Alchemist & Barrister

Goose want Goose, tasted like metal. It’s one of my favorite IPAs to go to and it was not Goose.

Cute little place a friend and I stopped in for a glass of mead. Clean establishment, friendly staff. Went around lunch and wasn’t busy at the bar yet. The menu had some good choices on it but didn’t order any food. Will definitely go back :)

I’m glad that business is booming but I waited more than 20 minutes for a drink. There should be more than 2 people behind that massive bar on a Friday night. And I saw one bartender, older white guy, drinking on the job. Prices weren’t bad considering it’s Princeton.

The alchemist and barrister is really getting the job done. I stopped in for lunch thinking I might have a 12 ounce beer with my meal. Asked the bartender what citrus Summer type IPAs they have. He proceeds to pour out three generous samples. Aside from making my selection easier, this added about a half a beer to my lunch!

This place is pretty below average. And it’s honestly not that it’s bad, but you can find something better almost anywhere else. Food, better across the road Agricola. It’s often pretty loud, with live music. Which is cool if that’s what you want, but if not it’s hard to find a quiet place to chat. The tap list is one of the better ones in downtown Princeton, but generally over priced. However you can often find the bottles or six packs of the same beer across the way or at Joe Canals for the same price, if not less.

We love this place! The food is definitely better than what you’d typically find in a bar/​grill type of place. Good selection of beer and sometimes you’ll randomly find yourself sitting at dinner and a band starts playing! (I know it’s not just random, as they set these bands up) but when you weren’t expecting it, it’s a pleasant surprise!

Had not been here in YEARS — dinner was pre-​concert at the McCarter. Friends arrived early and had the beer flights — very good and liked the options. We told our waiter the time frame for dinner and despite the busyness of Reunion weekend, the servers, and pacing of the food was really easy and they got us out of there in time. Super dinner of a blue cheese burger, salads for the group and dessert. Will add this to our list of go-​to places for Princeton.

Overly priced bar food. Tiny hamburger (with big bun almost comical hide and seek), fried calamari, shrimp pasta and 2 sodas came to $ 70 pre tips. Burger wasn’t even good, called the «Throwback» from the 1980’s. Comes with cheddar. No lettuce. No tomato. Kinda dry. And a teaspoon of ketchup in a tiny plastic cup. C’mon for $ 18 bucks put the bottle on the table. The calamari was soggy from the overly sweet sauce. Fresh calamari only needs salt and lemon if anything. It should be crispy. Winberries in Palmers Square wins hands down for bar food.

I went here for lunch today with a Coworker and shared the calamari appetizer which was very good. It had great flavor and was a nice portion. I also had the buttermilk fried chicken sandwich. It was full of flavor and is a must try when you go. The waitress was very friendly and attentive.

Service was absolutely terrible. Waitress was very rude and took forever bringing out our food. She was very inattentive. We had to ask the hostess for drink refills and when our food was coming. Honestly, it was the worst service I’ve ever received.

We visited as a work event with 15 people. That sized group in this smallish establishment is a challenge. However, our server was able to do a good job staying on top of things at our table.
The décor is as expected in a historic building. It was comfortable and homey.
The bar had an extensive selection of fine beers on tap, very impressive.
The menu selections were creative and ample for special diets, like vegans. Job’s Tears were a special treat.
The food was decent and the portions were good, too.
Great gathering place with plenty of TVs for watching the playoffs. The crowd was a mix of young and old, men and women, suits and casual.

Best bar in town. Big selection of beer and good people. Charismatic waitress who you can’t help but like even after she gets your beer order wrong multiple times in one night and generally every time you come.
One thing… The poutine fries used to have beef on them… Please bring that back. They were much better that way. Also why are there chick peas on the nachos?

One of the best spots in town. The beer list is unparalleled in town and a lot of the staff seems to really know it, so it’s no wonder that A&B is also too busy to get a table. The food is very good (especially for Princeton), recognizably heavy pub food with a small touch of refinement. Some complain it’s pricy, but it’s some of the best food in Princeton short of going for fine dining.
The ambiance is nice as well as varied – an old-​style bar area, a loud modern bar area, and a porch area all fill up frequently.

Nice and casual place to come with friends when in Princeton. Growing up in Princeton my entire life, surprisingly have never tried the food here — but the ambiance is nice and (because I don’t drink), I hear good things about the drinks too. The service and bartenders are usually very nice as well, so it makes it fun to go to. Gets very crowded at night time and is a fun place to hang out.

A&B won’t disappoint you if you’re in the mood to have a good beer or cocktail without the stuffy Princeton feel that other bars in the area can have. The food is nothing that will blow your mind, but it will do just fine if you’re hungry and want some decent bar food. Lots and lots of taps available to choose from, which will satisfy any beer lover. Service is generally quick and friendly. The dining area tends to be a little dark, so if you’re not into dimmer ambiances, this might not be for you. Cocktail list usually changes frequently and has interesting libations.

Had a great bar food filled dinner here on Wednesday night with very pleasant, efficient service. Definitely come here for a more chill evening in downtown Princeton and some guilty pleasure food.
First, order the wings. They were delicious and worth coming here just for them if you’re a wings fan. Buttery, spicy but not too much, and coated in buffalo sauce and they came out piping hot from the kitchen with ample celery sticks and some very chunky and creamy blue cheese on the side. We got about 10 wings in an order but I was pretty sad that I had to share when I really just wanted to eat them all myself.
I enjoyed their Pumpkin Patch beer flight as well — 4, 4oz glasses of different pumpkin beers that was organized from least bitter to most which made it pretty user-​friendly. Also generous amounts of beer for the price.
We also got the nachos which were covered in real cheese and had olives, beans, sour cream, salsa, chicken, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions and lettuce — these were good but I was hoping for a little more spice.
The only slightly less awesome item was the burger. I got the Throwback burger which came out cooked a solid medium rare and was covered in gooey port cheese, which was really tasty. The downside was that the pepper relish wasn’t very flavorful and I wished there had been other toppings aside from just bread, cheese and burger. The fries were ok, a little soggy, but not as good as the nachos or the wings.
The service was efficient and we got our additional drinks pretty quickly. Food came out with a bit of a delay but we were a group of 7.

I went to this place solely because of the name. It was so interesting «alchemist and barrister». Anyhoo, great place to watch a game. I was surprised to see a lot of people on dates the day I was there.
Great collection of draft beers and good list of whiskey and scotches. Their food was scrumptious and ambience was fun. We usually like to sit by the bar than the high chair tables. There is also a family area. Overall a nice place to watch a game and get some drinks for an OK price.

I’ve been here two times; the first time I remember it not being too terrible but the second time was «meh.»
It isn’t a terrible place to eat, maybe because I’m a vegetarian it is a little more difficult for me to eat and I’m usually not a fan of black bean burgers. I went here for lunch with some friends today and it wasn’t busy at all so we were seated right away. Lots of options on where to sit: patio, old bar, or new bar. The old bar area is really dark and doesn’t seem to inviting but the «new bar» is bright and looks a lot better. There is a lunch special menu on the tables as well. The waitress was nice and patient with us because we were waiting for a third person.
The food is mediocre, especially for the price. I ordered the wedge salad lunch special without the bacon. For $ 12 I expected something much bigger and a bit nicer looking, what I got was two wedges dumped with dressing, 3 cherry tomatoes, and some pecans. It was so plain and just… ugly. Friends ordered the shrimp tacos, which looked appealing and the black bean hummus appetizer with onion rings. The onion rings basket they bring it out in is so tiny. I like the idea of the little frying basket but it is so small. I did like that the waitress offered us more pita because we had so much hummus leftover and didn’t charge us for it.
They charge you extra if you ask for separate checks but you can give the waitress multiple cards with amounts on it. Also, you get no service inside, I’m not sure how since we’re right outside but they have Wi-​Fi, ask the server for the password (it’s a phone # but not the restaurants).

Recent renovation = great business decision. In the past, I preferred to come here for the pub/​patio in the back as opposed to the dining room adjacent to Witherspoon Street. At its core, A&B always seemed to be more of a pub than a restaurant, and I felt it missed the mark on attempts at higher end fare.
The beer list here is most improved: at any given time, there are oven a dozen well selected craft beers from the likes of Victory, Ballast Point and Sculpin, among others.
I recently dined here post renovation. We started with the calamari, which I liked, but quite honestly, the ginger sauce would have been better on the side: some pieces had way too much sauce while others were dry.
For my meal, I got the dry aged burger. Although I ordered it rare, I received it medium well. The Guinness caramelized onions and the Irish cheddar were good; however, overcooking the meat killed it for me.
As a beer snob, I’m pleased with the offerings on tap. My only complaint would be not to repeat taps in the newer front bar and instead use those duplicate tap handles for additional offerings. Otherwise, keep up the good work!

I came here for dinner with a few friends. My friends and I were not really hungry so we ordered small dishes. I ordered a Mac&Cheese and my friends ordered fries. It took a while for the food to come out and it wasn’t that rushed. The food was average at best. Note: we didn’t really try the main dishes. But people around me looked rather satisfied with their food.
These service was not the greatest. The waitress didn’t come to our table much. She came once to bring water. Every other time my friends and I had to call her to take our orders and bring the check.