served in a mason jar without even a properly sealing lid. The meat tasted too salty and sweet, lacking any sort of caramelized or sugared quality. I’m Canadian, and my country’s bacon tolerance is long indeed. How can you possibly mess up bacon?
Additionally one of the members of my party ended up with the equivalent of dry, flavourless ground beef served as a side with the equally tasteless beer cheese soup and a dry baguette that probably counted as the best part of the meal. Advertise something as beer and cheese, it best have some beer flavour. If the WAB’s signature brew is anywhere in there, they simply stood a pint beside the tureen and counted themselves done.
The beer used to be the mainstay of the place, considering B in stands for brewers. They still have many of their signature drinks on tap; the blonde continues to mark the high point on the menu, which makes this a rather fancy watering hole and not a whole lot more. Snacks blend fairly badly with the daily assortment out there. Once upon a time WAB partnered to Treat Dreams and Valentine Vodkas, though these combinations are sparse and far between. I do not recall seeing any Valentine offerings, not surprising given the entry of Valentine Vodka into a proper distillery up the road last year.
Given the venue, it hasn’t much changed. A wide variety of tables and oddly shaped booths fill out the second floor bar area, and seating for large crowds can be accommodated given a bit of forewarning. The latest renovation squashed more booths along the windowfront, sensible given Woodward Avenue is a prime slice of real estate at any time of the year. Rolling doors still give a superb patio in the summer, and its location is a frequent haunt for festivals like Pig & Whiskey and food truck rallies.
There’s an old adage: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I don’t know what prompted the WAB to undergo a major change, considering the Mexican-​heavy menu was pretty tasty and trustworthy. Changes to personnel suggest deeper meddling than updating the offerings. Given stiff competition along 9 Mile from One-​Eyed Betty’s and the Emory, I can’t justify coming in here anymore. Look elsewhere for a decent meal.

Nothing about the WAB wows me, but it is a solid place to spend some time in Ferndale.
The wine they have is as cheap as it gets, yet is still $ 5 a glass. I can buy a whole bottle of that stuff for $ 5. I hear the beer is good, but I don’t like beer so I have to rely on hearsay for that. The food is decent. I feel like the menu is too small.

At this time in Michigan being a craft/​micro-​brewery is a hard thing to be the best at since there are so many. I was unimpressed overall. The beer was okay, but it all tasted a little ‘thin’ to me — kind of watery. I just guess I have had many beers I enjoy a heck of a lot better — and not even too far away from this establishment.
Also, I was unimpressed by the feel of the space. Seemed kind of dirty/​grungy. Perhaps this is the feel they desire, but I did not like it.
There are a lot of other watering holes in the surrounding area where I would rather drink a beer at.