I'm a massive fan of Bierkeller, the Maidstone bar is brilliant, the same however can't be said for Exeter's one unfortunately.
Firstly the band was in a car accident so couldn't make it, which I appreciate isn't their fault by any means but it just...sets the night off on the wrong foot. Secondly we reserved a table and paid for it, but were a little late by which time they'd given our table away (I repeat, despite paying) which seemed to split the staff, the bar staff said there was nothing they could do whilst the bouncers were surprisingly on our side.
Next there was about a half hour wait at the bar after the was an accident and back up staff had to be called in, again, total accident but after the incidents before your sense of humour starts to go by this point.
We arrived about 8 by which time the toilets which were already a dive, and, well, I won't be graphic about it, but remnants of people who had too much to drink all over it. That said it didn't really detract from the state of them, they are in desperate need of an update, even a bit of dettol wouldn't go a miss. In fact the whole inside needs updating, the outside is a really nice building, that if decorated properly could be a brilliant pub, but the inside leaves a lot to be desired.
In summary, I know Bierkeller can produce a good venue and an even better night because of their Maidstone branch, but this one is severely lacking.
Also there's no smoking area, however as you can't really knock down another building just to fit one in there's not a lot you can do about this - it's just for the record.More