Ron's Original Bar & Grille

hackomal

Pennsylvania

4.22/5  rDev +6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 5 | $$

The bar

Always a solid selection of crafts on tap, with occasionally some rare treats. I usually go on sundays during the day, and the bartenders have always been awesome. The pricing is consistent with the average for the area. The menu is expansive, with at least 100 different items to order. I have never had a bad meal here.

Take out shop

They have a good amount of beer available to purchas in their take out side. The pricing seems to be all over the map with some things being pricey, and others being super cheap. The only downfall i would say is that some beers sit on the shelves for a while, so check the dates when you purchase something. Overall highly recommended

12-22-2011 21:06:12 | More by hackomal

garuda

Pennsylvania

3.05/5  rDev -23.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3 | service: 2.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2.5 | $$

In many other areas, this place would be great. However, when you're in the Philly 'burbs, you have some stiff competition. I have to rate this place directly in comparison to other area beer bars, and Ron's just isn't as good. 2nd rate quality beers and food compared to the competition.

The food is just pub grub, nothing special with it, and seriously lacks consistency. One time its good with large portions, next time the same dish is mediocre at best with small portions.

Yeah, they get some good beers from time to time, but about 6 of their taps are always taken by macro beers.

Service has always been slow, not always very friendly or helpful, whether sitting at the bar or in the restaurant.

After such inconsistencies here and having the disposal of other world-class establishments in the area, my wife and I just try to avoid this place from now on. Look a little further, and you'll find better places close by.

12-01-2011 15:07:58 | More by garuda

tigg924

Massachusetts

3/5  rDev -24.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 1.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Ron’s Original is a mixed bag restaurant/beer place. I was absolutely thrilled with their to go window. The variety was amazing, but my eyes lit up when I found Great Lakes, Bells, and four different Russian River brews. The bombers were perfectly priced, although singles to go were a bit pricey -$3.50 to $6.00. As for the restaurant portion itself, it is big and airy with several different rooms to eat in. It has a homey feel and is a pleasant restaurant to eat in. There are about 14 different draft beers to choose from. They had a pretty good mix of local and national beers. Not as good a selection as I was hoping for, but good none the less. I was disappointed that the server told me that I could not get any of the bottles from the to-go room, nor was a bottle list available. Speaking of the server, service was horrible. I was left for dead several times. I would have ordered another beer if the server would have come by. Also, I was waiting for a good 15 minutes after finishing my meal for the check. I finally had to track down another server to get it for me. The food was very good for the money. I has the squash soup and chicken parm. They were not the best I have had, but were good for the value. Overall, I think I would come back here for the to go window. However, there are just too many other good options in the area to put up with above average food and poor service.

10-14-2011 12:45:36 | More by tigg924

Natural510

Ohio

4.1/5  rDev +3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Ron's is situated in a strip mall in Exton, which is itself a collection of strip malls.

The atmosphere is typical of a bar & grill, thankfully minus the kitsch found in many of the chain restaurants in the area.

They keep around a dozen craft taps at any given time, with a couple BMC thrown in the mix. At least half are from local SE PA breweries, rounded out with national and international craft selections. They also have a large bottle selection, including bombers (most of which are from DFH, Stone and Lost Abbey).
Extra credit given for serving in proper glassware, such as snifters and imperial pint glasses.

Service was friendly and efficient, and prices more than fair: all tap offerings in the $5-6 range, even from breweries who tend to be "pricey".

All in all, a solid destination for craft beer in Exton, along with the Drafting Room. Check it out.

09-05-2011 02:24:56 | More by Natural510

Rifugium

Pennsylvania

3.88/5  rDev -2.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

We liked this place a lot. Seated in an innocent shopping plaza, this place has a "rustically contemporary" and family-friendly atmosphere, with a very nice albeit small, quaso-Euro-style bar. About 15 good beers on tap, including locals and crafts, and many more in bottles. They boast a huge menu with lots of tasty options ranging from pizza and hoagies to Italian fare and steaks. Staff was friendly, but the bartenders are a little bit loopy at times. Definitely worth multiple visits.

04-30-2011 21:11:52 | More by Rifugium

Umbra

Maryland

4.28/5  rDev +7.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | $$

Stopped in after getting directions from Exton Beveridges. I was around and looking for some singles we couldn't get in Baltimore. Found right on route 113 off of 100. Easy to find with plenty of parking.

The restaurant was packed and i had better options near the hotel, so i only grabbed some brews to go from the to go area. Quality was stout. Service was friendly and helpful.

Selection was a great mix of local, regional and national micros. Picked up a mikkeler, rr damnation, some bells, great lakes, and a seven gates batch of brews. Got $6 off of the mixed sixer for grabbing the good stuff.

Food looked good, but i wasn't in the mood to wait.

07-14-2010 01:16:57 | More by Umbra

mgbickel

Pennsylvania

3.8/5  rDev -4.5%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | $$

Popped in here real quick on my recent visit to Exton, PA.

I was there on a Tuesday...around 6:30pm. The place was packed! Both the dining area and the pub area were very crowded. The horseshoe shaped bar was filled with happy hour business types. Pretty tight quarters made it hard to maneuver around and see what the coolers behind the bar were housing.

They seemed to have a decent draft selection...nice locals and domestic crafts.

I would like to have been here while there were less people so I could see what the place was all about.

03-15-2010 20:06:02 | More by mgbickel

Katahdin

Pennsylvania

5/5  rDev +25.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$$

A nice little beer bar only maybe a mile or so from the more famous Drafting Room. I find Ron's to be far far better than the Drafting Room. The atosmphere is very inviting, warm and friendly. I ahve always found excellent beer conversation even with strangers at the bar. A great mix of suits and jeans adds an ecelectic appearance to the crowd. The bartenders are very outgoing and very willing to help with beer selections. The food is rather good, I enjoy the personal pizzas. A fun after work Happy Hour location but as with all things in Exton it can be a tad on the pricey side. That being said you do get what you pay for.

12-22-2009 20:22:52 | More by Katahdin

FeDUBBELFIST

Pennsylvania

3.15/5  rDev -20.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 2 | selection: 4 | food: 2 | $$

I ended up at Ron's after doing an internet search of local restaurants and bars. Wanted something different. As soon as I saw their beer menu on the website, I was excited. Didn't even bother looking at the food menu. Also saw growler fills on the website. More on that later.
The beer selection is great. Several refrigerators full of bottles of great variety. There draft selection was medium size but very good.
The menu was mainly bar food but very large. The food we ordered was not impressive (crab dip and chipotle cheesesteak) but I've heard of more positive reviews for other menu items.
The bar was full (live band that night) and I imagine the bar table service was lacking because of that.
Beer prices were fair but were offset by the varying pour quantities. There were several $6-$9 beers that ranged from 8 oz to 10 oz.
Back to the growlers...I do not recommend filling your growler here. They basically multiply the cost of 1 beer by 5.5 (approx. number of pints in a growler). No scale of economy whatsoever. I was quoted 3 different prices ($25, $30 and $37!!!) for different beers before I decided on not filling up.
In any case, I'll be back for the beer, and maybe snack on some bar food, but I'll leave the growler at home.

11-08-2009 15:50:35 | More by FeDUBBELFIST

johnmichaelsen

Oregon

4.05/5  rDev +1.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

Visited this place for the first time yesterday. While Ron's is pretty solid, it's less then 5 minutes from TDR Exton, which IMHO is a superior beer destination.

Ron's is located in a strip mall, just north of hiway 100 on the right. Ron's has something of an Applebee's vibe to it, with a menu to match for the most part. As you walk in from the parking lot, the dining area is off to the right, while the darkly lit bar is to the left. The bar area (where I sat) is pretty good size, with a U shaped wrap around bar, with some 20 seats. The bar area also has some tables and chairs scattered around, and there were also 5 or 6 TV's with various sporting events on. Food here consists of burgers, pizza, hoagies, wings, etc. Nothing at all wrong with that, and the small order of extra hot wings I had were pretty decent, but this is not a fine dining destination. The menu here is not nearly as upscale as TDR, and the type of clientele that seem to gravitate to Ron's reflects that. On the other hand, prices seem very fair for what they have on offer.

OK. Enough about the atmosphere and food, what about the beer selection. IMHO, the best thing about this place is the beer selection. Ron's does a nice job of providing a brief description of the beers they have on tap, except for "the usual," which are just listed in order (peroni, miller lite, coors lite, etc.). Aside from "the usual" offerings, the selection here was pretty strong, with some 16 other beers on tap, including things like Blind Pig, Stone Sublimely Self Righteous, Moylan's Wit, Mad Elf and the 2007 Anchor X-mas beer. Very impressive. My understanding is that Ron's has a pretty good bottle selection as well, but given how strong the tap list was, I didn't give the bottle list more then a passing glance.

Service was pretty good, with the young man and woman manning the bar providing quick and efficient service. When I asked about the Anchor X-mas beer (I had read on-line that it was the 2007, but the menu did not reflect that), the bartender didn't know if it was the 2007 or not, so he went and found out. Immediately. I thought that was pretty impressive.

All things considered, this is definitely a solid place. I guess it's different enough from TDR that they don't both compete for the same type of customer, though I'm sure there is some cross over. I'd come here again if they had something special on tap that I really wanted to try, but otherwise, the food, service and beer selection are typically superior at TDR, which is where I'll probably continue to take my business.

07-12-2009 14:15:55 | More by johnmichaelsen