Boylan Bridge Brewpub

We had a super warm and sunny Saturday recently in January, so my friend and I opted to go somewhere that we could enjoy the weather while sipping on some good brews. Several friends have recommended Boylan Bridge to me and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally enjoy that Downtown Raleigh skyline Boylan Bridge is so known for.
I panicked a little when I saw there was no parking lot, but we just drove past the railroad tracks and parked on S. West Street right past Five Star. We arrived during mid-​afternoon on at Saturday and the place was pretty empty – inside and out. We ordered beers at the bar – service was prompt and excellent. We seated ourselves outside at their very spacious patio area. There are plenty of smaller tables around the perimeter and large picnic tables in the middle. We wanted to order an appetizer off the menu and it took about 15 minutes for us to flag down one of the two waiters serving the patio. We ordered the nachos ($ 5, plus $ 4 for meat) without meat. The nachos were definitely way below par – congealed cheese and some lettuce strips on top with about 5 pieces of sauteed onion – although the portion was huge.
The view is definitely excellent, and the beer ($ 5 for drafts) and food prices were decent. The service was below par, but I think it was because they were a little understaffed. The food, however, could definitely use improvement. I’ll definitely come back and try a sandwich when the weather’s warmer, but skipping the nachos!

Arguably the best view in Raleigh, Boylan Brewpub is a comfortable and quaint neighborhood bar overlooking the city skyline. The patio is made for mixing and mingling with new and old friends while enjoying one of the many brews on tap. The atmosphere is lively, but not overly crowded, making for a great happy hour destination no matter what mood you’re in.

Great view for a beautiful spring or fall day! Food is average but service was fine. Great place to go hang out and have a drink after work or on the weekend.

Beer is good. View is spectacular. Service is terrible. All the wait staff look as if they need a shower and clean clothes. Our waiter smelled horribly of body odor.

Service Beer
If you want good service sit at the bar. Crab cake appetizer has teeny tiny crab cakes. Coke slaw has a good flavor. Black bean burger was a good one & it comes vegan style, no mayo, so I added avocado and it was perfect. Our friend had the cheesesteak and really liked it. Parking can be a challenge but on the positive… There are 6 microbrews on draft

The food is fine. But the service is horrible. Shokingly, so. This place works in a pinch, but I don’t like giving my money to people who don’t treat customers with respect.

Great view. Alright beer. Food meh. I’ve given this place a lot of chances and every time I’m disappointed in the food. Orient wrap definitely tasted like it had been sitting in a fridge for some time. Philly cheese steak is pretty good.

I’ve been here a few times so I am surprised I have not written a review yet.
With one of the best views in Raleigh, their patio is awesome. This place is also very dog friendly. They have a GREAT Asian chicken salad wrap which is so good. They also have really yummy (skinny) fries). We have had their pretzel appetizer before as well and it is great too. Not much of a selection for desserts, but they of course have a ton of local beers available.
With our most recent visit, we can in after dinner and got after dinner drinks. I got a cherry coke cocktail and it tasted just like cherry coke (with alcohol of course). We had good and attentive service (even though we did not have a large bill). We moved outside as the evening progressed and the patio calmed down to overlook the city. It was really nice.
i will say you have to find street parking which is not ideal, but the few times we have gone we have not had to park too far away.
This place should definitely be on your list of places to take out of town guests… even if it is just for the view.

Nice atmosphere overall. Yes it is a good view of Raleigh and I did enjoy the whole ambience but the food left me not caring to come back. It’s more of a one and done kind of place.

I was excited to go to this venue because of the things I’ve heard about the view. Although when I, along with my friends arrived I was shocked buy how rude and unprofessional the staff was. The food was average and probably would not come again.

Given that the recent Unilocal reviews have been absolutely terrible, I was a little worried about how this dining experience would turn out. Surprisingly, I was quite satisfied with the service and food! My grilled romaine wedge salad had a subtle smoky flavor with a tasty balsamic reduction, but it was skimpy on toppings and definitely difficult to eat (it was like sawing through the romaine hearts… my chopping accidentally flung some food in my friend’s face — oops!!). Unfortunately my friends’ food didn’t look or seem to taste that great — the caesar salad looked plain and uninspired while the spicy chicken sandwich was just average and very small.
I didn’t try the beer but was appreciative of the fact that the bar was willing to accommodate our requests. My friend ordered a bloody mary and said that it was pretty good!

Boylan Bridge Brewpub has an amazing view, but the food and the beer has always been less than stellar, so I had been avoiding the place. Upon hearing that they hired a new brewer, I was excited about giving the place another chance. While there’s a marked improvement in the beer, it’s still nothing special. My husband and I ordered a flight so we can try them all. The summer ale and the porter were decent, but everything else was meh. I am hoping they are working on some fall seasonals. I’m not ready to give up on their beer just yet!
The menu was the same as I remember — I ordered the Orient, which is a chicken wrap. It was good, but not great. The service was okay — I feel like our server wanted to be anywhere else but there that day, but she brought our drinks and food in a reasonable time frame and did her best to be friendly.
I will be keeping an eye on their beer list and am hoping this is just the start on the improvement process. You can do it, Boylan Bridge Brewpub!

Horrible service. Was seated outside by a guy standing there smoking. We were seated and after about 5 minutes a girl who was not our waitress took our drink order. We finally saw our waitress and ordered nachos. They were the worst nachos I’ve ever tasted. Then we never saw her again until I pulled her aside for the check. She told us she had forgotten about us completely. She only had 1 other table! We watched a few tables walk out from lack of service.

The food is alright. However, I enjoy the beer options and the view of downtown Raleigh is spectacular. Definitely worth it to come down and have a beer with friends.

What the heck? We showed up at a decent hour on Sunday and the kitchen was closed, they were already out of one of their beers, and after sitting on some of the most rickety chairs I’ve ever seen and NEVER BEING SERVED… we left! This place seems like the last gasp for the already drunk. Patrons were annoying also. Ugh. NEVER GOING BACK!!! too bad. The view is amazing.

Without the view, this place would have closed a while ago. Absolutely the worst service in Raleigh. The food is decent but not as good as it used to be. And, being a brew pub you would think they had their own beer. Wrong. They say they are upgrading but they haven’t had their own beer in over a year.
Avoid it.

Don’t go here.
Don’t go here unless you’re going specifically for the view and they’re not busy.
I vow to come back here and update this review when I have a dining experience worse than this one.
1) Waited to get my name on the waiting list for 10 minutes. I guess because the hostess was busy doing other things besides hostess things.
2) Went inside to grab a beer from the bar and the inside was borderline catastrophe. In fairness, this place is all about outdoor seating. The ratio is roughly ⁷⁰⁄₃₀ outdoor to indoor seating. However, there were menus and napkins and such strewn about the floor and most of the tables were in need of being wiped down, including the bar.
3) I’m not sure what they do about rain? Rain threatened and I got the impression that you’re kinda just on your own for that.
4) Got seated and my friend’s chair was legit threatening to fall apart. No worries, she swapped it out herself.
5) Got seated in pretty much the furthest table away from the restaurant. Not an issue except for that it’s past 8pm and there’s no lighting over there. I could see well enough, but my friend decides it was necessary to use her cell phone light to see the menu.
6) At least three servers asked us if we had been helped. Obvs the first time is OK.
7) We ordered the nachos to share. They weren’t good. The chips were broken up so you couldn’t get a solid bite. The chips were also already a little soggy upon arrival. We ordered them topped with pork for an additional $ 5, but it was difficult to find any. Overall, just not good nachos. I myself would destroy a plate of nachos. I was sharing these with another person and we didn’t even eat all of it.
8) We had originally, came here to have dinner, but having made it through the appetizer decided to leave and eat somewhere else.
9) Also on our visit they didn’t have any of their own beers. Something about upgrading their facilities.
My biggest takeaway from this place is that they need more staff on duty and to get organized. I won’t be coming back unless I hear that this has changed.

Horrible service. Sat inside, waited 10min before drinks, flies all over the place. Beer board was wrong, and they are renovating their brewery, so only a few options for beer. never would go back. As for the food onion rings were cold.

OK. So this is my second time eating here. I will preface this review by saying I will never go back. First of all… The service was terrible and almost non responsive. I ordered a Caesar salad with chicken. When the food arrived… There still wasn’t any silverware on the table. Finally… Another individual (not our server) came by and said let me get you some silver… He comes back with an unwrapped fork and says «sorry we have no clean knives». I said no problem. I usually don’t use a knife for my salad anyways.
He walks away. I pick my fork up and take a look at the back of it only to find some sort of crustacean growing on it (I can assume it was alive because it was a huge and obvious particle. Could have swore I saw it blink at me.)
Finally… After getting some utilities to use to eat this salad… I noticed there was hardly any chicken on it. Ahh. Whatever… It’s almost summer. No problem.
Server comes over… He notices it didn’t have much chicken on it «is there any chicken on there?» he asks. and proceeds to ask if I would like some more. I accept his offer (hey why not).
Comes back with a ramakin of warm chicken (the original chicken on the salad was cold and atleast a day old).
I proceed to eat my dinner. And continue my conversation with my business client.
Some time passes and I get my check… And here is the kicker… Salad= 6.75 (roughly) Chicken = 4.00. Holy smokes. Good thing the server looked out by bringing me more… I would have refused to pay if it had not happened. Even still… I think the whole plate had less than 2 ounces of chicken altogether. (ramakin full and what was originally on the plate).
Honestly disgusted by the whole experience. Literally considered dipping my fork in my beer to ensure it was sanitary. No joke.
I’ll never go back. Gross. Over priced. And horrible service. Great view though!

Extremely poor service and mediocre food. Decided to try this place at 9pm for a late dinner in a Friday night. It was oddly empty for a Friday night at a Brew Pub. And now I know why.
In the good side, the pretzel and cheese sauce was really good. The spicy chicken sandwich was odd and badly assembled. Clearly no concern for the quality of the food. The fish tacos were passable.
And the best part, wait for it, no beer if their own!!! How do you have a brew pub that doesn’t have their own beer? They say it’s under construction and it seems to have been that way for a long time.
Here’s some advice for the owners: change the name, hire wait staff who actually want to earn a wage and tips, and teach your staff to take pride in what they do.
Regardless we won’t be back. Nice location with a good view. Too bad the product itself is so bad.