Manny’s Tap Room

The food is what you expect from a restaurant/​bar in a college town. The portions were hearty, the food was good and pretty basic (burgers, sandwiches, salads, etc) and the service is prompt. There are lots of beers to choose from (they have an amazing Happy Hour pints of beer as cheap as $ 3!), and playing shuffle board was a great way to flirt-but-pretend-I-wasn’t-flirting with the girl who ended up becoming my girlfriend. And I didn’t try to let her win, she just kicked my ass effortlessly.

I’ve been coming to this place since it was Raleigh’s. It’s a good spot to grab a pint when in the area.
I tend to avoid any days when Cal is playing football because of the crowd. Many times on Friday I have enjoyed a good mix of music blasting from their iPod.
Service is decent, food is overpriced and not very flavorful, but the ambiance is what brings me back. Smelly old hippies, idiot hipsters, and feminazis abound.
I’ve completed the Tap Club challenge by drinking each and every beer they have on tap (43 in fact). It was a lot of fun but not really worth it. After chugging my final brew (Racer 5) on the bar with a buddy, we were disappointed to find out that they ran out of T-​Shirts. I don’t really want the shirt but it’s the principle, they should have let us know before we downed our last beer. Oh well.
A few of the keg lines are dirty and need to be cleaned. Buttered popcorn is never a good flavor of beer.
If you want to have a quick brew-​ski with your buddies then this place is worth the stop.

Our default place wasn’t Kip’s or Bear’s Lairs… it was Raleigh’s. haha is it called Manny’s Tap Room still?
The burgers are pretty good. We used to get the shrimp quesadilla all the time, however, i heard that they stopped using pita bread. My default order was the garden salad (I would come here when I didn’t have any cash on me for Intermezzo).
Beer garden was nice
Overall the place isn’t super awesome to the point where it’s better than any other berkeley bar, but a good place to grab and beer and hang out… good memories =)

PROs:
+Great selection of beers on tap.
+Pub food is pub food, and they do alright pub food.
+BEER GARDEN.
+Fabulous waitstaff.
CONs:
–The difference in quality of service amongst the bartenders (not the waitstaff, they’re all fantastic) is not unlike the temperature swings on Venus.

It’s now back to Raleigh’s again! Become a regular there and over half done with the beer club.
5 stars now because you’re back to your roots Raleigh’s and because you acknowledge me and my friends when we come in on weekends. That’s just plain good old fashioned service right there!

Tonight I dropped in here for dinner before the Cal basketball game. It was my first visit in its current iteration as Manny’s Tap Room. I had been to Raleigh’s previously.
The pluses:
Classic college joint.
Good location three blocks from the Cal Campus.
A varied menu with all the classic pub grub and also lighter fare.
Excellent selection of beers.
The minuses:
Unfriendly, untidy guy at the front door who grunted at me when I walked in.
Poor wine selection. I realize this is a college joint but there could have been a couple of premium varietals available.
Poor, inattentive service. I sat at the bar and it took me over ten minutes to be served by the woman behind the bar. She wasn’t even that busy. While I was waiting she spent quite a bit of time talking to a patron who was obviously a good friend of hers. And I had to flag her down any time I wanted something.
Fair food. I am only basing this on my order, which was Southwest Chicken Flatbread. It was grilled chicken, black beans and a salad served on top of a flat bread. The chicken was overdone and smothered with a standard barbecue sauce. And the flatbread was chewy.
There are plenty of choices in the Berkeley campus area. I won’t be heading back to Manny’s Tap Room any time soon.

Unlike a bar across the street (nameless), this bar has an inside look which could be alike Fred Flinstone’s water buffalo lodge hall. Especially in this colder season, the place was nicely lit up in Christmas decorations and the fire pit was in use which kept the room at a constant nice temperature. The space is huge with very high ceilings and tables for twos to large groups. I especially dug the artistic work done by local artists in the washrooms. Just in case you may have forgotten this bar is located on the campus of Berkeley. So, all comments scribbled across bathroom walls may antagonize others, are coherent (while trying to be in street language) even words like «derivative» are spelled proper. This makes for funny table conversation fodder.
One last thing, soju cocktails $ 4.50. WTF? Okay, for those that don’t know Soju is a Korean gin which is popular at Korean bars in drinks like flavored soju’s, say Lemon soju. It’s a pitcher of the stuff made with 1 – 2 bottles of this type of gin and sells for about $ 12-​$ 15 in an ethnic bar. Alone sold in a bottle it should retail for about $ 7-​$ 12 depending on where you buy it from. Soju isn’t all that, a person could even buy it by the liter and get it cheap. Charging $ 4.50 for a cocktail or $ 2.50 for a shot, is freaking ridiculous is what I’m saying. Like many bars from SF to here they have got a great beer selection with many big local names and a lot of fav’s on tap. Sampled an order of chicken wings which had a tangy spicy sauce which was tasty but a little gross because a few pieces tasted undercooked. Meh.

Wandering down Telegraph Ave with a wee half-​Lab in tow, the belly started a-​grumblin’. One look at the the trust iPhone app, and we beelined it for Manny’s amped by the promise of a dog-​friendly patio.
In its previous incarnation, Raleigh’s, the onion rings were reason enough to warrant a visit. Turns out, nothing physical differed from Raleigh’s than the name. Same good brews, subtly carnival themed patio, and scruffy Cal patrons. Jerky door guy? Yep. Nice but negligent service? Check.
The eats were abysmal: sorry excuse for chili, tasteless eggplant sandwich, a veggie basket consisting only of button mushrooms and sliced jalapenos. Manny’s get your kitchen together!

Formerly known as Raleighs, this bar is a definite favorite local joint of mine. I usually come for the beer, though the food isnt bad either. They have 43 beers on tap, and the prices are cheap! I want to say somewhere around $ 2.50 for domestic and $ 3.50 for import but dont quote me. And they aren’t happy hour prices either! All the time!
I’ve tried the Tap Room reuben, and the pastrami, both which are solid meals, both in taste and quantity, but nothing to die for. It’s a great hang out bar for your casual night out compared to the other local bars, but it can get pretty crowded. They use to have a dance floor which I think they got rid of, and they were doing oyster shooters a while back when I went, which was a cool thing to do if you’re into that.
Even on busy nights, you can always manage to find a corner or table somewhere in there as they do have a larger outside area in the back. They also have big screens all over, which is a big plus if you’re trying to do the double date with friends and sports.

Manny’s is located in a pretty convenient place on Telegraph. I would say its a pretty «safe» pub. The prices are good, their selection is pretty average, and the service is chill.
All in all, compared with its counterparts in the area, its a fairly average place to go. The food here is limited and not really worth ordering in my opinion. If you want food with your beer, try visiting Blakes or Jupiters. Otherwise, if you just want a place to chill, drink beer, and hang out but can’t be bothered to walk down to Shattuck (Becketts) or drive (Albatross/​Red Rock), Manny’s is a «safe» decision.

A couple years back, a friend of mine was in town to interview for a teaching job at UC Berkeley. Not having seen her in two or three years, I jumped at the chance to meet her in Berkeley on a weeknight, even though I had work early the next morning. When I met her at her hotel, she asked me to show her a laid-​back place where we could catch up but that was also popular with locals but not too noisy.
At the time, I had worked seasonally at Berkeley a couple semesters, but I felt like an idiot because I still didn’t know the town much. I wanted to take her to the Albatross, but I didn’t know where it was, and she wanted to walk down Telegraph anyway. I pretended I knew exactly what I was doing and suggested Manny’s as we walked up to it.
Good guess on my part.
It fit all three of her criteria – although I don’t know whether semi-​drunk juniors on a Tuesday night conformed with her definition of «locals.» Still, we struck up a conversation with an undergrad who was reading a sociology textbook at the bar (my friend was applying for a sociology-​prof job); and this girl’s boyfriend, who was one of the juniors getting drunk in the main seating area, knew the bartender, so we got hooked up with free drinks.
My friend and I caught up, and I think somewhere in my room I still have the napkin on which she drew a map of New York State to illustrate to me where Binghamton is.
My friend ended up taking a job at Duquesne in Pittsburgh, much to my I-​already-​have-​too-​many-​friends-​who-​live-​thousands-​of-​miles-​away chagrin. Still, I have fond memories of this place, and I’ve been a couple of times since. It’s always kind of chill, but every time I’ve come, it’s been a non-​Thursday weeknight.

I like this place! I like how it’s on Telegraph but not rowdy. People are nice and friendly (as they should be!) and the place is clean. :) Sit outside when you can during the day time hours.
This is a great place to chill with friends! French fries are crispy and tasty. Mirror Pond = disgusting (it’s fragrant… ugh). Sierra Nevada = smooth.

$ 14 pitchers
$ 4 pints
good prices
our pitchers last night:
racer 5
mirror pond
blue moon
newcastle
good fries
friendly bartenders
:)

Stopped by here since I sniffed the beer a block away after I walked out of Rasputins.
Many beers on tap!!!
Pitchers $ 12 dollars
After 5pm everyday there is a selected beer that the picthers are only $ 11
The pints are only $ 4.
They have Wyders Pear Cider and Guiness, so ask for a Black Velvet or some call it Snake Bite. Trust me its great!!! You will also enjoy the way the Guiness floats on the Cider.
Also, the sandwiches are a really good size so you can split it especially if you order the side of fries.
Its good prices our total was only $ 34 and some odd ass change!
We had a Philly Cheesesteak that was beyond hella good!!!
The Chili Cheese Fries are great and they do not skimp on the cheese!!!
We had one pitcher of Anchor and a couple of pints, oh ya and my girl loved that they have Modelo Especial on tap and serve it in a gold rim glass just like in Mexico.

Manny’s Tap Room is such a fun place to go on those hot summer nights. I especially liked sitting in the patio area and went with a few co-​workers. We feasted on the delicious nachos and a few of us ordered burgers and I had a salad with the poppy seed dressing. I made a special request for Café Mattina’s yummy bread, which was delicious. They have new wedge fries, which were crunchy on the outside and nice and chewy potato goodness on the inside. Service was great and I loved the new shirt uniforms. We also had the seven layer brownie (to die for) and the homemade chocolate cake. I heard rumors about homemade cheesecake!!!
They also have a ton, I mean, a TON of beers on tap.

on one hand i was just going to give Raleigh– i mean Manny’s 5 stars because of the outdoor patio which is, in a word, AWEsome (see my Unilocal pic) but, as of tonight, i had The Best Onion Rings I’ve Ever Had Ever there. think about that for a second: Q: «were they really just Great onion rings?» A: «NO: THEY WERE THE BEST I’VE EVER HAD. EVER.» powerful stuff, right? and very real. and that’s no small event in ones life. so FIVE stars for you Manny’s.
other pluses include that the inside is quite large and there’s a good amount of booths with high back dividers so that if you’re on a casual date or with friends you have a nice semi-​intimate experience together.
and the already-​mentioned patio wins in a semi-​magical-​nestled-​in-​a-​canopy-​of-​greenery way. trees and flowers abound. little christmas lights and a generally fantastic environment.
have the onion rings!

Oh, it was LOVELY having my hand stamped before I could enter this joint on a Saturday evening. No, really, getting carded is freakin’ sweet. I’m not sure I’d be a fan of this place during the «school year», and I’m kind of a bastard, I’m sure, because I’m not a fan of being verbally accosted by panhandlers on my way out, but the review wouldn’t be complete without this reality check. Location does have bearing on a restaurant’s clientele and reputation.
That aside, Holy $ 3 pints on tap, Batman! This is AWESOME. Not to mention the gargantuan portions of food, at good enough quality for me to consider returning any time after I have run 6 or more miles in a day. (There’s really no excuse for that kind of gluttony otherwise!)
I thoroughly enjoyed ½ of a Shrimp Po’Boy (couldn’t finish it) some tasty fries that I «cajun-​ified» after tasting the seasoning on my brother’s portion, and also partook in some of the spicy chicken wings, which are delectable and unusual in their combination of sweet and tangy barbeque sauce, and the heat of a buffalo style wing.
Had a couple pints, would totally go back for more. Wish they had this place closer to my home location, I’d MUCH rather be walking home. ;)

This place used to be called Raleigh’s apparently. We ordered a few sandwiches and a burger here with drinks for a little under $ 40 (split among four people). That’s one of the best pub deals I’ve had in awhile. The portion sizes are quite generous too so if you’re looking for a good hearty meal, definitely check out this neat pub right near the university. There’s also a nice back patio so if it’s nice outside, this would definitely be a good place to enjoy a beer, your meal or both. I like pubs in general but this one is definitely pretty high on the scale.
Oh yeah, I forgot to state that the drinks are more expensive before dinner than they are after. I guess happy hour is the only time when it’s cheap during the week, at least that’s what I’m assuming.

Wtf… Manny’s Tap Room? So weird. I will continue to refer to it as Raleighs though for college nostalgia purposes.
Although strangely named it’s pretty damn accurate considering the excellent selection of beers on tap! In ordering 5 pitchers over the course of 4 hours we got a pretty good feel for the greatness available. We also ordered some food and although my fish n salad (substituted salad instead of chips) was not bad, the shrimp po’boy ordered by my friend was DELICIOUS. I kept reaching for it jealously and stealing bites — try it!
If you can get in early enough to get a booth you’ll find a comfy sit-​down area for a low-​key night of social drinking. Now if only they would do something about the bathrooms…

Eh…
That pretty much sums up Raleigh’s. Or whatever it’s new name is. Food is mediocre, service is worse.
This last experience there was with a large party today and the service was truly abysmal. People’s orders were not put in, and it was even slow without that. That didn’t stop the waitress from adding 18% gratuity though. The food is pretty mediocre as well. Were it not for the service, i’d give it 3 stars.
The shining light is their nice beer selection. Oddly enough, after 6 pm it gets cheaper to $ 3/​pint.