The Blue Tusk

No Longer In Business

Upscale bar. Kind of expansive with a couple rooms. About halfway full on a Monday night. Bartenders were friendly, but also passive and standoffish. Good tap list. Nothing rare but several good selections. Biggest complaint is I asked for two things on the menu that had apparently kicked quite a while earlier. I actually suspected this would be the case as the beer list is printed on the front of the wine bottle list, implying they don’t print them too often. Food was okay. Prices were high. Overall meh. 750th place rating!

Great tap list with a well chosen selection. No table service which was a bit of a pain. But, otherwise nice spot to sit and knock back a few afternoon

Dan and I were here once in March 2011. They did not have a printed beer list. Which made it a pain to try to see all taps they had around. Bartender trying to get which beer I wanted as I tried to find something I did not have before, kind of irked him. I finally found one. Maybe they have learned by now and have beer lists like the good beer places. Others seem to like it alot.

Didn’t try the food so can’t comment, but the menu was descent and others in our party really liked it. Beer selection is great and the atmosphere was nice. Sat in an enclosed booth that felt like a church confessional. Odd but cool. Really worth the stop. Heard it can be a super busy bar late, but wasn’t when we were there and was awesome.

Great beer selection. Knowledgable bartender. Bartender warns you when a beer will be pricy. Still there were some deals. Lots of beer snob decor.

When I visited: Early August 2014. What I had: 21st Amendment Bitter American, Boulder Beer 35th Anniversary Imperial Black IPA, and Dark Horse Edacsac Dekoorc Eert on tap, Sopressata, Prosciutto and Brie board to split, Mediterranean Veggie Wrap for myself, Caesar Salad and several glasses of Line 39 Sauvignon Blanc for my partner. What I liked: Large and attractive interior, bustling atmosphere on a Saturday night, excellent draft list with a focus on hop-forward beers, good wine menu, fast and engaging service, bartender was happy to provide samples, prices are fair for what you get, even the door staff are friendly. What I disliked: Would’ve preferred to eat some quality gastropub fare over the barebones snacky stuff that they offer. And the tap lineup, while stellar, falls short of the better beer spots in Buffalo. But this is still a great bar. Would I go back? Definitely. Overall Rating: 78

So can’t believe I have never rated this considering it was one of the first places in the US that got me into craft brews. Nice setup with a bar feel at the front and more quiet tables and private booths at the back. Have really stepped up their game in terms of selection the last couple of times I’ve been considering they had founders breakfast stout, Gandhi bot, and other tasty and fresh dipas plus more on tap. Food selection is good and we’ll priced. Don’t miss out on the chilli if that is up your alley. Kid and family friendly during the day. Prices are all over the map and don’t always make sense but there seem to always be some deals and some head scratchers.

Visited: 4-15-12 I came to the Blue Tusk after leaving J.Ryans...not even close on comparison. A: The atmosphere of the Blue Tusk is actually really nice and very craft beer centric. Q: They had some decent beers on taps but also had some faux craft beers and dogs too. S: Service was decent but not very timely while waiting at the bar for a drink. S: A nice mix between the styles but had a lot of cheap faux craft beers on tap to make up that mix. V: 7 bucks for a pint of Pyramid is obsurd (and that was their cheapest beer)...10 bucks for a pint of FW Union Jack, Ive never seen that pint over 7 anywhere else. Overall, an over priced tourist trap, nice place but wont stop back.

Stopped in after the Empire Brew Fest on July 19, 2013. We didn’t eat anything, we were here strictly for the drafts. Honestly yeah, they do have a lot of craft taps however, nothing that made me drop my jaw or raise my eye brows. But still pretty good selections; Elysian, Founders, Ithaca, Middle Ages, Stone etc. I have had about 90% of the drafts after looking at the list. Perhaps I just stopped in on an off weekend. I only had one brew that I hadn’t previously had. With the amount of taps this place has it has potential to really be great. And they have great breweries, they just really need to have some more small batch or one-off selections. We sat directly in front of the main tap handles at the bar, so it’s really hard judging how good the bartenders are (since since we were hard to miss) And I’m really glad no collage kids where running around. I’m sure this is RELLY over- crowded when collage is in session. I wouldn’t go anywhere near this place after September 6 on any given calendar year.

I went here on a thursday afternoon for a few after work beers. They were busy for 5 but I found a spot at the bar. Ambience was ok and selection seemed good enough. The problem lies with their service. I kept flagging down the multiple tenders for service but just walked by. Many other customers were waiting too. After 10 minutes I just walked out an went to empire instead. I was happy about that.