Capone's Restaurant

Geuzedad

Arizona

4.95/5  rDev +9.3%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Finally got to Capones and WOW! what a great experience! I had been introduced to Matt the owner through Beer Advocate and had been having him reserve me rare beers (Cantillons among others) that I cannot get here in Virginia. Went first to the bottle shop and met Matt and picked up our beer. Matt treated us like family making sure we got our order and were happy with it. He also hooked us up with some other really good Belgian Sours. Then it was into the restaurant to sample the taps. Man what a great selection! Matt again was there making sure our experience was above par. The waitress was very friendly and even though the restaurant was very busy (Friday night)she made sure our glasses never ran dry and our food order was quick! The food was delicious and the servings huge! And all throughout our gracious host Matt Capone was making sure we were good. Without a doubt it was one of the most enjoyable and memorable evenings I have ever had in a restaurant. Philly is very lucky to have such a fantastic place. I envy everyone who gets to experience it on a regular basis. I am already back at it laying away beers with Matt in anticipation of the return trip!

09-23-2011 16:30:29 | More by Geuzedad

jmdrpi

Pennsylvania

4.33/5  rDev -4.4%
vibe: 3 | quality: 5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

visited on a weeknight for dinner and beers with my wife.

the atmosphere is okay, it's a nicely decorated Italian restaurant. the crowd is mostly locals, not beer geeks. service from the waitress was fine. I knew what I wanted to order from the beer list, so I didn't really test her with any questions about the beers though.

they had about 15 - 20 beers on tap, all real high quality. nice mix of locals, national beers, rare stuff, and various styles. the highlight for me was Voodoo Cowbell on nitro.

food was good. menu is a mix of casual sandwhiches and then Italian entrees. Portions were HUGE for our pasta dishes.

the bottle shop has very good selection, included some vintage bottles. downside is they only accept cash, and the prices are a little high. the prices are okay for rare stuff, and no worst than other PA bottleshops, but probably not worth it on some of the more common stuff.

08-05-2011 04:12:27 | More by jmdrpi

DoubleSimcoe

New York

4.38/5  rDev -3.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

The famous Capone's! Out in the middle of nowhere, squarely lost in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I stopped here on a Monday at lunch time and sat at the bar. Most patrons around me were drinking Bud and/or Bud Light, and did not look like beer geeks.

I was surprised by the ambience. This is a classically old Italian-American restaurant, the one you picture your Jersey grandparents going to on a Sunday after church. No fanciness, no class- but hey, I like it! Fits in with the unpretentiousness of Philly overall.

Food here is a mixture of fried American pub classics and some vaguely Italian dishes. I had the special of the day, which was roast-beef-but-it-was-not, could have been a prime-rib-sandwich-or-a-fried-steak. Anyways, it was as delicious as it was lowly and fatty.

Beer menu was fairly extensive (22 taps, plus 4 crossed-out), with a variety of beers from all over the US and some quality Euros (German, Belgian). Stuff that I don't have in NY like Lost Abbey, Pizza Port, East End, Roy Pitz, Urban Chestnut... A number of beers were crossed-out, which looks sort of whatever but means they move their taps fairly quick. I had a Port Brewing Mongo, fresh and delicious and served in a nice snifter.

Service is a winner here. The bartender/waitress was soooo sweet, she made me feel at home. You know, the kind of older waitress who calls you "honey". Price is great too- one beer and one big-ass lunch was $14. Fuck Yeah.

But the best thing is, of course, the bottle shop. Finish your beer and your meal and walk past the restaurant to the shop. It's heaven! I can get all the beer I cannot find in New York City: Founders, Bell's, Lost Abbey, Port Brewing, Russian River... plus plenty of Pennsylvania brews, including Voodoo Brewing, and lots of Mikkeller and other Scandinavians. Prices were not too bad. The Foodery this is not! Most six-packs were around $10-$12, can't complain. I got a Founders Devil Dancer, Dark Horse Plead the 5th and Bell's Third Coast Ale.

Plus Matt Capone himself is there running the shop, how exciting is that? The nicest guy around, he introduces himself by name, gives me a free glass with my purchase and hopes to see me soon.

This is what beer geekdom is all about: great selection, great service, great atmosphere. I will be back!

08-04-2011 03:50:34 | More by DoubleSimcoe

chcfan

California

4.05/5  rDev -10.6%
vibe: 3 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

Capone's is a gem as a beer bar and as a bottle shop.

The atmosphere leaves a little bit to be desired. You walk into a large wraparound bar with about 4 TVs behind the bar. It still feels more like a family restaurant than a beer bar. The crowd varies from locals to chock full of beer geeks depending on the night and whether or not there's an event. They always have several interesting beers on tap and you can get a flight of any four beers you would like to try. The price of the flight is kind of steep, but it's nice to have the option.

Food ranges from average to above average pub food, but mostly pretty solid.

Service can be spotty in terms of attentiveness, but I've never had a real problem especially when sitting at the bar.

The bottle shop is one of if not the best in SEPA. People often bitch about Capone's prices and cream their jeans about saving $2 here and there down the road at Whole Foods, but Capone's selection of large format bottles destroys that of Whole Foods. Matt also always sends out a list of new stuff coming in, so it's not a guessing game. Also, their prices are in line with other non-grocery-store prices in the area.

I, for one, am thankful to live a relatively short drive away.

07-21-2011 19:22:38 | More by chcfan

Retail1LO

Pennsylvania

4.72/5  rDev +4.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

I've lived in this area for TWENTY YEARS, and never got acquainted with Capone's until recently. I never gave it a fair shake because of its location in Norristown, and its unassuming appearance from outside. My mistake.

This is, beyond a shadow of a doubt, one of the finest places in southeastern Pennsylvania to dive into some good craft brews. They consistently have 20-30 microbrews on tap, with a gazillion more in the bottle shop. Their prices are a bit high relative to other bars and bottle shops with similar offerings.

That being said, the service is outstanding. Matt is a fabulous guy, and the rest of the staff is attentive and fairly knowledgeable. I can't imagine a better place to be morning, noon, and night during Philly Beer Week. Bedlam.

07-18-2011 15:15:52 | More by Retail1LO

haazer

Pennsylvania

4.45/5  rDev -1.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

I stopped in here this past weekend after picking up some things in Ardmore for my new place. Had heard so much about it, so hit this up on the way back to the NE extension.

The atmosphere and quality is that actually of a classy resturant. It's got that old italian gangster vibe to it. The dining room was dimly lit, and some nice antinque pictures adorn the walls. The Bar area is the main attraction though of course. A large rectangular bar basically stretches the length of the front of the building.

The service was good. I had two different servers at the bar get me my drinks, and another took my food order. The food by the way is probably a step above your normal pub grub, but the portions seem to be large. My GF and I split a chicken parm hoagie that was HUGE. They were also pretty informative about pricing and what was allowed to go out in the growlers. I had brought my own and left with some Leffe Blonde.

The selection of this place is the standout. They've got about 20 taps running, with multiple offerings from Cigar City, and Deschuttes while I was there. The bottle shop isn't as large as I'd imagined, but they have some great selections. Some limited brews also as I saw The Bruery's Cuir on sale, lots of Russian River offerings, Lost Abbey, etc. The best thing about their bottle shop though is they'll have multiple years of one type of beer. I picked up a Plead the 5th from 2010. It's nice to see them age beers in the store so you don't have to go through the agony of waiting! Looking around in the shop my jaw hit the floor when I saw a 2009 Cable Car and a Hunahpu perched on a top shelf of beers. Much to my dismay, they were only for display however as they both were empty, *Sigh*.

Everything in here was reasonably priced. I highly highly recommend this place and would love to go back in the near future.

06-21-2011 16:08:09 | More by haazer

mfunk9786

Pennsylvania

4.4/5  rDev -2.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 3 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

This place needs no introduction. A ton of beer, always fairly priced (if it seems a bit high now, it's only because places like Wegmans and Whole Foods can take a loss on beer and they weren't a factor in PA before). The food is very fairly priced and delicious, nothing better than the 25 cent wing special during Happy Hour (and there's Happy Hour on Saturday too!). Matt puts a whole lot of effort into maintaining an excellent taplist. Service from the waitresses can be a bit frustrating at times, I've been served the wrong beer more than a couple of times, but everyone is friendly once you can flag them down. Certainly one of the must-stops when you're in the area for the extensive bottle shop too - Matt ages beers and puts them back out on the shelf, resulting in a WOW when you see something like a 2009 KBS or 2007 Olde School on the shelf. Great place.

06-10-2011 15:24:10 | More by mfunk9786

cincodm

New Jersey

3.28/5  rDev -27.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 1 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Went here yesterday for the Deschutes event and I will not be returning. I like the vibe of the bar, the patrons were good, even Matt, the old owner, was great. The service was terrible and because of that I won't be going back and wouldn't recommend the place. The event started at 6 so we got there at 4 to enjoy some of their beers. Initially the service was ok and we chatted with Matt Sr. for a little while. Sounded like a great guy and as very appreciative of us being there. fter that, all downhill. Our waitress knew we were there for the event, but for some reason they decided to do shift change right as the event started. All of the night shift bartenders remained at the other end of the bar serving practically anyone other than our end (There were 3-4 other people at our end looking to get The Abyss). The only bartender who came near our end for 30 minutes was the one who was closing out. We asked her twice if we could get Abyss but were told the shift was over. So, we asked if another bartender could be sent our way, and that was pretty much shot down. Finally, another bartender came our way and we asked if we could get the Abyss but were told she was grabbing something for someone at the other end of the bar and it was because they were packed. Their problem wasn't that there were too many patrons, it was actually lighter than I thought, it was that all 3 bartenders were at that end of the bar. After another 5 or so minutes that same bartender got us our beers and seemed ambivalent. I won't go back here and I won't recommend it to anyone. I was told that they always have these events which surprised me, it seemed they had no idea what they were doing. I've been to many beer events for beer week and my experience at this bar was the worst. Caribou Cafe, Khyber, Irish Pol, and the 2 other places we went when I was plastered seemed to run much more effectively. They do have a very good selection and prices were ok, but the service was that bad. With good service it would have been an easy A.

06-09-2011 18:52:48 | More by cincodm

lnashsig

Texas

4.75/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 3 | $$

based on some reccomendations from local BA's, I visted Capone's during a business trip I took this week. Matt (beer manager) was kind enough to trade emails with me prior to my arrival, to let me know what was on tap, and when I arrived, gave me his personal reccomendations on the tap list. Although they don't have a whole lot of taps (maybe 15 or so), what they do have is great quality. After my meal and a few samples, I went next door to check out the bottle shop. This is mecca in the beer bottle shop world as far as I am concerned. Rare beers are all over the place, and they even have a whole section of beers personally cellared there. I picked up a 2008 DFH 120! Couldn't believe it. I'll definetely be back. Thanks to Matt and team for a great experience.

05-26-2011 14:56:31 | More by lnashsig

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

4.05/5  rDev -10.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I got a very mixed impression of this place on my first visit, but my opinion has changed quite a bit. Basically, if you've ever been to Pinocchio's, Capone's is like if you polished Pinocchio's to make it actually seem like a restaurant, but in turn, sacrificed some of the beer selection (not to say Capone's selection isn't great...it is, obviously, but Pin's beer garden > Capone's beer garden).

Decent atmosphere. General bar/pub feel, with a nice sized bar and plenty of tables. The crowd was pretty terrible, and most people were drinking American adjunct beers as opposed to the relatively great draught selection. When there is an event here: HIPSTER ALERT. Anyway, lots of great stuff on tap, including many RARE brews. They typically seem to go above and beyond on the draught list. Food was spectacular. A+ My wife got the tuna steak and I got the meatloaf... Probably the best meatloaf I've ever had, and the tuna was among the best I've ever sampled, and if it had a drizzle of some kind of sauce on it, it'd probably be the best. Reasonable prices.

[First impression:] On the down side, the service was horrific. The bartenders were really bad, inattentive, and I hate to say it, but ignorant. When you give more attention to the annoying regulars who order Bud and none at all to the other patrons...uh, that's a negative in my book. There should at least be a balance. Very bad service for only a semi-busy evening. Also, at good bars, I like to be able to chat with the bartenders about beer once in a while, and even if it had been a good slow night, the barwomen here were flustered and uncaring...I just had no desire to strike up a conversation of any kind with them.

*** Now...that said, I believe I just really had a bad first impression, as the quality of the service seems better every time I visit, and I've almost become a regular customer. I converse with Mr. Matt Capone fairly often, and he's a great and respectable person, and his passion for beer and his respect for his patrons is top-notch. ***

The beer garden is good. One thing I do like about it, is that they have a lot of beers that are aged and out of the fridge, and they label them with the bottling date. They do get things hard to find anywhere else, even though said things are usually for reservations only. Price tags here are, mmm, high, but about the norm for any specialty beer shop around these parts.

Definitely a multiple visit place, though not necessarily THE best. Unless you actually live in Norristown, in which case, yeah, I'd probably be here every night.

05-17-2011 02:19:28 | More by Rifugium