We easily got seats at the bar on a Wednesday at 4:30. Decent draft selection but no small size tasters. Extensive bottle list, heavy on the Belgians but with a solid west coast American line up. A bit light on the local stuff. Did not try the food. I would come back for an event.

November 2007. I’ve wanted to come here forever and finally made it. Neat little joint, but when I visited, it was swamped with a pushy crowd. The service was doing its best, but it frankly detracted. The beer selection was among the highest quality Belgians you’ll find anywhere. But despite reputations, I’d go to Eulogy again over Monk’s if forced to choose just one.

Front room has poor natural lighting that gives too much bright/dark contrast. Back room is tiny and I can see smoke being a problem if there's anyone there. Beer list is wonderful. Belgians on tap doesn't impress me, though, as bottle-conditioned beers are better bottle-conditioned. Didn't eat. Beer list makes it worth a visit but I wasn't keen on much else, to be honest. My server took a while to sort out just which beer I was ordering.

For several years, Monk’s has held a legendary status among beer geek circles and stepping in for the first time was an event in itself. Inside, the bar is narrow, but heads towards a thin restaurant with benches and the separated more cozy bar area at the rear is where we settled. Belgian cafe theme with old brown wood and breweriana making up the decoration. It gets very packed, we had two unsuccessful attempts at finding a seat before coming back and having more luck. We have not had more interactions with our server than ordering a beer and paying, but it was prompt and courteous. The draught menu was smaller than I anticipated, but there was quality in there. Stillwater cellar door, 2 Russian River, classics from Belgium, port 4th anniversary. Maybe the best draught selection I’ve seen in Philly. And the bottle list is very solid as well, containing the likes of Expedition, HOTD, Lost Abbey, Belgian vintages. A remarkable menu. Not your best bet for regional offerings, but very solid place to have a Belgian style ale and it’s such a classic that if you’ve never been, it’s a must. Perhaps not a place I’d come several nights in a row though, it is very loud and relatively expensive.

It feels like a little slice of Belgium. The place is very dark lit mainly with candles which makes seeing the beer list a challenge. The beer is all Belgian or craft and the taps were quite good, including one of the rare places on the east coast that has Russian River and Lost Abbey. The hamburger was fantastic as were as the frites. It’s center city Philly so the prices aren’t cheap but they have a fairly stellar selection and all the taps were selected with care. It completely deserves it’s stellar reputation.

Great beer on tap, but it’s not for me. I was not impressed with the dark,smokey, tight crowding in the place. I gues they maximize profit this way, and there are a lot of regulars. It was so dark, I could not see the ber in front of me. Bartenders they look after the many people, and there is a certain oddness about them, reminding me of bartenders in heavy drinking bars that need to decide when the customer has had to much, as several here had. Yuppie crowd. Great Belgium taps, set the standard across the city.

This place was absolutely mobbed on the Saturday night when we were there... we ended up drinking our beer on extra chairs they had behind the shitter. The tap lists were pretty solid, there were a few things that I hadn’t had and the Kriekenlambic was great (although it was strange that we had to pass some kind of lambic aptitude test before they’d pour it for us). They’ve also got a problem with their reservation system since we watched a "reserved" table sit empty for the whole time we were there on the first night... the crowd thing can’t be helped, but they could handle it a bit better. I went back the next day to see what the place might be like when it wasn’t crowded and I was much more satified with the experience. Cool and chill with a vibe very similar to that at Eulogy. It’s kind of cool that there is a different feel between the front and the back bar... the back bar seems like a place where you could go with a larger group, while the front is a bit more free-wheeling and

Visited on a Friday evening in May ’10 around 5.30pm. Place was pretty busy and continued to get busier during the hour we were there but we managed to snag 2 seats at the bar. Good Belgian bottled line up but that only interested my cousin from PA not myeslf so thankfully found some US craft on tap, local PA stuff mainly. Service was good at the bar and we were never left with an empty glass bearing in mind how busy it was. This wouldn’t be a destination bar for me personally but I can see why it is very popular with those seeling Belgian beers!

A pretty interesting place to say the least. Located pretty far from the main night scene in Philly and not in the safest part of town, this unassuming beer bar has a small entrance and glass window that displays some very rare beer bottles that seem extremely out of place for the location. Inside is a small bar with some pretty good taps, cramped, with some tables. Middle of the complex is a row of about ten tables scrunched together. Then, as if you are going to find the bathroom, there is a secret backroom that looks like the inside of the Kulminator: a crapped square room with all wood and a small bar behind a handful of tables. Here are the really rare drafts and the bottle list prominently displayed. Lots of random vintage lambic and handful of rare oddities mostly Belgian. The cellar here is extremely deep and inclusive with many rare bottles that are not for sale and not on the menu. Very hard core Belgian enthusiasts over here with affinity for American sours. Tomme Arthur has been here for events many times along with Armand from Drie Fonteinen and Jean van Rooy from Cantillon. Definitely a celebrity spot for sour lovers and a most experience place for lambic enthusiasts. Crazy things found here in the past: Veritas 007, Duck Duck Guava, Isabelle Proximus, and many more.

Visited on June 6, 2012. Possibly the coolest beer bar I’ve been to. Dark and wood. Tons of rare beers. No flights but all is forgiven!