A shot of the bar inside Bull and Bones Brewhaus and Grill. The brewing area is located directly behind the bar for patrons to see.
For the longest time, the only steakhouse in Blacksburg was Bogen's.
The alternative for eating a good steak required a trip to Christiansburg to go to either Outback or Texas Roadhouse, two chain restaurants noted for their steaks.
Now that Bogen's is closed the relatively new Bull and Bones Brewhaus & Grill is poised to fill the gap left behind by Bogen's in the Blacksburg area.
The Bull and Bones is located in the new "First and Main" shopping center on S. Main St.
The restaurant is relatively large, capitalizing on the space provided by the new shopping center that is located a mile away from the crowded downtown businesses.
The atmosphere resembles a high-class sports bar. Even though the restaurant is over a half a year old it still has that very new look that is absent in most of the seasoned downtown locations.
The facility is clearly divided into two sections.
The left side of the restaurant is a large bar littered with several bar style tables.
This area also has billiards tables and several large projection televisions for sporting events. Billiards tournaments occur regularly on the bar's nine tables.
The bar even comes complete with a chilled strip running the entire length of the bar to keep drinks cold.
To the right of the entrance is the dining area seating.
The nice part about the floor plan is the dining section is far enough away to enjoy a quiet meal without hearing too much of the noise coming from the bar section.
The food on the menu is a standard fair for this type of restaurant. Steaks, burgers, ribs and sandwiches form the bulk of the menu.
The pricing for the items is also competitively matched with places like Outback and Texas Roadhouse.
The restaurant boasts a barbeque smoker, a distinctive cooking method that no restaurant in the New River Valley has.
This slow cooking method adds flavor to chicken and ribs.
They also offer party packs for tailgates and holiday meats that have been prepared in the cooker.
The appetizers provide generous portions to feed several people. The game day nachos are sufficient for a party of four or more.
The chili nachos in particular are piled high with chili and cheese that terrified the party of three I was with the idea of actually finishing it.
The bread that is served is also different for the area. The bread is actually a pretzel shaped like a small dinner loaf of bread and is served with mustard.
The steak was cooked as per requested and was full of flavor. The claim of almost being able to cut it with a fork is an accurate description of how tender it was.
The Bull and Bones is also unique because it also manufactures its own beer. The restaurant offers an appetizer sampler of several of its creations for patrons to get a feel for what they will like and dislike.
The beer sampler was varied providing about four dark beers and four light beers.
As some one with distaste for dark, heavy beers I gravitated towards the light beers. The All Nite Light and Lunch Pale Ale have become personal favorites.
The beers served are also available to take home in a Bull and Bones growler. The growler is a small jug about the size of a two-liter soda bottle.
The overall experience at Bull and Bones is positive. The service is prompt and courteous. They did all the little things right by providing drink refills promptly and new baskets of bread while managing several tables.
The only problem with the restaurant is the menu isn't very friendly to people on a budget. The portions are generous but even the cheapest sandwich is $8.50.
The restaurant is also located a decent distance from the college apartments so taking a car is a must.
This provides less flexibility for venturing other places on a night out without a designated driver.
Bull and Bones is a fun, new place with great food that requires some evening planning
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This is the most poorly written article I've ever seen. Punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors aside, are you aware that you may put more than one sentence in a paragraph? How did this make it past the editor?
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If that is what you call a review of the beer, you are far from close. Beers are much more complex than light and dark. Not all dark beers are always "heavy". Also the talk of the beer in itself was relegated to about 4 sentences or "paragraphs", according to your writing style. The rest of the article was almost like a wikipedia article, told the facts but not much fun to read.
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Man I saw the article heading and thought, "Man, I've been wanting to go to that place. Can't wait to read this review." The format was a bit strange so I am going to attribute that to some editing program and give the benefit of the doubt here. But it gave me some info about what to expect when I go there. Anyone else have any comments on that restaurant?
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As brew pubs go, they are just 'OK'. Some of the beer is alright, but I wouldn't call them great. Beer geeks will be disappointed. The ice rail is a pretty silly gimmick - why would you want a flavorful craft beer chilled so much you can't taste it? The staff is VERY uneducated on beer styles (they call them light/dark too). Wings are great. Pork is steamed/mushy and not smoky. I feel the menu is pretty over priced on the whole, especially for the portion size. They had a lot of service problems in the beginning but have gotten better. There is a new brew pub in Radford that has a lot of promise. I've not eaten there but their beer was far superior to B&B.
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They will be bankrupt soon enough.
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I ate at this place the first week of June and I was a little disappointed. When I think of a brew pub, I think of a bar with a lot character, this restuarant is like eating at a food court in a shopping mall. Way too glitzy and shiney for me. The food was OK and the beer was fine. I wish them well, but I will probably not be going back. They should have gone to Dog Fish in Rehobeth to see what a real brew pub should look like.
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Awesome place! Great steaks and love the wit.
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I've eaten there twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. The menu is deifnitely expensive, which is why I won't return too often. The quality was good though, and so was the service when I went. But, plunking down $40 to get the smallest steaks for 2 people is nuts. They seem to stay busy, but I think in the end they are priced too high and don't have a good enough offering to stay around long term. I wish them well, and maybe they'll make refinements as they go.
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Funny how it's over 2 years later and they are still open and doing $25 K plus on a game day. haha. this person was stupid.
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Although some of the prices may seem a little high for most people, there have been some recent changes made to their menu. They now offer something on their menu called "5.99 favorites" these can be ordered mon-fri 11-4 and include items such as wings, quesadillas, soup/salad, soup/sandwhich, and fettucini alfredo- so it is possible to find something affordable on the menu. They have also started a "wing night" every thursday from 4-10 you can get their smoked wings for only 40 cents each. If you're expecting to find a filet mignon for under ten dollars anywhere in the NRV you must be kidding. And as far as the steak goes, if you buy two steak dinners it turns out to be around 26 dollars and those both include two sides. For the amount of food you get, the prices aren't outrageous. Bull and Bones is an upscale restaurant and a refreshing new addition to the blacksburg area. My family eats there about twice a week and we haven't had a bad meal yet!!! LOVE THE NEW SEASONAL!
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I love escaping from reality with one of their bloody bulls every sunday. Where else could i get a top shelf bloody mary for only $3 ? I'm also a HUGE fan of their $3 dollar doubles during happy hour. I give B&B an A+ ! It's definitely nice to be able to enjoy a cheap drink during happy hour and not have to worry about the college crowd getting in the way of my enjoyment.
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The bar atmosphere here is great, but as a restaurant they are really so-so. I took my family there when then came up for a weekend (my dad and brother are steak fanatics) and they were very disappointed. (Loved the soup hated the steak, ribs, and pork.) Also food didn't match the price. However, for a night out to play pool and drink beer this place is great. Much better than the overcrowding downtown and attracts some of the working population of Blacksburg. The wing night Thursday from 4-10 is a deal though.
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