Football Frenzy # 2 - Stadium Brewery

Stadium Brewing Co.

26731 Aliso Creek Road

Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

In our second attempt to find the ultimate spot to watch football, we headed to Stadium Brewing Co. Our criteria are great food, fun atmosphere, and great service. I have been to Stadium Brewing one other time last year to watch football and had a decent time, so we gave it a shot this year. Let's see how it worked out

We got to Stadium at about 9:25, because this was the first week of football. We got there a little early because we expected a big crowd. One problem, they do not open until 10. This was not a good sign, but we decided to wait it out. They have to realize that football fans like to hunker down, get a good seat, and watch the pregame shows, to see if there are any last-minute injuries or news they should know before game time.  So we waited by the door, with about twenty other early risers. 

The set up for football is okay. They have about ten TVs, but they have limited seating in the bar area, and it is hard to see all the games at one time. This was the first week of football, and since they opened at ten, and everyone was getting seated, it was chaos trying to decide what games were going to be put on where. Everyone wants to see their game where they are sitting, and the guys at Stadium Brewery did their best to make everyone happy. Let's check out the food.

Stadium Brewery has a special menu for Sunday breakfast. There are six items on this special menu, and this is what Katie chose from it, the Bourbon Apple Pancakes. These were some of the best pancakes Katie and I have had in quite a while. Three buttermilk cakes, topped with sauteed cinnamon apples, bourbon sauce, pecans, and whipped cream. This was a winning combination. The sauce is what really made these, sweet, but not overly sweet, and the apples were cooked well also. This would definitely be what I would get next time I came here for breakfast.

For my breakfast, I went with the Prime Rib Omelet. This three-egg omelet contained thin slices of prime rib, bell pepper, onion, bacon, and was topped with cheddar and jack cheese. I would have taken a picture of the inside of the omelet, but it disappeared too quick. You will have to take my word for it, they had a lot of meat here, and the taste was really quite good. I thought that for $12, you should get some potatoes or at least some toast to go along with this, but nothing was offered with this. Kind of over-priced.

Mark waited until the lunch menu was offered, and went with his old standby, the Stadium Buffalo Wings. Again, I felt that these were not a great value, $9 for six to eight wings. The flavor tasted good to me, but these needed to have more meat on them if they were going to be worth $1 a wing. Mark felt that these were nothing special. I did like that he said he wanted lots of ranch dressing, and they actually brought him two sides of ranch dressing, that was cool.

What wasn't cool, was the service at Stadium Brewing. I know that this was the first week of football, and they seemed under-staffed by about five people, but what did they expect? This was not their first time having the NFL on Sundays. The bartender was trying to get to everyone, but it was impossible for him. Richard and Steve showed up on their lunch breaks and did not get a chance to eat, because no one came around to see them the entire time they were there. I wonder how much business they lost, by not having more than four people staff the whole restaurant?

I liked the food at Stadium Brewing. I liked the food enough, that I might even come back for dinner, but this will not be our ultimate football hangout spot. The service was awful, and the atmosphere was okay, not great. We are still looking for a great place to watch football on Sundays, so if you know of a place drop me a line.

Out of five tailgaters, five being best to zero being worst, Stadium Brewing Co. gets 2.5 tailgaters.

Stadium Brewing company does not have an active website, so check out their Yelp page for more information. https://www.yelp.com/biz/stadium-brew-aliso-viejo-4