T.J. Finley's

EkimGram

New York

3.98/5  rDev -2.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

Atmosphere: Standard beer bar. Lots of space; they've got tables, booths, and a very long bar as well as an area out back. Tends to get extremely crowded on the weekends, though. They have a few too many bright LCD televisions for my taste, though. It gets to be a little bit of a sensory overload after a while.

Quality: Beer is always terrific, poured in proper glassware.

Service: I'm yet to have poor service - everyone has always been polite and kind.

Selection: Lots of great local stuff as well as more popular out of state brews such as Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Head, and some of the big Belgians. Bottle selection is impressive but I don't usually go out to the bar for bottles. There are several days of the week where they will have local pints for $4 each which is a great deal, especially if it's a higher ABV Blue Point, Great South Bay, or Greenport.

Food: I find the food is much better during the day. I've gotten sliders on a Sunday afternoon or a nice big burger and they were excellent, especially with some sweet potato fries. At night when things get a little busy, the quality starts to drop and go from pretty good bar food to another run of the mill meal of fried whatevers.

Overall, not a bad place. Definitely worth stopping buy to check out some new local beers on tap that you wouldn't normally be able to get.

06-14-2011 17:46:31 | More by EkimGram

socon67

New York

4.1/5  rDev +0.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Visited here for the Cigar City meet the brewers.

A - I remember back when this place was Parrot Heads. The atmosphere is a bit of a mix of beer lovers and pub crawlers. Seems to try and be a bit of everything, which is hard to do.

Q - Taps of many great beers. Easy to find something you like on an average day. Served in proper glassware.

Ser - Fairly prompt, and bartenders know about their offerings. When I was there it was crowded, which made it tough to gauge service as they were quickly filling glasses.

F - No idea, didn't even see a menu. Not fair to note much here.

V - For what they are pouring it is fair. Avergae craft prices for the area.

Another solid craft beer bar for Long Island. These folks always seem to have events going on, so I'll be back.

09-15-2012 17:57:31 | More by socon67

jokerjim_65

4.36/5  rDev +6.6%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

Hard to argue with this place much. The taps are clean and rotated often. Many hard to find items and they have a cask tap, too.
They also have your "own private pub" where you can sit at one of three tables and pour your own out of the taps at the table, novelty that comes in well when the place is swamped.
They are very willing to work with you for fundraisers and very charitable, too. The only issue I have ever had in the place is one of the bartenders could not be bothered serving me for a long time. The bar had seven people in it and should could not tear herself away from two guys she was speaking with. I have been there many times and never had any issue except that weekend late afternoon. I will not go into the place if I see her working, just on principal.

09-10-2012 22:49:06 | More by jokerjim_65

vfgccp

New York

3.95/5  rDev -3.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Visited on a Friday night in July 2011

Atmosphere – Classic, wood / English pub design. About a third of the total space is located out back with an outdoor bar, but it’s not nearly as nice as the scene indoors. Flat screen TV’s line 2 full walls of the bar and featured a wide range of sporting events (3 different baseball games, MMA, and boxing while I was there). The crowd was a nice mix of young professionals (most were mid 20’s to mid 30’s) and a smattering of beer geeks. It’s definitely not your classic, “my new haircut” Long Island bar. My major quam was that after 10pm the music became obnoxiously loud. It wasn’t just me either, I was with a group of 10 friends (all mid-to-late 20’s) and they all felt the same way.

Quality – Had 5 beers on tap and they all seemed to be free of tap-line contamination.

There was definitely an effort to serve beer in the proper glassware. They got the obvious ones right (hefe’s in weizen glass), but some of the tough ones wrong (Imperial Scotch ale in a slender pilsner glass?). As things got busy later in the night you could see beers that were previous served in specialty glasses starting to get served in American pint glasses, but overall it wasn’t horrible. They got it right about 80% of the time.

Service – Didn’t have a chance to talk to the bartender or the servers about the beers (I didn’t really have any questions), but there was an interesting “conversion chart” that listed common beers / drinks that people like, and paired them with the bar’s current draft offerings. It was a nice touch for noobies.

Food service stopped at 10pm, and between 8 and 10 it was tough to find a server. When you got one though, they were very nice.

Selection – I didn't get a chance to count the taps, but I'd say it was between 15-20 + 1 cask ale. Selection included Delirium Tremens, Firestone Walker Union Jack, Speakeasy Betrayal, Kelso Nut Brown, and Olivia Saison. The only “common” beer I noticed was Guinness. Draft offerings were complemented by an above average bottle list (maybe 60 or so options)

Food – Standard pub fair and overall pretty good. The nachos were great, and so were the fried pickles. The cheese fondue was sub-par, but the pretzel it came with was delicious.

Value – Not bad at all. Average pricing, maybe even a shade less than most bars in the area.

08-01-2011 18:23:10 | More by vfgccp

Gmann

New York

3.78/5  rDev -7.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Purposely went during a non-busy time so I could get a seat at the bar and soak everything in. Not much of a beer vibe going on. Yes there is some beery stuff on the walls but it just reminds me of all of the other bars that have occupied this space over the years. The space is rather small. Its rectangular and has a bar that extends for most of the length of the place. There is about 2 or 3 booths and some odd tables. Don't come here just to eat as there might not be a spot to sit down. The bar has about 25 taps plus 1 cask tap. The bottle selection is decent, good selection but nothing crazy. Basically everything on tap or on bottle I can get in the local beer distributors. However, Long Island doesn't have many bars this dedicated to beer so its nice. The service went I went was attentive as I was asked if I wanted another as I got close to the end of my current beer. Nothing told me that they were super knowledgable about the beers as I asked what they had on tap and all I got was "some winters and a few pilsners". I must say their cask was just awful. The day I went it was Firestone Walker Pale Ale and it tasted like dirty tap line funk-ass. No hop flavor, or any pleasant flavor, whatsoever. It seems that they left that cask open for over a week. The menu seems decent but I didn't get any food at the time. Overall, not a bad place for the area but just average when it comes to beer bars.

01-08-2011 00:01:53 | More by Gmann

SkunkWorks

New York

4/5  rDev -2.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Went here last night (Thursday) with my girlfriend for a few drinks and food.

It wasn't really that crowded but there were a good number of people there. Most of the tables were open but the bar area was pretty full. Its fairly dimly lit especially in the front of the building. There's an outside bar and sitting area but it was too cold to really make the best use of that. There is a lot of craft beer stuff throughout the place, like tin signs, bottles, and coasters worked into the tables.

The food was fairly good. I had the mac and cheese and my girlfriend got waffle fries and these chicken sliders. The mac and cheese was pretty good but the waffle fries and sliders were excellent. Reasonably priced as well.

The service at the bar was excellent but the food was kind of slow. I'm okay with that but its something to keep in mind. The bartenders were very friendly and helpful.

As for selection, they had a pretty good line up for the taps. I forget most of what was there but they had the local favorites (Blue Point, Southampton), local up and comers (Greenport), plus stuff like Captain Lawrence and Founders. The bottle list is solid but its not mind blowing.

Definitely worth a visit and will probably become a "regular" place for me.

10-22-2010 19:05:45 | More by SkunkWorks

Manoftyr

New York

4.58/5  rDev +12%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$$

Atmosphere-Good atmosphere, it can get a little noisy if you show up during a sports night, but they provide small private booths off to the side to get away from the noise that are close enough to the bar so it isn't too much of a hassle to walk on over to the bar table. The place also has a nice billboard listing what's just been tapped.

Quality-Excellent quality, aside from their cask which I don't think they handle properly, I haven't had a single beer taste off while I'm there.

Service-Excellent service, the bar tenders are quite knowledgeable and frequently chat beer with me, and they walk the bar pretty swiftly so you get your beer pretty quick even when it's crowded.

Selection-Their selection of taps rotates too frequently for me to give a list, which is a plus for me as I love to come in and try the new things they have on tap. They have a few good regulars too though including Weihenstephaner Hefeweizen which I get there frequently and never disappoints; lately I've been having the Nebraska IPA on tap over there, which they got fairly recently.

Food-Their food is actually pretty good, the burgers are great and the wings are alright; they're big and meaty.

Value-It's a bit pricey and there's no happy hour special or anything like that, still, it's a great place to go if you like a place with frequently rotating taps.

08-18-2010 02:57:05 | More by Manoftyr

washburnkid

New York

4.08/5  rDev -0.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Checked out this place on the recommendation of a local beer blogger. I enjoyed Sculpin and Sofie on tap, as well as an always refreshing bottle of Yuengling. The sofie was poured into a pint glass, but I'm willing to forgive and forget.

The atmosphere was decent. There weren't a ton of people around, and a few TVs were going. Some decent music was playing, but not loud enough to drown out the absolutely bizarre conversations I had to listen to. Overall clean and comfortable but nothing spectacular.

Service was good...not a lot of people, like I mentioned, so the bartender was attentive. They had a wonderful selection of taps, a cask ale of the day, and tons of American/Belgian/German and other bottles. The food was pretty good as well. I had sweet potato fries, which came out very soon after I ordered them. I got my cousin a Texan burger (loads of bacon and onion), and it was pretty unrecognizable, plus the bottom bun was nonexistent. But there wasn't a single complaint about flavors. It smelled and tasted damn good.

I'd definitely go back to this joint. It seems like it has the "hometown" potential. A bar you could easily make your own, though I'm sure I'd feel differently with the night crowd.

07-30-2010 03:00:32 | More by washburnkid

Billolick

New York

3.94/5  rDev -3.7%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

Any place on "the island" that has cask beer, 16 taps and hundreds of bottle selections is a step in the right direction. The selections tend to stay on the tame side (guiness, Blue Point, Bklyn, MH, Sams x2,Stella et al), but they are so plentiful, you will find plenty of brew that is BA worthy. Tin roof , lots of dark wood, over the top amounts of Beeranalia all over the place. They seem to be making a heartfelt attempt to respect beer, for example recomending particular beer/food combos on the extensive pub grubby menu. Anyway if you are in the area, or coming and going from the Fire Island ferries, this place is worth checking out.

11-24-2007 11:44:00 | More by Billolick

lehows

New York

4.28/5  rDev +4.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Located on Main St. in Bay Shore. I must say, Bay Shore's gentrification has really stepped up another notch with this place. Between here and Smokin' Al's BBQ you don't need anything else! TJ Finley's took over this spot formerly occupied by The Mighty Quinn, a Bud Light swilling bro-bar that I do not miss in the least. And they have done wonders with the space. Completely renovated with nice dark woodworking, comfy booths each equiped with their own flat-screen TV, and cool tables with old coasters and other brewerania fiberglassed inside. The bar is long and wooden, with a nice display of about 100 bottles on the wall. A bunch more flat screens are behind the bar. There is also an outdoor deck and patio area out in the back with another bar. There were about 18 taps and one cask that included Delirium Tremens (on tap!!), Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, Sweaty Betty, Leinie's, a couple Blue Points, Sixpoint Bengali Tiger IPA on cask, among others. Bottle selection was fantastic with tons of Belgian 750's. I might also add that they are dedicated to the local brew scene with Blue Point, Southampton, Brooklyn, and Sixpoint all available. This place is really what beer bars are all about. The paper beer menu even has one whole page telling patrons how to truly enjoy a beer (appearance, nose, etc.) The cute bartenders all knew how to pour and used proper glassware for the Belgians, Hefe's, etc. The staff wore black t-shirts with quotes such as "Drink Real Beer" and "Beer Geek" emblazoned across the chest. The menu is your typical pub-fare with a twist and the food is pretty good. The crowd here was pretty diverse but mostly young people (20's and 30's). There was still some of those macro-swilling brohams in the place but most of the patrons were drinking good beer. It was a Thursday night and the place was packed out and a lot of fun. Good music even though it was loud as hell. They were playing everything from Underoath to Rihanna, quite diverse but I enjoyed it. This is definitely a party bar, and most of those kinds of places have crap beer selections, so this is great. If you're looking to sit in a quiet pub all afternoon dreaming of a soft Irish morning, this isn't for you. Overall, this place rocks pretty hard and I'm surprised there arn't more reviews here from Long Island BA's. Go here.

08-28-2007 18:42:00 | More by lehows