Pub 500

First ever trip to Mankato and we picked the Pub 500 at random over several choices in the Civic Center area. While they had outdoor seating and it was a nice day, we chose to sit indoors. It was a kinda slow Saturday afternoon but the place was fuller than others. My wife chose the Salmon BLT sandwich with pub fries and both were excellent. Salmon at this time of year can often be dry, but hers was moist and flavorful. I chose the pulled turkey, bacon, & swiss sandwich with homemade chips. Again, both were excellent. I love roast turkey (not packaged deli meat) and this was great. A bit sloppy to eat, but I expected that with a pulled meat sandwich. My only quibble with the place was the beer menu. They featured a «beer cruise» with dozens of choices, but the menu did not differentiate between bottled and tap beers. I hope Pub 500 improves this in the future. Most beer drinkers like to know that kind of thing before making a choice.

Called this place on a whim looking for reservations for 25 earlier today. They made it happen without question or complaint. Our server named Michelle was outstanding-​patient, organized and efficient. Thank you Michelle and Tom for a great experience! Rosemount Basketball

I want you to take a moment and think about nachos.
Think about what you see in your mind’s eye when you think about nachos. Do you see chips, covered with melted cheese? Great. Do you see anything else, maybe tomatoes or onions or jalapeños, also covered by that cheese melted all over those chips? Awesome.
So now let’s go to Pub 500 and order their BBQ Pulled Pork nachos, hoping for a sweet and meaty counterpoint to the salty and spicy chips, cheese, and toppings. Sadly, things are about to go wrong.
When my BBQ Pulled Pork nachos arrived at the table I received some chips with slightly-​warmed tomatoes, onions, jalapeños with a mound of pulled pork on top, drizzled with a watered-​down BBQ sauce. What I didn’t see was any melted cheese. I had to go digging to find the cheese, maybe a tablespoon of cold wisps of cheddar lost somewhere under the meat pile.
Think about that a minute. Nachos, with almost no cheese. That’s not a world I want to live in.
That’s the thing with Pub 500. They have a big menu, and I’ve tried a number of different dishes, but while every dish I’ve ordered technically hits the marks there’s no real style or effort put forth to make the food memorable or even good. It’s slop.

Love, love, love their black bean burger – the best one in town by far. Service is usually great, prices aren’t bad, and as long as they’re not hosting an event it’s a decent atmosphere (but definitely check the calendar, because if you go during an event it can be really annoying in there).

This is one of my favorite places to go for a drink with friends in Mankato. It’s a great place for professionals in their late 20’s or older to hang out and relax. The service is excellent — always quick and the waitresses are very nice. Their Thursday night pub trivia is great fun! I love their buffalo blu pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. It’s a unique sandwich. They change their draft options quite often, and I think at least one thing is different each time I go there.

This is one of my favorite places to grab some dinner and hangout when I’m in Mankato. The atmosphere is very cool, the service has always been good and the food is awesome. I especially love their wings and pulled pork! Plus, during the warmer months it’s a great place to sit outside by the fire pit!
This isn’t fine dining and isn’t trying to be. It’s a pub with a cool environment, an excellent selection of brews and great food.

very solid food. Would definitely try this place again.

Pub’s a good place for the older members of the community to grab a beer and burger across from the zoo that is downtown Mankato. However, although the beer is good and the food is pretty decent, the service has always been lackluster when I’ve gone. Refills are slow and it can feel like you’re forgotten by your waitress at times. Atmosphere is alright though and if you don’t mind being patient, go ahead.
It seems the main complaint here is the service, and that’s very true in my opinion. Otherwise great place.

Cool bar and grille: very clean and modern. Erin, who was tending bar, did an excellent job taking care of us. The drinks were well poured and the beer was very fresh and cold. The drinks/​beer was reasonably priced. We will definitely be going back.

What a great place! Our server, Rachel was awesome. She was friendly and attentive to me and my boyfriend and super accommodating to our dog. Dog friendly patios are great! This one is fantastic. The food was good and the beer was cold. Rachel made the experience even better!

Nice upscale bar grill with lots of TV’s, big bar. Friendly, professional staff. I had the blackened steak which was cooked perfectly and well seasoned, not over powering the meat. good draft beer selection, would like to see a really hoppy IPA on the menu.

Between this place and Blue Bricks they are my favorite downtown bars for drinks and food. Pub stands on top if you actually want to drink some craft beer rather than your run of the mill light beers at other places. Their bbq is pretty good and I really like their fried pickles (spheres for the win). It’s also great they have live music and trivia night. Plus I believe there is poker night on Tuesdays. A must try if you’re visiting.

I was excited to try this restaurant, but our waitress made us feel so unwelcome. It was difficult to get to actually cone to the table let alone help us with anything. I would have understood if it was busy, but it was DEAD. Seriously, she had one or two tables besides us.
Anyways, we ordered a black bean burger and veggie sandwich. The black bean burger tasted ok, but the veggie sandwich was flavorless and filled with odd, unappetizing veggies for a grilled veggie sandwich (carrots, broccoli and a couple zucchini). It just wasn’t good. It would have been nice if they listed what veggies were in it on the menu to warn people. When our waitress came to ask how our food was and I was trying to explain the veggie sandwich wasn’t good she was half walking away said «Yeah, it’s different» and walked away. We had the bread pudding to conclude our meal, but sadly it wasn’t any better.
Unfortunately, we both ended up extremely ill 30 minutes after leaving the restaurant. It was a big disappointment to say the least.

I live in Kansas City but make regular visits to the southern Minnesota area and find Mankato offers a nice variety of places to shop and eat at.
Located downtown, this is a nice little find. Not mindblowingly great, but over all enjoyable.
I liked the atmosphere of the place. However, my first impression was a tad off putting. A male server came up to our table and asked my mom if she wanted anything to drink to start. She said no. He abruptly walks off before I even had a chance to look up from the menu and the drink options to answer. Hint to whoever asks for drinks at the beginning of the meal: DO NOT assume that one person is speaking for the whole table. I couldn’t tell if he was just having a bad day or if he’s just a poor employee.
As a vegetarian, I found the options here limited, but I am glad they offered something. I ordered the veggie sandwich with fries.
The veggie sandwich was nearly one of the most bland sandwiches I’ve had in my life. There was just no flavor. The fries, on the other hand, rivaled the best I’ve had in just about any place I’ve been in. SPOT on with the fries!
The sandwich had whole steamed veggies on it. Not exactly what I expected. I’ve had a lot of veggie sandwiches before that slice the veggies so they layer on the sandwich better. Whole veggies fell out of the bread while I tried to eat it. Not a bad thing but it wasn’t the best veggie sandwich I’ve had and I see room for improvement.
When I mentioned the bland taste of the sandwich to the waitress she was genuinely shocked. So I am hoping I just had an off batch and normally it’s good and most people don’t complain about it. She cheerfully brought me some sun dried tomato sauce and I dipped the sandwich in it and the flavor was good, but a bit on the salty side. An improvement but not a home run.
Overall…I would give this place another chance. My mom got the fish and she only had a complaint about the coleslaw but seemed to enjoy the rest of her food and also raved about the fries.
When in Mankato again I would love a chance to try their black bean burger. It would be nice if they added a few more vegetarian options on the menu and rethought their veggie sandwich. I’ve had veggie sandwiches before that sliced the veggies so they layered on the sandwich better. And maybe some options for sauces/veggies…honey mustard, bbq, pizza sauce, chipotle ranch… I could think of a handful that would make the food pop.
Over all, recommended.

Unbelievable that a place with this poor of service, this bad of food could be getting these types of positive reviews. Maybe there’s a Mankato attenuation variable, but if you’re not grading on the curve, save your time and money; this place is revolting. Paglia’s pizza is two doors down. Go there.

The Pub! I can actually remember when there used to be a Auto Repair place on this corner, when Pub 500 was being built there was a definite excitement in Kato. I’ve always liked the relaxing ambiance at Pub 500 compared to the other downtown establishments. You can always count on a more quiet atmosphere, more under control drinkers and enjoyable live music. Like Rod S. noted, defnitely the best bar for grown ups on any given night. The space is a good size and there is even a comfortable seating area with leather couches and a fire place. The bar is huge and centrally located, there is a nice open kitchen and plenty of high top tables to choose from. Pull tabs are a nice plus too if you want to do a little gambling:)
I always enjoyed the food here but I remember liking breakfast a lot more. They always seemed to dabble with different late night options so I really don’t even know what they are offering for the drunk crowd now. One thing for sure, probably some of the nicer bathrooms downtown for that time when nature calls if ya know what I mean.

Read through most of the reviews here about good ol’ Pub 500 and would like to add my one and half cents.
If you’re looking for a place downtown and you are a full grown adult who knows how to drink without vomiting and acting a fool — this is the only place for you. FYI as a public service announcement: Mankato is a college town, the downtown is loaded with bars, ALL of them are college bars EXCEPT Pub500. Good news is the college crowd pretty much ONLY hangs downtown so any other part of the city will be fine, for the most part :)
Most of my time at the Pub have been warm summer afternoons to enjoy a cold beer and an appetizer with friends on the patio — but have spent my share of freezing cold Minnesota winter evenings at a barstool.
Service: patchy — honestly at times the bartenders seem annoyed to serve you but other times its great. Table service has always been fine but we usually sit at the bar.
Food: nothing special, I like the taco salad. Menu is heavy on the deep fried bar food variety which is not our thing so we just tend to have beer. There are complaints on other reviews about the price but honestly I don’t recall ever thinking the prices were out of line.
Beer: Hands down the best international beer selection in town. Beer list is arranged according to origin and I so enjoy ordering and sampling beers from around the world. Nice tap selection too. Last time I was there they had one entire tap set dedicated to Schell’s, yes! I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had a mixed drink or wine — the beer’s too good.
Atmosphere: Would call this an upscale sports bar on par with an Applebee’s type crowd without the little kids. Hope that makes sense :) Lots of friendly folks at the bar, I think they have strong crowd of regulars.
Parking: Never a problem, I think this is the only place downtown where parking is easy as they have thier own lot.
Overall recommend but don’t expect a fine dining experience.

It’s been a while since we moved from the Mankato area, yet I still sometimes sit back and reminisce about Pub 500’s pulled turkey sandwich. How they can make a sandwich so freakin’ delicious with just turkey and a bun is beyond me. But, as I understand it, the turkey is just slowly cooked by itself to perfection. It is juicy and delicious and the bun sops up the juices and it is just damn good. DAMN GOOD, I say!
The restaurant itself is cool, too. There was live music several times when we visited, and the atmosphere is just nice in general. Good place to hang out, have a couple of drinks, and eat some good food. If you haven’t tried the pulled turkey sandwich you are totally missing out!!!

Pub 500 is one of our family’s favorite places! Great menu with lots of vegetarian options and a HUGE beer list. Very nice place to bring the family for a Saturday breakfast or Sunday brunch — often with terrific live music. We also often find ourselves at the Pub for business lunches or evening refreshments with friends.
FYI, Pub has one of the only patios in City Center Mankato.

Easily the classiest bar in downtown Mankato, but that’s faint praise. Regardless of its surroundings, Pub 500 is a pleasant-​enough place, but it’s also deeply flawed.
First, it’s grossly overpriced. This is obviously an intentional device to keep the crawling, sprawling douche-​crews from infesting the place, and that’s a credit to their business model. Clientele is thusly older, calmer, and, well, socially adept. Problem: The food just isn’t very good. (Aside from the chicken tender platter, which is probably the best one in town. For 13 bucks, it should be.) Burgers are meh and the pulled pork /​turkey sandwiches are only saved by condiments.
There’s a wide selection of world beers, but most are bottled. And terrible. There’s a half-​decent tap selection, but if that’s what you’re looking for, jump across the bridge and find salvation at NaKato. They have half the beer selection and 3x the quality.
Great atmosphere and friendly bartenders make this a welcome oasis from the downtown madness, but the kitchen isn’t holding up its end of the bargain.
(Also, if there’s a live band playing, look out. It’s usually Wonder Bread college music of the tamest variety. Avoid.)