Blue Monk

If you're looking for a pretentious beer bar, with snobby and self-centered staff, this is your place! A truly impressive tap list is marred by the poor attitude of the staff, coupled with overrated food and your quintessential beer-snob clientele. After having two beers and a poor rendition of "duck fries", all while in a crowded and stale-smelling space, I happily paid my bill and got out. Pass.

 

 

Great food, nice beer selection, awesome staff and great layout. Only knock would be parking. If you are in the Buffalo area, the Blue Monk is a must.

Tucked away in a quaint part of Buffalo, on a street of storefronts adjacent to blocks and blocks of residences, the Blue Monk is a good spot to stop in for a beer. It was not terribly crowded, even on a Saturday night, with what crowd was present seeming less boisterous and more conversational. Service was quite prompt, and seemed to know a little bit about beer. The tap list was top notch in both variety and quality, well curated. I'd definitely stop in again, were I to find myself in Buffalo for any reason.

After years of procrastination, I finally kicked myself hard enough in the ass to make the trek to Buffalo. The primary objective of me and my buddies’ visit was Football-related, but Beer was obviously high on the agenda as well. Our hotel was in the outskirts near the university campus, so it made sense to visit the two recommended bars in Elmwood village. We started off here at Blue Monk.
Good lively ambiance on a Saturday evening, the downstairs section was filled up, with no room to belly up at the bar, but a few spots in the standing section by the garage windows. Patrons ranged from mid-20 to 40-somethings out for some fun. We were told by the host that there was a 45 minute wait for a table. No problem, looking at the Beers listed on the chalkboards list I knew I was going to spend some quality time here. Surprise, we barely got our first round half-way done when our table was ready up on the mezzanine.
The décor was mainly Belgian inspired trinkets all over the walls, from old maps to pictures of Belgian royalty, and of course plenty of Beer advertisements, new and old. If they were going for the classic Belgian bar feel, I’d say they nailed it, with the right amount of worn parts to give it a homey feel, but maintained well enough to not give a dive bar vibe. I liked that the bathroom stall was pieced together with parts of old doors.
We weren’t famished and only ordered a few appetizers, which clearly ticked off our assigned waitress. She warmed up a bit after we kept ordering rounds, but overall didn’t add much positive to the experience. She couldn’t answer any of my Beer-related questions, but was quick to fill our water glasses and bring our order, so it deserves a passable grade I suppose.
The apps we got were pretty good, we went for Calamari and fries. The ketchup with truffle oil was a fascinating mix; I’m definitely going to add that to my repertoire next time I invite guests over. The rest of the menu and the neighboring tables’ plates looked fine, but we had a huge lunch so we kept it light.
The Beer list had variety, with local brews and micros from all over the US, and some good to great imports from all over, be it Québec (Dieu du Ciel and Unibroue), the UK, Belgium and Germany. Two cask ales were served gravity-style on the bar. From Dogfish Head to Firestone Walker, Weisenstephaner to St-Bernardus 12, from entry-level lagers to funky bretty brews, they seem to cover pretty much every angle here. Awesome! If I really was fishing for something to criticize, it would be that the tap lineup was a bit high ABV-heavy. So not much of a complaint! Prices were a bit on onerous, but the beers were top shelf and tasted fresh.
Overall, I can see why this place tops the list in Buffalo. Next time I’m in town I’ll be back for sure.

 

 

 

For beer lovers this is ground zero yet they are not arrogant and still provide great service.

 

Awesome spot. It gets slammed so service can be a tad slow, but it's not because the staff isn't trying their hardest. Amazing food to go with amazing beer. Expect to spend ~$17 for a great burger and a beer.

 

 

Definitely worth the wait. Go here, you won't be disappointed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im giving the bar and beer selection a 4 ONLY. The food and sous chef suck balls! She cant cook, the fish was under cooked. the burger wasnt even cooked, i ordered medium rare it wasnt even rare..she argued about it to me...and over cooked the mac & cheese. she really sucks...If you are looking for a beer, great place though!

 

 

 

In Buffalo on business, and as per usual, sought out a highly rated bar for after work beers.

Walked in and was immediately hit in the face with the stench of stale beer. Not a great first impression, though it did take me back to my college days. Grabbed a seat at the bar and studied the tap list, being immediately greeted by a bar tender who was very nice and patient. The tap list was decent, with a large number of Belgian beers (no surprise). What was surprising was the lack of locals. One Community IPA, and a Southern Tier on nitro. Nothing on the list really screamed must try, or even, can't find this most places, so went with the Community.

My second impression was even more of a disappointment than my first: my pint tasted like the line hadn't been cleaned for some time. I can't tell you the last time I had a pour from dirty lines, but the rancid taste is unmistakable.

I had planned on enjoying a few beers and eating dinner here, but I was so turned off with the apparent lack of hygiene of the place that I went elsewhere after one beer.

Given the great reviews of the place, I'll assume I just caught them at a bad time. I was definitely unimpressed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best beer bar in Western New York. Nestled right in the heart of Elmwood Village.

Everybody knows about Blue Monk, so it gets a bit crowded. With good reason- the beer selection is outstanding. It's sort of got a Belgian beer bistro feel to it, and there's always some good Belgians on tap, as well as occasion 3F and Cantillon bottles, but the selection is so much more than that. They carry great local microbrewery Community Beer Works all the time, have some great Southern Tier, Ithaca, and Ellicotville local brews, has other great US craft breweries of every kind and location, and then a ton of other international beers from countries most beer bars don't even touch. I've had a smoked imperial stout from Iceland (Lava) a big, beefy porter from Finland (Sinebrychoff) a tasty IPA from Sweden (Dugges High Five!) and an earthy Italian saison (Nuova Mattina). Lots of Evil Twin on tap most of the time as well. One of the most varied and inventive tap lists I've ever seen. Incredible that this place exists in Buffalo!

The food is good, but typically expensive. They have all of the usual Belgian beer bar food suspects- pommes frites, mussels, etc, etc. Only had food there once and I enjoyed it.

The beer is expensive, but understandably so. Some of the kegs had to have been hard to acquire. Their bottle list is very pricey, but I've never dabbled with it. Pricey is somewhat ok if you can order Cantillon, though, so there's that.

Must stop. Go now!