02-26-2015, 05:39 PM
(02-26-2015, 10:41 AM)panamaniac Wrote: That's an interesting comment about Imbibe. I haven't been in quite some time because when I've passed by it seemed too crowded for me to be comfortable (good for them, bad for me). I have also found, however, that Imbibe sometimes fell a bit short in terms of the service level (not bad, just a bit lackadaisical). Has it improved in that regard, do you think?
To be honest? Their service has never seemed unusual to me. Neither stellar nor poor. I've found their menu to be lacking in the past, but they've filled it in with a few items that makes up for their lack of a proper grill or fryer. If we're passing up on Imbibe, it's often because we want a better food choice or it's too busy.
The things that keep me going back to Imbibe are partly the location and setting, but mostly the fact that there will be 6 random beers on tap, usually with a couple I've never had before. (And that's saying something: Untappd says I've registered 765 unique beers with it since I started using it in 2012.) Nobody else is doing that in downtown Kitchener. That's not even in the Boathouse's game plan.
I do really like the Bent Elbow as well though. It's probably the only place that matches Imbibe for "I don't know what they'll have when I go in" beer selection (and seriously beats everyone in the region in sheer breadth of beer selection.) I don't make it there as often, though, because location. Especially now that the Elbow is carrying Stone and BrewDog (the best brewers out of the US and UK respectively, in my opinion), it has best beer spot in Waterloo region locked up.