The Ginger Man

Best beers on tap in Norwalk! Food and service are good, the bar is awesome and the beer selection is on point. This is me and my best friends Wednesday spot we love coming here!

Drinks are pretty expensive, but when I’m not in the mood to party and I just want to chill and talk to friends at a low key spot, I go here. It’s clean, it’s chill, the bartenders are friendly. Right now it’s under construction for the summer, but when it re-​opens I’ll come by to grab a drink like usual.

Went for drinks only on a Saturday night. The ambience was great, good crowd, but the best was their beer selection. They have loads of beers on tap, guaranteed to satisfy everyone’s tastes. They didn’t have table service and the bar service was a little slow, but not bad considering it was a Saturday night.

I love this place! I am from Philadelphia, my boyfriend and I have stopped here twice on our way to Vermont. Great beer selection! I really wish I remembered the servers name. he was the best. We shared a flat bread that was pretty good and the fish tacos, that were the best thing ever. Actually it was the rice, it was the best rice i have ever had.

The bar food is yummy and not standard, although the menu is quite small. Their beer selection is pretty vast and obscure which is refreshing. I’m giving it 3 stars because it is always so impossible to get served there. It’s crowded and the bartenders need to take more notice of someone standing there for 10 minutes. A customer shouldn’t have to fight for their beer. This is America after all.

Great selection of beers. If you want to choose go to the Greenwich one as it is nicer. Sit back and enjoy a few beers. You can also sample the beers before you buy them. This is great so you get one you like.

My wife and I went to eat here with a friend a few nights ago. The service was very good; the staff friendly and helpful. The atmosphere was pleasant enough. The food was so-​so. We had fish and chips. The fish was too heavily battered. The fish and «chips» (normal french fries) were all overcooked to my taste. Other people may like their food frazzled to an inch of its life, I don’t.
If someone asked me to go here again I would, but I wouldn’t choose it for myself.
I can’t speak about their beer since we don’t drink.

Largest & best beer selection in norwalk. Bartenders really know their stuff and are incredibly friendly. Great spot for happy hour and wings, which are really delicious.

Whatever they’ve done here is impressive! The beers have always been amazing but they’ve really kicked up the food over that last couple of weeks. We’ve had a good time sampling the new additions to the menu — onion soup, flat bread pizzas, BBQ brisket sandwiches, pulled pork sandwich and tonight the chicken curry over fries. The oysters are always reliable, and they added more healthy & veggie options too. They’ve yet to disappoint. These people have always been the beer masters, and now they’re got food to match. Just ask the bartenders, they know what’s good!

Love the atmosphere. Nice to hang out with friends or for a romantic date! Good beer selection and delicious hand-​made pretzels with cheddar cheese sauce for $ 6!

Great craft beer selection. A good spot for beer lovers. Excellent food — had the half chicken dish and the blackened wedge salad. Both very good. The atmosphere and service was a ten. Will return very soon.

This place has THEE best beer selection in town. Beer and Food menus are always changing too! Bartenders and waiters/​waitresses are all very knowledgable.
Go if you’re looking to relax and exchange witty dialogue in dim lighting.

I really wished I lived closer! The Ginger Man not only has a fantastic beer selection, but great food as well. I started with a refreshing beer– Weyerbacher Camelopardalis– a lovely Belgian IPA. My appetizer was the award winning sweet potato clam chowder. So freggin’ good. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. For my meal I ordered the duck confit quesadillas. Slammin. They drizzled a tasty sauce over the top. I recommend trying these! My boyfriend had a burger– I don’t remember what it was called– but I took a pic. He said he liked my meal better than his. I had a bite, thought it was very good. We have never made it to dessert. Oh well. Can’t wait to go back!!!

As my time in Norwalk comes to a close, I can say it is a 4-​star spot. Now, I say that as a serious beer drinker, so the majority of my rating comes from their selection alone. The menu changes pretty regularly, offering a wide variety of all types of beer.
In my experience, the menu and overall food preparation has improved over the years. However, I’m usually pretty tuned up so I keep it simple. The burger, pretzels, and sweet potato clam chowder are incredible.
The only thing holding this place back from five stars is the atmosphere. Sometimes it seems you need night vision to see in this place, and as a music fan it kills me to hear an online radio station like Pandora pump out music that appeals only to the bartender rather than mixing it up for a wider audience.

Again, where is my review??!
Like beer? Like choices? Like a long bar?
Then save yourself some precious time– get here, take a seat & read the HUGE long menu of world beer choices.
Every style from everywhere.
Russian imperial stouts, Belgians, micro brews, Etc etc. Yup! They have it!
Nice rotating seasonal choices & hard ciders too.
Food is better than your average pub. Huge homemade pretzels, burgers, fried calamari.
It’s beautiful inside too– all hard wood, booths, brass, Tiffany lighting & outdoor patio when the weather allows it.
Perfect for hiding out on afternoons (so I’ve only heard ;) HH, or with a group of friends.
SoNo parking is rough but the lot adjacent is perfect when there’s room.

yah, it’s official. i have a problem with the ginger man.
it was on a sunday, i went in to try four beers that were on their «awesome flight» on their draught menu (and i just checked, it is still on that menu.). four beers i have not yet had. i ordered this «awesome flight» and the bartender dispensed four tastes and they didn’t look right. i asked and he told me they ran out of what was on the «awesome flight» and he just picked a bunch of beers (that i had already had and wasnt interested). so, for that — this flight was not awesome, it was disappointing. also, the bartender seemed put out to help us since we distracted him from his deeply thoughtful conversation with his «bros»

Drinks and ambiance review only, at the moment.
NOOOOO thank you! I had been told by a few friends that this place is the place to go for singles. Um, really? I’ve been a few times and I just don’t get it. I still have yet to meet anyone nice here! People seem to have an «I’m better than you» attitude here… again, why? Overly dim (yes, I know it’s a bar, but come on), overcrowded and the décor… no, thanks. The drinks and service were fine… but it took a while to actually get one. Beer selection looked decent as well.
Maybe it’s different if I go back for food or a different night… but, seriously, no thank you to the crowd on a Saturday evening.

I’ve been coming here for years — at least when I’m back visiting family and friends in Norwalk. The rudeness of the waitstaff has been laughable lately. In a near-​empty restaurant at 8pm on a Saturday night, my sister and I tried to sit down and order a few beers, as the bar area was packed. One of the waiters lumbered over and awkwardly uttered «uhhhh I hate to be that guyyyy… but we’re serving dinner til 10:30.»
Really? Can’t even sit down with a pint when there are a bunch of empty tables? We’d have gladly moved if a party came in waiting to dine.
Yeah, we left.
I love Gingerman. I really do, so I’m not gonna dock the stars here too much — top beer selection and relaxed atmosphere. But there are some issues they’ve gotta work out.

The ginger man is a ginger CAN! Aside from the coolest name ever, this place hit all the important marks in my «Book of Greatness.» The beer selection outstanding, I had an barleywine beer I believe, it was 12% and tastes like beer meets bourbon. This drink was a perfect compliment to the rest of our eats… The lamb sliders were tasty and filling. The cheese platter was awesome, If I recall we tried the two last ones on the menu since I had never heard of them. The chocolate covered bacon was also damn good. They added sea salt to the chocolate so you would get even flavor of sweet, salty, and oh so bacon savory. Nice little treat. I could imagine relaxing here for hours with friends because the vibe is so inviting and nicely «mello» with all the dark wood and mood lighting.
The only thing that could make this place any cooler would be if they hired someone in a gingerbread costume to be passed out in the front of the restaurant, and make that their logo. I don’t know why, but thats all I kept imagining as I got buzzed on my super ABV% beer…

I have loved every Ginger Man I’ve been in & the SoNo location is no different.
The food menu is a bit more extensive then NYC which is a positive. I’ve tried the burger and fish & chips which were spot on for high end pub food. I love the hot dogs they serve in the NYC location & wish they had them here too. Plus no Guinness beef stew which hurts.
Beer selection is phenomenal. On my last trip I had a home brewed pineapple IPA that wasn’t on the menu but was phenomenal. I wish they had more local stuff though. The only CT brewery I saw was New England.
You can’t go wrong stopping in for quality beer & some pub grub. Parking is difficult but that’s how it goes in SoNo. I wish i lived closer so I could frequent the Ginger Man more often.