After waiting nearly two years, Scottish craft beer company Brewdog finally opened in Shanghai, and it’s… sterile. Exactly what you’re not looking for out of a craft beer bar. With the explosion of legit craft beer bottle shops around the city in the time it took Brewdog to get its shit together and actually open, it rendered itself somewhat irrelevant.

That being said, it’s busier than expected. Late on a Monday night, many tables are full of people, mostly the after-work crowd, still sipping beers and ordering stacked burgers like they are going out of style. Seems like the shuffle board tables, leather booth seating, Edison lightbulbs and a lot of industrial metal and exposed wood almost make everyone forget they’re inside a busy shopping complex in the middle of Shanghai…almost.

The space is sizeable, but by breaking it up into three sections, it feels livelier than it actually is. The bar itself is off to the side – facing the mall entrance – making the main dining area the focal point. Weird choice as the reasonably priced beers (and regulation-size shuffle board tables!) are the main pull that will bring us back.

Onto Brewdog’s bread and butter, the beers. When we visited, 24 of the 28 taps had beer flowing, 16 of which were Brewdog’s own plus eight guest beers. Your flagship Brewdog brews (we’re talking Punk IPA, Elvis Juice, Dead Pony Club, Zombie Cake and the like) go for RMB23-28 for a 175ml taster and RMB55 for a 500ml pour. The rarer beers – barrel-aged brews, imperials or barley wines – can set you back anywhere from RMB75 for a 175ml pour to RMB128 for 300ml. Guest beers tend to range from RMB40-50 for a 300ml pour, depending on ABV and complexity, of course.

The tap list is well curated, with a respectable balance of beer styles, seasonal beers, imported brews and China craft. There’s also the mandatory Beer To Go fridge, mainly stocked with Brewdog core beers and a few rarer bottles. Compared to other imported craft tap rooms around the city, Brewdog is actually one of the cheapest, and from a true beer nerd’s perspective, the RMB to beer quality and variety ratio is definitely favorable. Plus one for Brewdog.

Next, when it comes to ordering, the staff is quite knowledgeable. Were they recommending beers based on taste preferences or bringing out samples without being prompted? No, but we’re not in San Diego. Instead, they knew what beers were on draft – a difficult feat with a constantly rotating tap list; they knew the food menu and they remembered our hefty order without a need to write it down. Service is also fast. Like go-wash-your-hands-immediately-after-ordering-and-your-food-is-already-arriving-as-you-get-back fast.

The food in general is fairly cookie cutter. Mainly bar grub, you’re looking at lots of burgers, sandos, souped up salads, wings, loaded fries and desserts that will give you diabetes by just looking at them. Everything we ate was solid but not memorable. The main takeaway is actually the variety of vegan and vegetarian-friendly options they have. Shanghai has been quick to jump on the vegan bandwagon, but we’d estimate that at least 35%+ of the menu is vegan-friendly and actually tasty, which is not easy to come by in a city known for pork-stuffed soup dumplings.

The Beyond Meat Burger (RMB98) texture is a bit gummy for a meat-eater, but that’s not on Brewdog. The bun is denser than it should be, and what exactly does beetroot add to a beetroot brioche bun besides color? Nada. Chipotle slaw, roasted red pepper, lettuce and pickles are all sound burger toppings; no wheel reinvention necessary.

There are also three Z-Rou burger options ranging in price from RMB78-98, but instead of more imitation meat, we rolled the dice on the Vegan Buffalo (RMB58) – a buffalo cauliflower-based sandwich with apple slaw and garlic mayo. After getting past the fact that we were eating a hunk of cauliflower between two buns, it was actually our favorite bite of the night. Lightly fried with a crispy exterior but a buttery soft interior, if we had to put money on it, we would have guessed we were eating a codfish sandwich. Another point for Brewdog and a win for vegans of Shanghai.

Brewdog’s classic burger is The Patriot (RMB88), and as a burger and beer joint, we had high hopes. One bite and… uncompromisingly mediocre. The meat is well-cooked but somewhat flavorless, the BBQ sauce is overpoweringly sweet, and flaccid Chinese bacon on an American-style burger is never a good thing. All burgers come with fries or you can upgrade to sweet potato fries for RMB10. Like the burgers, the fries are…ok? It’s hard to mess up deep fried potatoes in any form though so that should be a given. Docking a point here.

Aside from burgers, the Buffalo Chicken Wings (RMB68 for small, RMB78 for regular, RMB118 for sharing) are average but overpriced for the portion and don’t compare to other wing favorites around the city. Brewdog will be launching a Wings Wednesday with all you can eat wings if you book in advance, but price and start date have yet to be settled, so that will really determine our resolve to return.

This article is a review of the Brewdog Tap Room in Shanghai, so we won’t get into the semantics of the brand – or the fact that in 2017, Brewdog hugged the line of selling out, almost trading in it’s true “craft” title for them dollah dollah bills y’all – in exchange for a 22% percentage ownership by TSG Consumer Partners. It’s worth noting that one of the three pillars of what makes a brewery actual craft is a less than 25% ownership by a larger alcohol company that isn’t a craft brewery. Hence 22% is really walking that fine line, especially for a spot that has “craft,” “community” and “independent” plastered on just about every surface possible.

From the uninspired playlist to the stadium seating that covers a sizeable portion of the restaurant (who actually sits there besides some serious shuffleboard onlookers?) to the oddly placed hanging fake plants that rim the border of the room to the shaky association with true craft, Brewdog is just a plastic pint glass and a football screening away from Ruby Tuesdays. But with better beer. 

Price: RMB100-200
Who’s Going: Craft beer nerds, vegan burger consumers, shuffleboard enthusiasts
Good For: An uptick in craft beer consumption, Western food cravings, afternoon beer, competitive shuffleboarding

Brewdog, 1/F, 333 Chengdu Bei Lu, by Weihai Lu 成都北路333号1楼, 近威海路.