Library Bar & Grill

Bar, Eatery

607 W Boyd St
Norman, Oklahoma, 73069-4822
United States

(405) 366-7465 | map
gldining.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
3.42
Reviews:
9
Ratings:
12
pDev:
16.37%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by mskelly79:
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Rated by mskelly79 from Oklahoma

4.5/5  rDev +31.6%

Nov 26, 2013
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 3.8 by hanvanam from Oklahoma

Dec 01, 2014
 
Rated: 3.5 by OKShylock from Oklahoma

Jul 22, 2014
Photo of csiewert
Reviewed by csiewert from Oregon

2.45/5  rDev -28.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 2 | service: 2 | selection: 3 | food: 3
The library is a pretty small venue west of Campus Corner. The beer selection is ok, but they do carry the entire line of Coach's 3.2% ABV beer which takes up half of the taps. I have had a few occasions where the taps were either dirty or the carbonation was way off which ruined the beer. They often run out of all the good stuff as well. The wait staff is fairly slow and unattentive, as usual in Norman. They once took my ID to check it and the waitress kept forgetting to bring it back and then disappeared for 45 minutes... The food and beer specials do bring down the prices nicely if you are willing to put up with the other negatives.
Dec 29, 2010
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Reviewed by snaotheus from Washington

3.35/5  rDev -2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 2 | food: 4
Six of us went there during their happy hour on a Sunday. We had a sausage pizza, which was pretty tasty. Service was good, very friendly (one of the things Oklahoma *definitely* has over Seattle). They even went and got us a high chair, which made us feel really foolish when our friends with kids couldn't make it.

Selection of beer here is not particularly impressive, but they had a couple decent beers.

Atmosphere is definitely nice. We sat outdoors. Prices are pretty good during happy hour, and I think pretty reasonable outside of happy hour.
Apr 29, 2010
Photo of davey
Reviewed by davey from Oregon

3.05/5  rDev -10.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 2 | food: 3
The Library is a small cozy pub. The atmosphere is what I most like about the place. Mostly all wood interior, with wooden beams running through it.
The food is okay. Nothing much to brag about. The sandwiches are my favorite. The rueben in particular.
The beer selection is dismal at best, and overpriced. The house beers are from Coach's, a local brew. They have a irish red, oatmeal stout, irish stout, wheat, brown, and a few more. All of them are very bland, and lack any kind of mouthfeel. Other beers include anchor steam $5, Spaten Optimator $5, Sierra Nevada pale ale $4.50, and a couple other large micro breweries flagship beers.
Service depends on the time of day. Late night being the worst time. Most of the staff is pretty friendly though.
It's a cool pub with shitty overpriced beer.
Jan 05, 2010
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Reviewed by ballewblake from New Jersey

2.4/5  rDev -29.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 1 | service: 4 | selection: 1 | food: 4
Went here based on previous reviews. Either those reviewers have never been to a beer bar, or they are just in love with the wait staff, who aren't bad on the eyes. The draught wall looks like something out of the Inbev/AB starter portfolio with about 6-8 of their own 'brewpub' beers in the middle. I didn't see anything exciting in the line up except for the house beers. Problems though, the waitress knew very little about beer and even less about laws. All the beers brewed there were 3.2 abv. Complete wastes of money, no carbonation, no flavor, barely any alcohol, dishwater has more going for it. The IPA was the only one I could get even the slightest smell off of, and you could tell the porter and IPA could be great if they weren't cut off at 3.2.

The pizza was tasty, and the place smelled great because of it. Wait staff was very attractive, though under educated-to-no education on beer. Not too busy on a Saturday night. Bottom line, if you're a college student and haven't explored beer yet, this might be a good place to get all your low flavored Inbev, BMC products, but otherwise don't waste you time if you want to try something unique to the area.

Based on my only trip to Normon, or Oklahoma so far, I'd say trek a few blocks down the street to Louie's where you can at least try some Coop brews (very tasty porter and amber that I tried) and some Rogues and limited Boulevards.
Oct 21, 2009
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Reviewed by mgaddy from Arkansas

3.4/5  rDev -0.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3
This place was fun. A cool atmosphere. It has a patio that wraps around the side of the building.
The service wasn't great, the waitress was not at the top of her game. But once she got our food and beers to us, the experience was nothing but enjoyable.
They have a few house brews that were quite respectable. The food was really good. I don't remember anymore what i had, but i remember enjoying it. Some friends had pizza, and I had a huge pile of nachos that were awesome.

Overall, i enjoyed the place. I rate it a B.
Nov 12, 2008
Photo of fastfwd
Reviewed by fastfwd from Oklahoma

3.9/5  rDev +14%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3
I used to be a regular at the Library. I loved the IPA during the 3-6 happy hour. They're like $2 or something? Pretty cheap whatever it was.

The IPA is my favorite of their beers, but their other house brew efforts aren't that bad. The have a pretty fair selection of taps and bottles for this state. The waitresses are generally very cute.

It's located just off the campus in a cozy little spot. The patio is nice in the warmer months. Lots of trees. The crowd generally isn't too bad, but it can get easily packed on weekend nights because it's really not a very big place.

I took a shot of the taps when I was there last:
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/6829/03292008088pb2.jpg
Apr 08, 2008
Photo of SudNut
Reviewed by SudNut from Oklahoma

3.55/5  rDev +3.8%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3 | food: 3
This is a great college town bar. I was there for a football game and it was a bit off the beaten path, which was good, there weren’t throngs of people there but there was a good crowd. The atmosphere was average, what you would expect in a college town bar. The quality was good and the service was well above average. The selection left a little something to be desired there was some local brew with the standards on tap and in the bottle, Spaten, Chimay etc. The food was decent but not great, I think I can make it like that at home. I came here expecting better than McNellie’s but was disappointed to find something a little less than.
Nov 15, 2006
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Reviewed by BrewsBrother from Colorado

3.7/5  rDev +8.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5
***
Update - 11June 09

The Library will be serving Tulsa, OK's Marshall Brewing Company!

***
The library offers an excellent happy hour $1.50 pints of their house brews (from Coach's). Wheat, Pale Ale, Brown, IPA, Stout, and 1 or 2 speciality brews. The Boyd Street wheat is the most popular of the Regular local brews. Light and crisp, served with a lemon wedge (although I always throw mine into the bushes) the Wheat is the most refreshing starter after walking to The Library on an 80+ degree Oklahoma day. The Red River Pale Ale is another refresher. A bit on the dry side the Red River is a great beer to introduce your "non-beer snob" friends to a beer that isn't made with "Water, Barley, Rice, Corn, and Love"(from the budwieser tour). The Brown Owl Ale is the only regular at The Library that I avoid. A bit to "funky" and bitter for a brown ale, but it does have it's faithfull followers. The Library's IPA is awsome! Not overly hoppy, the IPA does have it's expected load of hops. Enjoy it with the spinach and feta pretzel and a big grin (it's a big one ABV 7+). The Stout is a nice in betweener. Not big on mouth feel, but big on flavour. If you like a roasted coffee styled stout, you will enjoy the Sooner Stout to the last drop. But don't think you should takle this one last, as it's listed on the menu. Without a doubt, the IPA will kill your taste buds so save that one for the end.

On most weekdays (especially Thurs. and Fri.) the library is filled with OU students and professors starting at 3pm and lasting to 6pm taking advantage of the Happy Hour specials. Of course service is a little slow during this 3 hour event, but the wait staff makes every attempt to be quick and keep your pint full. Bavarian Pretzels are a great addition to the laid back atmosphere and the large patio is a wonderful place to watch people and enjoy a nice Oklahoma afternoon.

Cheers,
Brews Brother
Mar 05, 2006
Photo of Beertracker
Reviewed by Beertracker from Oklahoma

3.43/5  rDev +0.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5
The Library Bar & Grill is located just a few blocks from the University of Oklahoma (OU) campus. The Library is just that, a once public/university library turned bar, picture wooden shelves filled with dusty old books along with some stained glass windows and you have yourself a popular little college bar with the best beer selection in town. The rotating taps are always well maintained by the parent owner(s) who also run the Coach's Brewery which is located about 1/2 mile away.

What you'll find is a decent selection of microbrews e.g. Anchor, Boulevard, Sierra Nevada, etc... along with some indigenous beers like Choc Beer, and several of Coach's house beers including their ever popular IPA. You also find a few imports on tap like Chimay, Fuller's, Paulaner, Spaten, etc... Of course, you've got the usual mega-swill taking up valuable tap space as well. The Library is a good beer stop if you're looking for a decent pint or nightcap while visiting Norman. They also offer some decent pub grub and have a small beer garden out back, weather permitting. Word of caution... the place gets packed after an OU football game, so get there early if you want to "belly-up" to the bar or enjoy a pint outside in the beer garden.

CHEERS! Beertracker
Sep 12, 2005
Library Bar & Grill in Norman, OK
Place rating: 3.42 out of 5 with 12 ratings