The Traveling Wheelchair

61 Brookline Ave
Boston, MA 02215
Phone: 617- 536-2337
http://www.beerworks.net/

Yesterday, before my appointment with my neurologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center – Baker Building, my mom, Tony, Kevin and I stopped for lunch at Boston Beer Works which is right around the corner from BIDMC. I found Boston Beer Works is partially wheelchair accessible; it has plenty of wheelchair accessible seating in the dining rooms yet NO wheelchair accessible seating in the lounge/bar area. I would still recommend coming here for the food and service is great!

Boston Beer Works located right next to Fenway Park is a brewery, restaurant and bar. It is a great restaurant with delicious food and would be exciting to come here the day of a Red Sox home game for you can see Fenway’s Green Monster from the front window.

We parked our van in a street metered parking space right across the street from the entrance. We did not have to place money in the parking meter because we have a DMV handicap placard on our van. Crossing the pedestrian sidewalk to access the entrance of Boston Beer Works is safe for there are wheelchair access curb cut-outs on both sides of the street, which is not something all Boston pedestrian sidewalks have.

The entry door of Boston Beer Works is a single entry door that is plenty wide enough to fit my chair; yet it is not automatic so Tony held the door open while Kevin pushed my manual chair inside. This entrance leads you into a small dining and bar area which has plenty of wheelchair accessible tables yet the bar is too high.

Directly in front of the entrance is a wide sloped walkway which leads to a large lounge/bar area. This lounge/bar area does NOT have any wheelchair accessible seating; the bar is too high for my chair; the booths are too narrow to fit my chair; and the tall bar/style tables are all too high for my chair as well. Having NO accessible seating in a bar/lounge I believe is a violation of the Section 17.4 regulation of  AAB/MA – Massachusetts Architectural Access Board which you can find at http://www.mass.gov/Eeops/docs/dps/aab_regs/521017.txt.

Located on the side of the lounge/bar area is a large dining room which has all tables that are wheelchair accessible and of a perfect height. Wheelchair access to this dining room and all areas of Boston Beer Works is very accessible because all the floors are sloped with no steps or obstacles!

Once seated at our table we ordered our lunch. The menu has many items ranging from fried pickles, snacks, appetizers, burgers to filet mignon. They also brew their own sodas; my mom, Tony, Kevin and I all thought their soda tasted as good as Coca Cola and Pepsi! I tasted a sample of the Bunker Hill Bluebeery Ale and it was delightful! It even had small blueberries floating in the glass.

Our food came quickly and it was delicious! I really enjoyed the hot boneless buffalo wings! Our waitress and all the employees were very kind, courteous and friendly!

Boston Beer Works has great baseball paraphernalia hanging on the walls and giant copper beer tanks off to the sides; brewing some of Boston’s favorite homebrews i.e. Fenway American Pale Ale, Boston Red, Bunker Hill Bluebeery Ale, Hercules Strong Ale. The specialty of the day brewing was Curley’s Irish Stout. Small samples of each cost $1.25. Six packs are for sale so I brought a six pack of Bunker Hill Bluebeery Ale home!

Large screen TV’s hang on the walls throughout the entire place which are easy for all customers to view. While we were here we watched Tiger Woods apologize to his family and fans for his recently publicized misbehavior.

The restrooms are clean, spacious, wheelchair accessible and fully ADA compliant except the pipes under the accessible sink are not covered which is a fairly new ADA requirement; the handicap stall is large; the accessible sink is of a perfect height; I can easily reach the faucet, soap and paper towels. An ATM machine located by the restrooms is wheelchair accessible and of good height too.

I give Boston Beer Works THREE STARS for wheelchair accessibility. In order to earn the other Two Stars they would need to install automatic entry doors so a customer in a wheelchair can enter and exit independently; provide some accessible seating in the bar/lounge, either by lowering a section of the bar to an accessible height or permanently placing an accessible table in the lounge; and cover the pipes under the accessible sink in the restroom which is now ADA required. All the employees deserve FIVE STARS for their kindness, sensitivity and helpfulness.