Beulah’s Bar-B-Que

While I lived in State College I remember frequenting Beulah’s. It was friendly, fairly fast, and the food was always delicious with gigantic proportions. I am a HUGE BBQ fan and definitely approved of Beulah’s. Try it! Not the best I’ve had but by far the best in 50 miles!

We love to try new places to eat when travelling. But every time we
go through state college we end up eating at the café. But this time we read some Unilocal and chose to Beulah’s. Nice décor, they have a Midwest flying pig theme. 16 beers on tap. And BBQ combo plates. You can get wings, pulled pork or ribs in any combo. The sauce was a straight up Midwest/​Kansas style peppery fair. The coleslaw was awesome. There are a couple other new places I helped which we may try another time. But we plan to come back to big B’s for their yummy meats and beer.

Beulah’s isn’t bad, it’s just overrated and slightly overpriced.
The upstairs houses the kitchen, a bar, and restaurant seating. During mealtimes, the seating is comfortable and has room for bigger groups. If you’re going there for some nightlife, a pool table in one corner and open seating on the other side of the bar make it a comfortable place to stand around with your friends for a couple beers.
The downstairs is a whole other story. «Bar Blue» is a blue-​lit martini bar atmosphere on one side, with couches and trendy mirrors on the walls. Not a lot of room here. Very good martinis from what I can tell — I’ve only had one and it was good and worth the price. The next room is for music, with simple tables and chairs and a small stage for performers. It feels more like a coffee shop than a bar.
The food is ok. They put forth a solid effort at authenticity, but some of their barbecue staples seem overdone and overcooked, like baked beans that seem a little TOO thick and a «burnt ends» pork sandwich that is far too dry without slopping on a lot of sauce (barbecue should stand on its own without having to drown it in something else). A lot of people love their food, but barbecue aficionados might find it doesn’t live up to their expectations.
The only other thing that bothered me recently about this place is the $ 3 cover charge, at 1 a.m., when we weren’t even planning to go downstairs to hear the band. If they’re going to charge a cover when there is music, they should do so only for the downstairs area, or cut the price down at later hours.

I love the décor at this place and it smells good. The idea is unique and it has a great location and parking. I’ve been to the bar bleu for their live music and it was a great time, a nice jazzy enviroment different than the typical bar in State College.
However, the food just wasn’t that good. I really like barbeque and I this wasn’t good. The lights are pretty dim but I’m not sure the chicken was cooked all the way through. Overall there are better restaurants in this town.

The menu is limited to BBQ/​smoked type stuff, but it’s great if you’re in the mood for it. I’d recommend the pulled pork sandwich and trying all the different bbq sauces they have.
Bar Bleu downstairs has great live entertainment almost every night of the week, and it’s always a fun, comfortable scene. Cheap fish bowls (kinda like the Saloon’s monkey boys) and half price happy hours are the typical specials.
If you’re into jazz, check out Andrew Jackson on Saturday nights. If not, check out Dennis Fallon whenever he’s there, can’t go wrong with that.