Kraftworks Taphouse

If you didn’t know about this place you should. While it CAN get loud and a bit crowded, the drinks on tap are amazing, and offer a great selection for people like me who drink very sparsely and with a select incline to lighter drinks, to full body hardcore brews that my friends enjoy. On TOP of an amazing selection from the tap, their food is TOP NOTCH. Its full of flavor, and for the price, its full on meals. They have a great many options, which is perfect, especially if you have friends looking to avoid deep fried things or ‘just burgers’. Def one of the best places in salem.

Stopped by here after I didn’t make it on time to the Convention Center Beer Fest with the brothers and lady. Friends met up after they left the beer fest. This place was pretty roomy. I didn’t get to try any of their beer as I was on «no beer» diet at the time (Psh…I know, right?) but I did order their nachos and it was pretty good.
Atmosphere was cool and it was a pretty chill spot. They had some games in the back area as well.
I’d stop by to give their beers a try some time real soon. :)

The food is wonderful, especially the nachos! Like seriously the best nachos I’ve ever had. The bartenders are nice and work hard but can sometimes get visibly flustered when it gets busy. The atmosphere is more «hipster» then I prefer and the weekend crowed sometimes feels like a college town bar. On a crowded Friday it can be almost impossible to close out. Overall, the beer choice is great, they aren’t extremely expensive and the food makes up for sometimes crowded atmosphere. ⁹⁄₁₀ would bang.

This is the spot downtown. It’s not just about beer and drinks, menu is quality. Great spot when looking for a relaxed laid back environment to hang with friends/​fam. The owners have put their own blood sweat and tears into the place so it’s grown and evolved over the last year or so but they’ve done an amazing job. Quality addition to downtown!

A vast improvement from what used to be in this location. Great selection of beer on tap which is why you come to a taphouse! They also have a full beer in case there are people in your party who like that sort of thing.
I cant speak for the food. Didnt have any. But the specials sounded good, and good smells were coming from the kitchen.

This is the best bar downtown. While Coin Jam gets a lot of (well-​deserved) acclaim, they only serve beer which leaves something to be desired amid all the great arcade games. Kraft has a wide variety of liquors (including some unique infused liquors of their own) plus a great spread of drafts. They’ve got a jukebox and excellent music selection even when the jukebox isn’t playing as well as a few gaming options (Big Buck, foosball, cards, pinball). Their outdoor seating is a welcome relief when it’s packed after midnight like it usually is. The bartenders are funny, friendly, and knowledgeable. The food is always great, I’ve eaten here plenty times and am always impressed. The new menu items like the stir fry are so damn good.
I wouldnt trust the other reviews regarding bad staff based on one experience. I’ve been coming here since the place opened and the staff has always been courteous and fast and continues to get better. Don’t sleep on this spot downtown!

I am posting this review without reading anything else. We ended up here on accident with niece in tow and it was a great experience. The nachos were so good! Perfect topping/​chip ratio. Carl was the (bartender/​server/​manager?) and was super helpful.

Kraftworks is a beautifully built bar with a nice staff tending it. The service is spot on. At times slow, but only when they are slammed. Once they get to you they take all the care in the world to make you feel welcomed. The beer selection is large on tap and in bottles/​cans. The food it large portions, fresh, and delicious. Five stars, two thumbs up, and a high five.

To start with, I don’t need my hand stamped on a Friday night at 9pm; either just close to minors at 8pm or train your bar staff.
Next up, after getting faux branded and sitting at an almost empty bar, I was faced with a pair of annoyances: I) an extremely boring beer list II) neither looking one of the two bartenders in the eye, nor placing a credit card on the bar so much as drew any sign that there was life back behind the high polished wood…
The menu is boring, the chipotle «aioli» is vaguely pink-​colored ranch & the bison burger is both lacking in seasoning and charred on one side only.
Would I stop here for a draft? Perhaps.
Dinner? No.
With friends? No.
I’ll give it 6 months and try again.

This was my first time in, and I really loved it – I had a great time and felt very comfortable. They have a great selection of beers on tap and the staff was super helpful when I was trying to decide what to order. The atmosphere is laid back, but has sophistication with some killer art hanging up around the space, totally an unexpected treat. The gaming area was fun and seemed to be pretty popular. I didn’t order food, but when I saw other people getting their orders. I was jealous. Overall, a great place to chill, hang out with old friends. or make new ones.

I’ve loved this place since they’ve opened and they just keep improving; it’s a fresh place downtown and completely different vibe than the usual bar or Taphouse.
They’ve got their taptree installed and have nearly doubled their taplist (they had 29 the last time I was in). If you’re looking for a varied selection of good beer, Kraftworks is a place to check out. They’ve got some well-​known favs plus many unique beers you won’t find elsewhere. I’m always very impressed with their darks on tap and am very happy that they always have a nitro available.
With summer, they’ve doubled their outdoor seating, but I’d really like to see more seating inside. Especially now that they’ve finally got a full menu, sometimes you don’t want to sit at the bar and they’re getting bigger crowds… so, more tables inside please.
Ok, so the menu. It always been good, even when it was limited. Since they’ve had the full menu rockin, you’ll be hard pressed to not find something for everyone’s taste. Carnivores will love the ribeye and the bison burger!
Kraftworks has been hit with a few harsh reviews related to staffing. My experiences have always been really good, but I can’t speak to other people’s experiences. Maybe it was just one of those nights?

It’s nice to see a fresh face in the downtown Salem bar scene. I like this place and I think the owners did a good job creating a nice atmosphere. Considering it is still kind of new, I think they have a few kinks to work out, but once they get their flow down, I think it has the potential to be one of the best bars in all of Salem.

The food here is actually pretty good, but the service is terrible and the bar itself was dirty. I did not once see a bar tender wipe down a table or any portion of the bar top even after we were seated with a giant mess in front of us. There were several patrons who were obviously being over served by the staff, it made the atmosphere uncomfortable. The owner was working the bar, I know because he was announcing it, and he did not have the appearance to have ever worked food service before. I probably would not return if it were not for the professional cook who brought out our food. He seemed to know what he was doing, cause the food was a pleasant surprise.

Owner is very inappropriate! Picks fights with random customers for no reasons and grabs their beer and throws it. Been there a few times and so far not impressed with service or beer selection.

«Owner» of the bar likes to tell people he’s the «owner» and use that to harass and bully customers when he is drunk in his own bar. Harassed by other patrons including the «owner» who took my beer and literally threw my beer it all over other customers. Lack of quality beer selection and immature and inappropriate leadership staff is a recipe for failure in any business. Any customer shouldn’t feel in danger of bullying or harassment by drunk patrons of a bar without the staff removing those individuals from the bar for causing issues with paying customers. If you’re looking for a quality upstanding place to have a drink look no further than any other bar in Salem. This bar has open top alcohol bottles that are not in compliance with general cleanliness guidelines and dirty drink glasses that need to be thoroughly cleaned without lipstick stains on the rim. This poor excuse for a «cool» place to drink is a sad example for a clean place with a staff that that is too relaxed for comfort.

On my way in I was greeted by an unruly group of fruit flies so old one of them called me «sonny». One does not need to watch Bar Rescue to understand that the presence of mature fruit flies indicates unsanitary alcohol storage. As a matter of fact, more than one bottle of alcohol stored behind the bar was uncapped. Also most bottles of alcohol were stored with quick pour tops sealed only with a small cork (quick pour tops should be washed daily). They are still working on getting out a full menu despite being open for over 6 months. Bartender was nice enough to refill drinks gone bad with more drinks gone bad. Won’t be back, plenty of other good places to go in downtown Salem.

This place is super cute!!! I love how open of a space it is and how hipster the décor is!!!

Good mood for the place, well made drinks, but I’m giving it a bad score because they cut off my friend who had only one beer. He was quite and acting normal, but they cut him off because his eyes looked glossy (he was tired… it was a Friday night, he just worked all day) .
Alex, the owner is super cool though.

Back in town for Thanksgiving and stopped in for a drink with my oldest sister. We got there around 11pm and I wasnt super impressed with what was offered on tap… not the biggest deal, a drink is a drink. My sister ordered a grey goose and soda and they only had some sort of mango grey goose or something weird. The bartender was fine-​not the nicest but not mean at all. He seemed to be annoyed, who knows. It didnt bother me because me and my sister sat at the bar and caught up and it was nice. I think the owners were in doing work on their computers, which i cant complain about but it just sort of brought a weird vibe to the bar in my opinion.
My sister bought a song on the jukebox and i watched the bartender with his «what the heck is this song» face… go and look (side note it was eddie vedder and how dare you scowl!) Im almost positive he changed it, because the song didnt finish and i saw him pick up a remote and click something aimed at the jukebox. I thought it was super rude, considering she paid for it… and was the only one to have requested something in the mostly empty bar. So that rubbed me the wrong way.
My sister went downstairs (not blocked off) and came back up when she realized it was storage and extra booze or whatever. She got talked to by the bartender which felt more like a scold but we let it go. It eventually got brought up again and the way he spoke about it (to the guy sitting next to me at the bar) was really surprising. For how not big of a deal it was i thought he was being unnecessarily condescending and rude like we were the drunkest people in the whole town or something. It really set me off and i asked for my tab and to get the hell out of there. So all that to say. It could be a rad place and maybe we caught it on a bad day but my first experience was terrible and I likely wont be back on the principle that you’re in oregon so be nice.

Stopped by Kraftworks on Friday evening. We were a group of 4 who had never been in before. We were greeted immediately by a female bartender and she explained their menu of beers and ciders and also cocktails. She also let us know they would be having a love DJ that evening as well. The place was sparsely decorated, but comfortable. There were pinball machines in the back area, comfy couches and seating up in the front and several a tall tables with seating. Service was great, we hung out for about an hour and left right before the music. Next time we will be sure and plan to stay. Nice to have another venue for drinks and music in downtown Salem.