Bill Pickle’s Tap Room

Whenever my dad and I come to Happy Valley this is always the first stop. If you get there before ten you can prolly get a table and watch everyone stand in a huge line while you are enjoying your alcoholic drink of choice. I’m originally from Columbus, Ohio and the bar scene is very different in Happy Valley but BPT is the closest thing to it I suppose. If you get a good waitress all will go well. Big shout out to Shelby and Chloe for working Mothers Day and graduation weekend.

Went there on Saturday night with two of my friends who came up to visit me. It was crowded as usual. I ordered one drink and then a shot. I paid for both of them when I got the shot and closed my tab. After checking my statement I was billed for more than I paid that night. This is the second time Pickle’s has done this to me. Very irritating!

Food ok service bad… maybe because the boss was in town and they were unprepared…

Atmosphere and layout were nice, but Mark the bartender was an a**hole. He screamed and swore at a girl in our group and we saw him do the same with several other groups. I realize the bar is busy but no bartender should treat paying customers that way. You should fire Mark.

Nice bar in State College. Good drink prices, clean environment, plenty of TV’s, and a friendly staff. We didn’t try any food but this spot fit the bill for a couple afternoon pitchers.

A great late night spot & surprisingly a fun spot for lunch! Pickles tends to be always popping at night & it’s a cool spot to just chill and eat at. They share a kitchen with the Corner Room so the food is terrific too.
I got the peanut butter wings and a drink. The peanut butter wings are a mix of hot sauce and peanut butter — a very surprising but tasty appetizer!

I don’t usually give review, but the service over there was very unpleasant. I have been there for lunch a couple of times. At 1^st time, they billed me way more than what I actually paid. I tried to solve this with them over phone, but the line has never been connected. What’s worse, the waitress over there was quite rude. My friends have never gotten enough menus every time, we had to share. She continuously interrupted our conservation in a very harsh way… I doubt I will go there for lunch again.

BLUF: Cheap bar to start the night off in or relax with the boys to watch football.
This was the first bar that I went to in State College when I arrived Friday evening for the Army-​Penn State game. I arrived late after catching up with an old friend over dinner so by the time I met up with the group, they were already many drinks deep while I was quite sober. Looking back now, this will allow me to write me a decently objective review of a bar for once, haha.
The bar is quite spacey with a four sided island bar in the middle with TVs playing football all around. The tables and bar stools are placed quite awkwardly as it obstructs your movement and makes Pickle’s like a maze.
There was decent background music which was not too loud as there was no dance floor and the drinks were pretty cheap. I had two drafts before they closed (PA’s bars close so early!) and it only totaled to $ 8. Not sure if there was a special or what not but it was kind awesome when I closed my tab.
Willing to head back next time as long as I am with a good group of friends.

Been here a few times, but never for country night as that’s not really my thing. Never paid a cover, the service has always been good and the place never seems to be overly packed.
The bartenders aren’t the best in town, but they get the job done. The food is quite good. The interior is nicer but still gives it a casual feel, which I like.
Overall, it’s one of the places I like to go grab a drink from time to time and is a clear cut choice over the basement dive bars in the area. It’s also a nice place to grab lunch for a reasonable price and good food.

This place is average. Came on a football weekend which was busy as expected, overtime we got 4 seats at the bar. The bar tenders did a great job for the volume and were super nice. We ordered a bunch of food and it was average. The loaded tater tots were not fresh when they are out. The burger was fine but could tell it’s a frozen patty. The best item to get is their wings. They are known for their peanut butter wings and those were very good. They have w little spice to them and were crispy. Overall average, stick to wings!

Went to this place to watch Monday night football and only had drinks and appetizers. For a sports bar, this place seems to have a limited number of tvs, many of which were small and inexplicably seemed to have «poor reception» (I.e. Fuzzy picture). The bar is not very well stocked. The waiter was clueless, couldn’t even say what beers they had on tap and they didn’t provide a list. Cheese filled soft pretzels were pretty good. I’ll definitely look for somewhere else to grab drinks if I’m in State College again.

I would have rated Pickles four stars if it weren’t for an incredibly rude bartender encountered. My friends and I were celebrating a girlfriend’s birthday Friday evening (after driving up from NYC). We were having a blast and tipping well. That is until a male customer was extremely rude to my friends and I. When I confronted said customer, his own friends told him he was being rude and he apologized to me. After this situation was resolved, bartender, CODY, said that we/​me should have told him or bouncers what happened rather than «yell» at this other patron. I reiterated that it was very busy and I didn’t want to escalate the situation PLUS, the patron had apologized for his behavior. Instead of moving forward, he continued to berate me/​our behavior stating we were females that should act more appropriately. While incredibly offended, I said that all I wanted was to buy my friend a drink as it was minutes from midnight and we wanted to cheers her birthday. He turned his back and took other orders. He FINALLY decided to ALLOW us to order just shy of midnight. It was an incredibly fun evening although dampened by CODY for no good reason. He insulted us as women and exacerbated a controlled situation. He should be embarrassed of himself and think twice before representing PSU in such a terrible manner to alums such as myself. Wait until the real world creeps up CODY… you’re in for a huge shock with that awful attitude. Learn some respect.

Great bar for a beer, but the bartender-​who shall remain nameless because his name tag is blank-​continually put his bare hand into the ice to eat it, after eating lemons and a can of sardines.

I didn’t eat here. Just drank some good drink specials. Bartenders were cool as hell.

This is a funny place. It’s named after a made up fictional character. It’s run by the same people who run Zeno’s (which is bizarre, these two places are very different in character and style, but share the same kitchen, space (it’s interconnected to the servers with hallways, stairs and dumbwaiters) and liquor license as the corner room and the allen street grill and Chumley’s (ok, perhaps they are just really market segmenting)).
They have a nice open-​ish to the street area. They have not much (real) beer choices, and it seems often crowded, which, given my take on it, this is surprising. it does not have live music or good beer. I clearly caters to a crowd I don’t run with, but I had a colleague who would only eat at two places and this was one of them, and he theoretically and culturally really knew food (the other choice was not impressive either, however).
But, if you believe in «crap chutes», $ 6 pitchers, and country music (not that I mean to denigrate country music (
), or better yet, more space than Zeno’s and open air dining, then this could be the place for you. I’d much rather be ‘over the center of the world’.
For ambiance, read, «tragically unhip».
The 21 year old me would have loved the place, however.

So this is the first bar I visited at State College last weekend and the first impressions I got were «Wow, EVERYONE gets carded here» and «Boy, is it crowded!» What a great place to watch a game… or more accurately, watch the college students do their thing.
Prices are incredibly low here (craft pitchers for $ 7!) and the food was decent (my fried pickles were ~$ 6 and were a bit limp, but the sauce had a nice tang. My pulled pork was tasty and about $ 7, and the fries were great!). Our beers were cheap (I got a Black and Tan for ~$ 6) and we considered getting a pitcher, but then the night rush started and our server got very busy/​hard to find. We decided to call it and continue to another bar.
Make this a stop on your bar crawl, but go early before the line starts. Bonus: if you sit by the window, you get extra people-​watching opportunities.

This premier sports bar of State College.
Pub food, appropriately priced drinks, places to sit.
Their late night menu start early so if you want more of a selection lunch time is a much better option.
Fried pickles are meh, but the pulled pork sandwich is yummy, the fries are pretty bangin’ too.
Beer is moderatly priced for a state college bar, and the place can get a bit sticky.
Although the door guys keep them at capacity, they still let way too many people in to feel comfortable dining. Addtionally, they really need to hire more servers as mine was overwhelmed.
PROTIP: Late night happies staring at 10

I’m a regular at Bill Pickles Tap Room and usually I’m respected like a regular customer. However lately I’ve been feeling harassed by the the staff. It might be because I’m a minority or because I don’t spend ENOUGH money there. Basically I paid a 5 dollar cover and got kicked out 4 minutes later which I believe is fraud. If you believe I’m too drunk don’t let me in in the first place. Just figured i would express my opinion. Hopefully a RESPONSIBLE manager will take a look at this message and change some of your employee ways.
Thanks
A concerned regular customer.
Ps your bar isn’t that fun. I rate it 10 out of 15 bars in state college
LOVE YA PICKLES!

Cute little waitress
With wrist tattoos made up for
Shitty atmosphere.

We stopped in after visiting Inferno down the street– we were looking for a different bar to try. There were three bouncers at the door, but only one took the time to check our ID’s (the other two just sat around talking.) Bill Pickle’s Tap Room wasn’t super busy, with many tables open. We got two seats at the bar.
A bartender came over to us fairly quickly, and their drink specials were great– $ 3 blue moon, $ 2 Yuengling. This was one of the places that has Guinness on tap, but it was the most expensive price I’ve ever seen for a pint of Guinness.
There appeared to be somewhat of a place to meet other people, but again, it was pretty dead for a Saturday night. The music selection was interesting– there was some sort of DJ I guess. There was plenty of room for a live band, but that didn’t seem to be the vibe old Bill Pickle wanted to give off. This could be a KILLER country bar if they got a live country band– a lot of the décor was countryish anyways.