Ruddy Duck Brewery & Grill

I like microbrews, so I almost always have a good experience at the Ruddy Duck. The last two times I went there I ordered their Mediterranean salad and asked for steak on it (it’s an up charge that is worthwhile) The food is freshly prepared with fresh ingredients… a nice place to go for something different.

Wings, pizza, chili. Everything has been great. Love the atmosphere for cold/​cloudy days. Great beer and service. A great-​different-​option than the pier food which gets old.

The food here is consistently delicious, I usually end up getting the penne with vodka cream sauce, maybe some calamari. The chipas are delicious, too. The beers are good, and trying the new or seasonal ones is fun.

If the service couldn’t get any worse I couldn’t imagine how. 1 waitress for an organized party of 30+? Drinks came out 1 at a time, food was burnt and took 90 minutes to arrive.
It’s pretty clear that they are the only game in town. Gordon Ramsey fix this place please!

Let me first start off with saying we just moved here from the state of California and we were completely spoiled for seafood living near the Central Coast (Pismo, Morro Bay, Monterey Bay).
My wife and I were very excited to be living so close to a Brewery/​Restaurant that we couldn’t wait to try it. We heard great reviews and were prepared for the high prices of the menu items, if the food is good then price must be right… right?
I ordered the Grilled Fish Taco’s and my wife had the Fish and Chips. These two items alone will make or break an establishment such as this. We both tried their beers also.
Grilled Fish Tacos were flavorless, I couldn’t taste the fish… it was more of a cabbage taco with what appeared to be burnt slivers of white fish??? The fries were okay.
The Fish and Chips were battered pieces of white fish also, cod I think… not to sure though? The batter had a flavor (but I couldn’t tell you what the flavor was) since the fish tasted like it had been in the freezer too long.
Our server, Andrew, took 15 minutes to take our drink orders. He was fast to return with our drinks, but wasn’t ready to take our menu orders and looked shocked when we were ready to order. Food came in a timely manner and was delivered by someone else. Andrew immediately followed up to make sure everything was okay… but nobody had a bite of their food yet so we had no comments yet. Upon finishing our meals we were ready for another beer… and then it was like we got stuck in a cell phone dead zone with no service from Andrew…
I watched Andrew walk by our table 4 different times, flirt with two of the waitresses by grabbing their butts in front of the kitchen prep area and even help a table that wasn’t his. Finally, 20 minutes later our drinks were dry, plates were empty and we were irritated. Andrew brought us our bill and offered to pay for our beers since we waited so long. I can appreciate him trying to resolve the situation, but if he had just paid some more attention to his customers and not the waitresses, it wouldn’t have happened.
So in short… the food was over priced and tasteless, the beer was okay but not worth 4.50 a pint and the service sucked.
I am sure at some point I will have to return here for a company function or something, but now I know what to expect.

We (my husband, 4 y.o., and 13 m.o.) went here for dinner after a day trip to Annemarie Garden. Crayola crayons and coloring sheets for the kids and a kids menu with a good amount of options. The IPA was excellent, just the right amount of hoppiness; I went ahead and ordered a second rather than risk getting another beer that I might not enjoy as much. Artichoke, spinach and crab dip was a delicious appetizer, especially served with focaccia bread. For my entrée, I had the fish and chips, which I almost didn’t order because it didn’t look that impressive when I saw someone else eating it, but the server assured me that it was really good, so I went for it. The batter on the fish was nice and crispy, the fries perfectly salted and they had malt vinegar to boot. It also came with «pineapple coleslaw,» which tasted good but I didn’t really notice much of a pineapple flavor. I thought it was a very reasonably sized entrée, just the right amount of food. My husband got the Mediterranean pizza, which he thoroughly enjoyed, and my 4 y.o. loved the popcorn shrimp kids meal, which came with loads of carrots and celery. We had cookies and cream cheesecake for dessert, which was also delicious (they make their own cheesecakes on site and change the flavor each season).
The main reason I took off a star was the women’s restroom. There were 4 sinks, but only 3 were working, and the one that was working didn’t have any soap. This would not have been as big a deal to me except that I have small children, so after 5 visits to the restroom, I was getting kind of annoyed. There was a sign saying that the brewery would be closed for renovations next week, so I assume this will be fixed during that time. They did have stools available in both the men’s and women’s restrooms for kids to stand on, which was a nice touch, and the changing table looked cleaner than most.
Overall, it was a great place to go with the family. We will definitely return!

I’ve been here multiple times. The only time I got something that wasn’t that great was during brunch, on the weekend. I got a hummus and veggie wrap that I just didn’t really care for. Their spinach and artichoke dip is awesome and comes w/​really good bread that they bake there. The pizzas are really good, too. My dad ordered a flight to try all their beers, and they’re all good. One time, we accidentally came here when they were doing Oktoberfest menu items, and the people I was with enjoyed that selection (and they’ve been to Germany, so they know German food). I got a pumpkin spice martini that time and liked it. I don’t think we’ve ever had a bad waiter/​waitress at this place. I think the ambiance when they’re decorated for Christmas is the best time of year to be there.

Nice atmosphere. Music a little loud for families with small children but nice that there was live music. Artichoke/​spinach dip with crab was great – kids loved it. The crab cakes were ok – I wouldn’t rush back for them. The beer braut was awesome. Best I’ve tasted; ever. Service was very good.

After a day of work/​class, decided to check out this spot with classmates after reading about it Unilocal and other outlets.
Main excuse to check out this spot: Never been on Solomon Island, until today.
Atmosphere: A nice, chill, cabin feeling, but still modern.
Service: It was great. The waiter gave us plenty of time to check out the menu before taking our orders. Refilled our waters promptly. One of my classmates is allergic to gluten so our waiter knew offhand what would be a good entrée to order and what beer to order.
Food: Two of my classmates and I had a crab cake, well they had the entrée which came with two. And my other classmate had a salad. P. s. The crab cakes were great and needed no sauce or extra season, and it had no fillers!
Drinks: I had a flight of 7 and another classmate had a flight of 6. Another classmate had a gluten free apple beer and another had a red beer. The flight was good and you can choose what beers you want on that flight.
Price: Crab cakes are based on market price so it may vary for you. For my one crab cake sandwich it was $ 19, but to me that’s fine, it was delicious, so I can’t complain. My two classmates that had the crab cake entrée, it was $ 28 per entrée, so that’s still priced well. The salad that my other classmate had, I’m not sure how much it cost, but it’s a salad so how expensive could it possibly be. The flights were $ 9, that’s so cheap!
Conclusion: Would I come here again? I’d so say, yes. Next time I might try the duck spring rolls or the duck quesadilla. And of course will try other beer offerings.

Everything is delicious even appetizer. Good service, good food and good music in weekend night.

As usual the crab cakes were awesome. Also surprise desert gingerbread cheese cake, wow! The service never disappoints.

Never had a bad bite to eat here! And the beer is always good, too.

I think we had a new server and it killed the whole evening.
Beers first: Had sampler of all the house beers. All but one were just OK and nothing special. The Doppelbock was by far the best beer they had and I gave it a 3.5÷5.0 on untappd.
Food: I had a burger and fries, which was on special that night with a pint included (Tuesday burger and pint for $ 13 bucks I think). The burger was good. They actually charged me for the burger ($ 11) and a pint ($ 4.25) separate and I didn’t get the evening special.
Service: Horrible experience here. It took over an hour to get food. We had friends arrive 20 minutes after us and they sat at a different table. They ended up getting their food 25 minutes before us! The table next to us (different server) arrived after us and also got their food way before us. We asked about the delay and server said they were waiting on the burger, which couldn’t have been true since both of the other table had burgers and it was the special of the night and they were flying off the grill. The manager apologized, but couldn’t tell us where the holdup was. We ended up asking for free flights and the manager approved it.
I would likely give this place a ³⁄₅ if it wasn’t for the service we received.

It’s been to this ruddy duck a few times every time the service has been amazing and the food is superior for the area the gluten-​free pizza is awesome and the regular pizza is awesome also it’s very close to New York style they have hand crafted beers the atmosphere is very nice one time we did it on a Friday it was extremely loud because of the band but it would have been fine if I didn’t have my kids so fair warning if you have a family you might not want to go during band time! Other than that it’s a great place to eat you won’t be disappointed

Our family recently dined at the Ruddy Duck and everyone really enjoyed their meal. We started with appetizers, the pretzels, which were great, the duck spring rolls also great and the calamari same thing, great starters. For dinner two had oven fired pizzas and they were perfect. The crust was just as flavorful as the toppings, we all loved the pizzas.
What a find, great food, reasonably priced and the atmosphere was pleasant as was our server! Perfect end to a great weekend!

Husband and I waddled into to Ruddy Duck for a Saturday lunch. The ambiance had a bit of identity crisis — the space is beautiful but whoever was in charge of the play list kept selecting 80s/​90s pop — think Fiona Apple and I kid you not the grammy winning ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin. Anywho.
Beer:
Heff: Smooth and served close to room temp (at least mine was). I enjoyed it and would have liked it a bit colder — hubby thought the banana undertones were too strong.
Food:
Crab cakes: Mostly lump crab and very nicely broiled. I thought they were overpriced though at $ 28 for 2 (each about the size of a lacrosse ball) served with tasteless fries and standard slaw
Fish tacos: A wonderful amount of fish came on them but they were pretty flavorless. Hubby ended up taking the tartar sauce from my crab cakes to make them more interesting.
$ 65 for lunch is pretty steep, especially considering we only had 1 beer a person, so you likely won’t see my return.

Aggregate rating from a party of 6 was 4.6. Great beer (the Vienna lager and Kolsch in particular), and the food was just about flawless. Crab cakes, fish and chips, and the French onion (served up in Philly cheesesteak style) were all just fantastic. The only negative aspect was slightly slow service. With small kids this may be a problem for some families. Highly recommended! We will be back if we are in this area again.

It’s decent but a bit on the pricy side. I ordered the crab cakes with jalapeño onion rings. The crab cakes were delicious
with lumps of sweet crab in every bite. The highly recommend jalapeño onion rings however we’re just okay.

Huge ruddy duck fan. Been a loyal customer since they opened. Their beers or are great. The pizza is the best bet, super tasty. The apps overall are very good. The main courses are solid.
Good service, very nice staff. The owners are attentive and helpful when needed.
Great place to eat and relax.
Check out the daily specials. Some great deals to be had.

Ok food.
Spinach and artichoke dip was ok — they should give more bread or chips or something.
Calamari was ok.
I got the Irish lamb stew (on the St. Patrick’s special menu) — Ok — I liked the chunks of lamb, and I like that they gave a decent amount of lamb. Wish my dish was hot/​warm though. they gave two pieces of bread with it, but I kind of wish there was either more bread or that it came with rice or something.
I had a taste of my friend’s Irish Shepard’s Pie and it was REALLY good. Highly recommend it if it’s available. I liked the flavor better than my lamb stew and it came out hot. There was also vegetables on the side. My friend said it was super salty on the bottom though.
Had a piece of my friend’s fish and chips (which he really liked), and I’ll agree the skin on the fish was one of the crispiest I’ve had. Fish also seemed pretty moist and flakey.
I just thought that the fish was kind of small — you get two kind of small pieces of fish in my opinion, but it was decent.
It was my friend’s birthday and we already bought cake and pie (because it was pie day), so he didn’t want more dessert, but the waiters came over and use the kazoo to play happy birthday for him.