Why 4 stars? Because it's a dive bar with 65 taps... wait, what?
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I've never seen anything like it, and I probably never will again. You don't see more than Bud Light, Miller, and Coors in a place with pool tables and giant chalk boards.
I don't know how they do it... I really have no idea, but I love it. Bless you, owner of Crum's... I shall be back.
And speaking of the giant chalkboard... when I say giant, I mean like 25 feet long, and about 7 feet tall. I jokingly asked the bar-keep if we could write on it, to which he pointed me to a box of chalk, and said "go to town." Because we're cool, we all drew our respective college logos on the wall, and mine was easily the worst looking. C'mon though, an S-H with a paw in the middle is tough.
While I was drawing it, I kept wishing I had a logo to look at, for the sake of comparison. Meanwhile, after I was already done, I realized I was wearing a Sam Houston State polo, complete with a logo. I guess that means that the beer at Crum's was doing its job.
Crum's is a place I have drove past a million times and never considered...until I read the Yelp reviews. We checked it out last week. Yes, it is a hole-in-the-wall bar. I happen to like hole's. I happen to love beer.
They had a very nice selection of beer on tap with a decent amount of local brews. They also hand you a full beer menu with descriptions and details (I LOVED this..every bar should do this). I asked if they had flights. They did. I proceeded to try three new-to-me beers and a cider. Delicious! I then had a few pints. :)
On the night we attended (Thursday) there was karaoke which was a little painful on the ears. We mostly ignored it and hung out. Unfortunately, one employee seemed to be running the whole place. Our service was crap, but I knew it wasn't her fault and felt bad for her being so slammed while another employee (the cook maybe?) played on his laptop in the bar area.
We also browsed their food menu and we were happy to see some options that we could have on our low carb diet. They even have a burger wrap!! I will be back to try the food and update the review.
I am definitely intrigued by this place and I will be back again soon.
This is an update. Last time I gave Crums 3 stars. Â They have earned another star from me. The beer is fantastic, the prices are good, the service is friendly, the place is clean. My only beefs with the place are that it looks like crap outside and they allow smoking. However the smoking is in a divided half of the bar which follows the old rules that restaurants followed before the smoking ban. The smoke has never bothered me. I just wish they would make the place look more inviting outside. But that does not outweigh how great the beer is and how nice the staff is. That is why I upped my rating. Â And they teach a beer 101 class which is great. Â Give it a try.
Review Source:The room is spinning, the room is spinning!!! And I have not even had a sip of beer yet! I can't imagine how much the room would be spinning after a whole night here!
First, what an AMAZING selection of beers! So many. All I could think as I scrolled through the menu was WHAT A HIDDEN GEM! Then I thought, "CRAP!" How am I ever going to make up my mind!"
Luckily I had a friend with me and he had been there before. He made a few suggestions and they all sounded great. Then I felt a sudden urge of stubbornness. I looked at my friend and said, "all your suggestions sound great, but this is Halloween! I have to have some kind of Octoberfest beer first!"
I looked down the menu and WHAMMY it jumped out and hit me right in the face. CONCHTOBERFEST! The best combination of Octoberfest and Florida! But was it good? It was a $5 beer, I couldn't order it if it wasn't good. I asked the bartender. Her response, "here is a sample." I has just barely finished my question when she handed me a little sampler. It was very good. Not too strong, a perfect first beer. I loved it and ordered one.
My friend ordered Avery the Reverend. He had a pretty good back story for why he liked it. However, it is rather private and if I wrote it out here, well, his wife would probably kill me! So yeah, we will leave it at that.
As I poured the last drop down my throat, the bar continued to grow more crowded. Lots of regulars. You do know what regulars mean, right? It means, yeah this place is pretty darn good!
So I looked over at my friend and said, "geeze, that beer was so good I can't even remember what your suggestions were." By this time he had started up a conversation with some older gentleman who said his name was Cowboy. They were talking classic cars. My friend took a break from his conversation, turned, and said, "Sam Adams Norse Legend."
I looked over at the bartender and said, "sample pleeeeeaaaaasssssse!" Before I could finish dragging out my vowels, she had the sample for me! AWESOME!
I was just about to order it when my friend asked about Pensacola Bay Whiskey Imperial Porter. "You can really taste the Jack Daniels Whiskey in it," was the bartenders response. My friend asked for a sample. Luckily, I had not ordered my Norse Legend yet, so I said, "could I have a sample, too?"
"NO!" Snapped the bartender. I was taken back with surprise. Then I saw her smile as she handed me the sample. It was definitely something special. But I knew my friend was going to order it and I could always steal a gulp or two from him, so I went with the Norse Legend anyways.
We had a blast. Great music. All I can remember is that they played some White Stripes. Originally from Detroit myself, I LOVE THE WHITE STRIPES. I nodded my head to the music and sipped my beer. What an excellent happy hour celebration!
Thursday karaoke with a bunch of friends+ a huge selection of beer+ satisfying bar food= a great night. Â
You don't have to worry about getting all dressed up or being judged here. Â It's got that friendly approachable small town tavern feel.
I have to agree with other reviewers that the smoking is an issue for me too. Â I hate waking up the next day with the scent still in my hair and a sore throat from the second hand fumes.
We have been to Crums a couple times now, and while I'm happy to have another spot for great beer that's NOT downtown (parking FTW!), I'm disappointed in a few things at Crums.
First of all, the service is and always has been fantastic at Crums. The bartenders are seasoned and attentive and fun. Â Always on top of our needs. Â Every time.
The beer list is amazing, of course, with close to 70 beers on tap. Â Can't go wrong. Â
The food is mediocre, but that's what we expect from bar food. Â We don't go to Crum's for dinner; just for snacks. Â We've had the nachos a few times and probably a few other things. Â I'll give it an "eh." Â Not terrible, but not awesome either.
The place Crum's fails for me is that they allow smoking in the bar. Â When I'm drinking $6 beers, I do not want the place to smell like a $2 whiskey bar. Â The smell inside is awful, and we have more than once made the choice not to go there because we don't want to go home with smokey clothes and hair. Â
If they got rid of the smoking, I'd give the place a better review - but it's disgusting and just smelly enough to keep us away.
This bar looks like it belongs in the suburbs of Cleveland, sans a couple bowling lanes. Its ugly as shit, and smokey. Then out of nowhere its a craft beer bar too? Really great selection of beers here, and lots of cider. The food is pretty good too. The honey and blue cheese chips are fantastic, though maybe could use a little heat. The fried ravioli I was told was made with ravioli from Mazzaro's so you know those are good. The chicken wrap with mango salsa was perfectly balanced sweet and spicy. The burger... the burger really threw me off. It tasted like it was made at home. It just had that flavor that restaurant burgers don't. I don't know what it is, or if it is a good or bad thing, but that's how it tasted. I think if this place looked different I would really like it more. Like it needs to pick one, dive bar where you are scared to eat there or nice craft beer good grub place. Right now its in the uncanny valley and is weirding me out... I'll be back though.
Review Source:Recently had a tweetup there after TEDxPoynter Institute, and we had the wings as well as the home made chips with blue cheese and honey. As someone from Buffalo, I take wings very seriously, and God bless them so does Crum's. These were one of the best wings I have had in the Tampa Bay area for serious wing aficionado's.
Now the chips might sound a little strange, but I loved those too. The bartenders were very knowledgable about their beers and helped me select some very good beers.
So first of all, let me tell you what Crums isn't:
-It isn't a full liquor bar - so no, you won't find a vodka tonic or an appletini here.
-it isn't a gastropub - they have a decent menu, but it's limited
-It isn't pretty - so don't come here for the decor
-It isn't smoke-free - so expect to be bothered if smoke irritates you
And if you keep those items in mind, you won't be turned off by the things that Crums is: a local bar with tons of affordable craft beers, friendly servers, free pool on Sundays, and really decent bar food. Â (And karaoke on Thursdays!) Â Yes, the smokers can be annoying, and no, it's not going to win any decor contests...but if you like beer, this place is great. Â The staff knows what they're talking about, is great at making suggestions, and generous with the tasting samples to indecisive patrons like me. Â It's become the default bar for partner-in-crime and I when one of us feels like a beer.
If you're not a fan of beer, or the type of person who likes the ambiance as much as the drinks, you should probably skip Crums. Â It's not a place with a lot of charm to win you over. Â But if you're in the neighborhood and looking for a decent cheap burger and a pint of something delicious and a little bit obscure, Crums is one hundred percent the place for you. Â It has tons of selection, a decent menu and absolutely no pretensions.
Though I'm still up in the air about this one, I think it'll be a good local place to go for some beers. The beer selection is tremendous (at last count, 52 on draft) and the vast majority are craft beers. I loved seeing the full gamut of Cigar City's beers as well as several Bell's choices (from my boyfriend's home state of Michigan). The beer prices were mostly $4 or $5, which is pretty fair. The 5 to 7 happy hour is 50 cents off draft beers, which is nothing special.
The food was also nothing special. I appreciated that they had your choice of 4oz or 8oz burgers so that I didn't have to overpay for a burger that's too big for me to eat. The lil burger was affordable too, only $4 and came with fries. My boyfriend got the nachos, which he said were pretty mediocre (and covered in jalapenos when he had asked for those to be removed...).
Yes, oddly there is smoking in the bar area. Not sure what is up with that, maybe some legal loophole about a "game room" versus a "bar" or perhaps the owners just don't give a ****, but wasn't a fan regardless. In fact, it's a big turnoff. The dining tables are away from the bar so not sure if you could smell the smoke in there, but we sat at the bar across from some smokers and it stank. There are only 2 tables outside, so there's no really space to avoid the smoke by sitting outside either.
Ok, so in sum, the jury is still out on this place. I love the beer selection and the prices, could do without the food, though appreciate the smaller portion options, and could definitely absolutely do without the indoor smoking. The place is within stumbling distance of my front door (so that's worth at least half a star) and a real happy hour would be worth at least one more star...!!
The burgers we had were good. Â Nothing to rave about or travel for, but good. Â The bartender/waitress was friendly. Â
So, why only 1 star, you may ask? Â
1. People were smoking like it was the 60s. Â Big, big turn-off to me. Â I thought smoking, even in the bar parts of restaurants, was over. Â Nothing can ruin a meal for me like having to smell cig smoke. Â
2. I ordered a vodka and tonic, and they didn't have vodka. Â Really? Â A bar without vodka? Â That's like a bar and grill not having Philly Cheesesteaks...oh wait, they didn't have that either. Â The menu was limited to begin with, but to be out of "staple" stuff so early in the day is kind of weak. Â
3. $13 for a burger and some frozen fries?! Â Â For those counting, our bill for two burger platters and pop, no hooch, before tip was $30. Â
No. Â Just no.
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