The Brew Kettle

Recently I had lunch at The Brew Kettle in Hudson, Ohio. This is one of four NE Ohio Brew Kettle locations. The Brew Kettle is located on the north side of Atterbury Boulevard. When you turn off of Atterbury Boulevard there are three restaurants. The Brew Kettle is the first restaurant on your left/west side of the driveway. The other restaurants are a Jimmy John's Sandwich Shop and a Chipolte Restaurant. There is free off-street parking for these restaurants. If you are entering Hudson on Main Street/Darrow Road, turn west on Streetsboro Street. After you pass under some railroad tracks, you will turn right on to Atterbury Boulevard at the first traffic light. The driveway into the parking lot is immediately on your right, less than a block after your turn. NOTE: When you are done eating, Atterbury Boulevard is a divided Boulevard. You MUST turn right exiting the parking lot, about a block north there is a paved section between the separated lanes where you can enter the south bound lane back to the traffic light at intersection of Atterbury Boulevard and Streetsboro Street. To be fair, The Brew Kettle is a brewpub. I came for lunch on a rainy early May afternoon. I had unsweetened ice tea to drink and did not sample their beers. My rating will probably be higher next time when I come in for a beer and some grub to relax and hangout. The bar was packed with folks having lunch and a beer. Only a few tables were occupied by folks having lunch with non-alcoholic beverages. I selected a table. My server is Danielle. She is a very good server. She is friendly and attentive but not hovering. For example, at a table near mine, two gentlemen were chatting and not in a hurry to order. Danielle would stop by their table to see if they wanted to place an order and was cool with them wanting a little more time. She never hassled them or pressured them. She allowed them to enjoy their dining experience at their own pace. Very cool! I started with a cup of the Amber Ale Chili with all the toppings. The chili was a thick, meaty chili. It was good just not great. A bowl chili could have been a better choice being that it is so thick. Again, the chili tasted good. Next, I had The Brew Kettle Burger - cooked medium - with pepper jack cheese for an extra cost. They are generous with the cheese. Two slices of cheese were served on my burger. The burger came with a side of fries and a cup of coleslaw. The burger, also, came with shredded lettuce, a tomato slice, and several pickle slices on the plate allowing me to dress the burger to my taste - a nice touch. I would have enjoyed a slice or two of raw onion too. But no raw onion slices came with the burger. The fries were O.K. but nothing extraordinary. The coleslaw is EXTRAORDINARY! The coleslaw is made with a hint of horseradish. Not overpowering nor clearing the sinuses strong. The horseradish gives the coleslaw a little extra something - really, really creative and tasty. In better - non-rainy weather - they have a large outdoor deck for a nice summer day or evening. The decor is open, modern, minimalistic/industrial. They have a party room off the bar opposite the dining room with large sliding barn doors. The restaurant and the men's room are clean. My first impression, right or wrong, is come for the beer. The food is overall good but not exceptional.

Got a Kettle Burger (medium). It was good, but more medium rare to rare. The guy in the picture was mostly working a full bar and inside by himself for first 10 minutes or so after we sat down. He was really working hard, but didn't show any stress. Kudos to him and the two others that came out to help serve other tables inside and out.

First time eating here (3/5/22). Nice atmosphere. Really liked the TV at the booth. Beers were great and I especially enjoyed the Big Woody lager. Now for the disappointments... The server was friendly, but not really knowledgeable at all about the beers and only slightly more knowledgeable about the food. Brewpub servers should be especially knowledgeable about the beers brewed by their facility, but maybe she was new. Not a big deal though. It's really the food that was very disappointing. I cannot speak for the others in our party except to say one other person did not like the fried green beans and left the majority on their plate. My food was a major let down. I ordered the Maximus Burger with fries. The fries were, or at least seemed to be, from your typical frozen bag. Mostly tasteless, but drowning them in ketchup helped. It always puzzles me why these kind of establishments don't do hand-cut fries. Laziness?....not really sure. That being said, the burger was worse. Hocky puck comes to mind. Servers, please stop asking how one would like their burger cooked if there's no chance it will actually be cooked that way! I order steaks R-MR and burgers MR-M. Too often the burgers come out in the MW-W range and in this case dry, overcooked and flavorless. It was topped with pepperoni and salami that was equally as dry and overcooked. The "oozing provolone" cheese was neither oozing or really noticeable on the burger. Maybe it sat under the heat lights way too long? Given the fact I wouldn't have described my food as hot, I'm guess thing that was the case in addition to being way overcooked. Sometimes I will bring this type of issue to the server's attention, but we were with new friends and I didn't want to make a big deal of it so I remained silent. I always leave 20% regardless of the food/service so my tip did not reflect my experience. I'm not sure if we will be back anytime soon, at least not for the food. There are too many other local establishments who consistently do it right. I would prefer to give the Hudson Brew Kettle 2 1/2 stars rather than 2, but my experience does not warrant 3 stars IMO. Thanks.