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Categories: Pubs, American (Traditional)
Neighborhood: North Oakland
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It was surprisingly crowded last night. Unbeknownst to us - it was Jeopardy Night! Several rounds in various categories including a grab-bag.
We were just there for some easy late evening eats and a drink - but ended up being caught up in a Cheers type atmosphere and spent the better part of two hours with people we had never met, teaming up as "Uly's Balls" - and having a grand time trying to wrack our brains for the right answers. We got quite a few right!
Great idea to have a game the entire room can easily get involved in (or not) - enjoy your beer and meal (the burgers were outstanding last night! Maybe we were just hungrier than normal (?!) but several people at our table commented how fresh they tasted and how good the fries were.
I still love this place - it is our little "cheers!" . This is a great place to get good "normal" food (a cut above Barney's and sans screaming gooey kids!! YAY 6 stars for no gooey kids!) Kick back, share a table (don't be shy) and settle in for whatever time you are looking for - be it relax with a brew or get involved in a fun conversation with someone you don't know or get a bit rowdy and competitive on a Tuesday night with a "naughty" team name and a good memory!
For what this place is: a pub - this is as good as it gets.
This is a friendly neighborhood pub.…
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Sticky tables- check.
Friendly staff- check.
Fried food and cheap drinks- check.
Good happy hour- check.
Me, happy- check.
On a warm day, you can sit near the window, with a drink in hand, and people watch. (Given that it's Rockridge, I'm not sure you're going to get much excitement out of people watching. Although sometimes, if you squint really hard, you can see the unexpected drama between the yuppy parents and their children.)
There's a cool, relaxed vibe to the area, further enhanced by some surprisingly good bar food. Don't skip the gooey and generously portioned nachos!
Oh, how I miss the Broken Record in SF, since I moved to the East Bay. I never thought I'd find a place as great as the BR. I finally found something close to it.
I came here on a Tuesday night.
Good for kids? "No". Depends on your kid(s). I have cool ones. So I'd say, "Yes". Heck, they even have a kids menu. Good for parents? "Hell yeah".
Or maybe the "No" was the answer that came from ppl who don't like seeing, hearing, dealing with kids in a "bar-type/grown-up" environment. I feel you on that.
My 12 yr-old son and I shared the fried calamari & buff wings. 4 Thumbs up & 4 big toes up!
The smell of unbathedness, $3 Pabst on tap,
dark/dim setting, great bar food, packed with diversity & array of hipsters, old-timers, nerds, star wars nerds, & yuppies all under one roof....told me this place is a cool spot to hang out with your friends. (Now if I could just get my friends to drive over the Bay Bridge).
I'll make Ben N Nick's my 1-2x's a month thang,
The place is good when they don't play music from 96.5fm or 101.3fm. The last few times I've been here has not been as crowded so getting a drink is no problem but having served the right drink sometimes is. I had already ordered two Makers and water and on my 3rd round, I asked for another one. The same bartender sets down a glass (shot) of Makers from one hand and a glass of water from the other hand. What's the dilly yo??? I didn't complain, just give me some ice with that, I'll combine it myself and save me a couple bucks on tip....
Ben & Nicks is a cool place to visit on a warm evening. It is centrally located on College Ave. in Rockridge. They have a large selection of beer on tap, a full bar plus Pabst Blue Ribbon to confirm that this place is a dive bar. I had a couple of blondie ales and my buddy had two hefewizens. Nice scenery too.
Ben & Nicks features standard bar food (sandwiches, burgers) plus some other salad concoctions. I had ordered the cajun turkey meatloaf ($9.95) with garlic mashed potatoes and salad. OK... the meatloaf was not kosher but I was in the mood for meatloaf. Most meatloafs have either gravy or ketchup and this one had gravy. I figured how can you screw up a meatloaf. It tasted OK.
Very attentive service and a great location.
I've been coming into Ben & Nicks for a little over a year now and all I can say is the place is exactly what it looks like, a local spot where you can grab a good beer and some decent bar grub.
The regulars are always a gas and the staff is not only personable, but clearly working their asses off to accomodate what is usually a very packed bar.
I am astonished to read that anyone has had a less than excellent experience at this place and think that perhaps they should be the ones being reviewed... perhaps reviewers should be forced to take a breathalizer test prior to writting up such reviews because in all honesty not getting that 32nd Beer isn't really 1-star worthy.
Ben & Nicks is not a 5 star restaurant, it's a 5 star bar, please note the difference.
I love the no-frills knick-knacky bar that is Ben and Nick's. Really, I do. The beer selection is rad. I mean, hey, they have Black Butte XXL. That's 10% alcohol--whoa!!!--served in a 10oz glass. That'll get ya liquored up, for sure! I don't mean to suggest that I'm a boozer, just a connoisseur of fine brew. :D
I love me a beet salad now and again, too. The beet offerings weren't skimpy, so that was great. However, they coulda skimped a bit on the vinaigrette. I had a bite that was so drenched in dressing, that my eyes watered for days. :( No esta bien, baby.
***** 6-16-09*****
I just received a very nice PM from one of the staff at Ben & Nick's copied with their permission:
"I wasn't your waitress but I just read your review. About the beets.... i can solemnly swear that they are not canned! honest! and beets are not out of season, at least to my knowledge... I bought some at farmer joes just last week. super nomz! I'm not trying to get you to change your review, and i'm not writing as "official" ben & nicks response. Just thought I'd let you know!
As for the Bombardier... I think it just may be a "meh" beer. some people love it, but most do not.
Hope your having a great week!"
this person says that the beets are fresh. The people at my table all thought they were canned but now I'm not sure. Who the hell orders a beet salad at a pub anyway?
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This is the only place I've been to outside of the UK that has either Tetley's smooth or Baby Cham much less both.
I tried several of their beers and wasn't really impressed with any of them the Bombardier tasted like it had turned, I've never had it before so possibly it's just bad beer.
Since I'd been drinking I figured a beet salad might reverse some of the damage. I asked the waitress if the beets were fresh, fresh beets are good and canned ones are nasty. She left and came back to tell me they were fresh. Guess what, not only were they canned but someone else in my party told me later that beets are out of season.
I don't know why they gave me the wrong information but more importantly why didn't my waitress ask me why I hadn't eaten the beets?
This was really a "meh" experience but I'll give them one extra star for having a friendly staff and regulars.
After hearing about this place from a skeptical friend and fellow Yelper, I didn't expect to enjoy it, but sometimes you let your friends pick. But, it ends up it's a pretty nice place to sit and have a beer. On a Saturday afternoon it was pretty busy but not so much that we couldn't find a space at the bar. As far as bar food goes, all I have to say is tuna melt mmmm. The bartenders are nice, the atmosphere is chill, the tuna melt rocks.
$3.00 Pabst (and other great beers on tap)- check
Tuesday trivia night - check
Great appetizers - check
Great entrees (great salads and chili to die for!) - check
Why WOULDN'T you go to Ben & Nick's?
I wanted to have a couple of drinks before shoving off home after work and I found myself in this part of Oakland/Berkeley area. The place next to this looked interesting but slightly more involved so I stopped in here.
I had the Pastrami sandwich with some fries. Surprisingly it came very fast. The waiter was very busy but efficient and brought my drinks out also rather quickly. (considering there were a lot of other people he was attending to) I thought it was kind of cool that the service was great. The food was surprisingly very good, I was expecting a lot less. The fries were cooked perfectly (my opinion: crispy texture but soft inside)
The beer selection is extensive and I ordered something light. He came back with something light looking but not the coldest temperature. The crowd looked like a mix of younger grad students and some old regulars. The music was annoyingly loud, maybe it was Michael Jackson tribute (he had just died that day).
This is by no means a must see, especially in this area with very nice and highly acclaimed establishments. However if you're looking for that bar with some food, that isn't a dive, then please check it out.
This place is fine to stop in, I wouldn't make an evening of it. I don't think I've ever been here and not run in to people I knew (probably from high school). The price is ok, it's usually pretty loud, meh I've been to better but I've definitely been to worse.
I've been a regular at Ben & Nicks for well over a year now. I enjoy stopping by after work for a good meal and a beer. Or late at night hanging out with friends. The atmosphere is incredibly relaxed and welcoming. The vibe is far from pretentious. The entire staff is awesome. Tuesday nights there's a pub-quiz, with prizes. Every night there's great music. The food is actually really good for a pub. I think they have the best nachos on the block. I can't sing it's praises enough. Stop by and check it out.
Another perk, it's a great place to people watch. And if there aren't many people around the staff is great to look at as well.
After reading some of the past posts my one recommendation is to come here to relax and chill out. Leave you troubles and attitudes at the door.
What can I say .... Pliney the Elder. Great burgers, Killler Grilled sandwhiches (Love the Tuna Melt). Prefer it for lunch and it can get packed and loud afterwork, but when you need that after work beer, this place has it!
For an embarrassingly long time I could not figure out who Ben and Nick were. I kept thinking to myself that for how much time my friends spent at their house, I was surprised that I had never met them.
The things that I like about Ben & Nick's (the bar) are the same things that I would have liked if Ben & Nick's had, in fact, been someone's home. Clean bathrooms, plenty of seating areas intended for groups, great selection of cold beers, good music, nice people and BARTable (Rockridge).
If your in the neighborhood this is a good spot to stop in. Never been here for food but the drinks are usually well made and there is nothing better than pabst on tap. Takes me back to NY. The beer list is pretty nice here. The bartenders are usually pretty cool. Have had a few times the one of the bartenders was an idiot but that happens. One bad thing is I have found this place to be a little boring. Never feel like going there unless someone invites me but I know I will get a good drink out of it.
A great place to relax with a beer, especially if you can grab a window seat. The beer selection is very good. The food is pretty good too. I really like the beet salad and the black bean chili.
I wonder if I am somehow stepping through a wormhole and coming out in a different Ben & Nick's than some other reviewers. I've been here dozens of times (possibly hundreds, embarrassingly enough) and I've never had bad service. Not when I was new, not when I was a weekly regular, and not now that I'm pinching pennies and can only go once a month. I do usually go during the day. Maybe that's the difference.
Anyway, love the bartenders, especially Molly. Great selection of beer on tap - I get to try new things here all the time. The burgers are great, the nachos enormous, and the wings tasty.
It is a neighborhood pub. So don't go for snazzy food or for a good wine list, or because you want to have a leisurely romantic dinner with your loved one of choice. Particularly at lunch or in the afternoon, it may happen that the bartender is also the server, so it will be slow. But you didn't come here to pay top dollar for a sterilized fine dining experience or a corporate business lunch, did you?
No, you came for good beer and a relaxed atmosphere where you can unwind and people watch and take in the neighborhood. Good. Then you're in the right place.
i haven't tried the food so i'm reviewing more on a late night level...
the bartenders here are real bartenders... they really know how to make drinks. they're all experienced and know what they're doing. this place served me some of the best shots i've ever had and i don't drink shots. sara is amazing, praise her.
Beer selection was not particularly large, but very good and creative. Major kudos to that.
However, the actual beer selection did not match the chalkboard (though to his defense, the bartender changed the board immediately), the prices were a bit high, and our food order was screwed up in two ways, one minor, one major.
The place was big and roomy, but yet there was nowhere to sit or even stand without being in the way. Very funky-in-the-bad-way layout. (And why does the bathroom door open toward a booth/table, instead of out into the open walkway?)
The beer selection is a reason to go back, but IMO, there weren't any others.
I can get behind this place. They have a good selection of beer, and although it's not a large selection, what they do have is quality. Their happy hour is great: $1 off well drink and pints from 3 - 6. Their normal pint is $4.50, so after two pints yesterday all I owed was $7 plus some tip. Their fries during Happy Hour are also only $2 and are more than enough for two to share.
I haven't been here at night, and I don't know how busy it can get, but from what I've experienced this place is solid. I haven't tried any real food yet, but what I've seen looks delicious in a good pub food sort of way.
Went here with coworkers at the close of the week for happy hour. The sun was streaming through the windows, and we enjoyed the warmth while we drank and talked.
Service was pretty attentive at the start, but had voids periodically throughout my time there. Music could have been a bit softer, since we had to yell over it most of the time. Not complaining about the tunes tho - great classic tunes from the 80's.
Solid selection of beer and a full bar allows everyone to find something. Also appreciated the $2 fry special in honor of happy hour.
Ben & Nicks is near the High School where I worked last year. The teachers used to go there to have a (much needed) beer after work on occasion. I still go there with my husband, who works at the same place, and my old co-workers.
They have a nice long table where we can all sit together. The beer selection is good, and the food is satisfying. They have great fries and nachos. Last time I was there my husband and I split the Obama sandwich. It was beef with swiss cheese and grilled onions. It was greasy, but not too greasy, and oh so yummy. The service is usually fine. We always get our food in a timely manner, and if no one comes back to see if we need another pitcher, we just get it from the bar. As a former server I know this is not appreciated, but hey, server snoozes, server loses.
This place is right next to the Rockridge BART station, which makes it easily accesible if you don't want to drive.
Why go there if you live in SF? Because you actually have friends in Oakland and like to take adventures outside of the "perfect" city of SF.
No matter how busy this place is, I always seem to find a place to sit.
Burger & fries and a Guinness or Newcastle perfect on any day of the year. Big windows in the front are perfect in the summer (real Oakland summer) for people watching... Low key, friendly and affordable, what else can you ask for? Ah, yes, why is it not in the city?
I didn't get a chance to experience the food, but the beer choice was amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed the large selection of IPAs, and settled on Elysian for a decent price. The scene was pretty relaxed at 9:00pm on a Saturday, and there are plenty of restaurants around if you aren't looking to have bar/grill food.
I liked that there was plenty of space, and I wasn't hearing other people's random conversations unless I was trying to listen on purpose...
Not bad for a neighborhood bar. We didn't get to eat the food, so I can't comment on that. Its your basic bar, with actual table to sit at too with a good selection of beer. Props to the server who cleaned up & brought over a new beer (without charging us), after the hubhub drunkedly knocked mine over as soon as we got there. I liked that it wasn't crowded. Decent place to get a drink.
This is a nice, typical pub and local hang-out. They have a decent selection of beers and the pub food is good too. I am a big fan of their buffalo wings and the lamb burger in particular.
I only wish it were bigger as the wait to grab a table can be long (This is where they lose one star). The music selection seems to change daily and is usually enjoyable. The attitude and efficiency of the staff seems to change daily, just be aware and be prepared to be proactive (but nice!) about getting your order in, etc.
Don't expect anything fancy... it IS a pub after all.... Complete with sticky table tops, thumping music and loud talking, dim lights, and the occasional drunk dude spreading cheer to the room. Ahhh.... Cheers!!! Good times!!!
I went here couple of weeks ago with a large group (it's been a while). There were other large groups here (like always). The place by six was packed ( like a can of tuna). The waitress had problems manuring the deep fried, heavily battered food around (which is delicious when you drinkin').
There bar back, who looks like Odin's Son, Thor (minus the hair) wanted to crack some skulls at the group next to us ( but kept his cool). They were a bunch of rude Alt. wannabes with delusion of being "emo". The Bartender was awesome. She made a great black and tan (one of the better one's I've had in couple weeks).
But something about this place, I get bored here easily, don't know why. And annoyed because of all the people try to drink there stress of the day or week away.
But go here, it's a fun place as a first stop, like happy hour, then move on down the street.
fun friendly neighborhood bar. Decent crowd. Price are really reasonable. food is decent and there are plenty of bars near by.
Mostly, I like the crowd but you can listen to yuppies talk about being hippies which is nice.
Beer is good....lots of variety. mostly hoppy beers tho....not my personal pref. food is ok. it's pub food, so perhaps i have gotten spoiled on other pubs' extended menu....limited menu options. good dive atmosphere.
We went there for lunch today. The bartender/server/MOD let us come in early and was a really nice guy. I had been here before, but always when it is packed. FYI the tables are first come, first serve and our night server was not as cool as the day guy. He forgot my order, but would even fess up to it. It was zucchini strips and everyone else had full entrees so
I know it wasn't an execution thing.
Food is good bar food. Good selections of beer and unlike its sister restaurant Cato's it has a full bar.
This place rocks.
Molly is the best bartender. *hearts*
All you whiners need to go call a Waaah-mbulance.
This is a laid back bar & grill, where you can definitely enjoy some late night curly fries, calamari, and generous quesadillas. You may not come to this kind of place for the food, but if you're looking for some casual chow and want to chit chat with some friends without being rushed out, Ben and Nick's is your place.
It's very much like Cato's on Piedmont Ave, just quieter and easier to get a seat.
We also received excellent service!
Ben & Nick's makes me sublimely happy. Other than the smell of the old codger posted at the bar who stinks like he took a bath in onion and Indian food, and the Cal student who seemed to get lost on his way to MTV Spring Break.
Any place that has PBR on tap is fine by me. And you can all suck it if you think I'm a dirty hipster, which I am, because there's no doubt my clothes will be covered in splashes of ketchup and mustard from the enormous and delicious turkey burger at B&N. But I'm not crazy enough to try to pull off wearing skinny jeans at B&N, cause when you leave, there's a good chance you'll be 10 pound heavier and 5 beers drunker. I suggest wearing a robe or a painter's smock.
The long haired, five o'clock shadowed waiter is prompt and seems to really care about our needs. I think we always get special treatment as we normally are sitting upright and there is no puke splattered at our feet.
I haven't been to trivia night here yet, but Alex Tribeck and I have been practicing every night, and he thinks I'm showing real progress and I'll be able to beat the alcoholic 8th year college students by paying extra attention to the questions while the douche brigade is offering to buy cougars a nice glass of the house white and a reuben.
I've been to this restaurant on numerous occasions. I could probably say that it is one of my regular spots & has been for 7 years.
Tonight, the service without exception was the worst ever.
I ordered a drink at the bar & as all the stools were taken, I sat at a community table on the side . After a few moments, having only downed 1/2 a drink, I decided to have something to eat. The bar was still unavailable so I flagged down the only waitress I saw working.
SARA, the waitress/witch, came over reluctantly to take my order. I ordered one my faves, but inadvertently called the veggie bean concoction a soup rather than chili (it is under the soup section on the menu btw). I asked that the extras, (sour cream etc.), be put on the side. Sara said "do you mean the bread?" What kind of question is that? If i ordered soup, of course the BREAD WOULD BE ON THE SIDE! So I replied, "no, the cheese & stuff". She says "the spinach soup doesn't come with cheese." I said, no the veggie bean soup." She says, "no, it's not a soup, it's a chili". I say, "okay whatever"! She says, "do you have a problem with me", I say, "no, but on second thought, I would rather order my meal through the bartender." She says, "no you're not cause I'm closing your tab and your getting kicked out of here."
I'm sorry, did I miss something? Since when does a restaurant throw out a veteran customer for a semantic disagreement? When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told there wasn't one on the premises that evening, but the manager's name is Chris.
Well, Chris, if you read this, Sara should be reprimanded at a minimum, but I think perhaps fired would be more appropriate. In these hard economic times, small businesses should not be given a bad name by crabby, unprofessional, tempermental waitstaff. And If Sara can't perform and represent, there are probably more than 1,000 enthusiastic, good servers that are out of work that would be willing to take her job in a New York minute!
I, for one, will not patronize Ben& Nick's anytime soon, & I will be sure to tell a few dozen friends.
If you have an underage girlfriend, this is the place for you! My friend Vince has been bringing his for over a year, and she's still only 20! On Saturday, no one seems to care about I.D.'s if you're tipping big enough. It's the best night to go. All the other nights are great too because all of the bar tenders are rockin'. It's definitely a locals' pub, and the bartenders bring a lot of the Oaktown flavor to the place with tatts and sass. I have been coming here for almost two years now and have probably spent more money at Ben n' Nick's than any other bar I have ever frequented.
The regulars are nice and good for a chat, and it has been a favorite of local artists and poets for as long as I have been going. They have a full bar, the pour is heavy, the beers are varied and many, and they have a great vegan Portobello burger. It's the kind of place where the bartenders remember what you like to drink and shake your hand and know your name after a only a few times seeing you.
Sometimes, due to its proximity to the university, and the fact that it's an easy place to get a drink if you're an underage frat boy, the place will fill up with such people, and things can go missing. I've personally had a hoodie stolen at Ben n' Nick's on a Saturday. There are also hardly ever any women at this bar, which can be a blessing and a curse, I guess. But at the end of the day, I love this Ben n' Nick's for a beer and a bite to eat.
you know that local band the lovemakers? well 95% of the people in that band work here. they're always switching up the beer menu which is pretty rad if you're into micro brews. we hang out here a lot. they should open earlier on the weekends and serve breakfast, i'd go here a lot more if they did.
Two words... CRAPPY SERVICE.
This is the bar to go to if...
A. You're an alcoholic and have vowed to stop drinking, and/or
B. You're a self loathing masochist who loves to be berated by people who hate their jobs.
If you're outside that demographic, find another option.
Met a few friends for pitchers, food and football on a Monday night. The first person to arrive doesn't get approached by the server for a while so he orders a pitcher from the bar. In conversation, he made a comment to another party seated at the adjoining table about the slow service and the server overhears it.
Meanwhile the rest of us arrive and soon after sitting down, the server comes by and becomes combative with the table. Yes combative! Huh? From eavesdropping! Nice first impression.
Gave her the benefit of the doubt and tried to be friendly and polite but she continued her childish shenanigans throughout the time we were there.
At one point I asked her if they had Makers or Knob Creek. She said they have both, which do I want?. I replied "Makers, please". Apparently they must have neither because I never got my drink. As the bill came, we asked that the Makers not be included. At this, the server acts severely offended, and suggests we never come back... DONE!
It amazes me that some people in the service industry don't know or care about the impact they have on their patrons (and through word-of- mouth, those patrons' friends.) I hope the management is merely unaware of this unprofessional representation of their establishment (server's name on tab was "tiger").
After patronizing this place over the years, the four in our party (all locals) as well as two women from the adjoining table who witnessed this display agreed that this was our last visit to Ben and Nicks.
The good beer selection is far outweighed by the piping hot pint glasses, fresh from the microwave tasting food, and abysmal service. There are better options nearby.
Things I like about Ben 'n Nick's:
*Tons of very decent beers on tap.
*Nicken Supreme + curly fries = heaven.
*Cool, friendly waitstaff (at least, they are to me!)
*Proximity to BART
Things I don't like:
*Music is often WAY too loud (no, I'm not too old, I just like to hear my friends at the bar -- it's not a dance club, people!)
*Kitchen closes too early.
*Wine selection is terrible (whatever, it's a pub. Get a cider, lady.)
That's it. I've never had a bad experience here, from the time we got the entire bar to follow in singing the national anthem during a baseball game to the time I got sprayed with "Arrogant Bastard" ale from the tap (along with a healthy bit of karma) after making an extremely inappropriate comment just out of earshot of its target, this place is what you make of it. Go with a good attitude and you should enjoy it. If you have a bad attitude, please stay away.
I love going there with my dad and get a ginger beer and cheese sticks. Rock on! Peace out trout!
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: American (Traditional)
Neighborhood: Rockridge
Category: Pubs
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: Dive Bars
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: Pubs
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