Kickbacks Gastropub

 

What I had: Over the course of two visits – New Belgium Spring Blonde, Stone Enjoy By IPA - 04-20-14, Intuition Ale Works Jon Boat Kolsch, Freigeist & Jester King Sauer Power, and New Belgium Rampant Imperial IPA on tap, Chicken Caesar Wrap with Fries, fish entree with salad, and several white wines for the Mrs.
What I liked: Fun and bustling atmosphere with a fairly diverse crowd, lots of space between tables, impressive tap list even during construction, our server was efficient, hilarious and made great drink recommendations, had an awesome chat with one of the locals at the bar, very reasonable prices.
What I disliked: Food left something to be desired but we had such a good time that we didn’t really mind.
Would I go back? Definitely, and I’m sure this place will be even better once the renos are done.
Overall Rating: 84

THE place to go in town if you’re looking for those big/special/rare beers on-tap that you can’t find it bottles or don’t want to spend $20+ on just to try. When I was there they had all the BA Funky Buddha offerings, plenty of other vintages from around the country, like 2008 Bigfoot and a 2012 Southern Tier if I remember correctly.

Really cool inside. The bar and interior are something to see. Though kind of a dark space. Food was good. I had the pulled pork sandwich with fries which was massive and overflowing. Most things on the menu sounded good. The 6oz pours are a tad small; I had Bourbon County BW. The server didn’t seem to know much about the beer. Just parroted things from the bartender. It was an early Thursday afternoon so it was quiet but I imagine it gets busy at night. A good location in Riverside, too.

Don't come here for the food. It's not bad...but inconsistent. Crazy big selection from peanut butter and jelly to steaks.
Outside patio is dog friendly and heated in the colder months. In a great spot with other place to eat and drink within a block or two, just in case you run out of choice for beer (ha, ha). Crazy number of beers on tap, and many others in bottle or can. You could come here every night and never catch them all. The place is just cool. One side is wall covered in pennies, and the other in beer taps and bottles. Wait staff varies from good to weird, and sometimes not the most engaged, but it will not keep me away. I don't go here often on my own, but it is a great place to take out-of -towners.

 

 

 

The decor is absolutely fascinating. Wonderfully enticing and mysterious bar.

Well over 100 taps, and an incredible list. More authentic German and Belgian taps than you will find at a specialty restaurant; American craft classics; rarities; aged options.

On my second visit, I went with a very high ABV pour: Prairie Bomb! Surprisingly, this came in a 6 oz pour. As this is one of my favorite beers, I went along with it. I was shocked when I got the check: $4.95. This beer hits my wallet to the tune of $10 per bottle at Total Wine; getting half the beer for half the price on tap? A very pleasant surprise (not that $5 for a 6 oz pour is cheap by any means). They could easily have gotten away with charging another $1-3 with very few complaints, given what I normally see Bomb! go for on tap and in stores.

Huge food menu, ambitious even; I wonder how they offer this kind of food selection while maintaining quality. Reading some of the older reviews, it seems that the answer is .... they don't. We'll see.

On two visits now, I have gone with a stuffed burger and fries, and a classic Cuban sandwich with fried onion petals. The Cuban was very good; the burger was excellent; the fries were quite poor; and the onion fries, while nothing special, were adequate.

Certainly, the food is nothing terrible; whatever this place used to offer, they're a step up from that. That said, from what I've sampled, it isn't great, either. Better than a dive bar, and more variety than normal pub fare. I may stick with the burgers from here on out.

One of the most impress overall tap lists I've ever seen, and when combined with the decor, just a phenomenal bar. I would live here if I could.

In town for a business trip, visited here on a Sunday night. The beer selection is insane, over 200 beers on tap. Some great stuff on tap, was surprised to find Morning Wood, Wide Awake It's Morning, and Last Buffalo in the Park on tap. Food menu is huge and it's just ok, but came here for the beer and wasn't disappointed. Live music made for a great vibe. Visited another place that is highly rated just around the corner and it was totally disappointing, wish we would have stayed at Kickbacks.

Coolest place in town. Huge tap list and great food. Worth the trip. Cheers

 

 

 

My first visit was this year and was very disappointed after all my buddies hyped the place up. I had heard that ownership changed hands and since it has gone down hill. They have a great tap selection and I hear bottle selection but would have no idea since there is no way to find out. Let me elaborate, the tap selection is on a menu but every time I asked for something on the menu the response was "oh we don't have that anymore." What in the heck is the point of the menu, they tout having 180+ on tap but they have no idea what they have on tap, the servers have no clue about beer, beer style, or what is there. There is no bottle list, if you go to the website they talk about this huge cellar they have in the basement, well they have no list of what is in there, the servers haven't the slightest clue of what is in there, nothing is posted on the website and the app is a waist of your phones memory and space. The app is useless has no menu, the only thing its good for is pulling up the phone number. I am all for being creative and dressing yourself is your prerogative, however I have no idea what ownership is thinking, the servers and hostess, looked filthy un-bathed, unsanitary, one look and your thought is there is no way I want this person serving me food. I hate to be so harsh and I normally don't write reviews but this place was such a huge disappointment. I hate to say that I would return only for a drink for some of those hard to get limited brews on tap if I hear by word of mouth that its on tap. When it came to the food I thought there were some fantastic dishes and some that were not so good but for the most part good food I just wont order again, for aforementioned reasons. I wish management would wake up, this place has so much potential.

 

 

 

 

 

Excellent selection of over 80 beers on tap. Atmosphere was fun, there was plenty of sitting space and the food selection was impressive.

 

Great beer, great food, and always a great time. If you are stopping by Jacksonville or are anywhere close, you need to stop by here and give it a try.

Big food selection and even bigger beer selection. Even better now that renovation is finished.

The food was incredible; the beer selection was very good and best of all the staff was very knowledgeable. Our waiter was nothing short of phenomenal in terms of his beer knowledge and desire to make our experience fantastic. I ha to knock down the food and selection categories as they were short on some of the food items we ordered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great atmosphere, cool vibe, lots of old tap handles... everywhere. While the quality of beer available was ok, the selection was not good at all. Being around the corner from some great Jax breweries and being able to pull in some CCB, they had ZERO FL beers on tap. How is that possible? The kicker, it was Jacksonville Craft Week. Maybe they didn't get the memo. I went down to World of Beer and had a Bold City Duke's Cold Nose and Cigar City Homemade Apple Pie. The bartender was a very nice guy though.

 

 

 

 

 

Place has gone down hill since last visit. Major renovation can't fix poor service. Un attentive bar tender. 100 plus beers on tap and you can't even sample one . Doubt I'm gonna buy a 6-7 dollar pint just not to like it. Pilsner served in wrong glass ....poor form for a place that wants to be known for its variety and quality of beers on draft.

I had been to kickbacks about 4 years ago and had a great experience. Previously the beer selection was vast and my server was knowledgable and helpful.

The second time around my experience was the complete opposite. They place felt dirty. The atmosphere was not good. The beer selection was abysmal. Instead of 60 some odd beers on tap it was more like 10-15 and not even good beers. I chose a Oskar blues Christmas ale my girlfriend had a bells IPA. My Christmas ale was the very bottom of the keg. It was flat and tasteless. Both beers were poured with WAY too much head. We ordered a burger and a panini sandwich to eat. The food came in time and tasted okay but as it cooled quickly the chicken in the panini became very dry. I tried to order a barley wine in a bottle. My waiter went to look, came back to the table and told me they were out. He didn't recommend any other beers or give me an alternative. He just walked off. A few minutes later he came back and I asked if they had ANY barley wines. Once again none. I tried one more time and asked for the Weyerhaeuser fifteen. This time they had the beer BUT it had not been in the cooler. I was told the beer could be ready in 8 min. Really?? How is a beer going to go from room temp to ready to drink in 8 min?

I politely said no thank you and asked for the check.

My impression is that this place is running in the negative and the owner/manager is putting no money into inventory.

I can't imagine this place staying in business. If they do they need to change their identity away from a high end craft beer restaurant and just be the local dive they have become.