U-Bahn

First time going there, locals said it was kind of intimidating? We did not have the experience. 2 guys who got in within 10 minutes of being in line. Larger door man with a beard was nice but also professional and thoroughly looked over our NE
id’s. Each bartender was attentive, in particular the shorter brunette at the first corner. Guy with the beard and arm sleeve also was cool enough to let me past the security guy to use the bathroom after 2am. Bartender even served the Sambvca shots properly!

awesome beer selection and cool environment. the bathrooms are cool as well ! service from the bar was soso on a dead night but we were distracted with the arcade games

I came here for my first time on a Friday night and oh my god. SO PACKED. The second I walked in I was like waittttt… how was I allowed in and how is this place not at maximum capacity? It took me forever to inch my way to the bar and get a drink. The music is great but my idea of a great night doesn’t consist of me being pushed around all night and having to weasel my way through everywhere! Yes, I understand it’s trendy popular blah blah but I’m not in a club in AC/​Vegas I don’t need to come here on Friday night with friends and constantly being pushed and screaming over each other over everyone else screaming. I would recommend coming here if you’re already browned out so you have no concept of the bumping and pushing. I would definitely recommend staff to stop letting people in at a certain point. I left after 15 minutes mostly because some giant DRUNK man almost fell on me… big tree fell hard.

If Bahn is German for way, U must be German for wrong. I was truly disappointed in their lack of Turkish music. I entered with high hopes and left with sticky shoes and the realization that I would never survive as a sardine. It gets really packed in there.
So if you don’t want to hear Turkish music and you like getting really close to people you don’t know, this may be the place for you!

Hi yes I’m currently in line and it’s so effing cold lol!!! Like literally so cold I’m freezing but it’s ok I’m with good company so three starts! Three out of five!!! My friend wants to hear Turkish music so yeah I don’t think were gonna hear it but like it’s whatever.

Only giving it two starts because I was served fast and because they brought David Correy in and my girl wanted to see him perform.
We’ll probably never come back here.
1. The website says nothing about reserved tables. The place only has 3 tables. And unless you don’t get a table you wont have anywhere to sit. 0 chairs otherwise.
2. We arrived at 9:45 and artist didn’t perform til after 12. We got tuned up with drinks and it all faded in the standing up and waiting. You could see other people feeling the same, dancing in the first two hours and then just mellowed out sleepy for the remaining of the night haha.
3. Drinks were super light, pre-​party with some shots like we did before coming here.
4. $ 10 cover charge.

I was early and no bar seats were available, so I ordered a pretty stout and found a quiet corner to casually hover in while waiting for the rest of my group.
And then a couple decided to pack the PDA on right next to me. I moved. They followed me. They started dancing. The girl nonchalantly bumped into me and my Ground Control almost ended up on the ground. I moved again. They moved again. I cursed to myself and walked to the other end of the bar to grumble in peace.
Maybe I’d like this bar more if I enjoyed blatant inebriated dancing and displays of public stupidity like that, but I’m more about focusing on the actual beer list. Hence, the trip to drink hard-​to-​find stouts.
And that’s what U-​Bahn does well. Their beer list is pretty exceptional, just like Bru’s upstairs. They just, unfortunately, can attract an unsavory crowd. If it was like that on a Sunday night, I don’t want to know how it is late on a weekend night.
I’ll go back for the beer, but brace myself for the atmosphere.

I have walked away from U-​Bahn a couple of times due to the cover. I know there is an allure because you can’t see down into the bar, but it isn’t really worth the cover. The only reason that I ended up trying it was due to a bar crawl. Though I dig the giant stamp that they use for your hand when you go in, it’s silly big.
There were some good beers on tap, but I was drinking cheap whiskey that night. I was able to be served quickly at the satellite bar, and the bartender was friendly enough. The décor of the place is nice and the music wasn’t bad either. Over time, this place got packed to the gills, and it became time for us to move on.
Overall, I’d definitely go back, as long as there is no cover.

U-​Bahn is an interesting place conceptually, especially for a Saturday night. I never pictured myself dancing and sipping on a kinda rare-​to-​Philly craft beer.
So here’s what I liked about my recent Saturday night visit:
–The beer list consisted of local and fairly unique beers. If you check Philly Tapfinder, a lot of the stuff is at zero to few other bars in town. Other Unilocalers noted that the beer was on the expensive side, however I found it to be on par with other bars serving craft brews.
–The music was great for dancing. The DJ was on his game and played songs that kept the crowd dancing.
–The bartender I ordered from seemed more like a craft beer bar bartender versus a club bartender. What do I mean? He was patient as I ordered for my group in a loud atmosphere. Then when my original selection kicked, he still gave me the small amount that came out so I could still sample it.
And for the dislikes:
–The cover! I hate paying cover, especially in Philly. It’s just silly. Especially at a place with such a good beer list.
–The people working the cover table were super rude. As we walked in they called one member of my group «trouble» and said they were watching, after he did absolutely nothing to instigate trouble, let alone even blink funny. They also assumed the male would be paying and said a bunch of chauvinistic stuff about him not paying. How about you don’t pre-​judge and patronize your customers?
So I was originally leaning towards a 3-​star review because I did enjoy myself once downstairs. However while the good stuff was enjoyable, it can be found elsewhere. I don’t need the craft beer and dancing combo to have a fulfilled life. First impressions stick, so they should’ve tried to make a good one.

I never review places, but this honestly needed to be publicly shared.
A couple of my friends went here last night, and the bouncer basically wouldn’t allow one of our party in because he was Indian. Kid you not, the guy looked at his ID (he’s 24), didn’t even look at him, and said he was «too drunk and couldn’t come in» AFTER taking half our party’s cover. We asked for a refund, being that we didn’t want to go in after such an obviously disrespectful display, and were refused. He also had the audacity to tell one of the women we were with that «had he stood up for himself, he may have been allowed inside.» So essentially, we paid a cover, were treated with prejudice and never entered the place.
I would never in a million years suggest anyone go here after this experience.

Ummm, crowded. found a nice spot that wasn’t crowded, for a while. Granted, this was a Saturday night, and packed is expected. Lots of beautiful people of both sexes. Mostly seemed like a college frat house. I did play checkers early on and enjoyed the quiet with new friends. It got crazy late, which I expected as the night went on.
Great beer on tap. Plenty for the beer aficionado. Would love to try this place on a normal night. Didn’t eat, so no comments on food.

PROS: Tasty sandwiches, cool beer selection
CONS: High prices, small food portions
Overall, U-​Bahn is a nice place to chill out with your buddies, if you are willing to spend. The food is solid, they have live performances from time to time, and it isn’t terribly crowded.

I came to U-​Bahn for a friend’s birthday on a Saturday around 11pm. U-​Bahn fits very closely to the Time or Ladder 15 atmosphere. It was dark, lots of sweaty dancing, crowded, and loud. You’ll need just the right amount of alcohol to tolerate it. There was a doorman in a suit and a red velvet rope outside the door, charging 5 bucks to enter. I think it is near criminal to charge cover when there’s not a live band playing, I digress. I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a good alternative to Bru or McGillin’s, but if you’re looking for a more club-​like atmosphere U-​Bahn would do the trick.

We stopped in for happy hour on a slushy day a few weeks ago and ran into a packed, muggy, odd crowd in this tight subterranean bar. I like the space and the idea, but it seems a little mashed up with the arcade games on one side and club vibe on the other with an oddly placed side bar.
I thought the beer prices were about a dollar more than other similar bars and I was not thrilled with the bartenders pushy attitude and horrible pours (pet peeve when 3oz of beer is missing out of a pint glass… kind of negates the happy hour discount). We were also looking to try some food, but there was none on the happy hour menu, and the prices appeared extremely high for the food we saw around us.
There’s a ton of competition in a three block radius that we like better, so U-​bahn won’t be on our rotation for now.

Trendy with mismatched elements. All together they tried really hard, but didn’t come up with anything new. I checked it out with friends on a Thursday night. It seems as though U-​Bahn was trying to take the good elements from a bunch of South Philly bars, then smack them all together with the same Edison bulb routine as every other center city scene, and add a pretentious vibe. U-​Bahn features: a couple of video arcade games, train tracks across the wall, roped off VIP booths, space for a live band, loud music when there isn’t a band, artisanal pickled vegetables, and local beers priced $ 2 – 4 more than everywhere else. The pickled phở carrots were tasty, but how does that match an underground German bar? Our sandwiches were ok, a little dry, but not up to Philly bar food standards. (I get curry catsup with fantastic chicken fingers a dive bars, so your $ 8 sandwich better be great).

Cool new underground bar. Reminded me of Berlin. Trendy and cool during the day, never been at night. Good beer selection.

I’m not usually among the first to check new places out, but we were celebrating a friend’s birthday on Friday night and decided to stop by. I was surprised we were carded and stamped at the front door, because its not the vibe I usually get at Bru.
We went downstairs and were greeted by warm, muggy air. It could have been the rain, but the place felt kind of gross and soggy — big reason I’m not a huge fan of underground spaces. It was also packed, and was difficult to find a place to stand where we were being constantly knocked into my other people.
The beers on tap are all local, which is cool, but there’s no descriptions of any of them which can make it hard to pick one if you’re unfamiliar. The TV screens above the bar play German train scenes, which I thought was kind of quirky and cool. The bathrooms were clean, even though it was getting pretty late.
The crowd was mid-​20s and seemed cool, but I’m not sure I’d be back on a weekend night.

Great use of space, not too crowded. The main bar seems long enough to serve the crowd, plus theres a small walk-​up sidebar when things do get too crowded.
The shared staircase to Bru upstairs was nice, but for some reason we were required to go back outside to the street snd in Bru’s main door?

FIRST DAY OPEN! the bar was packed and service was great! the atmosphere was very energetic with the band playing — there are a few old school video games too! excited to see if they do an open mic night!

Will be happy to update review once the bumps have been smoothed over. Similar to the other reviewer, my friend’s second draft beer was absolutely not the same as his first pint. Apparently the bartenders don’t know their beer selection??? It’s weird this happened to at least one other person. I ordered a draft cocktail and was disappointed they weren’t available. But the cocktail menu was featured on philly mag’s website! Anyway, the atmosphere and ambiance will have me coming back. And maybe if they offer waitress service.