Standing Ovation or Bronx Cheer for Stadium Brewing?

Stadium Brewing Co.

26731 Aliso Creek Rd. Suite C

Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

My good friend, Brett was going to be playing with his band at Stadium Brewing Company. Since it is only a fifteen-minute ride, and all of Katie's family was going to be eating dinner here, it was the perfect opportunity to blog about the food here. We have visited here before, for breakfast, and this would be my first time eating here for dinner. 

Katie and I, of course, were the last of our party of nine to arrive at the restaurant. Sorry guys. Stadium Brewing is located in one of the busiest shopping centers in Aliso Viejo. It did not help our tardiness that we were relegated to parking at the very top of the parking structure. Not an excuse, just a reason why we were late, (okay it really is an excuse). 

Stadium Brewing is one of the few non-chain restaurants in the city of Aliso Viejo. The restaurant has a small bar area, two patios, and a dining room. When we arrived at 7:30 on a Friday night the place was packed. The dining room we were seated in was very loud. My friend Brett would say it was packed because everyone wanted to hear his band, but I am hoping it was because of the food. Let's check it out.

Because we were so late we missed most of the appetizers that were ordered, but we did get a shot of the Garlic Cheese Bread above. More like a cheese pizza, this had a great garlic flavor, but the crust on its own kind of fell flat. 

Starting us off on the dinner portion of our night is Marcy's choice, the Southwest Chicken Salad. This salad featured mixed greens, avocado, black beans, tortilla strips, corn, peanuts, jack and cheddar cheeses all tossed with cilantro cashew dressing. Marcy had mixed feelings about this salad. She enjoyed the avocado but felt that the peanuts were not a good fit here. I think peanuts are odd in this salad too, but I would probably guess it would help change up the texture of this salad, which I kind of respect.

The salad above will end the produce portion of this post. Sara's choice of entree was the Raspberry and Gorgonzola Salad. This consisted of greens, fresh raspberries, candied pecans, Gorgonzola cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. Sara could not stop gushing over this salad calling it, "the best salad I have had at any restaurant". She gets this every time she is here, and it never fails to impress her. Lofty praise from hard to please Sara. 

You thought the salads were done? Well believe it or not this is not a salad. Under all of that lettuce, there are actually Greek Tacos. Greek Tacos combine the following items, tomato, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, feta cheese, lamb or chicken, and cucumber yogurt sauce all served on a grilled pita. Three people out of our party of nine got this dish. Thanks for the diversity guys! Anyways, All three of them opted for the chicken. Jimmy and Emily felt the chicken was dry, but Katie liked this dish. Jimmy called this dish bland, while Katie said it was bursting with flavor. The piece of chicken I tried was dry, but I did not try it in the taco. I also would have gone with the lamb. With the difference of opinion with this plate, the jury is still out. 

Here is another plate where we had a difference of opinion, the Stadium Chicken Sandwich. This comes with lettuce tomato, onion, your choice of cheese, and your choice of having this blackened, Teriyaki, or BBQ. Lynn and Dennis split this sandwich and both of them felt differently about it. Lynn was very happy with this sandwich, while Dennis was hoping that it would have been better. The problem was that he let Lynn get this with no sauce, and no cheese, so I am sure it would have tasted better if they had all of the stuff on it. Let this be a lesson for you. Do not share a sandwich with someone that likes everything plain, you will just be disappointed. Of course, if that person just happens to be your wife, and you want to avoid sleeping on the couch, just nod and tell her the sandwich taste fine anyway that she wants it. That is what the very wise Dennis did here.

Kevin has been to Stadium Brewing countless times, and he always gets the Meat Lovers Pizza. This carnivore's pie includes bacon, pepperoni, ham, and sausage. He always loves this pizza, but tonight it was not the best one he has had. He claimed that the crust was soggy. He still ate all of it, but the crust was not up to par. 

I had a very difficult time making my decision on what to eat here. I finally decided on the Steak La Choza. This layered dish combined marinated skirt steak, mashed potatoes, guacamole, onions, cilantro, peppers, tostada shells, and Picante sauce. This plate had so much going on I will have to dissect it. The Picante sauce was very spicy and really overpowered the dish. The steak was average, the potatoes were lost here, and the tostada chips, which the menu called, "crispy wontons", were just plain odd. Not so sure I would order this again.

This trip to Stadium Brewing Co. left me with more questions than answers. Did we just pick the wrong items off of their large menu? Not so sure. The problem with blogging about a restaurant is that they have one chance to make a great impression. They could be short staff, or not operating with the "A",  team in the kitchen on that particular night. This could have been the case this night, but the service was very good. Elisa, our waitress was very patient with us and was very attentive to our needs.

I am not so sure I would go out of my way to eat here. If I were in the area, I would give it another try, but would definitely try another item on their menu. Like I said before, their menu is large. They have 27 entrees, and that does not even include their pizzas and sandwiches. I am sure with all of these choices I would be able to find something that I would like. For now, though, I have to base my review on the food that we ate this night. 

Out of five ushers, (because of course, you need ushers at stadiums, or there would be anarchy!), five being best to zero being worst, Stadium Brewing Co. gets 2.5 ushers. 

Stadium Brewing Co. does not have an active website, so get more info about them on their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stadium-brew-aliso-viejo-4

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