This is one of our Sunday night places. Â We can show off our intellectual might by going to head to head with the Brown students and locals who frequent the bar. Â Its small, dark and cramped, has a decent beer selection, and the prices are on par with other establishments. Â Its within walking distance from our home which is a plus, and the staff have always been friendly.
Review Source:The Cellar, as it's known to locals, is respectably solid. For a basement bar, it is remarkably comfortable, whether you're sitting at one of the tables on the edges, at the long high tables in the middle, or at the bar. It boasts over 200 of the world's best beers, so you should be able to find whatever ale you fancy. The food is quite good for pub fare, no complaints on a gooey Lobster mac 'n' cheese or a generously-seasoned (and piping hot!) Shepherd's pie. Very attentive servers.
This is a place where you can go for a hang-out session, vent about your students, or catch up with friends/family who live in Providence.
That said, there are no doubt better places to visit if you are in town for a short while.
After spending 5 years in the UK, this place is a welcome retreat in Providence. Amazing beer selection and friendly staff. I've been taking my friends that visit from abroad to this place and everyone agrees, The English Cellar does a great job replicating the pub culture atmosphere of jolly old England.
Review Source:Went here last night for dinner, boy was I disappointed. The ambiance was fine, the service was acceptable, and the prices were reasonable (thus 2 stars instead of 1), but the food was terrible and portions were pretty small. It's fine as a bar, but I would strongly recommend against coming here for dinner. In particular, the ceasar salad was just iceberg lettuce drenched in what seemed to be mayonnaise, with "croutons" that were the worst I've ever had. It's hard to make bad croutons, but these had a weird consistency and bad flavor.
Review Source:This is my least favorite bar in all of Providence. Â
Pros: Pool table and good beer selection.
Cons: Staff is consistently rude or inattentive, Â can become quite packed with undergrads on the weekend, food isn't worth the price at all. Â
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a big beer guy, but I can appreciate the selection that English Cellar carries. Â The food I've had is bland (typical bar food), although I'm not expecting the most stellar dishes coming from a place that has "English," "Cellar," and "Alehouse" all in the name. Â
The biggest complaint I have with this bar is the service. Â I've been ~5-10 times and have had poor service at more than half of my visits. Â Staff doesn't seem to try that hard. Â I've sat at tables for long stretches of time with empty glasses waiting. Â Staff refuses to split checks, and will direct you across the street to the Bank of America ATM to leave cash with your friends if you plan on leaving before they do.
So my labmates and I have been going to this place since it opened, a little over 2 years ago. It started off strong, but then things have devolved quickly. We wanted to like it *so badly.* Really. They DO have a great beer selection, but here is a sample of things that have happened to us since we've been going there:
1) A friend ordered a beer, was presented with the WRONG beer (and expensive beer) and the manager attempted to shame him into buying it, then shamed the waitress in front of all us. Ew.
2) They advertised watching the women's World Cup last summer. But then I had to plead with the staff to turn it on when I stopped by for lunch.
3) Every. Single. Time. We wait for 10 minutes to order a GD beer. Then, if we're lucky, we ONLY wait 10 minutes to pay for our check when we're ready to leave.
4) Tonight it smelled so strongly of moth balls that we were ready to leave just on account of that. Luckily, the bad service made it an easy choice.
5) Waiter: "You can have this second beer menu...but just for a little while." Really?
I have wanted to like this place so badly that  I haven't Yelped these bad experiences for 2 years, we just check in about 1x per month or so to see how things are. Welp, tonight we got up and left just like we did the last 3 times we've dropped in, so it's about time I shared the experience. Service SUCKS.Don't spend your money here. Spat's has a pretty decent beer list for cheap, and Paragon has a decent expensive beer list.  And both of those places will wait on you at lightning speed compared to English Alehouse.
Shine yo shoes goven'r?
More like pick your pockets!...by a group of thieving children run by an old man who sings and dances...on the set..of Oliver Twist!
English cellar, not sure what to make of it. Staff was kind to me, but it's just too damn expensive. I mean you're  a bar on Thayer st, how much does it cost to polish your luscious wooden finish on your bar?
I'll probably update this review when I go back some time, but $4.50 for a Gansett is just cahrazyyy to me. I have to pay a dollar tip on that too! That's beyond even Boston prices. 50 cents more and I could of bought a six pack across the street! This was my real turn off, buying two gansetts thinking they would be semi cheap, and realizing I could of gotten a microbrew for probably 50 cents more. I can't even come up with anything witty or amusing to put in this review because I'm so turned off by their prices.
Decent place to go for drinks. Does have a very extensive beer menu, sadly I am not a fruity beer kind of girl so a lot of them did not do much for me. When I went I had a bunch of different IPAs, none of which were on tap which was sort of disappointing. Also was not given a pint class but more of a wine glass for my beer. While I had no interest in the whiskey my friend did and their whiskey selection was not too extensive.
Review Source:I guess I'm of the mindset that this place is okay, but not worth the drive into Providence for me. There really wasn't much noteworthy here, or at least nothing noteworthy when compared to similar places closer to home. Plus, factoring in the horrendous parking situation [read: no parking, and good luck finding a spot on the street when you're 1 block over from Thayer and a stone's throw away from Brown], it's just not that big of a deal.
Review Source:This place is really hit or miss. Recently, it's been mostly a miss. If you go on a weekend night, the bar area is packed and tables are taken. This past time I went with my friends, the service was awful. We found a table and waited a good amount of time before getting our drinks at the bar. Thirty minutes passed when our server finally came over to the table. She was visibly annoyed that we didn't order with her. OK, I understand you don't get a tip if we order at the bar, but maybe try to come over sooner? Second, for the rest of the night, she was an awfully miserable person. One of my friends had just received his permanent residency so we wanted to celebrate big. We still had a fun night but no thanks to the English Cellar. Ok, the bartenders are normally fantastic and the beer list is extensive, I just think I've had too many bad service experiences to make it a worthwhile bar.
Review Source:Dark basement bar with tons of beers to choose from. Â I tried a few I'd never heard of before and was pleasantly surprised! Â This place has some character too - rounded red leather couch in back with a pool table. Â Neat place to hang out! Â Don't know about the food - just drank here. Â But I give it a thumbs up!
Review Source:I do not quite know what to make of this place. Â They get huge points for the extensive beer list and for having Young's Double Chocolate Stout on tap, but service is weird, the decor is a bit over the top and it gets crazy loud in there.
I had friends visiting from out of town recently, and we just wanted to sit outside and drink a beer. Â English Cellar was perfect for that. Â They have beer and tables outside, which is all we wanted. Â
Here's what I don't get though: Â I've been here other times, sat outside, and been served outside. Â This time around, and we were there Friday and Saturday night, we sat outside, but had to go get our own drinks. Â There was a server for outside, but she never once came up to our table to ask if we wanted anything, even though she waited on people sitting next to us. Â What does a person have to do to get table service outside? Â It wasn't a huge inconvenience to go get rounds, but I would have happily tipped well to have someone do that for me so I could have uninterrupted time with my friends.
Also, there are a ton of staff waiting outside to card you. Â Maybe it gets a bit brawly in there later at night, but when we showed up at around 9pm on a Friday, there were four guys hanging out outside, blocking the steps, and I wasn't 100% sure that they all worked there. Â It was a bit off-putting, but not as off-putting as the fact that all of the employees who smoked would flick their cigarette butts out into the street. Â There was no ashtray anywhere, and bar patrons did the same thing. Â
NO! Â You do not do that! Â Littering is so 1985--what the hell? Â We sat there for three hours and just watched cigarette butt after cigarette butt get flicked out onto Angell Street. Â That make me kind of never want to go there again.
English Cellar Alehouse, get one of those cigarette chimney things, littering is not ok!
I love the fruity beer selection.
I love it even more when Shipyard Pumpkinhead and Applehead is on there.
Great selection of beers (I would choose this place over the Mews any day as far as beer selection goes). Â I have never had the food so I am not rating this place based on that. Â For a good beer come here.
I love this place for after work drinks. They have an incredible bottled beer selection and the food is pretty good too. We usually go for the beer and the french fries!
If they could add more beers on tap I would up this to four stars!
The atmosphere is dark and quiet and it's a nice place to go to have a beer and some conversation with friends!
Trivia!! Finally a great place for a Sunday night. Came here last night for some beers and trivia with some friends. I'v been going to upstairs restaurant (Coco Pazzo) since it has opened and always been a huge fan of this place. Had the Special Burger which they were calling "The GUBNA", Two 8oz Angus patties, blue cheese, caramelized onions add bacon, lettuce, tomato, this thing was to die for. Cooked perfect!!
Every time I visit these place I have always left telling friends to check out one of the best restaurants in town to hang out and relax with great food. Oh yeah over 200 different types of beer!! Â
Thanks so much guys, again great work
We've come here to drink a handful of times. Â HUGE variety of beers, which is awesome. Â Have not tried their food... and I probably never will!
I would only come here to drink, chill, and chat at night on the weekends before it gets TOO late/packed. Â It can get cliquey in here, especially in the back room area.
The bartenders are cool, though.
They have a wonderfully diverse selection of beers. I was delighted to try several local and semi-local brews that are difficult to find in my home state. Our server was knowledgeable about many of the brews, which was a nice bonus. My only complaint is the bathroom: it was a dark, smelly, un-airconditioned one-seater with no windows. Boo.
Review Source:If I was local, I might turn this into my bar. "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" emblazoned over the bar shows this is owned by like-minded folks. The beer list is phenomenal. The list was crafted by folks who appreciate and love beer in all its forms, and want to ensure that the world gets a chance to try multiple examples of each. Locals and regionals are heavily represented, while other imports and more distant regional beers (woo Abita!) are highlighted.
While the shared space of the tapas restaurant above is in service, the music is pleasant and a bit retro. However, once the tapas bar closes, the bass it turned up and Usher calls out to the adjacent street to entice college kids away from their beer money. I would have given this place a four, but that clarion call was my sign that it was time to settle the bill.
I was really excited to try this place. Unfortunately this turned out to be my worst dining experience I've ever had in Providence. I went here for lunch with four other people. After being seated, it took about 15 minutes for the waitress to take our order. About 30 minutes after placing our order the appetizers arrived. I ordered the wings, which were disappointing. The quality of the chicken wasn't bad, but the sauce was terrible and they were room temperature, at best. My companions had the cheese plate, which they enjoyed.
Immediately after I finished my appetizer, my entree was delivered. Rather than delivering all of our entrees at once, mine was brought out approximately ten minutes prior to the rest. All of the remaining entrees were brought out at different times. Much like my appetizer, my entree was room temperature when it was brought out. All together, it took roughly an hour to receive our entrees.
The only reason why this place gets two stars is because the waitress was cute.
I love their beer menu. They're the only place in Providence to have Innis & Gunn all the time. Â Their food.... well, let's not talk about their food. Don't come hungry, is all I can say. (Eh, they're British. I got about what i expected - mushy, overdone, bland.)
They do have alllll the beers, reasonably priced. I haven't seen the bad service so many reviews mention, finding instead unusually knowledgeable waitstaff who seem comfortable with their stock and capable of making good recommendations.
I must confess that my friends and I were here so often one summer that we ceased calling it the "English cellar" and just started calling it "going out."
My friends and I are beer rats, and The English Cellar boasts a number of (bottled) craft beers, which is fun, but if you're looking for a vast draft selection, this ain't the place. They did have Old Speckled Hen on draft for a while (and still might) which impressed me.
I wouldn't bother with the food unless it's one of their beer dinners (pairing beer with courses) because it appears that most of their menu originates as chain-restaurant quality frozen pub fare.
For those of us that remember when it was the "liquid lounge" with plywood beer pong tables, the decor is definitely an upgrade. It does feel like an old-world European pub, and there are cozy booths in which to sit if you're lucky enough to nab one.
Let me conclude by saying that I give this place four stars in the summer, but only three in the winter months. While it appears that they inspect IDs critically at the door, the abundance of (underaged) college kids is rather off-putting.
If we'd only had beer, this place would have gotten four solid stars - great selection, good service (although the waitress did regale us with her hate for PVD), and fun specials. We were enjoying our beers so much, we decided to order some nibblies to hold us over for the afternoon.
The food was practically inedible. We ordered some fries that were starchy, mushy, and just barely warm - they actually reminded me a lot of microwaved fries. We also had some frittola that were actually cold cuts wrapped in a wonton and they were just not good - pretty bad, really. I shan't be ordering food from here again, but I may go just for the brews.
The decor was fine - they really ran with the English theme and have the faux leather-bound books to show for it. The bathroom and billiards areas are scary, but I can't really expect more from a college bar.
I love this place! A friend and I went for dinner (I had been a few times previously for drinks - they have a fantastic beer selection) and they've redone and opened the space to create a better flow. Â It used to be very much just a pub but now there's a more extensive menu, more servers and they've opened a sister restaurant upstairs and have created a staircase between both restaurants.
So, we went for dinner and were told we could order off either restaurants menu. Â That opened up my food choices from the pub sandwich/burger to all sorts of tapas, pizzas and different entrees. I ended up with the tuna carpaccio pizza and my friend got the lobster mac n' cheese.
My pizza was delicious. Â The tuna was super fresh and of great quality and the pizza (for a mere $8) was a very decent size. Â My friends lobster mac ($16) she said was good but I was shocked by the size. Â Enough for dinner, but don't think you're going to take home leftovers. It was shockingly small for a dinner size portion.
The service was okay, not amazing but I've certainly experienced worse. Â I think they'll figure out the appropriate wait staff situation soon and that will get worked out.
All in all I think both the English Cellar Alehouse and upstairs newby Coco Pazzo are wonderful additions to the hill and I look forward to returning.
I came in here with my girlfriend looking for a good beer so we walk in, sit down, and order up. Right away it seems like the bartender is totally trashed. It was Sunday so the bar was pretty quiet and this guy is just yelling acting the fool. I thought it was pretty funny but my girlfriend was getting angry at the sexual remarks he was making to his female waitstaff. They were clearly embarrassed at some of the stuff this guy was saying in front of customers.
So we just do our best to ignore all this and enjoy our beer which was pretty good. Very good selection, they had a lot of stuff from Belgium. I noticed a pool table in the back. It had an overall cool look to it with the British theme.
Anyway back to the story, after enjoying my beer I step out for a smoke and who comes out but the drunken bartender. I don't think he noticed me and he then proceeds to puke all over the entry way to the bar. Check please. Your at work and you get so drunk that your puking on your own establishment. And this was a grown man keep in mind.
I hate to judge a place on one person because other than all this I enjoyed the atmosphere in here. But seriously its not good for business, save the boozing for when your off the clock.
PJ D.; "As a few other posters mentioned this place is a Jekyll & Hyde sort of bar."
That must be the case, for it was a surprise to see so many negative reviews. Â I visited once, on a Monday afternoon. Â There were only a handful there, so service was unlikely to be an issue. Â
However, the barman was friendly and clearly cared about his beer. Â The selection of beer was cosmopolitan, but consistantly good, suggesting a love of good beer rather than a will to show off.
Incidentally, a tip for people creating British pubs outside of the UK, in Britain, the chairs will very rarely match. Â Though, I have actually seen working red phone boxes in English pubs, so top marks there.
So if you like beer this place is for you, there are soooo many beers to choose from and with such a vast selection you are sure to find one you like!
Also, tried the food was pretty good, nothing special but they did have fried oreos for dessert so that was def a  win!
Overall, English Cellar a cool little hipster bar, and def someplace worth checking out for the beer list!
I went in for beers and grabbed some fries while I was there. They have a very extensive beer list, 3 or 4 pages. So they have a lot to choose from.
It gets the 5 stars due to the beer list. A few other bars have pretty good beer list in the area, but overall craft and foreign brews dominate the alehouse list.
The fries were good, with a good amount of sea salt on them to give them a bite in the flavor.
I went to the Ale House semi-regularly to play their Sunday trivia with some friends. The service was never more than OK, but it underwent a steady decline over 2011. We went with a larger group in late summer.
We were a table of 8 - Â a solid table without a doubt, some apps, much beer being purchased. My trivia pals and I noted (with some bemusement) that it was the fifth consecutive visit where they appeared to have had at least 100% turnover in the wait staff. It's tough to say, but honestly it was the appalling service that ended up driving us all away.
Maybe it is the constant turnover that is doing them in, but I won't be back.
I dropped by twice during the week while I was visiting Brown. The beer list is good, and is definitely the bar's main draw. Drink prices are reasonable, too.
The staff was courteous, but at both my table and my bar-seat later in the week I found myself waiting longer than I expected.
The bar's got a funky smell, and the passage between the bar and the pool tables is too small for me.
As a few other posters mentioned this place is a Jekyll & Hyde sort of bar.
On a weeknight it's a place you can have a beer and catch up with friends and have a great night. I've enjoyed the food I've had there and found it to be just what the doctor ordered on a few occasions. We even had an office outing there that was a huge hit.
On the weekends the scent of Fitch Fierce and desperation hangs thick in the air. Its mind numbingly loud and so crowded you're likely to spill a good amount of your high end craft beer. Now, that may be a plus for the younger set looking to get hammered and find that special someone to make a mistake with. Not my scene.
The beer selection is awesome, no way around it. The prices for the beers are on par with other beers that serve rarer Belgian imports and craft beers, perhaps a tad on the high side.
Bottom line, if you're going there for the beer go on a weeknight. If your going there for the Roofie Coolata and a rash of mysterious origins, you'll love Friday or Saturday night.
I've been here a few times, and depending on when you go, it is two completely different bars.
Some nights it's a quiet bar where you can hang out, drink, and have a conversation with the person next to you. Â
Other nights, it is college bar central, where you wait forever to get served, have to elbow your way to the bar, and the noise level is horrendous. Â
They have a huge selection of beers, and the staff is friendly and quite knowledgeable.
Checked out this place yesterday for lunch with a friend to celebrate his 30th. We both enjoyed the experience. The draught beer selection included about 12 choices with 2 additional specials to choose from. The bottle selection was quite impressive and seemed endless. The burger I had was just all right but the beer battered fish and chips my friend had that I was lucky enough to sample was just great. The beer battered onion rings were also flavored so well that I passed on the included dip.
Service was prompt and friendly. You'll be happy if you get Lindsey. Based on my first experience I was surprised how quiet it was inside but then again it was a snowy weekday. The food prices were fair and the beer prices were about average. The atmosphere of the establishment was also quite nice if not a bit dark for my taste. We'll definitely be back and recommend this place to others.
Thayer Street is one of my go-to weekend locals, and one evening, by chance, I happened into the English Cellar Alehouse, which runs perpendicular to Thayer. English Ale Cellar presents a nice contrast to the Kartobar's, Paragon's, and other college haunts/guido spots that populate Thayer.
Quality and unique brews, decent prices and my god...available seating! A good place to switch it up if you don't feel like being packed into a bar awkwardly standing next to that one sweaty guy with spiked hair and a button down who just won't stop trying to dance with each and every girl who walks past him...
Stumbled upon this wonderful place this afternoon! Enjoyed several outstanding, hard-to-find beers, a couple of delectable scotch eggs (trust me- you should try them), and chatting with the very knowledgable and welcoming Mike at the bar!
Great atmosphere, all the food we saw going by looked and smelled wonderful, really terrific bar and waitstaff- complete with pride in their restaurant and senses of humor and a HUGE beer list (draught and bottled)-- what more could you ask for? We'll be back!
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