Crickets Grill & Draft House

Bar, Eatery

2412 Broadway
Lubbock, Texas, 79401-2919
United States

(806) 744-4677 | map
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.63
Reviews:
8
Ratings:
8
pDev:
15.15%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews.
Photo of mactrail
Reviewed by mactrail from Washington

3.2/5  rDev -11.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.25 | service: 2.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3
Interesting old building in the downtown area. Big spaces with high ceilings. Large game room with long table shuffleboard plus pool. Beer selection is remarkable for this part of the world, but at least half of the taps were common macros brews. Not a lot of selection of Texas beers, unless you count Shiner and Real Ale.

The menu is the standard bar fried stuff, burgers, fries, and nachos, the usual glorified fast food. I don't mind a whiff of cigarettes around a bar, but this place reeks. Not even that busy on a late Wednesday night. The fans just blow the smoke around. No ventilation whatsoever.

No one on staff was very interested in beers except to get them poured. The service was pretty borderline, and then we had to get the manager to straighten out an unnecessary ruckus over paying with a hundred and getting change for a twenty. But it's an actual Texas college town bar with the usual loud music and jolly atmosphere (random hollering and cute babes draping over the pool table).

[notes from 11/07/2012 visit]
Oct 06, 2013
Photo of DoubleSimcoe
Reviewed by DoubleSimcoe from Pennsylvania

4.11/5  rDev +13.2%
vibe: 3.75 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.75 | food: 3.5
Lubbock has got to be one of the most underwhelming towns I've ever visited (aka boring as heck). More so on a hot summer night during college off-season! But lucky us for Cricket's on Broadway.

This is a rather cavernous space with a big dining area and a huge "playing" area with pool and shuffleboard tables. The bar is comparatively small, though.

The 97 taps will keep you going! Lots of macros (which is what most people drink here) but good options as well, including Dogfish 60, 90 and Namaste, Brooklyn Blast, Founders (three handles), Oskar Blues G'Rauch, Deschutes, New Belgium and a crazy amount of Texas beers (mostly St Arnold but Also Wicked Beaver, Real Ale and Pedernales)

Staff is pretty and pretty knowledgeable, recommended some IPA's and offered many tastings.

Food is alright-good bar grub, including locally-made sausage and nicely-fried pickles. Good selection of bourbons as well, here I discovered my favorite Rebecca Creek!

If you happen to be in Lubbock (I'm sorry) and you like beer, then you ought to come here.
Aug 07, 2013
Photo of SeanLubbock
Reviewed by SeanLubbock from Texas

4.75/5  rDev +30.9%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.75
96 taps on the wall, 95 of which are different beers, and the GM says they have more taps they are working on. This place has pretty much everything you can imagine. There is no where around here that even remotely comes close to offering what these guys have!!! The food is somewhat pricey, but the you can tell this is not just some frozen product. You can tell these things are actually made from scratch. WOW!!! A local college bar that has tons of beer choices and made from scratch food? YES PLEASE!!! Every time I'm in town, this will be my new home away from home... Couldn't ask for a better place (14 visits to this point)
Feb 21, 2013
Photo of kemoarps
Reviewed by kemoarps from New York

3.58/5  rDev -1.4%
vibe: 2.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4
It's definitely a college bar. Predominantly college kids, and all the tomfoolery that goes with that.
There's a decent pool room (sundays in particular). In my experience it is either very packed or practically empty (not a whole lot in between).
The staff may not be the MOST knowledgeable, but they are better than most down here and at least seem enthusiastic and willing to try/learn, and are friendly and personable.
There are probably about two dozen beers on tap, which in this town makes it a smorgasbord. There isn't necessarily anything particularly rare or hard to find, but there is some diversity, in both brewery and style. Definitely the best selection in Lubbock. The food is decent, not spectacular, but solid for bar food, and competitively priced. Some of the beers are fairly cheap, but some of the higher abv can get a bit pricey (especially for this town), but you pay for the opportunity to find something you can't find elsewhere (in this town).
Jun 20, 2012
Photo of wreckem8010
Reviewed by wreckem8010 from Texas

3.7/5  rDev +1.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 3
Best draft selection in Lubbock, right around 70 taps. Macros do take up more space than I would like but it's down the street from a university so it's expected. It's the only place I know of in Lubbock that offers the likes of Stone (IPA, Bastard, Smoked Porter) Ska, Left Hand, and DFH (60 and 90 min) on tap. They will also occasionally get some seasonals which is a change of pace for this area. Won't beat the selections in Austin or DFW by any means but gives those in Lubbock a chance to try new stuff.

Prices aren't the greatest (happy hour from 4-7 is .50 off all drafts) but it should be expected with them being the only bar in town with a decent draft selection. I've never seen it full during the day but it will always be packed on weekend nights. Go at any other time and you'll be fine with service, but go on one of those nights and expect to wait.

I've only had the burgers and fries here and they're pretty decent. I get it cooked to medium everytime but have had one time where it was overcooked, no big though. Fries are pretty solid. There's definitely better food in town but you don't come to Cricket's for the food.

Try it out at least once if you are in Lubbock, enjoy some good beer and get down on some shuffleboard and/or pool.
Nov 05, 2011
Photo of jasonjlewis
Reviewed by jasonjlewis from Texas

2.95/5  rDev -18.7%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 3 | selection: 4
This place has a whole lot of beer on tap. The most I've seen at any establishment. However, a lot of them lean towards the german persuasion. They have a nice german beer night on tmondays where pints are 2 dollars. This place gets way too crowded sometimes and they mess up your tab a lot of the time.

Sometimes it can take a while to get a beer, but that's because there are so many people there. It's just ridiculous sometimes. If it wasn't for the vast amount of people at this place, it would be great.

I've heard the food was good, but I've never tried it.

I went to cricket's today. And the tap lines were dirty. It was disgusting. EWWW

HOLY SHIT! Since the minor price increase from the distrubutors in february They have almost doubles their price of beer. It's 4.50 for micros and imports and special days it's 3.75-4. That is just ridiculous. A freaking bud light will cost 3.75!

How does this place stay in business?

Also, their tap lines aren't always dirty. Ask for a sample before you buy.
Aug 21, 2006
Photo of BAbaracus
Reviewed by BAbaracus from Texas

3.09/5  rDev -14.9%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4
Cricket’s has about 75-80 beers on tap, similar to the Ginger Man in Austin that I frequent. However, the difference in selection is absolutely night and day. Whereas the Ginger Man has a carefully hand picked tap roster devoid of macro swill (except for one token exception), Cricket’s is almost the opposite: it appears that they’ve had to fill their tap handles with every variety of every common macro out there. Also, they still had Anchor Old Foghorn on tap in the middle of the summer! The Foghorn, being a barleywine, fared well, but with this little attention paid to rotation I can see why others have noted freshness issues. It was mid-day when we went, so not much of a crowd, but it did strike me that the place was too brightly lit. This became apparent as we were drinking mostly stronger beers which my friend couldn’t get back home in Amarillo, so the buzz kicked in pretty quickly for the both of us. The light may not be too distracting on that first beer or two, but once the pupils get to dilating it’s definitely a buzzkill. Overall though, a nice little bar in a nice little neighborhood, definitely a beer oasis in an area of the country where you wouldn’t expect to find anything half as good.
May 24, 2006
Photo of dauss
Reviewed by dauss from Colorado

3.65/5  rDev +0.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5
Located right across from the campus of Texas Tech, this is a hot college hang out spot. This place has more draught beer than any other bar in Lubbock. They also have a decent selection of bottle beers also.

The atmosphere is really laid back. There are numerous tables, a long bar, and a back room with a few arcade machines, skeeball, and a bunch of pool tables. If you go on a saturday night, the place can get really packed. The best time to go is during the weekday. They have decent specials throughout the week.

The quality of the beer varies. If your going with some macro swill, it will always be fresh, because the turnover is high. They are also notorious for not cleaning their beer lines. I've asked for a few samples to make sure if they are good. Some of the beers though, one whiff and you know its infected. On some of the other craft beers, its hit and miss, so ask for a sample before you order a pint. The server will usually tell you what is fresh, but many of them are not that knowledgable about beer and their freshness.

I've only been disappointed by their service a few times, but it was extremely crowded and the bar was packed. Other than peak hours, I haven't been let down yet.

The food is edible. Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary. They have cheap pizzas on mondays and steak fajitas on wednesdays. I had the fajitas, and they were cold by the time we got them. Luckily the manager was there and gave it to us for free and a pint. Definitely lots of burgers and sandwiches, just your regular bar food.

Value is really good depending on when you go. They have weekly specials, and the prices blow the socks off regular bar prices back in the DFW area. They'll have bands play a few times a week, so its never a boring atmosphere.

Overall, this is the best place to get a pint of good beer, if it is fresh. The down side is that since it is a college town, they hardly ever get anything new or something that they think won't sell. Seasonals are never stocked.
Apr 23, 2005
Crickets Grill & Draft House in Lubbock, TX
Place rating: 3.63 out of 5 with 8 ratings