Gene's Haufbrau

 

 

Fifteen taps and over 150 bottles/cans. Big selection. 2 pool tables and dart boards. Did not try the food, but lots of people were eating. Great vibe. Met several locals shooting pool (I'm there with my 84 year old fatherinlaw) and we all had a great time. Can't wait to go back.

Nice little dive bar with a few local selections on tap and many many more in bottles. The menu has a lot of options without being overwhelming and the portions are fairly large.

Service is spotty especially when it gets busy. Food a little greasy. Beer selection not the greatest. I could recommend a half dozen better places better in Avondale

Talk about history! I used to go to Genes back in the 80s' with my dad and uncle when it was still an 'old man ' bar...Times have changed for this neighborhood hot spot and it's now a college/hipster hangout with that same 'old man' feel. I love it!
Lots of seating,games,and a good bottle selection.Also a great place to 'crawl'with other cool spots nearby.

Love Gene's. Not pretentious but the beer is great. Typical pub food and parking is sometimes a challenge. They sometimes have fresh Hofbrau on tap!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure what needs to be said that hasn't been. Woody interior, Euro open room style somewhat. Bar right, seating left upon entering. Boards games around as others mentioned. Pool tables and other games back left. A few tvs around, none at the bar though.

Similar selection to Closed for Business and Smokey Oak, the other two places with large selections in town I could find. Solid craft and 6 or so locals, Coast, Holy City and Westbrook. Was quite impressed with the Holy City stuff I had around town. Bottle selection looks like it rotates rather slowly, stick to the non hoppy brews. Many more imports that domestics in the bottles.

Service seemed a little indifferent, but they were plenty adequate. Looked like they took more care of the locals which I'm fine with. Possibly part of their attempt at a laid back atmosphere, which they have.

If I lived close with friends I could see hanging out here often. Has some entertainment options, good selection and away from the college kids, parking and general hassle of downtown.

Gene's is definitely one of my favorite bars in Charleston. Yes it's a little pricey and yes the service tends to disappear when the place gets busy, but the atmosphere and the selection makes up for it. As other people have said, it rarely gets too loud or too crowded to carry on a conversation - something that cannot be said for a lot Charleston bars. The rowdy College of Charleston crowd doesn't tend to make it out that far, so it's a nice change of pace from downtown establishments. One interesting feature is that Gene's has lots of board games that you can play at your table while drinking beer - something that I personally think is awesome.

Gene's is definitely one of my favorite bars in the Charleston area. They have a great selection of all types of beers and about twenty tap handles. The staff is very knowledgeable but can be hard to track down at times. The extensive bar is usually filled with fellow food and beverage alumni which keeps me coming back all the time. Although, the icing on the cake is the shuffleboard table and 2 pool tables. They have tons of beer memorabilia which always makes me dream of becoming a klepto and taking all that cool stuff home with me. Gene's is a "MUST SEE" beer destination in the Charleston area.

Gene's is an interesting place... It's on the divey side, but they have a pretty expansive selection of brews - especially bottles. They have a good draft list as well, although it rarely sees any rotation. That being said, some of the regulars (at least over the last year or so) include Coast HopArt, Sweetwater IPA, Franziskaner Hefe-weisse and Smuttynose Robust Porter. Of course there are the not-so-impressive regulars like Yuengling, PBR and Blue Moon, too. Anyway - it'd be cool if they mixed up the draft selection a little more. Service at Gene's has always been lackluster - especially if you're at a booth or table - it will be slow - just sayin'. If you're at the bar, things will probably go much better for you. Food is OK - nothing great - just standard bar food. The burgers are usually pretty good. Some of their bottles, as well as the occasional draft, are a touch overpriced in my opinion. Overall, Gene's is a fun neighborhood bar with a good mix of patrons - mostly college kids and younger folks that live in the area.

A: A typical, low key bar with TVs on the walls, pool tables and board games. It's an inviting, unpretentious, homey sort of space.

Q: There's a pretty high quality of beer at Gene's. Granted there are some typically mainstream macros to be found, but overall a good quality.

S: Our server was attentive, friendly, and prompt.

S: A good selection: Stone, Dogfish Head, COAST, Chimay, Weihenstephaner, and many others. One down side: The beer menu wasn't entirely up to date (they had Founders Red Rye listed, even though Founders isn't available in SC at the moment). Still, a solid selection.

V: While there were some overpriced beers, the prices were reasonable.

Overall, Gene's a good, solid, neighborhood bar.

I agree with the previous posting. I've lived in Charleston all of my life and have been going to Gene's since before I was legal. Firstly, let me say that this is hands down my favorite bar in the city. Not because of the lackluster service, or the overpriced drinks, but because of the selection. It's a very chill atmosphere, with good rock music always playing, it's rarely too loud to talk with your friends, and the burgers a pretty damn tasty. A fun place to go if you don't mind waiting a while for service and paying a little too much for what you get. The selection of beers alone almost makes up for it.

Atmosphere is nice, sort of an old school no frills bar. The Trivial Pursuit cards in cups at the bar are a nice touch. Plenty of board games, 1 or 2 pool tables, and a shuffleboard table.

The beer selection is very good for the area, with a good selection of seasonals and hard to find brews. Import and microbrew bottles are plentiful. The markup on some beers seems a bit outrageous in some cases.

I've gotten good service there one time, and pretty apathetic or just bad service every other time. I understand that they often seem understaffed in the busiest hours so, whatever.

Gene's is a great place to grab a couple of really good beers. It benefits from a lack of real competition, so the service and pricing issues aren't going to harm them.

Finally got to get back down to Charleston again and decided to stop in and make a few BA visits while I was down there, you just knew I had to. A very nice little place I was happy when I walked in and saw a good selection of local taps, including a few new ones, especially from Coast, which made me excited to try. Very friendly staff was pleasant to talk to and gladly shared info about what is rotating through and what would be coming up. Overall I was quite impressed with this place, a nice cozy little place I would be glad to haunt if I were a local. Definitly would stop in again

I have been in Charleston for quit a while now and used to frequent Gene's fairly regularly because they had a great beer selection before the cap was popped. I stopped going becuase the service is absolutely HORRIBLE. They seem to have only 1-2 servers per 15 tables and these people are always aloof and never around. I was there recently and my buddies order got messed up, they brought another friend a wrong beer and I couldn't cancel a beer I ordered.
That brings me to the beer. The selection is amazing and now that are cap is popped it has gotten even better. HOWEVER... I asked about the Allagash small batch bottles (Interlude, Curieux, Hugh Malone....) and they said they were $25.00! I know there is a mark up but I have seen the distributor lists for these beers and they are selling at store price which is $15.00. Oh and Chimay is $10.00 for a 12oz, twice what is goes for in the stores.
Go to Gene's for the fish tacos, sit at the bar where the service is wonderful and go for the lesser known imports that aren't that expensive.
Don't go if you want to scream at the person in front of you to hear you, want to get anything in a timely manner, don't want to break the bank on 1-2 beers.

This was my first visit as a beer afficianado to an old watering hole in Charleston. In the past I enjoyed the atmosphere while I blissfully swilled American macro's.
Today I returned with my wife seeking to find a great beer experience in Charleston. Gene's has a great selection of world beers. I was able to get a great German Hefe (Franziskaner) on tap which definitely improved it's flavor. There were various other German's I will have to return to.
In order to enjoy the place, check out the seasonal beers listed. I found a great Doppelbock which is difficult here. On tap there is a great selection of micros. I see they have Victorys here also.
As for the food, it was respectable, but in Charleston we have a high bar for food so that caused it to be overwhelmed. However, due to the beer selection in an otherwise unremarkable area, I will be back. And back again.

This place is the oldest continuously running bar in Charleston(circa 1953). It retains it's old school feel with a revamped modern beer selection. It was the official post practice bar for the Charleston Outlaw rugby team, which is how I got introduced to Gene's. My brother's a self abuser(i.e.30 yr old rugby player) in town and we try to get over there when I'm in town. I was there last Sat after a trip to load up on beers that are unavailable in my hometown of Knoxville, TN at Total Wine and more(I'll review it next). I enjoyed a Hambleton Nightmare Yorkshire Porter which was pretty pricey at $9, but very tasty. The selection and service are great and it's just a fun place to hang out. The clientele is pretty varied, you'll get everything from college kids to tourists to bikers depending on the night. It can get smoky and crowded, but the laid back vibe of the bar is worth a visit to this out of the way gem.

As a visitor to the Charleston area, I turned to BA for some advice on a nice beer spot. This was a beaut. A fairly small bar with about ten booths and ten tables with three 8 seater tables as well. Two pool tables and some video games in the upper tier of the arena. A huge bottled beer selection; maybe 60 domestics and 50 imports. Offerings from Rogue, Abita, Highland, and many other breweries. I chose to have a greek salad. Although not authentic, it was still pretty tasty. My only quam was my waitress. I think she may have been having a bad night because she wasnt too friendly; but she did her job very well by keeping my mug full. A very nice beer bar; THANKS BA!!!!

One of those hidden gems. I can see how it could be a little smoky from time to time, but on my visit it wasn't bad.

10 taps, only two BMC. Numerous bottle selections, all well chosen for the ABV% laws in SC.

The service was spot on. Our waiter was Johnny on the spot, answered ever question and inquired about what we thought about a recent beer arrival that he had not tasted.

Food was very good. The wings were great, the food was good. No fou fou food here, but some interesting selections nonetheless.

Highly recommended for those BA looking for a good beer in Charleston.

Gene's used to be an old dive, but got revamped last year. Boy, they really did wonders to this place! They have good bar food and a badass selection of beers, on and off tap. I believe that last time I was there they had something like 10 on draught and like 120 in bottles. Nice people hang out there and lots of fun games to play, i.e. darts, pinball and other video games, pool, and other fun things. Plus there are hot chix there too.

Selection is relatively good for the area. About a dozen taps with only 3 devoted to macro swill and nearly a hundred bottled. Lots of wood. Bloody Mary bar on Sat. and Sun early for all you drunkards. Try the fried Crawfish tails.

Had an awesome time there when I was in Charleston in April 2002. The bar has an awesome selection on draft and by the bottle for a bar in South Carolina (no disrespect to my friends there). It is quite difficult to find a bar with this selection in the area. We had a great bar tender and she knew her stuff. The food was also quite good and reasonable. I had a oyster po boy sandwich.

The atmosphere is very laid back and the bar was quite dark with booth seating as well. I would reccomend this place to ya if you want a good beer and a sandwich in the Charleston area!