Bigelo's Bistro

Bigelo's BistroBigelo's Bistro
Bigelo's BistroBigelo's Bistro
Bar, Eatery

140 N Main St
Edwardsville, Illinois, 62025-1902
United States

// CLOSED //

Monday - Saturday: 11:00am - Close
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.21
Reviews:
8
Ratings:
13
pDev:
8.08%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by firkingroovin:
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Rated by firkingroovin from Illinois

3.49/5  rDev -17.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.75 | selection: 3 | food: 3.5

Sep 18, 2016
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.66 by ahentz from Illinois

Jun 11, 2018
 
Rated: 4.16 by Monkeyknife from Missouri

Sep 18, 2016
 
Rated: 3.98 by lemmy187 from Missouri

Feb 12, 2015
 
Rated: 4.5 by jaminjohnson from Canada (YT)

Dec 30, 2013
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Reviewed by JRorie from Illinois

4.72/5  rDev +12.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5
This place is located in the heart of downtown Edwardsville. Definitely a great location. The inside has a bistro, laid back atmospere. Sure to be some good jam bands playing on the radio, most likely The Dead.

12 handles, all of which are great quality with some selections being exceptional. All are fairly priced. Really good bottle selection as well. Sometimes there is cask beer, but this is usually a planned event.

The food is fantastic, my favorite place to eat out at. Try the pizza, spinach salad, Blue Chips, any of the specials, or a oven roasted sandwich.

There are monthly beer dinners held here, tickets need to be purchased in advance. These are great times, with great food, and beer. Highly worth seeking out.

The staff is great. Really friendly and super accommodating. Most are craft beer nerds. The owners have a ton of passion for food and drink, and it really shines through on everything they are doing.
Aug 22, 2011
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Reviewed by FanofHefe from Illinois

4.13/5  rDev -1.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4
Have stopped in several times before and decided to have a couple of brews and a sandwich tonight. Still impressed with Bigelos; solid selection and good food.

12 taps and a few bottle selections, but they are always rotating the taps and offer a really good selection of crafts. They always have some rock solid selections like Bells Two Hearted, and some local products like Schlafly and Six Row from STL.

I've had sandwiches and pizza here and it's really good. They have some other higher end entrees and pastas but I haven't had those yet. But, if I want a solid meal with some good beer selections in the Metro East, Bigelos is a top choice.

Another great option at this location are their beer dinners. I haven't had the opportunity to attend one yet, but they are advertising a Sunday Sour event soon. I understand the owner is a real craft beer fan. He's running a great place for good beer and good food.
Jun 02, 2011
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Reviewed by rombach from Illinois

4.3/5  rDev +2.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
I need to point out possible bias in my review. I am good friends with one of the waiters and a bartender at this establishment, and therefore may receive better service during my visits.

Very relaxed environment, complete with good music, cool tables, and interesting art on the wall. The staff is laid back, but that is not to say they aren't doing their jobs. In fact, they are some of the best wait staff I've encountered in the area. Additionally, whichever bartender working is usually quite knowledgeable about the beers currently on tap, and willing to offer a free sample. I would prefer more taps (tough to do in the small bar space) and more bottles, and expect the variety of beers to increase with increased competition that recently opened in town. Food is tasty, but be sure to get a good explanation of dishes from your waiter if you have questions - some of the menu descriptions can be misleading.
Feb 08, 2011
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Reviewed by emerge077 from Illinois

4.03/5  rDev -4.3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5
Funky little place in downtown Edwardsville, quality taps and short but sweet bottle list. Front dining area with artist designed tables, and colorful walls full of work by local artists. The place had a good sized lunch crowd, and the bar seemed more of a service area, so we grabbed a table. Beer list was on a row of chalkboards, looked to be frequently rotating. Taps on the left, bottles to the right, and wine on the far right.

Taps: Schlafly Reserve Imperial Stout, Monks Cafe, Goose Island Matilda and Pepe Nero (brand new), plus a few others that escape me. Bottles: SN 30th Ann, Torpedo, a handful of craft and imports, no macros, 20 in all.

Service was laid back on a busy weekday afternoon, though we always had drinks. The table and floors were a little dirty, but I think that was just a result of the big lunch crowd.

Overall it was a nice place for a beer and a meal, don't know how long i'd linger for drinks though, as space was limited, and it was more of a cafe vibe. Looks like they will have competition very soon from "Global Brew" opening up a few blocks away.
Jan 25, 2011
Photo of japetus
Reviewed by japetus from Missouri

4.55/5  rDev +8.1%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
This is my "home bar/eatery". For anyone in the Edwardsville area visiting or otherwise...Bigelo's always has something new or interesting to offer beerwise. Mark, the owner, is a craft beer fanatic/homebrewer and always has a great tap line up. The employees are almost all craft beer fans as well. A very "beercentric" place with a laid back, easygoing vibe. No pretension at all. They also tend to get a lot of "IL only" beers that aren't available in MO which is great. There are always offerings from Founders, Bells, Sierra Nevada, Goose Island among others.
Dec 04, 2010
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Reviewed by Dogbrick from Ohio

3.88/5  rDev -7.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4
Stopped at Bigelo's on a drive between Belleville and Springfield. It is located on Main Street off St. Louis. Street parking was plentiful when I visited.

The interior is relatively small, with the bar in the rear and table seating everywhere else.The color scheme is an interesting blue, yellow and salmon motif and there are tile floors. Some mariner-related decorations behind the bar as well but I did not get the impression that was the theme of the whole place.

Bigelo's beer selection is not overly abundant but it is pretty well thought out. They have 12 beers on tap from brewers like Schlafly, Great Divide (the Espresso Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout), Bell's, Boulevard, Lost Coast and DFH to name a few. As for bottles there are around 15 including Schlafly, O'Fallon, Big Sky, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium. Not too much in the way of imports.

Service on a late lunch at the bar was good. The bartender was familiar with the beers and was friendly.

For lunch I had the signature Bigelo's sub and it was very good, as were the homemade sweet potato chips.

Overall the only knock on this place is there were a lot of gnats and flies buzzing around when I was there, and the staff acknowledged they had been fighting them. Not a big deal but worth noting. Still I would definitely visit this place again and would have stayed even longer had I not been on my way somewhere.
Jun 17, 2010
Photo of bnes09
Reviewed by bnes09 from Illinois

3.98/5  rDev -5.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | food: 4.5
Upon walking in, you notice lights spiraling around a cylindrical metal vent on the ceiling. The place is fairly small and dimmly lit at night, some might complain about this but I actually prefer it. Interesting paintings on the wall and tables. Comfortable, quiet and relaxed environment.

My waiter let me try a sample from the on-tap selection before purchasing a pint. Service was helpful, attentive and fairly quick.

The beer selection was somewhat small in the evening and seemed to be larger during lunch time when I went once before. They still offered several quality beers on-tap and a few micro bottles. I ordered the Founder's breakfast stout. It costed $7 for a pint but it tasted amazing!

Food is also very good and there is a decent selection to choose from. They have several unique pastas (I tried the bbq chicken rigatoni, which was quite good.) They also offer a good selection of hot sandwiches.

Overall, I am impressed with this place and look forward to going again.
Oct 20, 2009
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Reviewed by Goliath from Illinois

4.33/5  rDev +2.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4
I decided to go to Bigelo's for lunch today, and I was pleasantly suprised. The place isn't exactly packed early on a saturday, but there were a few other people around. I wonder if Friday and Saturday nights are a bit more intense. Anyway, the atmosphere was pretty nice. It was relaxed with neat decor. I can't really complain about it.

Quality was great. The food and beer were fresh, not much else to say about that.

Service was great. The girl working the bar was friendly and helpful. She offered to answer questions about the menu and said she'd give me samples of the tap beer if I was curious what they tasted like. That was pretty nice since a lot of bars don't offer up front. She was quick with my food and with my check so I was pretty pleased. I'm curious what service is like when it's busy though.

The selection is good. They only had 12 taps, and somewhere between 10-15 bottles so the list isn't huge. However, what they do have is very solid. There were no macros on tap except for Blue Moon. All macros were in bottle, and there were still plenty of micro's in bottles including things like SN Torpedo, Two Bro's Cane and Ebel, and DFH 90 Min. The tap list was great, with several Schlafly offerings, A little Boulevard, and then some nice items we don't usually see down here like Bigfoot and Prima Pils. Also, next week they're supposed to tap a keg of Hopslam, which hasn't seen So Il yet which is pretty exciting. All in all I'm pleased with the selection.

The food was great. I got the grilled cheese sandwhich with tomato basil soup today. The sandwhich had 5 different cheeses I think with tomato on it. It was simple and cheap but very tasty and exactly what I wanted. The rest of their sandwhiches, subs, and salads are all relatively cheap. I'm excited to go back and try more from the menu.

I've put the value as inexpensive because I was impressed with most of the food being under $10, and my pint of Schlafly Scotch Ale was only $4 for a pint and 50 cents more for a 22 oz. Considering how pricey some bars are getting, this is a great deal for food and beer. My tab was around $10 for a lunch that included a Sandwhich, soup, and beer.

I think I've found a great bar here in Edwardsville and it will become one of my staples.
Feb 21, 2009
Bigelo's Bistro in Edwardsville, IL
Place rating: 4.21 out of 5 with 13 ratings