My friend and I were there on Saturday July 13th 1pm. Â Sat outside, nice tents. Â few patrons. Â It took way too long for the waitress to even appear, as in over 5 minutes. Â Meanwhile a few other patrons showed up outside. Â We placed our order for their 1lb of bacon BLT based on the bacon being cooked on the griddle not deep fried. Â She assured us it was. Â When it came out both sandwhiches were tiny, the bread was rock hard toast, the lettuce was banged up and had dark spots, the tomato was cut an inch thick to make up for what was clearly not a 1lb of bacon, and the bacon was deep fried into little rocks. Â When questioned, the waitress proceeded to sit down (uninvited) at our table and tell us how she is "scared of the kitchen." Â "I'm like scared to go down there, no one speaks the same language and all they do is yell at each other." Â We asked her to please re check about the bacon being deep fried or cooked on the griddle....she returned and said it was deep fried. Â The side of "homemade" potato chips were burnt and tasted off, as though they had been out exposed to air and cigar smoke uncovered. Â One of the sandwiches which was not touched was sent back, the other which I partially ate to give it a fair judgement was not sent back. Â It was a total waste of a lunch out in a semi nice location.
Review Source:I'm not a cigar-smoker, but I am a burger-eater and beer-drinker, as is my boyfriend.
So, we went to The Wooden Match for dinner on a nice summer Monday. We sat outside, where the smoke was not as concentrated (but still inescapable).
The food and drink didn't disappoint. They had 10-15 craft beers on tap -- I had a Southern Tier Phin & Matts Extraordinary Ale -- and more in bottles.
The salad we ordered had fresh mixed greens and a few other veggies. The 10-ounce burger -- which was large, but not excessively so -- was more medium-well than the requested medium, but still juicy and enjoyable.
So, the ambiance...
I had checked out the restaurant's website before we went, and thought, "This place looks pretty classy. Look at the nice font they use in their logo!"
And yes, the space is nice. There's plenty of outdoor seating, with some tables under tents and some under umbrellas. The building itself is old-timey and well-maintained, and the bar inside looked the same way.
But any restaurant that requires its female waitstaff to wear teeny plaid skirts automatically forfeits its classy points. Same goes for any restaurant that names a Cuban sandwich the "Gitmo Git'some, Son." Same goes for any restaurant that plays "Let's Get Retarded" by The Black Eyed Peas during its dinner service on a Monday. (Or at any time, really.)
The Wooden Match did all these things. In fact, multiple Black Eyed Peas songs played during our dinner.
We did enjoy eavesdropping on a table of cigar-smoking dudes -- the most aggressive dressed in a dingy white T-shirt and basketball shorts -- trying to hit on the waitress.
Hey, Vlad: If you're reading this, maybe you'll have better luck if you wear grown-up clothes the next time you hit the town.
My beer snob kid brought me here as he knows how much I love burgers ... and he loves beer ... I was not disappointed. Â I had Benson's Bloated Brothel Burger (love the name!) which is a 10 ounce burger with a 4 ounce crab patty on top - insanely delicious! Â The burger was perfectly cooked and juicy, crab patty was awesome. Â I ate every morsel even though it was a huge serving. Â Service was excellent. Â It was a bit smokey, but hey, it's a cigar bar so to be expected. Â I did not have a cigar, but I did have wit beer which I really liked! Â I'll definitely be back!
Review Source:Rare jewel in the middle of a pleasant area. Â Food was beyond great for a sandwich. Â I will defiantly make this a standard drop on my travels. Â They have a smaller selection of cigars but they do have CI blends to find a good mix for your meal. Â Unfortunately we do not have anything like this in SC or I would be there almost nightly. Â Staff was virtuous and attentive. Â Great spot for a cigar lover.....try it out and you will be impressed.
Review Source:I was first introduced to "The Match" more than a year ago as a place to escape the cold for a cigar in winter. Â After a few minutes in the place it became abundantly clear it was much more than a refuge for local cigar smokers. Â An awe inspiring selection of craft beers and the amazing food menu continue to make this place a destination year round. Â Outside Cabanas were added which make the place an excellent venue for live music in warmer weather for smokers and non-smokers alike. Â If you are a cigar smoker passing through the Lehigh Valley looking for a place to light up without dirty looks, The Wooden Match is a must. Â Just don't sit in my seat!
Review Source:The Wooden Match has been a great addition to the Lehigh Valley scene. For cigar types it has given them a place to enjoy an adult beverage, a smoke, and eat all under one roof. They have a good selection of beers and cigars. The menu is a carnivores dream and features both standards and some unique eats. The inside is as expected smokey but it has never been as bad as I expect it too be.
For me, I prefer to go to the Match in the summer so that I can sit outside. During my several experiences here I have had food that is on par with local bar food in the valley. To date I have had a burger, blt, pierogies, nachos, and some additional menu items and it was all ok but nothing to write home about.
Each time here the service was lacking and not on par with what I have come to expect in the Lehigh Valley. Overall, the Wooden Match is a decent alternative if you are looking to hek out somewhere that offers something different.
Im going to preface this review by saying that when I came here I was on the verge of getting deathly sick.
My boyfriend is from Bethlehem and apparently there are only a couple places to go in the area. One being the wooden match and the others being the casino and brew works. We came here on a saturday night and the place was pretty packed. Walking into the place I immediately felt like had been flashed back to the 1960's...where everywhere smoked, live band was playing and everything was made of wood. Ok maybe thats not how the 60's was but hopefully I painted a nice little picture for you.
There are a couple menus to chose from: beer, food and cigars. I was not really hungry but everyone that I was with said the food was phenomenal. I got the pumpkin beer and it was great. The service kinda sucked.
Overall a pretty decent place. I'd come back again to give it another shot.
It's been around for a while. I have gone so many times that it's nearly a sin that I am just now writing a review for 'The Match'. With a new job under my belt, I found that my colleagues share my adoration for excellent beer selections and good cigars after a long day in the office. If this sounds like something you would also enjoy, look no further.
The Wooden Match was originally the Main St. Depot, also a classic spot in it's own right at one time. While they did almost nothing to the inside decor, it's a completely new spot. The slogan says it all "Beer-Meat-Cigars".
I like to break it up...the decor. Nothing much at all to look at, old classic bar, but has a fun vibe of history in it with the pictures that hang from the walls and the bar itself.
The food. This is what you came to Yelp for. The food is awesome! Great bar food that embodies the term 'Bang for your Buck'. The quality of food is great but the real kicker are the portion sizes. They are absolutely enormous for the amount they charge you. Perfect example, any regular could tell you that the average person wouldn't even be able to eat the HALF portion of nachos and they are only 6$ :) Just one example but the burgers, the appetizers, everything is high quality, made when you order and customizable within reason! I have tried so many items and always love each one. Though the menu doesn't change often, when you are doing things right, they don't always need to change.
The booze. Ah, look no further when trying to find high quality craft beers. Not only do they boast around 10 taps that include things like beers from 'Lost Coast' breweries, they have a fitting Gurkha IPA and Ciders as well. If the taps don't do it for you the bottle list is even better. Great beers from 21st Amendment and Weyerbacher to Anchor Steam and Delirium. If you like beer, this would definitely be one of the few places in Bethlehem that can meet any expectation head on!
Lastly, the cigars. When you think of a cigar bar, you wonder about the supply chain and what type they will offer. You ask yourself are they going to offer deals and plug cheap cigars just to get lower prices on orders.
NOPE. Wooden Match is brought to you by Cigars International. Two locations in the Lehigh Valley and they have quality cigars that they blend themselves in the "Blend Lab" and then they have plenty of Rocky Patel, Gurkha and other major players. The prices range and they even have deals. Catch them in a generous mood and one night it will be 'two for the price of one'. That's right, order your favorite high priced cigar and they GIVE you a second. Really? Need a say more...
Do yourself a favor, give it a try...
P.S. The ventilation system they have is great, minimal smoke presence for those of you that are smoke sensitive
I live in Arizona and have been a frequent shopper of cigar international online. So when I heard about this restaurant opening I couldn't wait for the next time I came to Pennsylvania to go. So finally went tonight. The place looks nice from the outside. It's a really nice old train depot. Get up to the front door and see the sign that says "please wait for hostess to be seated". So walk inside to the host podium and was waiting for a few minutes and no one showed up. Poked my head inside looked around the dining area and still no one acknowledged my exsistance at the entrance. Asked a couple sitting right inside the restaurant if there was a host. They replied that the had just seated themselves. So we found a table and just sat ourselves. We sat for about ten minutes before a server came over and gave us menus. And when we finally got menus she was already asking what we wanted to drink. There is really nice selection of beers and I didn't even have a chance to look it over and decide what I wanted. I had ordered chimay red. Which generally comes in a bottle but you should serve it in a glass (especially if you have chimay glasses to serve it in at the restaurant). But the server didn't bring me a glass i had to ask for one and then she brought me a regular pint glass that had just been washed and wasn't even room temperature. We then ordered our food. I ordered the motherlode and my dad ordered there version of the Cuban sandwich. We sat for an hour before our food came out and since we already weren't impressed with the restaurant we generally found more things wrong with the place. First of which that no one offered to get a cigar to smoke while waited for our food to come. It is a cigar place and no one even offered to get a cigar or to look at the selection. Second the place is dirty. There were cobwebs up by the televisions and the little roof above the bar was covered in dust. Third the restaurant just doesn't flow well. It isn't very big in the first place and there is covered seating area outside. Which is pretty nice. But you have a pretty far walk if you need to use the restroom and also for you food to get delivered to you.so you have a alot of traffic from people walking in to use the restroom and servers walking food all the way outside. Once our food finally arrived it wasn't bad. The motherlode was nothing more then a turkey club. Which there was nothing special about it. It had lunch meat turkey on it. The sourdough bread was good though. But you would think a house made oven roasted turkey would have been used. So wasn't to impressed with it. My dad said the Cuban wasn't bad other then that the roll could have been better. The use a smoked pulled pork and not something already prepared store bought. So after we finished we sat awhile before our plates were cleared or asked if we needed anything else. We were so unimpressed with the place we weren't gonna stick around and have cigar or even another beer. We just wanted to leave. Would not recommend this place to any family or friends. It really needs a big improvement for me to stop in the next time im in Pennsylvania to visit family. We didn't even really see a manager on duty. The only person that I thought possibly could have been the manager was a guy in a graffic t-shirt and jeans and had a beard. Didn't look professional at all so im not even sure if he was the manager but it seemed like he was but he didn't help out his staff at all. He walked around talking to regular customers and chatting with them while his restaurant was suffering. If this restaurant wasn't owned by cigar international I would say in my honest opinion that this place would close with in a year. I frequent a cigar bar in the phoenix area of Arizona often and it is a completely different environment. I think the wooden match could take alot of pointers from them.
Review Source:Saw The Large Flowerheads outside on the patio. A very friendly host gathered chairs for us to sit on the patio. Â Music was great but then....well, let's put it this way, if you like beng constantly assaulted by thick, choking cigar smoke, no matter where you sit, this is the place for you. Plus, if you like the heavy odor of cigars,then inside the Wooden Match is the place for you.
Review Source:The staff here is incredibly friendly and helpful. Not much more you could ask for except an awesome beer selection, the ability to enjoy a cigar (inside or outside), sports on TV and good music. Too bad they already offer these! Food is "good" basic bar food (very large portions).
Highly recommend.
I was in for dinner last night, celebrating my birthday. I was with 4 other adults, and  came across the menu at Cigars International. I have to say, I am not pleased at all with the overall experience, and will not be returning to this establishment. I understand that it was busy, and that a local cigar festival likely taxed the resources, but we were all generally not pleased with the service, and the food. When we arrived we were advised that it was rather full, and that we could sit outside. It was 52 degrees and misting. While some were eating outside, I believed it to be a little on the cold side, especially for a party of 5 who was hungry, and looking to sit and enjoy a hot meal.  The greeter at the desk was our second stop, where we were again recommended outdoor seating. I advised that we were not interested in sitting outside, and I asked if there was a list we could be placed on, or should we go elsewhere? The greeter advised us to wait in the bar, until a table opened up. She said it would take a while, because after all, it is a cigar bar, and people were not leaving as quickly as conventional resturants. We went into the bar and had a drink until we were seated. Unfortunately for us, we were eventually seated in the bar. It was loud, and crowded, and relatively uncomfortable. It was hardly the environment I had hoped for. Once seated, we were given menus, and were vehemently disappointed with the limited selection. The menu posted at CI was a large contributing factor in our choosing of this restaurant. There was no indication that we would get a limited menu at CI, and not even in the bar at the restaurant, where we waited for a table. Apparently, the cigar festival caused a limited menu. I believe there were 7 selections on the menu, mostly bar fare. We ordered appetizers and sandwiches. The sandwiches arrived before the appetizers, and we were half through the meal before we got napkins and silverware. My sandwich did not include the "stand-bys" as advertised on the menu, and when I got them, I was done eating. While we tried to have a conversation as a group, we were constantly interrupted by someone with a video camera, who kept scanning our table, and even held the camera over our table at one point. Being professionals, this made us uneasy, and when we asked a waitress about him, and she said she didn't know why, or who he was filming. Collectively, I am truly disappointed with my overall experience.
Review Source:Was there 04/26, great old train station,very good craft beer selection,I recommend the vanilla java porter,definitely going to be my favorite place, relaxed casual/wife can not go because of her asthma-kinda makes it the Perfect Place/lol/really enjoyed the live entertainment that night but a little loud
Review Source:I was here over this past St. Patty's Day weekend. Â At first, I was really annoyed with the service. Â It took at least 25 minutes to get our first drink even though there weren't many people there until later in the afternoon.
But after that, it was all uphill. Â It may have been all the beer, but I ended up eating the most delicious burger of my life - fondly called "The Dutch Oven" which is piled with cole slaw, Russian dressing, and Swiss cheese. Â The service did pick up and we made friends with the people sitting around us at the bar.
The ambience was comfortable and they had some normally expensive drinks (like high-end scotch) for reasonable prices.
Definitely not the place to go if you absolutely can't stand smoke, but I'm not a smoker and still enjoy the smell of a good cigar. Â I honestly didn't think it was that bad, either. Â But hey, it's a cigar bar - I wouldn't expect anything less.
Great place, really great place. Â Be warned for non-smokers it is a cigar bar and honestly the smoke eaters while ok don't clear the place at all of the smoke. Â But they do have an outside seating area which is the summer is in an awesome location. Â The food is great, the service is always great, the beer selection is awesome and the prices are great. Â I wish my girlfiriend would like to hit this place more but the smoke bothers her... we'll wait till summer and sit outside! Â If you are cigar smoker you HAVE to go here, if you aren't I would recommend going in the summer and checking the inside out quickly at the same time... really interesting decor. Â Nice work to the team that opened this place up.
Review Source:The Wooden Match is a rare find, and a truly unique asset to the Lehigh Valley. Â
Recommendations:
- The Pierogies; words cannot describe these (note: must be consumed with the mouth-watering homemade gravy)
- The cigars.  Be sure to purchase one of their very reasonably priced cigars at the restaurant, because all of those stogie purchases help keep the doors open to  incredible smoking & dining venues like The Wooden Match. Â
- Â Sample the draft beers. Â This bar is always sure to keep a top-notch rotation of brew on tap, so take advantage of it.
- Keep an eye out for their readily updated website coupons, deals, specials, and events. Â Beer/vodka/wine & cigar pairings and live music are just the beginning...
The menu is as (proudly) advertised - Beer, Meat, Cigars. Â
Everything The Match serves, including the ever-changing list of specials, are superb. Â Admittedly, I have not passed up a delicious Cuban, or overflowing Reuben for the obligatory salad that lands right at the bottom of the menu, and how could I?
One additional note: don't let the parking lot fool you. There are two floors to this old school train depot renovated restaurant, bar, and cigar lounge. Â The upstairs, especially, is well-ventilated.
The staff is friendly, accommodating, knowledge, and refreshingly genuine.
When I saw the sign reading "Beer. Meat. Cigars." I couldn't help but stop in. Not a huge cigar guy so I guess they had me at beer and meat. The building itself is awesome, an old train station converted into a bar / restaurant. All the seats at the bar we're full so we grabbed a table. I ordered a full portion of the "Hoss Pierogies" as a opposed to the half. Should have went with the half. The portions here are ridiculously large. That said, the pierogies were homemade and top-notch, sautéed in butter and onions. For an entree I had the Mule Kick Burger (as they coined it "a veritable junk punch to the taste buds"). Who wrote this menu anyway, it's hilarious. Burger was exceptional from the bun to the large patty to the chipotle sauce. Oh yeah, they only have like 85 or so beers here all around $4-$5. Sounds expensive but most are top-notch craft stuff you'd pay $7 or $8 for elsewhere. Wait staff was great, really no complaints here. I'll definitely be back.
Review Source:We love this place. It is a cigar bar so if you go there expecting a smoke free environment this place is not for you. Now on to the good part. They have an excellent selection of brews and food.The burgers are the BEST I've ever had, made with quality meat and grilled to perfection. I also love their wings and pierogies, both are simply wonderful. The main bar area and seating are on the first floor and they recently opened another floor for dining on the lower level where it is quieter if you prefer. Recommend this place very highly.
Review Source:*Definitely NOT for the non-smoker!* Â Probably not for the occasional smoker, either.
This place is in the beautiful old Victorian train station on Lehigh St., where a "fine dining" restaurant had been when I had visited years before. Â Seeing that something had opened in the building again, and being a bit hungry, I stopped to check it out.
On the way in they have a banner announcing their opening, and advising that they are a "cigar friendly" establishment. Â Not a problem for me. Â In fact, I was a cigar fanatic until a few years ago, and I was excited at the prospect of an after-dinner cigar, so I proceeded inside.
Just inside there was a ridiculously thick wall of smoke, a few tall tables, and a huge bar, which I could barely make out through the haze. Â While the photo on Yelp seems to show more of a formal dining area, the waitress who greated us indicated that there was not a dining area separate from the bar.
Realizing that we were unsure if we wanted to dine there, the waitress offered to bring its a menu before seating us. Â While we were reading the menu, a second waitress passed by and asked if we were going to stay, but in a way that seemed to indicate she would not be surprised if we did not. Â Hmmmm.... Do a lot of people walk in, begin to gasp for air, then leave?
We wound up leaving. Â The menu was an impressive array of pub foods, burgers, wings, and Rubens, and from the well written descriptions of each dish, I tend to believe that would've been very well prepared. Â The ridiculous lack of ventilation was intolerable though, and we were driven from the establishment within 5 minutes of our arrival, with our eyes stinging and irritated.
How on Earth can anyone taste their food with 50 guys blowing cigar smoke at you? Â Come to think of it, how can anyone enjoy a fine cigar with so much stale smoke already in the air?
Since my boyfriend loves cigars, we were hoping this new place would be right up his alley. Unfortunately, even he thought it was way too smokey in there. Yes, I realize that it's a cigar bar so smoke comes with the territory, but they really need to invest money is some type of air filtration system. Â The smoke hits you like a brick when you walk in...yuck.
Review Source:Unbelievable! From the beer selection to the food portions to the cigars, this place is amazing! Of course I had to try monstrosity that is the Bender Ender Burger (a 10 oz burger with a fried egg and bacon between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches). Sounds like a taste of heaven, right? Well, you'd be spot on. The flavor of the beef patty really outshined the rest of the fatty goodness.
My only problems? The seating was very limited and the cigar pricing was a bit high. Otherwise, I highly recommend it! Just don't go when I plan on being there: I want to make sure I get a seat!
I'm somewhere between 3-stars and 4-stars on this one, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt ....
I want to like this place -- it has awesome ambiance (hello! old train station??), and the off-the-beaten-path location of it makes me hope that it's a real "local" bar. Plus, the sign at the entrance says "Beer. Meat. Cigars" -- what's not to like?
The beer selection is solid, and their menus are cool (glued to old cigar boxes). The food SOUNDS good, but it seems hit or miss... I got the "Bender Ender Burger", which is a cheeseburger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches -- outrageous! And it should be a gooey, cheesy mess... but alas, mine was very dry with hardly any cheese on it. Another member of my group got a different burger, which he swore was delicious, so it appears I just made the wrong choice.
Maybe it was just because it was a Friday night, and they were having some kind of free-cigar promo night, but what really made me knock this place down a notch was when I went inside (I had been dining outside) --- it was bro-heaven in there. Yikes. The aroma of Axe body spray mixed with cigar smoke was too much to handle.
So, based on the location & beer alone, I will be back... but I really hope it's not always so  bro-tastic inside.
Despite not being a smoker of cigars (or anything else), I went this past weekend with high hopes. Those hopes were crushed.
The service was terrible from the moment we walked in. There is no host[ess] so seating is a free-for-all, which is fine, expect that during our visit, other patrons entered and sat themselves only to be told by management that they needed to move because that table was reserved. There was no indication that the table was reserved.
Once seated, we waited for quite some time until we were approached by a server. When our waitress did come over, she didn't know a single thing about the beer on the menu. When you've got a great bottle list and a decent tap selection, the staff needs to know about it so they can properly describe it to patrons instead of just saying, "It's dark?" She also got the name of the draft beers way wrong and throughout our stay was very inattentive.
The food was pretty good - a half order of onion rings was huge! I ordered the Gitmo (a Cubano) sandwich and found the pork to be very bland. One of my dining companions ordered the Reuben and loved it, so I'd probably try that next time.
I'd gone to watch the Philles game and asked two different waitresses to see if they could have one of the TVs changed from Nascar to the Phillies game. They both told me they'd take care of it but after half an hour, I walked up to the bar to ask the bartender to change the channel and she handed me the remote telling me to take care of it.
The place has potential but I was very disappointed on my first trip. I'm sure I'll be back to try again, but I wouldn't go out of my way or bring friends visiting from out of town since I wasn't impressed.
The best value in 5 star restaurants. Awesome craft beer selection - 1 star. Delicious twists on American food - star number 2. Massive portions - 3rd star. Friendly, welcoming service and happy patrons - 4th star. The ability to actually enjoy a cigar while eating, drinking, etc - a big, shiny 5th star. A must-go establishment.
Review Source:
The 5 best restaurants in the 2015 Denver Restaurant Week
3,607 Views | Category: Denver
The complete list of 2015 Denver Restaurant Week businesses
1,970 Views | Category: Denver
The tourists' guide to Portillos: 5 must have dishes
3,306 Views | Category: Chicago
Pho = Pronounced "fuh" not "foe" for pho-king sake
2,904 Views | Category: Denver
Indulgery selected to exhibit at Collision Conference
2,983 Views | Category: Press Releases
Not Logged In
BUSINESSES
Local Businesses
Near Me
My Favorites
SOCIAL
Blog & News
MY ACCOUNT
Login
Register
Contact Us
Add Your Business
