Mad Fox Brewing Company

Reviews 4

BE

bern crane

Went here for brunch this morning. Never been before, NEVER going back. My wife started out with a cup of coffee. After she stirred it, she licked the spoon, and suddenly got a shocked, sick look on her face. There was hardened, sticky food of some kind stuck on the spoon. The waitress had not just brought her a dirty spoon, she had brought her a spoon visibly covered with somebody elses food. When we pointed it out tot he waitress and asked for a new cup of coffee, she merely took it away and replaced it, without any comment or apology. THIS WAS THE HIGH POINT OF OUR MEAL!! My wife ordered eggs benedect, I ordered a pizza with several kinds of meat on it. The eggs were described on the menu as coming with "crispy pork belly." My wife specifically asked the waitress about this in advance, and was told this was kind of like a crispy bacon. When it arrived, the "crispy pork belly" turned out to be a not-fully cooked blob of slightly warm, gelatinous gooey fat, and the yolks on the poached eggs were cooked completely hard. She sent it back, and a while later the chef or manager came out with the new plate. This time the pork was crispy, but the entire dish was greasy. He came back a few minutes later to check if the replacement was OK, and told her they had a new chef on today. No apology, no other explanation, he just informed her the chef was new and took off. My pizza was so covered with and swimming in grease I asked the waitress for some paper napkins to blot up the grease. She brought a stack of napkins an inch thick, and I had to use the entire stack to blot the grease up from the pizza, and it was STILL greasy!! When the chef/manager was there to tell us a new chef had produced the first effort at my wifes eggs he HAD to have noticed a very large pile of soaken wet greasy napkins on the table covered with pizza grease, but he said not one word about that. My son ordered a "Mad Fox Burger," which was a fifteen dollar hamburger covered with "bacon jam," which turned out to be some kind of sweet bacon mush. Now, my 17 year old son is a bacon addict. He will eat bacon on anything, including ice cream. Even he couldnt stomach this greasy, mushy stuff. For the first time in his life he scraped what was alleged to be a "bacon " product off his food and tried to eat the burger plain. Again, this was quite a task, as this fifteen dollar brunch burger was still covered in and dripping with grease. To Mad Fox I would point out that the bacon cheeseburgers at the Sweetwater Tavern and the Carlyle in Shirlington (one of the best restaurants in the state) cost fourteen dollars, and honey, you aint no Carlyle! One might think that after a dining experience like this the manager, or at least the waitress, would come out to offer some kind of apology, explanation or remediation. One would be wrong. The check (for the full price) came out and was placed on the table without a word. The manager or chef (who KNEW there were problems with the meal) never came back to check on us, never attempted to make it right or apologize. It was like they realized it was a lost cause and just gave up and ignored us. Of course, by the time we got home all three of us suffered upset stomachs due to the greasy food. I realize this is a brew-pub, and frequently such places are known for the quality of their beer and not for their food. But when you charge the prices Mad Fox does, you have no right to bring out one dish of terrible food after another. If you choose to go there, beware!

SA

Samantha Siegmann

I was not impressed by this restaurant. I dont drink beer so I cant testify on that but the food and the service were poor. From the beginning our waiter was cold and inattentive. He would walk past our table without a word. When I would get his attention for something, I felt like I was annoying him. Service was also slow. It took about 20 minutes for our appetizers to come out. Then two minutes after our appetizers arrived, our entrees were served. This is a pet peeve of mine at restaurants. I would like some time to enjoy and finish my appetizer before my main meal is brought. The food was mediocre at best. We had the spinach and artichoke dip, which normally I love but this dip was basically goat cheese with a bit of spinach thrown in. I ordered the mad fox burger. It was cooked as I asked for but it was just bland. The roll was supposed to be brioche but it just tasted like a regular bun and the garlic sauce tasted like plain mayo. I could go to Chilis or TGIF and get a way better burger for a better price. The only reason this place gets two stars is because of the desert. We had the fried nutella/banana cheesecake and it was delicious (although I didnt taste any nutella). Overall, there are definitely better brewery/tavern type restaurants in this area and I would not come back here.

JO

Joe Hussa

Good food. Nice staff. Slacker service. I usually avoid Mad Fox due to the poor service Ive experienced on several occasions but the food & beer are good so Its always a gamble if Im going to leave happy or disappointed. The last time I went for dinner with a group of about 12 friends the server dropped off one check at the end of the night. Since he hadnt bothered to keep track of who had ordered what it took him 30 minutes and several failed attempts to split the check. I few days later I noticed I had been charged almost $60 more than I had signed for on the receipt. I went back and spoke to a manager and after finding my receipt and verifying that I had been overcharged he assured me it would be taken care of. A week after that, the charges still hadnt been reversed so I went back a second time and spoke to the same manager who went in the back to supposedly fix the charges himself. A brief "sorry about that" was all I got in way of an apology and Im still waiting to see if the charges will be reversed. I really wish I could justify going back this isnt the first time Ive left frustrated and Id like to save myself the aggravation. I wont be returning if I can help it.

A

A Private User

Some of the wait staff is terrific others not so much. My friend and I have eaten there 5 times in the last 8 months. Some of the food specials have been great but more often the food is just OK. We used to eat and fill up a growler on Tuesday’s for the half-price tapping. However, the last time we were there it was 9:25 by the time we were done eating our food and the waitress said we were too late for that deal. Note: Our growler had been on the table the entire time we were there (from before 8 PM) but the waitress never mentioned the urgency to order it by 9PM. I was also sure that she was annoyed with us from the start because we had ordered beers from the bar while we were waiting to get a table (thus those beers weren’t on her tab). The part of the restaurant we interface with is the wait staff and if they don’t want us there we will go away. It’s a trendy place that has good beer and will continue to draw a crowd but it’s off our list. There are just too many better restaurants in the Alexandria area to go to that are closer. Though, I may still drop in get a growler filled if the tapping sounds exceptional (the Black IPA was really good).