Ninkasi Better Living Room

The Ninkasi Better Living Room brings all your favorite Ninkasi beers together in a new restaurant and gathering space. Their full-service kitchen will feature a menu of locally sourced items. They will also offer an expanded bar in order to feature more of their small batch beers from their 5-barrel Pilot Brewery. Perpetuate better living in the Whiteaker Neigborhood.

disappointing do-it-yourself service

Hostess was super nice. Building and decor was beautiful. But service was literally non-existent as we were left to order ourselves from an app, spent the first ten minutes of a lunch date navigating apps, links, and manually entering names and credit card numbers. Food was dropped off and we were never spoken to again. Water was left empty the entire time, no check back. And yet when I'm paying the bill myself through my phone I was given 18% as the low-end tip choice, but all I could think was...tipping for what? There was no table service! We did it all ourselves! Would have just ordered online or gone somewhere with counter service if that's what we wanted. This do-it yourself thing is a bafflingly terrible idea for a sit-down experience. Then the food: the artichoke sandwich I ordered was depressingly mediocre, over-priced greaseball, gave me a belly ache. The side salad was a minuscule piece of iceberg lettuce with two thin shavings of cucumber and carrot that gave it that fancy upscale look perhaps to cover-up the lack of substance. I frequent many locally owned restaurants, so I was excited to finally try Better Living Room. What an incredible disappointment. I will not be back.

Good

Eventually we got our dinner after 45 minutes of trying to order via our phone. One male waiter told us " most people can do it"!! The female waitpersons were very helpful. The brussel sprouts with whipped blue cheese are to die for. Also good and not huge oysters on the half shell. We were plagued with flies divebombing our food the entire meal however.

Praises to the divine goddess of beer – Ninkasi !

From the moment you walk past the silvery dinosaurs at the towering entryway, you know there is something special here! Have you ever tried a Velocihoptor or Tricerahops IPA?! Friendly enthusiastic staff greet you upon entry, & usher you to a table inside a spacious “living room,” or out to a picnic-style patio with umbrella-covered tables. Lots of free parking out front. Reservations are a must if you want to eat outside, with option of having your leashed dog at your side. The outside tables are positioned in a perimeter around a landscaped center dominated by a very impressive & lovely, giant Cedar of Lebanon tree. Another inside feature is the incredibly expansive bar with far-out, multiplex piping overhead – the wildest beer assembly at a bar I’ve ever seen! We ate in the airy “Better Living Room” (at well-separated tables) next to a “climbing wall” where the high ceilings & light from the tall windows cast a magic spell. Note: climbing wall is only a decoration now in this beer-dominated restaurant! Masks were required until you got seated. Ordering was done through your cell phone. Beer came first, and then the food. Our friend got the “Burrata & Summer Raratouille” – eggplant & zucchini entrée with cheese on a baguette – which was superb in presentation & taste! We got the hamburgers & fries – but were disappointed (seemed to be no seasoning in the meat, & there was nothing special about the fries.) Perhaps the chefs can “gourmet” up the burger & fries in the future, and maybe add more options, such as sweet potato fries or seasoned “dollar” fries. We did hear that the “Blue Heaven Popcorn” with Rogue Creamery blue cheese & fried onions was a hit! The BEER, however, is THE HIGHLIGHT! I love Stouts, and the Oatis oatmeal stout – rich & smooth & flavorful, with chocolate overtones – is absolutely ambrosial! Highly recommend! Thanks to the ancient Sumerian goddess of beer – Ninkasi – for her eloquent beer-making, AND for inspiring the name of this brewery!

Attention all Ninkasi fans. You need to come visit the mothership. All good here!

All my favorite breweries and nowhere near where I live so when something comes up and I get to visit one I am generally on it. Ninkasi is one of the last few of these Mecca’s I had failed to visit to this point. Their restaurant is a block over from their brewery. Because of COVID they have you order through the Q code and your phone, very simple. We talked to a waitress and she recommended the burger which we both had. Gotta tell you it was one of the best burgers I ever had. The restaurant inside kinda mat he’s the eclectic town it resides in. Can’t explain just a cool vibe inside. The food was phenomenal the beer speaks for itself no the service was great. Also had the bourbon ala mode, wings and this great popcorn. If you are a Ninkasi fan and I know there is a lot of you out there you have to come visit the mothership. you will not be disappointed in the least.

Ninkasi Better Living Room

Great time in Eugene!

disappointing do-it-yourself service

Good

Praises to the divine goddess of beer – Ninkasi !

Attention all Ninkasi fans. You need to come visit the mothership. All good here!

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