Bell’s Eccentric Cafe

No food, just came for a brew, the hop grand slam not super hoppy, nice fruity flavors from the mango in the brew. Great ambience.

Great beer at a great price. The food was excellent, definitely recommend the bacon lollipops and the Reuben. The service was fantastic even for a packed house on a Friday night.

I graduated from Western in 2009 so I frequented this brewery when the café was a small dark room. It’s very much different than back then now. It’s grown into a charming venue for music and hanging out for any mood you’re in. They have a beer garden, their tap room/​dining room, and the music venue. My husband and I always stop there for lunch and beers when we are in town visiting. I honestly have no complaints. Service has always been amazing, food is average or above, and the beers are yum and there’s always new ones to try. We enjoy sitting at the bar and ordering flights of various beers. If you’re visiting in Kalamazoo and like beer, I definitely recommend stopping in to check Bell’s out then head over the the general store nextdoor and grab some garb.

I have been to Bell’s Brewery 4 times since moving to Kalamazoo, and it gets better every time! In the summer the outdoor beer garden is awesome, as well as the menu that they presented. My most recent visit was in early February for a date night with friends and I absolutely LOVED their updated menu. We all had flights and we love getting to sample so many delicious beers. I had the pulled pork tacos this most recent visit, and they were SO delicious. I absolutely loved the slaw and salsa, and the fact that they served goat cheese instead of sour cream. The service is always good, even during a busy night like the one we went on. Everything was prompt and all the servers and runners were friendly. We can’t wait to go back in the spring!

The beer and the atmosphere are amazing –sadly, I haven’t had any food there I like. I go for social time; I personally wouldn’t recommend having a meal other than snacks.

Beer is hit or miss… food is awful. Been here a lot and the food is so disappointing. Last couple of times the beers are all chocolate and bitter. Overall, beer good food bad.

Atmosphere at the brewpub is funky in a good way. As most beer folks know the beer is really good, and they have a lot of varieties on tap (some of which I did not know they even brewed). I would pass on the food though, not very good and the service is a bit all over the place. One other note, if I like the beer at a brewpub, I usually like to purchase a pint glass as a souvenir, as far as I could tell, you have to go to a completely different building to purchase Bell’s merch.

I love Bells beers. They are next to impossible to find here in Texas. So I was in for a treat when I visited Bells on vacation.
Normally when I visit breweries or drink beer all day long (like during vacation) I enjoy having a meat and cheese platter. Most breweries and brewpubs sell this sort of thing, Bells being no different.
My gripe was that the waitress brought our food (which took forever it seemed), set down the meat/​cheese platter and commented that it «looks like it needs more bread».
I thought maybe that meant she was going to bring us more bread? I was wrong. Apparently it means, it needs more bread and she will continue helping other larger tables.
I finally got her attention again and explicitly asked her for more bread.
After about 15 minutes, I asked the girl that seats people for the bread. She said she would get us some. I never saw her again.
Finally I see our waitress again (after another 15 minutes?) and asked about our bread. She said it was still coming but the kitchen is making it.
Some guy working there tried to take my plate. I told him not to. I explained that I needed the plate to eat meat and cheese with, because there was no bread, I had to use a fork. I asked the guy to get us bread and he said there was a shortage???
How in the world is there a shortage on bread?
Finally after about 30 – 45 minutes our waitress comes to the table with bread. There are two tiny slices of bread, and one slice had a hole baked in it from a bubble in the dough. So actually we received 1.5 pieces of bread after 30 minutes of waiting! Absurd!
In Texas we don’t have any problems supplying bread at a meal. In Michigan it’s apparently a rare and scarce thing (bread). I was heavily disappointed by this.
How in the world can you sell such nice meat and cheeses but cannot provide crackers or enough bread to eat it with? You really dropped the ball with me, Bell’s.
I’ve always heard through the grapevine that Bells has some rude employees, but now I know firsthand. I will never go back to Bells, as Founders brewing has a better meat and cheese platter. And get this, Founders serves it with more than four tiny slices of bread. They actually give you plenty, so that eating meat and cheese becomes a joy and not a pain.
Shame on you Bells!

I grew up near Detroit, and when I moved to Grand Rapids I thought founders was my favorite brewery. Founders is literally down the street and doesn’t produce half as interesting things as bells! Arguments can be made about their bottling line ups ect but as far as the taprooms go, the eccentric café is much better.
I love all of bells experimentals, it makes my trips to kzoo worth it! They used to have a pretzel plate I loved but it is a soft pretzel plate now which I do not like. But the expansion is lovely so I decided to actually eat there for the first time!
Their Greek salad was perfect. And the fried fish was excellent! Pretty sure they used the amber ale, which gave it a robustness that most beer battered fish doesn’t have.
There’s tons of interesting things to look at all over the taproom. I love hanging there!

I really love the new dinner menu and dining area. No complaints there what-​so-​ever.
The beer is the best in the city of Kalamazoo, which quite possibly makes it the best in the state, which quite possibly makes it the best in the country. Really, legitimately great beer.
They do shows here too! Fantastic venue for shows with that delicious aforementioned beer.
They’ve also got a beer garden. It’s a magical place to spend a summer night.

I’ve now had the chance to eat here twice. Each time I was pleasantly surprised with the food. My first visit I ordered the pulled pork. It had a nice smokey flavor and was all in all good barbecue. It came with a side of coleslaw and French fries. I’m not a huge coleslaw fan but this was pretty good as were the fries.
On my most recent visit I ordered the rueben sandwich. I consider myself a «man in the know» when it comes to Reuben’s and this was pretty good. It comes with thick slices of corned beef and fresh toasted rye bread. The corned beef could have been a little more tender and it could have used a little more sauerkraut. Even though I’ve had better this still ranks towards the top.

I thought I was going to fall head over heels for Bell’s Eccentric Café but sadly that didn’t happen. I’m a fan of Bell’s beers and tried some new, delicious brews at their pub but the atmosphere was eh, the food was meh and the service wasn’t fantastic. Bell’s was also insanely busy on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in September so I imagine it to stay busy… pretty much at all open hours.
You can pick any four beers from their draught list for a sampler set and the price will vary depending on which you pick.
While at Bell’s I tried Two Hearted (their flagship IPA which I’ve had a million times but I wanted it straight from the source), Uranus (kek…a double black IPA), Kalamazoo stout, Coffee Mustache (spiced beer), Boiling Pot (pale ale), Venus (blond ale — another from their planet series) and Roundhouse IRA. Sadly I didn’t find anything over the moon delicious but ’twas fun to try beers at their brew house.
Skip the food. We tried the pork belly skewers and deviled eggs. I love pork belly. I love deviled eggs. Both of these tasted bland and weren’t fantastic. Especially the eggs.
This may be a drastically bold statement but I do believe this is the least favorite brewery I’ve been to yet. That being said, I plan to give it another go next time I’m in MI. Mayhaps it was just an off… day/​server/​table/​everything. Go for the beer, get food somewhere else, and try to go in off peak hours!

When you think of «brewery» and «Kalamazoo», lots of people would put Bell’s at number one. This is not a go-​to spot for me, but I do enjoy my occasional visits. They recently expanded their dining area and menu so my party of 3 decided to check it out. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich. The meat-​to-​bun ratio was perfect, in fact the sandwich was piled high with meat, but definitely lacking barbecue sauce! The amount of food made it worth the $ 12 price point. They never used to have french fries here and now they do! And they are skin-​on fries, my fave. It was fairly busy around 6:30pm on a Tuesday night… about a 20 – 25 min wait for a table in the dining area. Luckily a small table opened up in the bar area, so we snatched that and got good service there.
I like the atmosphere of Bell’s — it’s casual and comfortable and lot nicer inside than what you’d expect from the outside of the building. Parking can be a pain here since there is not much street parking, and there’s a small lot close behind the building, but it fills up fast.

Best beer in the area.
Date of Visit: 9÷12÷15
Visited Bell’s on a group trip, as it was a favorite brewery for many of our crew, including myself. The place was packed, but we were still able to get drinks in a relatively orderly fashion. We tried all sorts of stuff, but I tend to go back to Oberon in the late Summer nights.
Overall, this was a kicka** place that had a vibe as great as their brews. Well done!

I’m a fan, HUGE fan! We came on a busy Friday night and it was a little packed but we found a table and slid right in. It took a few minutes for us to be greeted and provided with drink and food menus, but it was worth the wait. Our waitress was friendly and upbeat, giving us great recommendations for beverages based on what we wanted to eat. They were running a special on food, a delicious pulled pork taco plate that was enough for two people to split for a light dinner, complete with a good portion of meat, black beans, queso blanco, rice, and cilantro. Not to mention the mango salsa that SERIOUSLY rocked my socks off!
The atmosphere was comfortable and although the tables were a little tight, the super high ceilings made it feel open. Unfortunately it was a little rainy/​cold during our visit but it looks like they have a killer beer garden, which I’m sad we missed out on. I guess tha’ts just a good excuse to go back soon!

I absolutely love this place. I haven’t yet had the food, but I can certainly speak to the quality of the beer!
The thing I like most is that you will get a much wider variety of beer here that you will in any of the other places that carry the Bell’s products. I’ve had spicy mango beer, beer aged in Sherry casks, beer aged in Oak casks, and others too numerous to name.
There’s usually a table and the wait isn’t too long. They did recently expand — so if you haven’t been lately, check it out again!

Kalamazoo, MI is basically synonymous with Bell’s Brewing in the minds of many Americans. True fact.
Bell’s beer is KZoo’s most popular domestic export and for good reason… it’s delightful! Some of my favorite Bell’s brews include their Two Hearted Ale and their Porter as well as seasonals/​specialities the Sparkling Ale, the Black Note, and Hopslam.
So when going to visit the lovely Alicia S in KZoo I obviously had to/​wanted to check out Bell’s.
And I wasn’t disappointed. While the café/​kitchen/​menu itself is about to undergo an overhaul, it was still hoppin’ busy on a Tuesday evening. We planned to eat, but ended up not doing so (because of the overhaul they were out of a lot of menu items at the time, but no big!)
I ordered the sour beer with a super fancy name that I can’t remember, and it was THE SHIT, you guys. The café space itself is fun and funky and all brick and high ceilings and cool décor, and the two outdoor spaces — the beer garden and the more sparsely populated «garden-​y» area with a stage — were really relaxed and cool. The special events room was the biznass, too — Bell’s, you should host a Unilocal event in there!
The retail area sells a pretty vast selection of merch, a rotating selection of growlers, a select selection of their brews, and supplies for homebrewers and local startup craft breweries in the area.
Totally dug it and would def return if I happen to find myself in Kalamazoo again any time soon. Cheers!

Food was good. Service was slow. Staff was very nice.
But they have a new set up and seemed very confused. They were part of the Kalamazoo Craft Brew passport but said they ran out of swag? How is that possible when they have a swag store next-​door?
Overall it’s just OK. We will give it another try once they get their new system down. We have heard plenty of good things, it must be better…

Very awesome atmosphere! I could see myself hanging out here a lot — if I lived here! Unfortunately I had a drive ahead of me so couldn’t sample the beverages :(I arrived at 1pm and there was no one in line — when I was eating the line ended up out the door!
I got the special — house made corn beef with jalepeno cream cheese, caramelized onions and cheddar cheese. Normally I order a normal Reuben — this was NOtHING like a normal Reuben! It was a tasty alternative for sure! But I’m still loyal to the Rueben. Fast service and I will visit again to try the beer!

We stopped by on our way to Chicago from Traverse City. I’ve had their beers (bottles, of course) and I liked them. I wanted to check out the brewery. I like the decors. The stained glass windows are really unique for a bar. The beers were great. I had 2 beers, i just don’t remember what they were. We had the pulled pork sandwich. it was big enough for 2 of us. Between Founders and Bells I would choose Founders for their uniqueness in their offerings.
Good food, good beers. What are u waiting for? Go there, spend time in their beer garden.