Duclaw Brewing Co-Restaurant and Microbrewery

Spoiler alert: Not as cool as it looks.
Dear Duclaw, when I order the most expensive dish on the menu, make it blow my mind and not make me wish I went home and ordered a pizza.
The steak was insanely fatty, as in, we don’t advertise what cut of meat the steak is on the menu because we’re fairly sure you’ll never be able to place it with all the extra marbling. The potato that accompanied the steak was a flaccid, sad little side of spud with a pat of butter (wtf, no cheese, bacon, sour cream, green onion back there?). And I had to order a veggie on the side to even make it look like a grown-​up dinner. Fail Duclaw.
Next trip I thought to myself, play it simple. I ordered the guacamole and chips. It took so long, I’m pretty sure the chef had to run out and buy the avocados. Admittedly not a cheap procurement, and extremely short shelf-​life. So of course they did what every cheap restaurant does, they squeezed about 10 limes into it in order to «keep» it. I left most of it on the plate.
Final trip, I ordered a burger, at the behest of a friendly server who said the Arizona was her favorite. Great burger, except the bun crumbled like a sandcastle (I don’t know who is quality assurance back there, but the quality of food is not a focus).
From now on, only drinks at Duclaw for me, and like a movie theatre, I’ll have to sneak in my own snacks.

The beer is decent, nothing amazing, but very drinkable. Neon Gypsy is a great IPA and the Morgasm is very nice. The food is also good for an Alehouse.
The Carolina bbq sauce smoked wings are dang good.
Great place to chill and get buzzed. The cute waitress was friendly and was right on with her suggestions.
Above average for a brewery/​alehouse.

I’m a local and really want to like this place but can’t recommend it for anything other than a beer and a burger.
The beer is fair to good; there are some outstanding stronger ales but also some some very average ‘thin’ tasting ones at the weaker end of the beer spectrum. Most though will find something to suit their palate. The beer menus do need to be updated because the first 4 choices I picked were unavailable. I did have the Foundation #2 which was a mild scottish ale. Not bad but it had that DuClaw flavor which permeates many of their beers that regulars will understand — very hard to describe.
Last evening we sit in the restaurant side (never done that before) because the volume on sound system for the 4PM Giants Pats game in the bar was so unbearably loud, that we couldn’t hear ourselves think. We’re football fans and for a Ravens game, I can handle the volume but not for some out of division match up that nobody really cares about. It was so loud you could hear it from the parking lot.
We were seated without much fuss. Take a flashlight. It’s dark. I had to use my iPhone to read the menu.
The food is very very average. This location has been there since the late 90s and I live 2 miles away so I have been dozens of times. I have never been overly impressed by the menu which seems to change every few months (chef turnover??).
I have the fish and chips — huge portions but overcooked with the batter being burned slightly on the underside. Fries were good but whoever made the cole slaw forgot to add mayonnaise. It was just a bowl of shredded cabbage and lettuce. Awful! Tartar sauce was good.
Wife had the French Dip and a glass of wine which was a) a very stingy pour for $ 7 and b) was served in a dirty glass. That went back. The dip was ok at best. The roast beef was dry — probably was made earlier in the day.
Server was attentive and did a fine job but it was yet another average outing to our local DuClaws.
To surmise, if you want a beer and a burger — go for it but beware if you venture deeper into the menu.