Allen Street Hardware

 

Clayton is my favorite Buffalo Bartender. Awesome spot to grab a bite, have a beer, or listen to some tunes. Hopefully you have time for all three!

 

 

 

 

 

 

favorite spot for drinks and excellent food. great chef with interesting app and entree specials. regular menu includes great cheese/bread/spread apps, burgers, and panninis (meat loaf is my fav). 4 beers on tap. almost always includes long hammer ipa and rare vos. many random bottled beers to choose from.

last night i had a few draft southern tier harvest ales and the wife was drinking bottled ayinger brauweiss. ate one of the best burgers (w maytag blue and bacon) in recent memory. solid shoestring fries (w skins). started my meal with an a sherry cream soup w portobella...so good. wife went with their regular soup option, gumbo and goat cheese, veggie, and portobella pannini.

Great bottle selection, pretty sub par tap selection. They have tons of bottles, both domestic and foreign, but the problem with that is it ups the price.

The place is also really really small. It makes for a pretty nice atmosphere, except it can get crowded really quickly. The nice thing though is that its right amongst a few other good bars that you can walk to, so usually I'll stop in for a beer before going to somewhere else.

Only eaten here once, but when I did it was good. The menu is a little more eclectic than other places, not just a gastropub type menu.

Best time to go here is for a drink before going to dinner somewhere else honestly; its not to crowded around then, you can get a great beer, then go somewhere else when it starts to fill up with the dinner crowd.

This place is small and the bar is small, just a few stools. Somehow I thought it would be bigger, just my imagination. The tap selection is very limited so I had the house IPA called Pile Driver, it was not good so I followed up with a bottle of Three Philosphers. The bottle selection is ample with many local,northeast, brewers represented.
I did not try the food but the two people next to me where eating and everything looked very tasty. Instead I walked down the street to Gabriels Gate where someone told me the wings are better than the Anchor Bar, and they are as I was at the Anchor Bar the nite before.

We dropped by here last night after checking out Bill Mahar at the University at Buffalo. I had been down to Allen Street before, which is a pretty cool area for different bars and Buffalo nightlife.

Allen Street Hardware is a very small and funky little bar. Dim (very dim) lighting and candles set the atmosphere with the red walls. There was a DJ setting up while we were there. It was very crowded and I just wasn't in the mood for a packed bar with minimal room to move and waiting for long periods of time to make my way up to the bar to get a drink.

In terms of beer selection, there are way more bottles to choose from. I ordered a Goose Island Honker's Ale, which was a pretty good English Bitter Ale. Other good bottle options included Southern Tier, Smuttynose IPA and Ommegang Three Philosphers.

There are two bar areas with what looked like 3 or 4 tap selections at each station. I could barely see what was on tap during my visit, but I did notice Ommegang Rare Vos and a German Hefeweizen.

I'd like to check this place again, but not on a Saturday night when it's so crowded that it takes away from having a good time. We ended up going down the street to Gabriel's Gate (145 Allen Street) where I got a SN Pale Ale and an order of extremely hot Suicidal Wings. If you're not familiar with the area and you like wings, check out Gabriel's Gate.

Allen Street Hardware has some nice beer options, but not a beer destination.

A brisk walk from Mister Goodbar gives me the opportunity to have a breather and take a momentary break from beer. Allen Street Hardware is the third stop in my Buffalo bar-hop, and by the time I get there, I feel thirsty and in fine spirits. Allen Street itself seems like a funky little strip, and there's some sort of street music festival going down, and the music pleasantly wafts through the bars doors, giving the place a cool indie vibe. That would suit this bar. While not exactly ritzy, its a step up from Goodbar in terms of decor, and seemingly draws a hipper crowd. There's a guy at the bar dressed as either Bob Dylan or a 19th century gentleman. Perhaps it is Bob Dylan... I hear he's getting stranger in his old age. The service at the bar is good, but sadly the taplist is not. Only 3 taps, I'm informed - a Fuller's, Duvel Green and the bar-specific Piledriver IPA. I opt for the green because I'm curiously how this beer matches up to its bigger brother. The answer is poorly. The bottle list seems somewhat better, but I always thought bottles were for home consumption. I pay up and leave. Its a nice place, and in a good location, but I don't know if I'll ever be back.

Allen Street has a lot of interesting places to eat and drink but this place is my favorite. It has a cool vibe, good food (wraps and sandwiches mostly) and a pretty decent selection of bottled beer (lots of belgians which makes me happy) along 5 or so taps that also usually include at least one belgian. The bar itself is pretty small but they have a decent amount of tables to sit at.

Service can be a bit dicey especially when its busy since the bar is so small and usually only one bartender is working. The wait staff are good though and the food is served promptly.

Worth a visit just don't go too late at night as it does get pretty crowded. A good place to have a bite and to start your evening.

This is a pretty cool place. Allen Street seemed to me (an outsider) a little higher end and artsier than other joints in Buffalo that were far more dive-like. Cozy dim lighting, soft colors, and art on the walls. There were a few tables with a small bar. The selection was the best I saw in Buffalo, with a handful of taps which featured both crafts and imports (Harpoon and Duvel were on-tap) and an extensive bottle list with some nice options there also. Service was OK...a goatee-d bartender who insisted on calling me "Buddy"...incessantly. Oh well, I guess it's better than "Bro" (as in 'Don't tase me 'bro!'). I had a Pile Driver IPA on draft (the house beer), which was OK, and the bartender couldn't really answer my questions about it (such as who brewed it). The food menu looked awesome...sandwiches, salads, a cheeseplate, etc. If I wasn't full of wings from the Anchor Bar, I would've loved to eat here. I will be back...

Small little bar in the allentown district, just off Elmwood. In the vicinity of several other bars, but does a wonderful job in setting itself apart.

The bar itself only has a few stools. However, recently I am told they opened the second half of the building for patrons, which would be a godsend as the bar can get quite crowded during peak hours. The atmosphere here is great, although that may just be personal preference: Dimly lit, with local art on the walls. The music is fantastic, lots of jazzy stuff, indie rock and even some trip hop. Hardware always seems to have an array of belgian bottles. Aside from that, they usually have unibroue, ommegang and some assorted area micros.

One of my favorite places to go in the area, but might not be as enjoyable if it gets too busy.

Cheers: Quite an improvement over the last venue that called this place home. While ACE is "the helpful place", they did not sell any fine exilers. Plenty of good looking people who certainly shower on a regular basis. Barkeeps are always helpful, dropping tidbits of info as they pour. Food is Buffalo renown, cheese plates and pannini oh my!!! Secluded exterior whizzing area. Stranger of the Night soup kitchen right around the corner in case you blow your life savings and need a little mac n cheese.

Jeers: Labatt Blue. Get that slime away from the Unibroue. Patio needs to be fenced in with Razor wire and a million amps running through it to keep the locals at bay. While the brew menu may appear to be extensive, I am not really sure who put it together and why. It's almost like they went to Premier Gourmet, put a blindfold on, and started picking. Prices are staggering. I would suggest downing a few around the corner with Slyvester. Of course it won't be a fine Belgian Tripel, but hey, everyone can use a little Old English in their life. Good luck finding the bathroom. I gave up after a 5 minute search and whizzed outside. Watch out for the Allentown locals who would love to assume your identity (and your wallet), and as always, do not talk to anyone sporting a shopping cart or a snow shovel.

*** Part of a great walking bar crawl in downtown Buffalo with Colter Bay and Prespa ***

Located on Allen Street which seems to be a friendly restaurant and shoppes part of town, Allen Street Hardware Store Cafe seems to blend in with the used guitar shop and Greek restaurant across the street. A few al fresco tables outside in the Spring seem to match the relaxed interior vibe of coffee shop meets art house vibe of mellow orange painted walls and tin ceiling. Local paintings are for sale on the wall. Ecclectic music plays and a swagering sal requests a wine menu.

Saddle up to the right side of the bar that is the part separated by a dividing wall and eyeball up the three taps of Hoegaarden, Flying Bison Maibock and Dazed & Infuzed IPA.

Mix and match barstools and a few scattered tables offer up a laid back dining experience. Wine seems to be the drink of choice here, but let's not discount the 30 bottles offered up the like of a special chalk board state are GD Hercules 2IPA, and Ommegang Hennepin and Dubbel for $12 each. Other bottles are Brooklyn lager, Great Lakes Burning River, Ayinger, Kasteel ?, Southern Tier Porter, Unibroue Terrible (caveat emptor,) Rogue Dead Guy, and a few yawners.

Last call: Could you bring your Mother here? Yes, but she will want to clean the comfortable yet dingy accomodations. $3.50 for a Flying Bison Maibock. Worth a shot if you are in the area like I was. Chicken and spinach wrap was $8.

Allen Street Hardware is a hidden gem for great food and a beer in the Allentown district of Buffalo. It is within walking distance from Colter Bay and Prespa.

It is smaller bar restaurant that has NYC feel. Menu consists of cheese boards, panini's and they have a different entree special everyday. They have the best bottle selection in Buffalo, there is about 20 different Belgians like, Kasteel, Brasserie Des Rocs, Triple Kameleit and the first bar in Buffalo to have Fantome. They have all of Ommegang and Unibroue products. They also have Middle Ages, Brooklyn and a decent selection of English Beers, Summer Lightning, Hobgoblin to name a few. The lack of room only allows them to have three taps, but they are well selected. There is always a Flying Bison and then they rotate the other two, I have seen Wolavers, Brooklyn, Bluepoint and Boulder.

The only negative thing is they carry a few of the bad mass produced beers from Canada and the US (Labatt, Molson, Bud, Etc.). This place has the potential to be the first establishment in WNY to remove that type of beer off the menu. I really hope they do.