Hello beer in central New York! Â As per usual travel motives, we were looking for a great beer selection for my beer geek husband and good bar food...for some hair of the dog. Â We stumbled across this recommendation from beer advocate, and as expected, just what we were looking for. Â
Let's start with the warm and friendly smiling faces when you walk through the door. Â The service is so inviting and welcoming. Decor is clean and just what you'd expect for a bar/pub. We visited on a Saturday afternoon and got comfortable--no one seemed to mind.
We ordered appetizers. Â Not so standard bar fare that was delicious. Â Pluses all around for this place. Â Swing on by!!
J Ryan's is a microbrew oasis in the midst of the painfully boring beer dessert of Syracuse. Â While it may be possible to find some of these selections elsewhere, never for the price offered here and certainly never on specials. Â Unfortunately, the bar is quite small and can be hard to navigate towards to place an order. Â The place is typically crowded, but after sipping the beer and paying your bill it is not difficult to figure out why. Â All the times I have been the crowd had been young, with quite a few scene kids hanging around, but I know of many people who enjoy this place so I believe it draws a diversified crowd.
Just like any bar, you may have a bad experience with the people here, but your thirst will always be quenched.
Try if available:
Founders Porter
Brooklyn Brewery Mary's Maple Porter
Place is great. Â The $10 pitchers range from decent (one dumb fruity or wheat beer, and one drinkable beer) to exceptional (Old Rasputin and Southpoint IPA the same night).
Moving up here, I expected that beef on weck and garbage plates would abound, given that it's sort of close to the areas that specialize in them. Â J Ryan's is the only place I've found ether of those dishes, and they're quite good.
Only complaint is that it has one of those electronic jukeboxes where the patrons can choose any song they want, which means the music is consistently terrible.
I went in here during the Taste of Syracuse to get a beer before heading down into the madness. The bar itself was fairly crowded; I had a hard time getting the attention of a bartender so I stood for a while before I actually got some service. But once I had my drink, there were open tables outside where I could enjoy the summer weather and sip my Wailing Wench.
They have a great beer selection. Big ups to the giant-sized chalkboard featuring all 69 of them.
I'd definitely go back to just hang outside and have a few beers. Seems like a good hang out spot.
Every night they have two beer specials. For 11 oz its 2.50 and for pitchers it's $10. The beer specials aren't newb beers either.
On a nice Tuesday they had Brooklyn Dbl Chocolate Stout on special ! My favorite beer. I paired this with a Bacon Cheddar Burger with fries. I think it was good? I was already starting to get blasted so I kind of inhaled the burger in savage fashion. Â My taste buds were numb with alcohol. They didn't have any Tabasco sauce, but the waitress did say they have Frank's Red Hot. I did notice on the burger that the bread was good quality. I should have taken a picture, but they served the burger with about four slices of pickle on the side, with the smallest "bed" of lettuce...it was more of a small strip no bigger than my pinky finger! I found it funny really. My friends sandwich got the same treatment. Â He said his was pretty good. We both cleaned our plates
(bear in mind we were both near the edge of being trashed)
We also enjoyed a pitcher of some Red they had on special. Very nice, sweet and malty. The patio is rather nice. A large church is the main view and there is a very tall building in the background. I spilled some beer wile pouring my pint like a total douche. I also did notice, if you stop by J Ryan's, DO NOT hop over that little chain that outlines the patio, nor hop over it when you jam out. It is frowned upon.
Unfortunately, I drank way too much of the stout and I paid dearly the next day at work. Luckily, I was able to politely excuse myself and dry heave in the men's restroom. After my third heave session, I was alright.
A pizza slice at Mangias picked me right up and I felt way better!
The music can be a little loud, but then again its a bar. One particular night, I kid you not, there was only one TV with the NBA eastern conference finals on and several that had that stupid donald trump show. weird. Don't worry, the kind waitress will change it for you. She also likes drunk messy people, I could tell.
go to J Ryan's. Its good.
J Ryans is my favorite bar in Syracuse. Its a craft beer lovers dream with 69 beers on tap, also the food is pretty amazing for bar food and priced well below what you would expect to pay. The one thing I want to point out that makes J Ryans great is the price of beer here. Most other bars/pubs way over charge for craft beer on tap, not so with J Ryans.
I special order a cheeseburger with meatsauce and its pretty amazing. Daily specials on select craft beer with the daily special pints going for around $2 a pint.
Can't go wrong at JRyans..I have been here about 5 times (midday, dinner, late night..Sunday, Friday, Tuesday) the beers are unique with variety. Â If you are a beer fan..enjoy. Â The food is amazing..what can I say they braise the corned beef in Guinness. Â Reuben sandwich and a bear republic racer 5 IPA will do you right. Â Not to mention the late night gets pretty nutty at the right times...bar is open til 2..grab one of the 70+ beers on tap and find a Cougar
Review Source:J. Ryans is a local bar that boasts 69 beers on tap and reasonable prices on pints. Â This Downtown watering hole is starting to catch on with discerning University students willing to make the trek off 'the hill' for a good selection of beer from friendly and knowledgeable bar tenders who will remember you if you come back. Â The food at J. Ryans pairs well with their beer selection and the portions are generous.
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