The Institute Bar

 

I biked past this bar one day riding down from the Great Ghetto of North Philadelphia. I checked to see if BA had it, and sure enough. So not too long afterwards I popped in for a brew.

The Institute is uber hipster. Too cool for thou and me and everyone that is not a true, attitude-laden bearded and sweaty Philadelphia hipster (even though the jawn is in Spring Garden near Chinatown, not quite in NoLibs and definitely not in Fishtown).

Small, old and full of attitude, but they have some good beer. The list includes Free Will Techno IPA, Fegley’s Hopsolutely, Hardywood Belgian, Dark Horse Oatmeal, Boulder Choco Porter…

Despite the hipster attitude, heavy in the air, I found The Institute to be cozy and quiet. Good prices as well, around six bucks for a beer or four bucks during happy hour.

The beer menu is cool- they have all these little color cards with the name, description and ABV of all the brews. They may have food but I wasn’t offered a menu.

Would I come back? Only if they have something exceptional on tap. Otherwise, I am not cool enough for this jawn.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I've been coming to the Institute for well over a year now and figured I'd finally give it a review. I've seen the place grow from a new bar with no food, to a solid neighborhood spot with a kick-ass kitchen.

The vibe is very neighborhoody. It's dark and minimal. There is a 8-10 seat bar in the back, several high tops, and several standard tables. Upstairs is the second bar, with some booths (with nintendo wiis in them) and a dj booth. The digital juke box is decent (if the clash and/or white zombie are playing, chances are I am here and have put them on).

Service is solid. The owners heather and charlie are great. John is the dude. The new people (more people work here these days with the opening of the kitchen a few months back) are still trying to get in the swing of things but tend to be nice and attentive.

The draught list is about 10-12 brews with two standards: stella and yuengling. Everything else rotates through. I have grown kind of picky so occasionally there is nothing on that I want (the beer is good, just doesn't fit my mood for what style I want). But they certainly get there share of stellar beers (had several rounds of canadian breakfast stout here) and they continue to get good stuff like the two cigar city brews that are on as of this review (one of the first places in the city limits with them on). They also do growler fills.

The food is amazing. Well, I pretty much have the slow roasted pork sandwich every time, so that is amazing at least haha. My friends have enjoyed the other menu items though. The menu is still growing and has lots of puerto rican fusion bar cuisine.

Definitely worth a swing by.

Nestled in one of the few modernized blocks in a mostly abandoned warehouse district sits this tiny spot with good beer, good food and a good atmosphere.

The space consists of 2 floors in a corner row-home. The downstairs has only a 8-10 seat bar with more table seating. Very minimalist decor. Upstairs is a more "lounge" like setting with booths, Wii's and DJ nights. Need to clean a bit more and learn to touch up paint every now and again.

The downstairs bar has 12 taps which feature local brew and a few other craft selections mixed in with a few low brow BMC/PBR choices. They offer a couple bottles of micro and BMC style stuff as well.

The food is a carribean latin influenced - fried plantains, slow roasted pork, fish etc. Very nice, authentic and different. The service is friendly but slow at times with mishaps occuring frequently (growing pains maybe?).

Their bread and butter is the balance between being a comfortable neighborhood spot, and its tendency to throw some pretty major beer events.

The selection isnt always wide, and the vacinity isnt the best, but its a good spot that has some good food and beer.

I stopped in on a Monday afternoon to celebrate the end of the semester. The down stairs was a little open, but I heard from the guy behind the bar that they have plans to re-do this area. A larger bar would do wonders here. The upstairs is a little labyrinthine, but I quickly noticed that the highbacked booths were there to help keeping signals from crossing on each booths personal wii. Wow. As long as you're drinking, the wii is free. I'll be back to take advantage of this for sure. There's a littler bar up stairs too but more for whiskey as it had a third of the taps.

The beer selection is pretty sweet. I counted 9 awesome crafts and 3 other beers that... help round out the selection and pay the bills. I had a Founders RIS, PBC Fleur de Lehigh and a Cane and Able Rye. Nice.

Service was just fine, but I can't say too much about it because it was a Monday afternoon.

I think this place has a lot of potential. The neighborhood is growing and I hope that those who move in will discover this wonderful little gem. The kitchen opens at the end of the month, so I'll be back to try out the food, oh, and the wii.

I'd really like to see this place succeed, but given the location, I'm thinking the owner (Heather - LunaChick) has her work cut out for her. The Institute seems to be located in a fairly high traffic area with nothing but street parking anywhere that I could see. As it was 4:00 on a Saturday afternoon, I was able to find parking, but I'm guessing finding parking on a Friday or Saturday night would be absolute misery around here.

As for atmosphere, it's really hard to describe or define. The initial impression is of a place with a very stark, almost minimalist feel to it when you first walk in. There's not much in the way of decorations anywhere downstairs, and aside from the small bar, there are just a couple of tables and chairs in the lower room. The bar area is also rather oddly set up. It's all the way back from the front door on the far right and is set at a diagonal. For entertainment, there were several flat screen TV's over the back of the bar area. On the other hand, the upstairs area comes across as much larger (though I don't think it really is), with a wrap around bar and a number of booths. I don't know if the upstairs area is open all the time (I'm assuming not - it was closed until the 5:00 Bruery event got underway), which is unfortunate, as it's where I'd want to spend my time if I were here fairly often. The upstairs bar area has some additional tap handles, and I believe the selection differs from what you will find downstairs.

I was told by the bar tender that the kitchen is a work in progress, but should be opening soon. In fact, the afternoon I was there, I got something of a dust and sawdust smell to the place, which made me wonder if some carpenters had recently been doing some work there.

The beer selection was pretty solid, with roughly 12 or so different beers on tap. I've kept track of the Institute's draft list from when they first opened, and the distinct impression I have is that the owner is working on upgrading it. I was very happy with the pint of Double Trouble I had there, but in fact there were a number of beers on tap that looked pretty interesting. Of course the selection was particularly outstanding once the Bruery/St. Somewhere event started, with a firkin of barrel aged Lectio Divina and bottles of white orchard (the expected keg of the latter was a no show).

Service here was pretty good the day I was here. The bar tender was the owner's brother and he was conscientious and knowledgable. As it so happened, three different kegs blew the first 10 minutes I was there. Amazingly, he had replacement kegs hooked up and ready to go within minutes afterwards. Very impressive.

This is a solid place, but given the location, I'd have to think twice about visiting here again. A week day or weekend afternoon would probably be fine, but I doubt this is a place I'd want to have to drive to on a weekend evening. In any event, best of luck Heather!

Visited here for the dual event with The Bruery and Saint Somewhere during Philly Beer Week. Cool little corner bar in what appears to be an up and coming neighborhood. Small corner bar down stairs with about a half dozen stools. There was also some small tables against the wall, maybe six of those. Heading upstairs...and that second set of stairs are steep...you find another slightly larger U-shaped bar that has about 12-15 seats. Lots of booths upstairs ready for you to sit enjoy some good beer or play the Wii systems that they all have. Now, that's what I call a good idea...unless you have had one too many. They didn't have the kitchen open yet, but I was told that it should be open in about a month or so. The staff was very helpful and quite friendly. Even though it was an excessively long cab ride there, thanks to an apparently lost cabbie, I would definitely come back here again. Maybe next time I can talk them out of that Troegs neon sign downstairs....

A nice corner bar, the Institute is located in a changing neighborhood between Northern Liberties and Fairmount.

The bar has two levels. On the first, there is a small bar in a large room, with a few tables and some bench seating. The second floor was not open on our visit but a quick trip up the steps revealed another small bar, quite a few high-walled booths and a DJ booth. Not sure what it's all about.

10 taps with mostly good stuff (New Holland The Poet and Founders Breakfast Stout were the standouts on our visit) sharing space with a PBR and Yuengling tap. The bottle list is called the "Fucking Beer Atlas". Unfortunately, the volume is rather slim and the three items I tried to pick were all out of stock so the cool name is the only good thing I can say about it.

No food as yet so know that going in. Service was pleasant if a bit unattentive.

Maybe it's just growing pains but I can't see rushing back to find out.

HV

I've been to this bar a few times, usually on my way home from work being as how it's basically (minus a few small detours) on my way home. it's in an up and coming neighborhood and has done wonders to improve said neighborhood. upon walking in the front door you notice a jukebox with a wide array of diverse music. both hightops and booths align the sides of the bar, with good sized flat screen TV on opposite sides of each other. the bar is towards the back with yet another moderately sized flat screen TV behind it. 12 tap tower which always seems to have PBR and Yeungling. I'd say of the other 10, all craft, I'd say 3-4 of them are local (Yards, PBC, Sly Fox, etc) and the rest are out-of-state. the thing I like best about their selection is that they frequently have beers that you don't typically see elsewhere, like the recent tapping of Founders Backwoods Bastard. prices range from about $4-6 a glass. the bartop also illuminates in glowing neon colors which I found out recently can be controlled by a simple remote control behind the bar. service is always very friendly and knowledgeable.

they recently opened an upstairs bar which I have not yet been to so I'm sure my review may be changing once I do. also, the kitchen should be open sometime late Spring I was told, so again, my review will probably change accordingly.

Lasagna night and it won't be right if we show up real late. Some late, okay, but not real late or else. Seen some places, and we've got one more before heading back east. So, light stumbling fumbling around looking for The Institute, gotta spin the block once or twice. Lunaschooled in not judging a book by it's cover, the neighborhood's slowly coming up, moving in from the west heading that way there. And timed to be on their doorstep as they open today, we...

Nice open room. 7 stools on a far corner angled bar with brick face lowers and a cool light paneled bar top on both sides of center changing colors when lit. Swinging saloon door in the corner behind bar to secret somewhere, with shelving units holding glassware below booze to both sides, and a flat screen above the doorway. Shiny wood floors, purple walls decorated with great prints of what this bar used to look like, and a gold pressed tin ceiling & crown molding. Drop bell lamps over bar, and chandeliers in the center of the room. 5 lowboy tables sharing a common high back bench on the inside wall, 5 raised bar tables along the outer windows over scary North 12th, and a DJ booth in corner opposite the door.

They started talking about the upstairs areas under construction, so we went and took a peek. 6 booths with flatscreens and Wii built in (how many hours are you going to sit there gaming and drinking, you freak?!) That, along with a DJ booth and a giant projection screen, pretty bad ass. Easy, convenient back bar, and access to rooftop seating. I'm thinking I'd like to see it when it's all done.

12 taps on a center tower, nearly ½ of them localish Pennsylvania and neighboring Jersey (PBC Walt Wit, Sly Fox Raspberry Reserve, Yuengling, Riverhorse Double White Wheat, Flying Fish Okto), the remainder a mix of American micro (Mojo Hazed & Infused, Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter, Sierra Nevada Harvest), imports (Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, Unibroue Ephemere), a cider (Ace Perry Cider), and a lone retro (delicious PBR).

And a fairly sturdy bottle selection 3 dozen strong, the list written out on vertical boards to both sides of the bar in colored chalk, ½ here, ½ there. All but a handful of them being US micros; a bunch from Pennsylvania (Troegs, PBC, Voodoo, Weyerbacher), their neighbors (Ramstein, Moaks, Flying Fish, Riverhorse, DogFishHead, Ommegang), some regional New Englanders (Thomas Hooker, Atlantic, Offshore, Harpoon, Magic Hat), and elsewhere (North Coast, Sierra Nevada, Summit, Founders, New Holland, Abita). Otherwise, that handful of imports (Duvel, Poperings, Maredsous, Lindemans, Unibroue, Youngs) and the same lone retro (still delicious PBR). I started with a Ballast Point Black Marlin Porter, tasty, and they we decided to split a bottle. We opted for the Voodoo Gran Met, but it didn't opt for us, so we went with the Boaks Monster Mash (impy). So you're Boaks, eh?

Okay, so this crazy brother comes in with $5.54 in hand, and wants to buy a 40. I'm sorry; we don't sell those here. The old place used to. Well, this is the new place. Look, I just like to buy a 40 and go home and get all... Sir, we can't, we don't. Well what can I get for $5.54? You can get 2 PBR's. What is that like? It's an easy drinking Lager. Okay, then give me 2 of them. But, see, if we give you both of them at once, one of them will get warm. I'm not going to run out of here with them, I'm going to sit right here at that table and drink them. But you should get one first and then... You know what? I'm just, I think I'm going to go. Crazy, crazy brother.

Good folks behind the bar, and the owners showed up at some point, as well. Today, soon, doing a cheese, chocolate & beer tasting with the late running lass. Nice beer selection, good vibe and some interesting neighbors. This one's one to watch.

Since we were going to a concert nearby, we decided to check out The Institute last week.

We went twice. Once before and once after the show.

On the first visit, me and my brother were the only ones in there. Upon entrance the bar is ahead of you in the right corner. On either side on the way to the bar are some small tables. There's about 6 (to my memory) flat screen TVs in the place. I didn't inquire about food but it didn't look like they had a kitchen.

The bartender told us what was on tap and showed us a beer menu that listed all the bottle selections. The selection was quite varied and included many local and craft beers . There was also a small section of macros so as not to exclude those so inclined.

On the second visit the place was hopping. It still wasn't too crowded but they had a DJ spinning actual vinyl which I really got a kick out of.

I had a total of three (or four?) Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stouts for the night. They were served in tulip glasses.

I really liked The Institute. I don't think the surrounding neighborhood is that bad at all, and I'm a Philly native.

Well it's been over a year and the Institute has only gotten better. The beer list is always good, and usually has things that I haven't had the chance to try before. And that's not including the special kegs they sometimes bring in.

And they now have food, and it's good. My kids even liked it, and they don't like anything. It's very much home-cooking, and not greasy at all like a lot of bar food.

Beyond that it's been getting busier, which is nice. And it's been fixed up nicely. Plans are still underway to expand the bar downstairs, but I haven't had any problem with that. The service is good, and if you sit at a table they won't forget you.

Certainly worth checking out and supporting the beer scene in Philly.