Latest reviews from Brookline
| 76 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Visited for dinner on a Sunday night. Two rooms indoors with sidewalk tables or a cool biergarten setup on the street (seems to be a Covid reaction, I hope it is permanent). High level beer list with some harder to find beers from a number of NE breweries. Large rarer bottle menu as well. Nice food menu, good service really like the neighborhood spot vibe of this place. Right on the C line, near Boston College. (Worth the visit, must for locals, and visitors with time) I only use the total score, not the component parts.“ |
| 78 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “One naggingly popular, stiflingly always-crowded beer bar whose building blandly rests about ten minutes northwest from the downtown area, situated in the Corey Farm neighborhood of Brookline. Go on week days and avoid the nights along with weekends entirely. Service is friendly and prompt, but without reliable intel as to what they’ll be tapping, the massive beer-happy hordes can be a bit much. Burgers were exceptionally juicy and delicious as were the crab cakes and turkey sandwiches I ordered on my second and third visits. Remarkably extensive tap list that wonderfully had featured precious Exhibit A IPAs, a brewery I hadn’t seen much elsewhere. Habitually fresh Trillium is a major reason folks swoop in, including myself.“ |
| 70 /100 The Abbey (Bar) 1657 BEACON ST. “across the street from The Publick House, this bar has caught the craft bug and offers some Belgiums and Ipas not around the other bars. worth a walk over.“ |
| 78 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “a recommended stop. to boston’s west. pleasant and major league. emphasing the best beers going about on the east coast, fresh and first choice.“ |
| 70 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Popped over here in time for last call on a layover in Boston a couple of months ago. Decent list with some Trilliums on draught - the main reason I came out here. The rest of their list was mostly run of the mill, with only one or two locals items of interest. Service decently friendly considering this is Boston. Much better than relatively nearby Deep Ellum, but wouldn’t recommend you head out here from downtown if you are here for a short time. No flights.“ |
| 86 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Very good beer, trillium on draught always a bonus. Good service, noisy and popular, one of the best bars in Boston, no doubt.“ |
| 92 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Awesome range of styles, great understanding of Belgium beers and Belgium food. Great service. Lovely range of hoppy IPAs on. Superb experience. Easily one of my favourite bars. Even has my favourite mustard from Belgium on the shelf . The detail is what counts and here they rock that. Hard.“ |
| 96 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Hands down my favorite beer bar in Boston. I’ve been here many times and the service is always helpful and welcoming. The bar is loosely split into domestic (main room) versus imports (Monk’s Cell) but both can be had at either bar. The selection of Belgian beers in bottles is particularly good but drafts are mostly domestic (and MA local). The food is very good and pairs very well with what’s pouring. My singular complaint is that the drafts are not rotated as often as I’d like, however I do visit on a weekly basis.“ |
| 72 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “A popular neighbourhood bar with homely food and an emphasis on Belgian and Belgian style beers. I’ve visited when it’s been packed to the gills with hardly anywhere to perch but the last time it was on a cold Sunday at brunch time when it was fairly quiet with just a few families eating there. The brunch was very good and the beer list is always good too, with plenty of choice.
(Last visited 28 October 2012).“ |
| 86 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “I stopped in here for the first time this past Saturday, my wife treated me for our anniversary, she rocks! Stoneish facade outside wooden tables with church pews at many locations inside. Bar prominently to the front left as you walk in with a vast open seating area at two levels. Quite busy considering how early we were eating but we were promptly seated and watered. Draft list somewhere around 40 deep with a nice bottle list albeit a bit pricy. 58 dollars for a bottle of Cascade Kriek for example. I settled into a late afternoon of trillium beers and was not disappointed. We had frites to start and they were quite good as were the dipping sauces, although oddly most of the fries were cut really short, were talking 1 to 2 inches long at most. I had mac and cheese and my wife had a chicken sandwich and we were both very pleased with our meals. Service was quite good I never felt thirsty or neglected. Pricing seemed about what I expect in the Boston area which means a bit more than at home. Great experience, If I were in the area there is no doubt I would would stop in here again.
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| 82 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “
First I want to start off by saying on my trip to New York and Boston I hit up a lot of beer bars but this was far and away the best of the bunch. Immediately when you walk in you can tell these guys are all about the beer. An amazing amount of taps and bottled selection which can go from cheap (4.5 a pour for southern tier choklat (11 Percent and a lot of bang for the buck!)) to ridiculously expensive for more rare beers. The service was excellent. Our waitress served in the correct glassware and generally seemed very knowledgeable about beer. The food was out of this world. For 10 dollars I got a caesar salad the size of my head. I tried both of my friends dishes as well and would have to recommend the pumpkin ravioli to anyone planning on going there, it is absolutely indescribably amazing. Overall this is an excellent place thats all about appreciating beer and not about having big TVs tuned into sports games and drinking swill.“ |
| 50 /100 The Wine Press (Beer Store) 1024 BEACON ST “Okay beer store near Trader Joes in Brookline. Not a destination place, but serves local needs well enough.“ |
| 58 /100 Trader Joe’s - Brookline (Grocery Store) 1317 BEACON STREET “Typical Trader Joes. Decent enough beer selection including their own specially made brews. You know what you are getting.“ |
| 70 /100 307 HARVARD AVE “Small bar in Brooklyn. Good place to catch a local sporting event and drink some craft beer. Food is decent as well.“ |
| 94 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “This is an amazing place! Whenever I’m up in Massachusetts, I make it a point to stop at the Publick House. If you go on a weekend, it’s always crowded and if you’re looking to sit down and have dinner, you will most likely be waiting. Nothing wrong with that when you can drink a great beer in the meantime. They always have a really great beer selection and I’ve never been disappointed by anything when I go here. The food is great (a little pricey, but really tasty) and the servers are super knowledgeable and will recommend food pairings. I would recommend this place to any beer lover.“ |
| 82 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Stopped by the infamous Pubklick House on Saturday night after EBF Session 1 with a friend. Took the subway over to Brookline and walked a block to the bar. Very nice, clean, and relatively quiet place. I’m still confused what the differences between the 2 rooms are. The one room had more bottles and nicer glassware but if I’m not mistaken you can get anything from either bar.
In any case they had a very impressive bottle list but it dawned on me that we are very spoiled in CA. I only saw 1 or 2 bottles on the entire list (of at least a couple hundred) that I hadn’t tried before. Of the dozen or so taps there was only 1 new one to either of us and that was the Southern Tier Gemini, which they ran out of just before we got there. I took a glass of Southern Tier Cuvee 2 and my friend got a glass of Mojo Risin. Both good beers in their own right but it had been a long couple of days of sampling beers so we were pretty burned out on beer. I mean we sampled 85 different beers in 48 hours at that point. We each got half way through our glasses and left them on the bar to get back to the hotel and get some sleep. Good service and atmostphere. The lights were turned way down and the dark stain used on all the wood in the bar gave the place a certain feel. The food looked good but it was kind of ritzy, ie small servings and presentation being more important than filling you up. Not my style, I want a nice juicy steak and a potatoe, or something else but I’m all about enjoying the flavor and really could care less about presentation. Its really a moot point because I didn’t order any food. I’ll go back some year during EBF again.“ |
| 82 /100 Hops N Scotch (Restaurant) 1306 BEACON ST “Pretty good selection of craft beers, 40 beers on tap and 40 in bottles, including lots from the local breweries. The food was not good though. Burger lacked flavor and fries were underdone.“ |
| 92 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “great spot, busy spot. lots of Belgians on one side & American Micros on the other; or so it seemed. Great attentive servers & bar staff. A bunch of struise on tap & was able to get my hands on some cage & corked Allagash 11.2 bottles. Great looking females at the bar too boot. Make it a stop if in Boston“ |
| 82 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Bar is split into two sides, both are really crowded. Good selection of beers, particularly imports. Had a Tilquin Gueuze and a couple other beers that we don’t get out here in California. Prices on the high side, and service was good considering how busy it was. The vibe was more of just your typical bar than what I’m used to with a beer bar.“ |
| 92 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Love this place. It can be crowded but the atmosphere is amazing and the beer list is top notch“ |
| 80 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “A beer temple for sure and deserves high ratings for its extensive selection of Belgians and others. It was my introduction to a great many beers and Belgian’s in particular. If you sit at the bar the bartenders were always really knowledgeable and pro with the right amount of attitude. Unfortunately it gets crazy crowded with Brookline types to the point of being uncomfortable and the food is pretty terrible. Don’t bother with the mussels or anything too difficult to cook. It’s not cheap either.“ |
| 80 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Good food, great atmosphere, and great beer selection.“ |
| 70 /100 O’Leary’s Irish Pub and Restaurant (Restaurant) 1010 BEACON ST “Decent place. Nothing too special or crazy, but your standards for a Boston bar. Waitresses are usually pretty good and so is the food.“ |
| 92 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “With only a handful of good, craft beer bars in the Boston area, The Publick House is a true gem. You are greeted by a very warm, cozy interior with nice, dim lighting. The bar is the focal point, as it should be, with Achouffe gnomes springing up everywhere. The bar is double sided, with the other side holding a smaller, more secluded dining area, which can sometimes be a little quieter than the main seating area. Dinner time on a weekend can be quite busy, so sometimes it’s nice to go on an afternoon when you can find a seat at the bar and chat with the bartender. The beer selection is very solid, with Delirium and a few other Belgians perpetually on tap, with a dozen or so beers rotating every week. Had a Mikkeller Texas Ranger on tap one visit, and a Mikkeller Beer Hop Breakfast on another, which is quite rare for the area. Food is also very good. All in all, a great place and a new regular spot for me.“ |
| 96 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “This is my favorite place in the great Boston area. Simply great!“ |
| 88 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “This place is an old stalwart for tender. I have been going here fairly regularly for years. The food is good but i am disappointed that they stopped serving Stomp Sauise. There always seems to be two three special drafts. Something rare to tick. I have bought some great bottles too over the years. Great place. A great place to experiment with Belgians.
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| 94 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “My favorite place to enjoy good food, friends, and amazing beer. Superb!“ |
| 82 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Very focused on Belgian beers, and they do this extremely well. They take their beer very seriously, and as a result have earned a bit of a reputation in the city for being snobby and elitist. This is partially warranted. On the one hand, this means you get very knowledgeable service. On the other, they may treat you like they are more knowledgeable than you.
Great old world ambiance. Very dark and decorated tastefully with some cool brewery memorabilia.
Food is good, and the Belgian inspired menu is a welcome break from the gastropub fare that dominates the other high end beer bars in the area.
Definitely a complete experience for the beer geek. A must-visit, but not necessarily a must-frequent.“ |
| 90 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “I went here while visiting my brother and had come recommended by a friend. I knew they specialized in belgian beers, but the depth of their list was great. The draft selection was about 10-15 regular beers. They even had a higher end draft selection too that had some very hard to get stuff from belgium. This was also about 10-15 beers deep and they weren’t cheap (though that was expected)
The food was very good. The fries were good, but it was the mayos that really made the fries. I also got a big pot of mussels. I couldn’t finish it off, but they were great.
Our waitress was really nice and knew her beer. I pretty much just let her pick for me after my first beer. Its something I like doing to see what the staff likes to get a feel for the place.
I will make a point of going back here the next time I’m in the boston area“ |
| 84 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Really enjoyed my experience. Food was excellent - good starter of moules frites and the fish/chips and macaroni are great. Draft selection was very good - not the largest selection but certainly well thought out and well done. Service was fine - not stellar, but not bad. Ambiance is neat - not quite to the level of, say, Monk’s Cafe in Philly, but still very good. I would go back anytime.“ |
| 66 /100 307 HARVARD AVE “Lots of taps but not that much interesting ones. Lots of common ones. Draft list on bar. Crowded on Saturday night. Quite traditional bar setting.“ |
| 88 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Impressive selection of Belgian brews. 30 taps. Lots of bottles as well. Draft lists on bar. Crowded on Saturday night. Still great service. Koff Porter on tap ($8.00/11 oz).“ |
| 90 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “I absolutely love this place and will drink here everytime I visit Boston. The menu is huge, though mostly Belgians. The waiters are usually quite knowledgeable and friendly. I got a bad steak once and the waitress comped me. The food is usually good, but not amazing. A bit pricey like all Belgian bars are. Great ambiance, easy to pretend you’re in a castle. Bring a monk’s cape and you’ll be set.“ |
| 74 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “dinner with ky. crowded. 6-7 dollar domestic taps and 8-10 dollar import taps. food was underwealming to bad. tap selection was really solid. had a victory brau pils and a sculpin. out door seating. would go back for beers, not for food.“ |
| 90 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “If you like Belgian beer you owe yourself the pleasure of visiting the Publick House. A delight for the foodie to the boozy: best selection of Belgian beers in Boston and a menu that will delight even the most pretentious of palates. The only downsides are that the beer gets very crowded and expect to wait at least an hour on weekends for a table. So grab a goblet of your favorite Belgian brew and bring some friends because you are bound to spend a few hours conversing in this fine house of delicious brew.“ |
| 74 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “One of my favorite places in Boston to get a beer and some food. I like the ambiance, nice wooden tables, dimly lit, no complaints. Its not more cheesier than any other tap house. Service was always prompt and attentive, although not always friendly. One of the better selections I found in boston, but nothing crazy. They have some hard to find bottles and a wide array of stuff on tap, but you won’t find any crazy aged / special release / cask conditioned microbeers. Food sometimes was very good and sometimes just good, but never bad. Value, well, you’re in brookline so you are definitely paying for that. Overall not a bad stop, would get more points from me if they were more consistent but the beer will be consistent, and I suppose that is most important.“ |
| 84 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “A must go in Boston. Location is out of Boston but still really close to Fenway park, like 10-15 min drive. Went on a Tuesday night. Place is neat, clean, medium in size. Kinda reminds me of Hopleaf Chicago. This place also had an outdoor patio. Selection is pretty good, I had two beers that night. Service was good too. 30 or so taps and 100 or so bottles. Overall a great place.“ |
| 92 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “It’s a nice little small bar. Gets loud and really crowded. Good selection of hard to find beers on tap when I was there.“ |
| 80 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Very nice place with multiple bars and seating areas. Large, excellent draft selections. Many hard to find brews on draft. The food is very good and mostly true to belgian style. Knowledgeable and friendly staff. A great stop in boston. Average prices.“ |
| 86 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Great little bar in Brookline. It’s small and it gets crowded at times, especially for games. Still, they have a good number of taps and bottles.“ |
| 80 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “1st thing: call ahead. I walked in on a Friday night at 7 PM and had to wait 90 minutes for a table. The main bar of the place is really nice, make sure to sit there. The back section is dark, crowded and smells like feet. The wait staff is nice and their beer selection is good. I had a spicy salmon burger which is delicious and their fries w/ dipping sauces are tasty. This is more of a sit down and eat dinner type place but I enjoyed my visit.“ |
| 64 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “I found this place rather boring. Sure, there was a long list of beer. The decor was super-cheesy, the waitstaff largely useless, and nothing to really hold my attention. The beer list is better at a number of places throughout Boston and I don’t have to go as far out. I just have a hard time seeing myself getting excited enough to come back out here.“ |
| 44 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Pretty disappointing. Seems like owners lost interest in this place. Belgians served in the wrong glass and at the wrong temperature. Interior is cool but not much else good about this place, too many other places doing it better. The food was just bad. They still manage to pack ’em in despite their lameness.“ |
| 68 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Pretty nice place. Ate and drank here once a few years back. Honestly, I expected more. Waitress was a little rude and they didn’t really seem to know their beers. Nothing too exciting on tap either. Okay food. There’s other places in Boston I’d hit up before this one, but if you’re just walking by, it might be worth a quick stop.“ |
| 68 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Stopped in this joint to check it out on an early Saturday night, no seats at the bar (no surprise) but a nice table for three. We were up in the Monks Cell, rather dark and a lot of Dark wood and sparce decorations on the wall. The bar is were its at here. Server was very knowledgeble but not to personable at all. The draft selection held no real surprises or above average choices that can’t be found elswhere. The bottle selection was pretty decent though, but very pricey $28-$36 bucks a 1/5th. ! ouch! The famed mussels were small (but a decent amount in the pot) and had many empty shells. The frites were not close to being the real deal at all, overdone and mushy. As far a Belgian beer bar goes, maybe we were there on an off night but I would not travel from any great distance to go here again. But if you are jonesing for a goblet of Westmalle it will do in a pinch.“ |
| 70 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “I only visited the bottle shop, as I visited during the afternoon. Nice place, great wood trim, gives it a barnhouse/general store feel. Many coolers stocked with some great finds. Many from De Regenboog, some nice Swiss and Italian selections. Decent micro selection, as well; Founders, DFH, etc. There’s a wall full of classic glassware, although the pricing for these seems to be a bit steep. Beer pricing was average; all of my Belgian 330’s were under $8 and 750’s were $10-$15 (not including Cantillon). I’d love to return to stop at the pub.“ |
| 42 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Originally posted on BA (sorry).
I was extremely excited to try out this place and wow, was I quickly let down. We walked inside and to the seating stand. The host asked if we wanted a table for two, and I asked it a seat at the bar would be OK. He snidely replied "which bar" and then pointed and grunted in the general area. We found a seat at the Monk’s Cell and after about 2 minutes (the bartender was having a in depth conversation with the guy 3 seats down) came and asked us what we wanted. I asked for a beer list. Without saying anything he grabbed two lists put them down and went back to his conversation. 3 minutes or so later, he asked if we "Finally" knew what we wanted. I ordered a Ommegang Rouge, but my wife who isn’t into beer that much said in a playful and joking manner "Its all a bit overwhelming, I don’t really know, there’s a lot here, I guess you don’t have a Bud Light?" This is kind of her standard beer bar joke to get some recommendations form the staff, and everywhere else we went she got plenty of help. This ass literally looked at her and turned and walked away. A couple minutes later he returned with my beer and went back and talked to his friend without even asking my wife if she wanted a beer. The final straw was another gentlemen came in and sat next the guy that the beertender was talking to. He asked him if he knew what he wanted, the guy said no and asked for a beer list. The bartender walked over to us, and took the list that was right in front of my wife, while she was looking at it, and gave it to the guy. That was the last straw. My beer was like 8 bucks. I threw down $9 to cover taxes and walked out. I’ve never been treated like that. Oh yeah, my wife never got a beer.
This place has a good selection of hard to find beer. Regardless of how much good beer they have, I’ll never return for how we were treated.
Edit 7/24: Since I put this review up the owner of the bar has sent me 2 scathing BM’s calling me a liar and fuckhead for negatively reviewing his bar. If you would like to see a copy of the bm, just contact me. I have it saved.
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| 80 /100 1648 BEACON ST. “Visité pour la première fois le 11 juillet 2009, pour soupé. très bonne sélection en fut, donc des sortes que le Québec a, mais en bouteille seulement. La sélection de bouteille est débille, bref à quoi vous rendre fou. La nouriture est mi pub, mi éclectique.“ |
