Great beer selection, okay service and moderate prices, but a nice change of pace from the other younger skewing (college) bars downtown. Â
A worthwhile stop off for the wide variety of beers if nothing else. Â Actually worth hanging around for a bit if you can grab one of the booths!
Not going back ever again. Every time I go to Spike's, the surly gentleman server finds a way to ruin the experience of trying some great beers. This time he walks up to our table, throws the coasters like a frisbee at each of us, some landing in laps, some hitting our arms/shoulders. Everyone was looking around wondering if he was trying to be funny or something. He took our order with the usual sarcastic answers we've come to expect from him. After asking to split the bill in two he looks at me and says 'or how about you just pay for all of it'. We thought he was joking and all laughed uncomfortably, but he wasn't joking, he put the full bill right in font of me and walked away. I guess splitting the bill was too complicated?. He never came back to our table to take our credit cards, so my friend had to chase him down so we could pay and get out of there. The time before last, we sat ourselves at a table, waited 20 minutes and the same server never took our order. We just ended up leaving. I will be telling more people in SLO not to go there. Good job pal!!!
Review Source:Great beer, great burgers, great fries. A little overpriced for some of the beers, but a great place to indulge in bar food and a couple pints. But there's a catch....if you come when it's busy you'll get screwed. They tend to under staff. Â Spikes, if you're reading this, please have more servers and I promise we'll come more often! Good place though, give it a try.
Review Source:What I liked most about Spikes was the food. Â I had linguine with meatballs and garlic cheese fries. Â The fries were great smothered in cheese and a perfect amount of garlic on them and yes a perfect amount of grease on them. Â The linguine cooked right and the meatballs tasty. Â The atmosphere is what I didn't like. Â We went on a hot day with no air conditioning. Â The stools way uncomfortable, ended up sitting in the back where it was cooler with a floor fan. Â The service was decent and the cook made a point to ask us how the food was. Â The beer selection ok, the beer my friend wanted written on the board they were out of. Â That always irks me when they are advertising something they don't even have. Â So when it comes down to it the cook saved this visit and is the reason I will be back.
Review Source:Beers: great selection and proper knowledge of them as well.
Service: short staffed usually, dont be afraid to flag down the staff, they get busy and can't hover over you.
Food: Hit and miss. The menu is in dire need of an overhaul but the cooks need better consistency. I had a french dip the other day that was pathetic. The bun was barely toasted and small and the whole thing looked to tiny compared to the heaping plate of fries it came with. Â Heres a rundown:
Apps: nachos are good. croquets are good, skins are good, chips/salsa are ok, the rest is soso. Serve the salsa for chips in a bowl, not a tiny cup. Fries are a nice cut but whatever you're frying them in makes them so heavy it ruins the meal.
Burgers: Big and Dry, need improvement. Try a chicken patty instead to make it better.
Salads: not bad, the chicken caesar is good as a wrap but they are inconsistent and dont always add croutons to the wraps.
Sammiches: turkey Club is good but a lot of bread. French dip used to be good, needs a sourdough roll. Go healthy and get a salad instead of fries.
Taco tuesdays: The seasoning they use for the beef is too heavy, cut that in half and you'd have ok tacos. Black beans are yummy. Â I miss when they used to have chicken as well.
$$$: Â not bad, they dont use computers so your bill is just the prices shown, they must back the tax out later because you wont see it on the bill. Keep that in mind if you think the prices are high, they really arent.
I used to love Spike's. Â It was the default place for my friends and I to hang out for a few years. Â "Grabbabeeratspikes?" was its own word used at least once a week. Â Then a few months ago I decided to never return again.
The service got terrible. Â That was definitely the first thing to go. Â Servers would often need to be summoned to a table after about a half-hour of waiting. Â Meals began taking much longer to arrive.
The food has always been so-so, but the atmosphere was great. Â It's main attraction, for me at least, and at least several dozen other people it would seem, was the Wednesday wing special. Â Then they dramatically raised the price from I believe $5.25 for a pound to a "mess" of wings (about 5) for $6.00. Â Now, I know wings are expensive... but they're not $1.25 apiece expensive., especially considering that a lot of them contain shattered bones at a rate I've never experienced elsewhere.
They also stopped doing take-out for wings on wing nights. Â I somewhat understand this. Â It's a special, they are just serving it because they want you to buy beer. Â If you get it to go, you won't be buying their beer. Â The place was waaaaay over crowded, I had been looking forward to wings and a cold beer all day, so I just asked the man at the counter if I could have wings to go. Â He said sure and took my order, said come back in thirty minutes. Â I went across the street to the comic book store for about half an hour then came back an waited for the older server to notice me standing at the end of the counter. Â He didn't, so I got his attention and asked about my order.
"We don't do take out on specials."
"But I already ordered them. Â I've been waiting over half an hour."
[mean look] "We don't do take out on specials."
"So what happened to the order? Â Can you check to see if its there?"
"If it was a special, it's not going to be filled."
WELL F*CK YOU.
The final straw for me was a meal that took an HOUR AND A HALF to arrive after being ordered. Â My table ordered at around 8:30 and by the time I left at 10 the food still had not arrived. Â The food apparently came about fifteen minutes after I left.
So good bye, Spike's. Â It was good while it was good, but you seriously suck now. Â Eureka Burger seems to be filling your old shoes nicely.
Great beer selection, food is average. Friendly wait staff in the true SLO style. The cooks forgot to put cheese on my sandwich, and the cook was nice enough to throw me a free order of onion rings. The french fries are freshly cut and prepared, but leave something to be desired. Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of thick cut fries that remind me that I'm eating an entire fried potato, haha. I've had the french dip and the chicken bacon ranch sandwiches, and if you are looking for top tier food, there are plenty of other places to go. The obvious attraction here is beer and atmosphere.
Review Source:Yes the service is slow...
Yes the beer is expensive...
YES the croquets and nachos are bomb...
Yes the 3.00 taco night is a deal...
I really like this bar, minus the slow service, it a great place to hang out, watch sports and talk to your bartender-spikes is a good "dive bar" fun time.
But hey, why I am yelping about this place? I don't drink but I am trying to start.
The beer selection was good, the service was okay, but the food was BAD. I ordered a bacon avocado burger with garlic cheese fries to accompany my pint of Liberty Ale and was severely disappointed.
What I got was a small beef patty, overcooked bacon that looked like it was cooked a few days ago, and horribly dry fries that had been under a heat lamp for way too long.
I complained to the server and he was kind enough to discount the meal, which I greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, the cook just made excuses about the food. It would have been better to have told me to order something else than give me stale fries and a subpar burger.
I could only make it halfway through the meal before I gave up. As I write this 3 hours later, I have that uneasy nauseous feeling of having consumed food that sat out on the counter for too long (AKA mild food poisoning).
Aside from the food, the beer selection was good and the atmosphere was friendly. If I had just come for a pint, I would have rated the place 3 or 4 stars.
Bottom line: Come for the beer, but eat BEFORE you go.
A friend of mine told me about this place. She mentioned the 40 beers around the world, which they give you a card to keep a record of/the server signs off. The front room is kind of small; booths and high small tables, then there's a back room with long tables. I didn't get to try the food, but they have daily specials.
The beer I tried was Fuller's ESB. The service is super nice. They also pour the beer into a glass in front of you.
Definitely a chill place to go to.
This very well may be the only bar in San Luis Obispo where it is possible to have a conversation without getting constantly interrupted by members of the Cal Poly Douchebag/Bro crowd proclaiming their drunken state to the world in the form of guttural grunts and manly screams. Instead Spikes caters to bearded youth in search of a well poured pint (guilty as charged), and professional drinkers who have been coming to Spikes for so long that their asses have formed permanent imprints in the bar stools.
Don't come to eat here (it's strictly mediocre food), come here to drink great beers from around the world (but mostly from California) and to whittle away talking with your friends. Prices are reasonable and the selection itself is larger then anywhere else in the county.
Spikes is a whole different world from the bar scene downtown and an outstanding place to spend the evening.
I graduated from Cal Poly back in 1997 and recently returned to see how things had changed. Â I was happy to see that it has still remained a fun, energetic small community. Â That's what I have missed most about SLO.
I went to one of my old hangouts for a beer and some grub. Â Spikes was a fixture for me and many of my friends while in college. Â Even though the faces had changed, the smiles and great beer had not! Â Spikes has a great selection of pub food and beer. Â
I would definitely recommed Spikes to who are visiting SLO. Â I don't have to recommend anything to the locals, they already know!
I miss ya SLO. Â Till next time!!!
Spikes inside is shitty. Not like its been there for a while shitty, not its been visited and gotten shitty. Not even we make it shitty on purpose. Its just boring, and small, and a wanna be german beer garden??
Ok, the real reason im pissed is that the owner (i think, at least the white guy in the pictures) is a dope, i dont think he is mean- maybe just clueless. well , heres what happened
9:59- walk by Spikes- see people eating, ok still serving lets go in
9:59:30- walk in- say hello to bartender and see the owner (i think, at least the white guy in pictures) and we sit down
10:01- said white guy comes over to table with menu
10:01:01- developing hunger pains
10:01:15-developing boner (hot co-eds across the room-
10:02- atttempt to order wings, white guy says kitchen just closed
10:02:12- look over to see chef still in the process of cooking
10:02:28- cmon man really? yea its closed
ok so we move to the bar and watch the food still being served- but even though he should have made us something, rules are rules- fine- but what happened next I had to attribute to stupidity rather than a lack of manners
The last meal was made for HIM AND he ate literally right in front of us- starving travelers, and made small talk WHILE CHEWING I have to laugh at this still bc it was so ridiculous- i wish I larry Davided the situation and said something but i thought he was kidding and was going to bring out free wings or somthing...
Huge selection of beers that are tasty.
Newer management though (around last year), and I feel the service and food has become worse. I would still recommend the place just based on the beers, but don't expect to be blown away. Go ahead and grab a bite before coming here. With that said, this is a very low-key pub compared to the bars / dance clubs of SLO. You'd be hard pressed to get into a fight here - or see one for that matter.
Also, if you drink all the beers they have (i.e. "Go Around the World") all you get is a t-shirt. They should have something on the wall to commemorate it and show appreciation for their dedicated customers!
Lastly, this place is 20 times better then Bull's Tavern!
My understand is that Spike's used to be covered in plaques demonstrating who had Gone Around The World: tried all of their beers. Â You can still Go Around, but you will only get a t-shirt now: all of the plaques are gone. Â The waitress swore they were in storage and not thrown away. Â Apparently with a change in management came a change in decor.
Thursday night after Farmer's Market was full, but we found a table on the back patio. Â We decided to order some wings and beer, and if we were still hungry we would order more food. Â After the wings, we were prepared to order more food, but the service was so spotty we eventually decided we'd have to wait even longer than we'd been waiting for fresh drinks and opted not to eat. Â I was hungry and bummed.
This is more of a 3.5 star rating.
4 stars: HUGE SELECTION OF BEERS (I suggest number 20, so tasty and decently priced too!) and tasty wings.
3 stars: price and service sucks because there's so little seating and they're slammed every weekend, but they do try.
They're wings are delicious! My boyfriend and I got the medium flavored and they were SPICY and we can normally eat pretty spicy. Â Now I'm wondering how bad the HOT ones must burn! We also had their BBQ flavored wings to even out the spicy ones and those were also pretty good. Â
They're garlic cheese fries were really greasy but not bad considering how big the platter of fries was for the price.
There are clearly regulars that come here because it's the only pub left in SLO, which gives it a really cool feel. Â
But be careful because it's pricey:
2 pounds of wings, garlic cheese fries, and 2 beers came out to $20 (including tax and tip). Â You're probably thinking $20 isn't bad for that amount of food, but my boyfriend and I each had coupons for a free pound of wings, which normally cost $8.25/lb! Â So it would have been almost $40! Crazy!
All things considered, Spike's is a pretty great neighborhood pub. Â They have an amazing beer list, pretty standard bar & grill food, and a classic pub atmosphere.
There is one issue, though, that other reviewers will talk about: they're about half the size they need to be. Â Spike's is pretty much the only good pub (distinguishing from bars) in the SLO area, and as a result they can get pretty crowded. Â When this happens, despite the best efforts of the staff, the service slows a bit. Â To add to this, the price you pay for said service can be a bit high (the food is maybe $1-2 overpriced).
All of that said, it's still my go-to place every Wednesday night (best hot wings in town). Â The slight premium I pay with my wallet and time is ultimately worth it, as it's a great place to a grab a nice craft beer with some friends after work.
Spikes is great!
We stopped going there for a while and we recently started going back. The food is a notch above your typical bar-fare. Do yourself a favor and go on Friday to get the hand-battered fish and chips! The fish is moist, the portions are generous and the fries are hand-made.
If you are a beer drinker, this is your heaven....lots of beers on tap, including obscure brews from around the world. You can get your "around the world" card and begin trying all the various international brews....once completed; a prize awaits you!
this place is small and is usually busy so don't go there if you are grungry (grumpy and hungry) or you'll get bummed out.
the servers try, but I have seen them crack under the pressure.
PS.
I would also recommend the Pulled pork sando (I get mine with saurkraut instead of slaw)...you will be full for a day and a half!
Spikes was my first experience with a neighborhood pub and a very good one at that. I walked in not liking beer at all and after my first visit I was hooked.
It has 40 beers from around the world. A selection ranging from Belgian beer to Oatmeal stouts, and if you drink all 40 you get a t-shirt.
The food is basic pub fare. But there are deals for each day of the week, including taco Tuesdays (tacos for $2). On Thursdays it is usually packed with people after the local farmers market that ends at 9pm. It is always welcoming and relaxed. Also, after a while we got to know not only the servers but other regulars as well.
Good times.
TERRIBLE service. I've been here several times, mostly dragged by friends. NEVER go here for the food. In one instance I waited at the table for ten minutes and eventually went up to the server to order food, who told me that they took the orders at the table and I should go back to my table. After a few more minutes of waiting (why make me wait, they were not terribly busy!), they finally came by, and later served us our pathetic St. Patty's meals, consisting of some slab of meat (a good portion of which was just fat) and cabbage.
Another instance when we celebrated a friend's birthday with cake we brought in after our less than mediocre meals, I couldn't believe they tacked on a $10 charge for the plates/utensils without telling us. Ridiculous!! The least they could have done was told us beforehand. It's really presumptuous to not tell customers about charges--don't make us assume!
What tacky management and poor service. Go somewhere else if you want food with your drinks! Craptacular place.
I am sure that many people have told you that the spikes that we know now is nothing like the one back in the day. Â The day when there were mugs from the ceiling and a cooperate card. Â Yeah the day when there was layers of silly cards from people going around the world.
There is still a card that you can complete for drinking 40 beers and a t-shirt to show the world that you could finish. Â They still have a similar menu and of course a large amount of beers on tap.
Great place to have some beers and good conversation with friends. Â Do not expect to have something fancy but there are times when beer and fries just taste like gold.
Yes I have been around the world twice!
The service at this place was eh and it was a little small and "cozy" feeling. Â It closed kind of early but I was there on a Wednesday.
They have 40 different beers on tap which was very cool. Â It was a little pricey for a pitches, about 15$. Â Ok to stop by at but not a place you want to spend the whole night.
I'm giving this place 5 stars because it literally is the ONLY beer bar in SLO. Yeah, there are breweries and bars, but this place is just for beer lovers.
Great selection of beers along with a specials board. A ton of beers on tap.
Great bar food: SPICY chicken wings, chicken strips, burgers, fries, etc. The wings are the best. Come in on Wednesdays for "Wing wednesdays" - wings at a discount.
Service: Great when it is moderately crowded, just okay when it is really crowded.
This place has a great mixture of older locals and college students with a taste for real beer.
Great place if you like to watch a sports game because they have quite a few LCD tvs set up.
This is my favorite meet up place for friends.
They also have a Spike's card with all of their beers so the waitress can initial every beer youve had and when you have them all you get a free Spike's shirt - AWESOOOME!
This place is great. Â I started my drink card with the Spaten Imobilizer or something like that. Â I can't wait to try all 40 beers! Â They have a great variety and try to serve the brews in the correct glasses. Â Our server was very friendly and we played cribbage at the table for about an hour, and no one cares.
Nachos from the kitchen look great, but I didn't try anything. Â Students hang out there too, but most seem to be grad students. Â Good vibe. Â I miss the plaques tho...
I went on a little jaunt down the coast the other weekend to visit my old college stomping grounds. My friend Jake and I took some people who had never been to SLO out for a night downtown. Having not set foot in Spike's in last 2 years, my friend and I decided that it was time for a visit.
Spike's still is your best bet for a beer drinking night in a shot/ nightly drink special town. However, in the last few years, their selection has diminished from close to a hundred down to 42. The place on a Saturday night was an equal mix of college students and locals and the bar itself still has that worn, beat up (in a good way) look about it. The night we went was buy a pitcher, get a selected appetizer free night. I am pleased to say we got the croquettes (which are here are like rice and cheesy tater tots combined) and our plate of 15 of these little jujus was more than enough to feed the four of us. Our server was a sweet goofy chick who was more than happy to chat as the four of us tried to tackle the three pitchers we ordered. What did we drink you ask? Anchor Steam Barleywine and 2 pitchers of Firestone Reserve---BOTH on tap!!!!
I probably would have given this place an extra star had there (a) not been a feeling of giving up that sat like a white elephant in the room (don't lose faith Spike's!) and (b) the giant rat who crawled from behind the upper corner tv and walked on the beams across the  whole bar. Fortunately for my own peace of mind, the fore mentioned Jake is in pest control and the croquettes were well on their way to being digested so that situation didn't bother me too much.
I feel like I have been cheated on by a loving girlfriend of many years. Â For those who have read my previous review of 4.5 stars, I really did love this place. Me and my friends have been coming here literally at least once a week for the last year. The servers know us, we are "locals" here. This place is practically the definition of my college years. I loved this place. Some of my fondest college memories happened here. This is why I feel absolutely betrayed. Why did you cheat on me Spike's?
Maybe I am sounding a bit harsh, but let me run you through the night:
When we got here, it was busy, but I had been here when it had been far busier. We sat down at our table. Literally 15 (FIFTEEN!) minutes later, the server FINALLY came to our table to ask for our drink order.
Here are the straight facts. SIX for us were at the table. FOUR of us were eating dinner. The other TWO were there just for a beer.
We ordered our drinks, and our food. The wait for drinks took an additional TEN MINUTES. Food took the normal time to receive., but after that, service was literally nonexistent. Once our server finally did come to check on us, she again took some drink orders. Another TEN MINUTES passed for her to return with our drinks, but she had messed up the order and forgotten one of the drinks. At this point, I start getting annoyed. Already, in the countless times I have visited this place, this was by far the worst service I had ever received at Spike's. Unfortunately though, it only got worse.
After the messed up drink order, service was completely nonexistent for the rest of the night. One of us actually had to get up and ask our amazing server for the bill. To our lovely surprise, there was an 18% gratuity added to our bill (Absolutely not mentioned anywhere on the menu). Let me remind you that there were SIX of us, only FOUR that were eating, the other two only ordered ONE BEER each, and we had this BS 18% gratuity added to our tab. Brace yourself, it got worse.
At this point I would like to remind you all that I have visited Spike's COUNTLESS times, often with groups larger than six, and have NEVER had a gratuity added to our bill.
So basically, I am fuming now. By far the worst service I have ever had at this place, in fact, close to the worst service I have ever had at any restaurant EVER. We grudgingly pay our bill. On our way out, one of us overhears our server chatting to another server saying "I had to charge gratuity because I knew they weren't going to tip me."
Words cannot express my disappointment. One of my friends decided to speak to the owner, but the owner only seemed to defend our oh-so-amazing server of the night. Our concerns were not addressed in the least bit.
I really feel as if I have been cheated on. Why Spike's? Why? This was really one of my worst dining experiences ever. It really is tragic to have such a disgusting taste in my mouth after so many amazing times. I have seen you here before server, I know you are not new, that is not the excuse. I've spent hundreds of dollars here, and unfortunately starting to feel it was all a waste now. I am utterly disgusted Spike's. I expected so much more.
Taco Tuesday kicked ass! 2 Tacos for 2 bucks! College towns have the best deals! (see review on Frog and Peach).
They also figured out how to encourage college students to return and drink your beer regularly! Give them a card full of numbered beers and tell them they get a tee-shirt or a mug when they finish! I still have mine! I think I have 10 beers left out of 40, damn the man for not finishing it!
The food is bar food, but seriously 2 tacos for 2 bucks? who cares. The beer is what people go there for anyway!
Spike's is my absolute favorite place to go for a drink. Â
The food is mediocre dead sober and excellent with a brew, I like the skins and the garlic cheese fries.
The selection of beers is excellent, and they have a friendly and beer-knowledgeable staff that makes me keep coming back for more.
But really, Spike's is the best because it's one of the few bars in slo you can go to and actually have a conversation. Â Chris D. has it right, a "sit down and drink with friends" kind of place indeed.
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