Bull & Bones Brewhaus & Grill

Your average beer bar with a decent draught selection, decent bar food but not much else going for them. Located on the main street, which is a plus for them.

Another visit on 3/3/23. Modified my food and beer selection ratings down 0.25.

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Visited for dinner on a Friday night. The place was packed as it was the night before the Clemson/VT game.

V - A typical "brass rail" type establishment. A big, unappealing bar, lots of tables and booths packed together. No ambiance. No beer vibe. Just a place to get some half decent beer and half decent food. 3.75

Q - All the beers were served in shaker pints. The glasses were not thoroughly cleaned as the bubbles forming on the side of the glass indicates. 3.5
I
Ser - No knowledge of the beers, but good, friendly, attentive service when one considers how busy this place was during our visit. 4.0

Sel - A good selection, though I don't recall seeing a stout on tap. Average beer. 3.75

F - I had the ribeye and potato (which was under cooked). I might come back for a beer, but there are plenty of other places in town that have better food. 3.75

During a recent visit with family in Blacksburg we went here for a meal and a beer.

The vibe was nothing exceptional in that the place is set up pretty much like a standard restaurant but is also a brew pub. The places was fresh and clean and when a server happened to spill something near our table it was cleaned up immediately.

The beers were OK and drinkable but not particularly outstanding. (I ordered the Hop Head's dream but also sampled the two different beers ordered by others in the dinner party.)

The service was timely and attentive so the tip was earned.

The selection of beer included enough different variety to allow a reasonable choice to go with dinner but, not surprisingly, focused on their own beers.

The food, in some ways was better than the beer in that the range of appetizers and entrees accomodated some very diverse tastes so that everyone found something they enjoyed eating.

The vibe is incredible. Upon walking in, you see a very popular Blacksburg restaurant and sports bar that offers a menu with a wide variety of food. The bar is long, air conditioned, with numerous seats, and well illuminated. The bar lighting is very attractive. The service is almost immediate, and excellent. I've been a customer for about the last six years. The brewery is amazing, and my favorites are Sun Lit Wit, and Maroon Effect. Virginia Tech offers a major in brewing, and brewing is an expanding industry in Virginia.
The quality of the food and their signature craft beers is superlative. In addition to numerous menu selections, the most outstanding feature of this venue is its several spectacular beers, brewed right there on site.
What will surprise you is that you will find the bar staff extremely knowledgeable about beer. They are able to answer your questions about the beers they produce; can assist you in making a beer selection, and may have even participated in the brewing process themselves.
If brewing is both an art and a science, then you can expect to find excellent quality right here in Blacksburg, Virginia.

 

 

I like this place more as a restaurant first and a brewery second. The food is good, the sweet potato casserole is a favorite among customers, the steaks are solid and I have yet to bring anyone who left disappointed with the food. The beer is so-so and that is what brings down the rating. The selection is okay but there is just nothing that really stands out with their beer, certainly nothing that makes you feel the need to return for a few brews there. Sports bar atmosphere, large amount of big screen tv's around the restaurant that are constantly on a sports channel, especially college football.

Atmosphere: big open restaurant, with a vibe similar to plenty of big chains, bar and "restaurant" area separate, special reserve-able room off to the side. Add in a brewery viewing window and you have this place. I'd prefer they used their space more creatively like other breweries.

Quality: not a super big focus on their beers. while they haven't brewed the most unique beers they certainly do more unique creations than most run of the mill brewpubs. I was happy to see an Altbier, even if it wasn't the best of the style I have had.

Service: no problems here, got seated quickly by a friendly waitstaff. attentive and pleasant.

Selection: probably about 7 beers on tap. so not extensive by any means but rates above the standard, ipa, light lager, stout line up.

Food: good sauces and alright barbeque. prices are pretty steep especially when the state and region have much better barbeque for fractions of the price.

Overall: seems to cater towards the non- beer advocate crowd. not a lot of creativity or uniqueness in brewing and average food, although I don't need to go to far into that. rates on the high end of that category if only for branching out from the most traditional styles.

 

 

Mediocre at best. Staff is college based of course. They could care less. Beer is pretty bland and food is about the same.

Good place to dine on some pub food and watch a game. The beer is very average and seems to cater more to the BMC drinkers. You won't find any sours or imperial ales here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pretty easy-going, family-friendly, lunch-break-beer, place here. Not quite my kind of hang out, so I didn't care for the bar atmosphere too much: somewhere between family restaurant and sportsbar, with a quite large bar, lots of seating, and plenty of TVs. However, the outside area was nice and simple, not to mention dog-friendly, and as we were travelling with the little poopers, we parked ourselves at an outside table.

Beer selection was average, and the quality of the beer itself was rather timid and basic, but for the kind of place, you can't really ask for more. So it ends up coming off like a Rock Bottom or Gordon Biersch, basically...though perhaps not quite as good as the former, and not quite as bad as the latter. We were only stopping briefly, so we went with the sampler flight, and did not try any food, though the menu seemed decent, stocked with mainly comfort foods. Prices were good all around.

Service was fine, quick, accommodating, and simple as the beers were, the girls knew how to explain them to the customers.

Considering there's not much else in the area, I'm glad we could make a pit stop here, but I wouldn't exactly call it a beer destination.

This is the only brewpub in Blacksburg, a bit off of the main entertainment district. One of my go to places in the town for good eats and beer. The bar has lots of TVs for sports fans and lots of billiards tables, although some are taken up by leagues on some nights. The beer does leave some to be had, however, it is not terrible, and it is fairly consistent. The servers are really nice, although from time to time, they tend to focus on their regulars. The beer selection is awesome, lots of different styles to choose from, and a good seasonal. The food is awesome, they make a good steak and some good seafood, as well as awesome wings and other bar fare. Their prices may seem a little high, but it is well worth a stop at this place if you are in the neighborhood.

Whoopie! Look at me! I’m a brewery and I used the German spelling of house in order to make myself seem cool! Hmmm…. what other cookie-cutter chain gimmicks can I use to get people to come eat and drink here? I know! All of them!

This place is more corporate than the corporate places I’ve been. I don’t think it’s owned by one of the big boys, but it sure seems like it. The décor and style of this place reminds me of a bad imitation of a Roadhouse, Outback, Hooligans or something else equally depressing found throughout Middle America. And yes, everything here is mediocre.

The food is certainly nothing to bring you back again and again. The “real southern barbecue” tasted like – well, nothing – until you put one of their barbecue sauces on it, which were about the only tasty things I found here. With my barbecue I ordered onion rings and baked beans. The onion rings may as well have been made in my onion out of a freezer bag. The baked beans were alright, but again, lacked any distinguishing characteristic.

Which is exactly how I felt about the beers. None of them tasted bad, per se, but none of them left any kind of impression on me whatsoever. Hopefully there are places around town to get some really good beer. The lineup was heavy on light lager or wheat beers to appeal to the masses, while the pales and IPAs were under-hopped and under-complex. The darks made up for this a bit. If I had to come back, I’d stick with the stout.

Service was quick and efficient at least, but still done by a college kid without much of a clue about beer. Oh well.

Was just in Blacksburg for a wedding this past weekend and ate lunch at the Bull and Bones. There are many pros and cons about this place.

The beer quality is pretty good. Not the best brew pub ever, but good beers. The Belgian Wit that they had was really good and the Maroon Effect brown ale I enjoyed. They seemed to have a really good grasp on the beer.

The food is average. My smoked ribs we pretty good. The Pulled Pork was a little dry. I would guess that the burgers would have been a better overall choice.

The Growlers are expensive!! They have really nice grower's...but when we asked how much they were she said $20, which I initially thought was high, but since they were nice flip top growlers that I would get one. But when we got the bill it was $20 for the growler and $9 for the fill... So it was a $30 for new growler and fill... That was a bit much.

If you are in Blacksburg there are plenty of places to get good craft beer, but this is the only brew pub... so it is worth the stop.

visited over the weekend when revisiting blacksburg. i have been a few times during my years at vatech, but this review is generated by my experience this past weekend.
big, open restaurant in a new shopping center away from vt campus. like most new buildings, this restaurant definitely lacks personality. lots of tables, booths, bar area, pool tables, video games. we sat in the high top bar section and had a very attentive server. ordered a few pitchers and was impressed by the beer. had the IPA, seasonal dunkel, and the wit. good shit. food was quite the opposite. had the wings, some fries, and there was some other foods on the table i didnt get to try. i thought the wings were pretty bad. they are smoked, but to me it was just an overcooked wing with very tough skin. i ordered hot, but they hardly had a kick to them. i remember the food being much better during my other visits when i was still at vt. see how it is when you visit. im used to DC prices so i thought it was super cheap.

Stopped in for lunch on my to Brewgrass. Rode right past it the first time...sit down in a strip mall kind of blocked by the store closer to the road. A quick u-turn (which happened to take me to Vintage Cellar) and I was back in business. I got there a few minutes after they had opened and for a bout 15 minutes or so I was the only one in the cavernous space. Lots of tables and a huge doglegged L-shape bar. Must have been three dozen seats at the bar. I ordered the sampler and a burger. Bartender was quick and helpful. The beers were poured and served quickly. The burger, on the other hand, took almost 25 minutes and was not worth the wait. Over cooked and small...at least the homemade chips were good. This place would probably be great, if not obnoxious, during a VT game. Really dug the chilled rail running the length of the bar to help keep drinks cool. Food and beers were $$ but the growlers were $$$$!!!

The beer on tap is that of brewmaster Jim Strickland, and it varies from the light lager style, to a stout, hitting points in between, such as IPA and brown ales. There is also a seasonal brew which is almost always worth checking out.

The bar is long, and on one side is across from pool tables. A strip runs the entire length of the bar, which continually generates a layer of frost, making for a great place to rest a beer or drink. The staff was very friendly and service left nothing to be desired.

I would very much recommend the St. Maeves stout truffles for a dessert. They are made using the St. Maeves stout brewed on site and are very rich. It may seem pricey for several truffles on a plate but you will not be disappointed.

An enjoyable late evening stop as we were passing through Blacksburg, 2/3/10.

Bull & Bones is located in a new upscale strip mall on the outskirts of town. You would typical see a chain restaurant in this spot. Clean and fresh inside with a very large L-shaped bar, many well-lit pool tables, an ice chilled bar rail and LOTS of college students, many of whom were underage and drinking soda. Take my wife out of the mix and I was older than any two other patrons combined.

Despite this, I still felt very welcome and was impressed with the top notch service, college bars not being known for this in my experience.

Seven house beers on tap during our visit. The standouts were the IPA, the St. Maeve's Stout (a very peaty dry stout, yummy) and a seasonal dopplebock (nicely sweet with a nice chocolate note). No bad choices really expect the brown ale, which I did not care for in the least.

We did not have any food though the menu looked quite appetizing.

I'd stop in any time.

HV

Located in a brand spanking new, upscale, shopping center on the outskirts of downtown Blacksburg.

We arrived rather late and the main entrance was closed so we had to enter around the side into the bar area. The bar is a LONG, curving L-shape and looks very nice. Plenty of TV's for the VA Tech games! A nice pool tables area sits off to the side. The large dining area was closed during our visit but looked very nice also.

Eight beers on tap during our visit. We sampled a few and had a couple of pints. Nothing blew me away but overall the beers were good. Our bartender was attentive, pleasant and serviceable on this busy evening.

No food tonight as we had eaten earlier but I will keep it in mind as the menu looked interesting.

An upscale and surprisingly decent brewpub. I certainly want to visit again when I am in the area and have time to do so. I am sure this place is a positive addition to the Blacksburg craft beer scene.

Stopped in here last week with a local BA friend.

Atmosphere: Definitely reminds you of any large chain restaurant - big box of a space with tons of tables, low lighting and lots of TVs. I appreciated the very large bar that wrapped halfway around the restaurant, though. It made finding a seat and placing orders a lot easier on the super-busy Friday night before a VT football game. For those who like pool, there are tons of tables here, and I imagine it's probably a good place to catch a game on TV.

Quality: Nothing really special to note here. Not bad, but didn't blow me away.

Service: Service was really great at the bar. I mean, this place was PACKED, and the bartender did a great job of keeping an eye on us without being too pushy. She also did a great job of explaining all the different house styles to us when we ordered the sampler.

Selection: I was impressed that a place like this (I would compare it to a Rock Bottom) would serve beers other than their own (not many, and most were macros, mind you), so I gave it above average for that. I also thought they had a good number of their own beers so I didn't feel like my options were left to just 3 or 4. One thing that impressed me was that they targeted their beers to their local audience - a really important thing in Blacksburg. I mean, what Hokie could pass up Maroon Effect Ale (a crisp brown ale)? Amongst their own brews, they also had an IPA, a raspberry wheat, a golden belgian, a stout and a light APA.

Food: Didn't get to try, but I can say it smelled delicious in there. If it hadn't been so packed, I may have considered it.

Value: Pretty good - the flight of all their beers was only $6.

The food is good, I had the Club sandwich which was very good and the beer was totally solid. The price was right (nothing over $4.50 a pint). My problem with the place is the service. There were three bartenders on duty at the time and the bar was maybe at 20% capacity. I've never had staff walk past my empty beer glass so often, the bartenders were to be too busy chatting with staff or with friends. To top it off, at the end of the night our bill was wrong. They didn't keep our tabs straight and we were charged for beers we were not served. Luckily, KT, the bartender who was most attentive took charge of things and made things right. Overall the beer is really good, I'm glad I drank it. Service, not so much. If I need to spend the night near Blacksburg again, I'd give it another shot

This good sized brewpub is located in a very new shopping complex on the outskirts of downtown Blacksburgh, not far from the VT campus. It's a very nice area and fairly easy to find from I-81 (5 to 10 minutes tops). I was going to eat here but during my visit on 5/27/09 there was an electrical outage so I ended up coming back after eating elsewhere (The Cellar) and did not sample any of their food, which appeared wholesome enough from what I could tell. According to the locals they have good wings and pulled pork, etc. Prices looked fair for a somewhat upscale drinking establishment. The place is quite large with 35-40% dedicated to a dining section, simple, nice looking seating and tables away from the bar area where you might bring family, a date, etc. The bar is fairly expansive and on this Monday night there was plenty of elbow room and excellent, attentive service. I will have to say that K.T., or Katie (not sure which), was extraordinarily cheerful and friendly including a reasonable appreciation of the brews she was pedaling. She engaged in good conversation and added significantly to the enjoyment of the place with all patrons from what I could see. Other staff were also on the ball and helpful. Of the three brews I had, two were so-so to good, and one was very good (the seasonal IPA). I was disappointed to find the selection here, for such a large, impressive facility, to be very pedestrian. The stout and brown ale were decent choices (although I was not too fond of the brown ale/maroon), and the IPA was great but brewed only as a seasonal, soon to be shelved for a few quarters! In this day and age I hardly think of a standard IPA as an exotic seasonal selection. Reserve that for DIPA's and Barleywine's, etc. (if you must). Otherwise, everything was on the lighter side (Hefe, light lager, pale ale, etc.) perhaps more tailored to the college drinkers and unsuspecting grits & gravy crowd. Not designed for the true Beer Advocate. That said, the place was still smacking of newness, numerous large televisions with various sports viewing, a big pool table area with at least 6-8 tables as I recall, a good music system and copious seating. It certainly has potential if they can further develop their beer quality and selection. Next time I visit the area I will plan to sample their food as well, and hope to see an even more impressive operation. Definitely stop in and hope for a good seasonal!

Dropped in Sunday afternoon after a stop at Vintage Cellar (great place to buy beer, just around the corner at the next strip mall...)

A: Very open.... Left side as you walk in is a very large dining area... everything is dark wood and maroon in color, 4 or 5 LCD TV around the room.. The right side contains the bar area with LCD TVs and 2 large projection screens. The bar has a line of ice that runs the length of the bar built into the bar to keep you beer nice and cool. Bar area also includes pool tables and various video games at the back. Behind the bar you can see the Brewery's steel vats and other equipment....

Q: Everything here seems to be of the highest quality.... Beer is very well made and as fresh as fresh can be...

Serv: Server was very knowledgeable of the 6 brews on TAP... He was able to walk me through the 6 beer sampler (3 oz of each brew) and stop a couple times to get my feedback about the different brews. He also let me know about a 7th brew which was a seasonal IPA (they were out this day) but he was able to let me know where it fit in the line of their normal 6 brews. Also explained how they do Growlers... Very nice and educational.

Select: A little lower mark here because the only offer their beers...(Hey it is a Brewhaus so of course they want to sell their own beer) but the 6 beers and 1 seasonal brew more than make up for this.... They include a Wit, a American Light Lager, a Stout, a Calf. Pale Ale, a Brown Ale (my Fav) and a German style Dunkel. So they are covering a good spectrum from Light to Dark. Plus they are well made and local.... Nice to support local brewing.

F: Did not have a lot just Cheese Fries and 1/2 dozen wings... The cheese fries were your normal staple... but the Wings have to be some of the best I've had... They are smoked then sauce added.... Very well done and 10 times better tasting than BWW's... Next trip will include more food and more beer

Overall: A great place to eat, drink and be merry.... a must stop for the beer drinker in your life.

Went there this afternoon with the wife to check this place out. We had a dozen wings, baked potatoes, and a Lunch Pale Ale. Both were great. The wings are smoked and are very good. The ale was a pleasant surprise and plan on going back to try some of there other beer offerings. The atmosphere is great with a sports bar area on one side and a dining area on the other. I look forward to going back with some bros to hang in the sports bar. Bulls and Bones is a great addition to our area and should get a lot of business from the local university (Virginia Tech). Go Hokies!

Well thought out brew pub. The location offers something for everyone. Whether you are into good beer, good food or a game of billards you will be pleased.There are numerous flat screen televisions for viewing your favorite game and grabbing a plate of tasty wings. The beer is good and I suspect on tbe cuspe of something special. However, they ran out of the Lunch Pale Ale the second night I vistied. I shifted to the stout and was equally pleased. They have the bascis down and I believe that their beer will get better and better. Go Hokies!