I love the new face of downtown Tucson—I’m definitely not in the “Keep Tucson Shitty” camp, and while I don’t intend for this to turn into a discussion or a diatribe to that regard, I also think it’s important that we continue to support our local businesses, business owners and the folks that they employ. For downtown Tucson, that includes an ever-growing number of restaurants and bars, and World of Beer is one of them.
While World of Beer, or “WOB”, as they have coined themselves, is a chain, it’s a franchise, and the owners and management staff are local folks, and the ambiance of the place blends in well with the new sleek, chic downtown vibe. There is plenty of seating both indoors and out, and the place gets packed, and loud, during peak hours (happy hours, sporting events, etc.).
Appropriately, WOB has beer. Lots and lots of beer. They’ve got a couple dozen beers on draught that change on a daily basis, and more than 100 by the bottle, some more rare than others. Prices for draught beers range from $5 up to $10 a glass, depending upon rarity, ABV and style, or you can get a flight of four samples for $10. We tried several different styles, and the servers are usually happy to bring you samples of anything you might be unsure of before you commit to drinking an entire glass.
The food is what I would refer to as upscale bar fare—they’ve got a decent amount of varied choices, from the wedge salad ($7) to “pig wings” ($10, their take on buffalo wings), sandwiches, flatbread pizzas, and chicken and waffles ($8). None of the food we tried was particularly remarkable, but none of it was bad, either.
Some of the portions seem disproportionate to the price, for instance, the German pretzel is $8, and if you want to add a side of “beer cheese” (tinted orange cheese product), it’s an additional $1.50. Now, it’s a large pretzel, and it’s soft, flaky, salty, buttery and delicious; but it seems a bit unreasonable to cough up almost $10 for nothing more than some baked dough served with mustard and “cheese”. Especially considering that you can get two little mini flatbread pizzas with various toppings for only $7. We tried the Italian flatbread, which is topped with pepperoni, sausage, cheddar and mozzarella, and found it to be quite tasty, although a little bit on the salty side.
The WOB menu is clearly designed for drinking, as it should be (think lots of carbs to soak up all those suds), and their sandwiches were the highlight of either meal, though again, they were far from spectacular. The brat sliders ($8) were well-balanced, topped with spicy mustard, caramelized onions and peppers, but two of the four sliders barely had any meat on them. The Cuban sandwich ($10) was excellent, stuffed with pulled pork, ham, lots of Swiss cheese and pickles. The only real disappointment, flavor-wise, was the chicken and waffles ($8), which are served like little sandwiches, with two mini waffles surrounding each chicken tender. They were bland, and the waffle-to-chicken ratio was way off (too much bready waffle).
Though WOB’s beer selection is excellent, and the food was good, I was disappointed in the service on both visits—especially since it was relatively slow during the times we chose to visit. Our first server didn’t seem to know much about beer (seems like a bad choice when you work in a restaurant that exclusively caters to beer fanatics), and she was inattentive and slow in attending to our table. The second server was not only inattentive, she was just basically absent once our food was dropped off at the table. Beers sat empty for 10 minutes until we finally ended up just ordering the next round at the bar. When I’m dropping $20 on a single beer and an appetizer, I expect the service to reflect the prices, and the beer to keep coming.
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2014.
This place will be gone soon…like Toby Keith at Tucson Mall.
Why bother with this place when you have the Shanty? (from a Phoenician).
We had the same experience sitting at the bar. The beer was great, when we could get a refill. The bartenders were more interested in chatting with each other than making eye contact with their patrons.
We are going back to the Shanty.
I was unimpressed the one time I went there. I’ve had better times waiting at the old bus station than I did at WOB.
WOB is a rip-off. They sell a 22 oz. Lagunitas Hop Stupid for over $11. Plaza Liquors sells it for less than $5.
I had a similar experience. Great beer, so-so food & lousy service.
One and done for us. Apart from the service, beware the surprise snifter, i.e. WOB doesn’t like to confide beforehand just how much beer you’ll actually get for your $7. There are just too many better options nearby, though perhaps none as glitzy.
I give every place two chances. Anyone can have a bad day. But won’t be back to WOB. One beer I tried was flat. The food I tried was overpriced for what it was and the staff was not attentive at all. Which is odd for a place that needs people to try new stuff. The staff should be talking to the customers. And I sold better pretzels from a cart at Toros games long ago. They were $1.50, German style, with a swatch of mustard.
I agree that my only experience there was bad enough that I will not ever be back. Why go and drink overpriced beer in a horrible environment when there are so many better options in the downtown area.
WOB is soon to be old news and defunct.
WOB is Wings Over Broadway. And it is excellent.
I’ve been to WOB a few times, but not for the beer. Friends of mine were supplying “live” music. Beer and food were incidental. Servi
ce on all occasions was okay. Bar seating is best.
I bought the same beer and pretzel for $20. The steep price matches the decor — a sports bar in the Dallas airport.
pricey and they run out of beers a lot. its not locally owned, you can check with the arizona corp comm. regardless, i went a couple times and its nothing special.
I agree with “it’s the truth” WOB is and will always be Wings Over Broadway. World of beer can “coin” whatever nickname they chose but it’s always wise to chose one that’s not already taken. Judging from the review and the comments I won’t be trying it anytime soon.
After reading this, we went down to see what all the hype was about. Cost $12 bucks for food and a beer and they didn’t even have my original selection because they had to rotate some beer as it ran out. Looks like they just dumped a bunch of money in to make it look nice. I agree with you guys, I cannot wait until everyone there loses their jobs!! KEEP OUT!
Gotta mention this… Went here with my brother to watch the Final Four, and arrived about 30 mins before tip-off. Granted, it was 230p Tucson time, but the place was quite dead. I figured there would be some crowd given the ample TVs and beer election. Not only was it sparse, we had to request the channel be changed as 3pm rolled around. They didn’t get to it until about 310pm. Ha!
The funniest part… a few TVs still had “Who’s the Boss?” playing.
Agree with Toby. I can’t wait till all this new stuff in downtown fails including the shit holes down the street…all local beer owned by a guy from NY. Get the f out and stay out. This is our town and we like it the way it is….classy. Who wants the freaking beer to change all the time.