Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing

orangesol

Pennsylvania

4.55/5  rDev +2.2%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.75 | food: 4.5 | $$

Al's is an interesting case of what a pizza place really should be. Not the biggest place in the world, getting smaller every day in fact, but it makes up for it with good food and even better beer. I have tried just about everything on the menu now and have not been disappointed yet. The subs are great, and the pizza's are even better. I prefer the buffalo chicken pizza personally but the beer geek is awesome as well.

Now on to the good part, the beer. Simply put, there is no better selection of beers in the harrisburg area. From the 24 taps, 4 on nitro, to the 3 cask hand pulls, you will not find a better selection. The mix-a-six for $13 is a good deal if you are looking to try multiple offerings. They also sell and fill growlers with nearly all of the beers. Bottle selection is usually pretty good as well. You can find anything from Lost Abbey Angles Share to victory at Sea to nearly all of the beers dogfish makes.

Al's has started to brew under the name Pizza Boy Brewing and has begun to have them on-tap at the shop. I look forward to trying his beers for years to come.

02-05-2010 20:08:55 | More by orangesol

MrPsychic

Pennsylvania

4.95/5  rDev +11.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | food: 5 | $$

I've only gone there three times, but all times they were amazing. The first time I went in to get a bottle of 120 Minute IPA, and the head guy there, who's name I've forgotten, talked to me about it, what he liked, and recommended a few others. The price for the bottle was reasonable, at 12 dollars for it.

The second time I went in, I got the pulled pork sub and my mom got a sandwich. I saw they had Mad Elf on tap, so I ordered one. They served it in the correct glassware, a tulip glass, and a nice temp, not as cold as the other taps. The food was excellent and in large portions. Later, I got the mix six pack of beers to take home, excellent selection, with nothing seemingly expired.

The third time I went in was just earlier today, and it was packed. Still, even when it was packed, the head guy remembered me for getting the 120 Minute earlier and we talked more about it. I got my food to go, taking slightly longer, but it was ok, seeing how the place was about overflowing. While waiting, I had a pint of Rogue's Double Dead Guy Ale and picked out a selection of six beers to take home.

The place has several flat screens up, with a selection of different channels, something for everyone. Every time I was in, they were fast and polite, even when my mom's credit card was having trouble going through, I paid for it and the head guy joked to my mom that she should get a top shelf beer since I was paying. I highly recommend them and would go back in a heartbeat.

01-23-2010 05:39:28 | More by MrPsychic

pumpkin1

Pennsylvania

4.45/5  rDev 0%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Al's Pizza is a great place to go if you are looking for good beer and good food at a reasonable price. They have a great bottle selection, 6 pack to go section and approx. 14 taps filled with craft beer. Very nice bomber selection as well.
I was in yesterday 11/5/09 and the tap selection was awesome.
Troegs Hop Back, Bells Winter White, Bells Double Cream Stout, Stone RIS, Stone Sublimeley Self Righteous Ale (sp), Dogfish Head 60 Min., Smuttynose Big A IPA, and a few other's that I don't remember.
They also fill growlers and sell growlers to go.

Overall, I think Al's is a very nice place. The service is great and the people working there are very kind and friendly.

11-06-2009 13:06:53 | More by pumpkin1

Dodo2step

Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -10.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $

I have been to Al's of 15 before for the food and it is always great. Their buffet is phenomenal for the price they ask.

I havent had the food at this Al's but im sure it is the same idea. A great selection and nice atmosphere. A very open space and a nice small selection of brews.

The price was very nice for a sixer mixed but i could only get from a certain shelf and down. Still, everything was great!

Their service was very quick and very helpful in helping me find whatever i needed. They also had the six pack containers on hand so you dont have to struggle holding em all.

A nice mix and match place!

06-20-2009 22:20:11 | More by Dodo2step

Slatetank

Pennsylvania

4.45/5  rDev 0%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

I visited Al's for lunch today. Do you like Pizza and Craft Beer? You will like Al's then. The atmosphere of a nice corner pizza shop, clean, well-lit and easy to understand menus. The coolers flank the counter which has several pies displayed and the taps are in plain view.

The selection is the real reason to go. They have about 12 or more taps mostly craft and such bottled selections as Troeg's (even scratch and Nugget currently)Stone, DFH, Green Flash, Bell's, St Bernardus, Samuel Smiths and the list goes on...

The service is fast friendly, no-nonsense and they have a handle on what they sell, recommending and helping with new items.

The quality and value is top notch as both are hard to find fault with I appreciate the freshness of the selections and pricing is very reasonable. I found the buffalo wing pizza to be tasty and it was served hot. The food is worth it for portion sizes and I would only criticize by saying it didn't taste like buffalo wings on the pizza, just chicken slices, but tasty and filling.

I appreciated the variety of menu choices: 4 kinds of pies-neopolitan, white, deep dish and specialty, easy to read beer and food menus with prices under each selection. I enjoyed the visit and they were able to provide good service while there was a lunch rush-recommended

04-09-2009 20:12:19 | More by Slatetank

Deuane

Pennsylvania

4.35/5  rDev -2.2%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

Hit the place up for lunch. After stopping in to check out the goings on a few times I thought a proper BF is in order.

Hey it's a pizza/sub shop what more do you want? Nothing fancy but the place, if a bit small, is fine.

Clean, comfortable and convenient. Easy to find, just east of the Wertzville (PA 944) exit of I-81. Exit I-81, go east on 944 to first light, turn left onto Valley Rd and then make immediate left in small plaza.

A damn good beer selection with 24, constantly roatating, taps...only 1 dud being Coors Light. The other 23 taps are solid American and imported craft beers.

Ten cooler doors for six packs, bombers and singles hold a good variety of beer with about 75% being craft. A nice array of American craft with a smattering of Belgian offerings. Beers were priced fairly, especially for a PA bottle shop. They also have a make your own six-pack section at 6 for $13.

They offer growler fills, including selling the nice German flip tops at cost for $18. Specials include Troeg's Tuesday, with growler fills of Pale Ale and Hopback for $5,that is $3 less than the brewery! Also, they have Victory Fridays with various incentives.

Food is solid with in house made rolls, pizza dough and soups. I have ordered many an item off the menu and it is all solid, filling, good stuff.

Counter service only but the staff was pleasant enough and brought my cheesesteak out to me. Nothing extraordinary but certainly not sub par either.

A nice addition to the local beer scene. Will I make Al's my local, I doubt it. But, I surely will I keep it in mind as a place to check out every now and then!

*EDIT*--Well since bumping the taps up and becoming friends with Al and the folks that work there Al's HAS become my local. C and I head there at least twice a week for pizza and a few pints.

04-09-2009 18:31:25 | More by Deuane

ffejherb

Pennsylvania

4.28/5  rDev -3.8%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped in on Friday 4/3/09 for some pizza and beer, and pretty much just to check out the selection after hearing about this place on BA. Despite being located only a few minutes from my workplace, I was surprised I never heard of this place.

Al's has a slightly more up-scale pizza place/sub shop atmosphere that most other similar places. It's clean and pretty comfortable, and it is conveniently located right off I-81 on Wertsville Road.

Their beer selection was surprisingly excellent and quite diverse, with a whole cooler for bombers and another two with single bottles that ran the gamut of locals such as Troegs and Victory to Midwest offerings from Bell's to West Coasters like Rogue and Stone. Plenty of DFH selections too. Prices seemed very reasonable, especially for PA. They also have a seperate area for take-out six packs and 40's. While there's a lot of swill, there's also plenty of Troegs, Victory and Bell's six packs available, as well as others. You can also mix and match sixers, which is nice.

They also have a solid tap selection with around fourteen offerings. During my visit, they had Philly Walt Wit and Shackamaximum Imp. stout, Fort Collins chocolate stout, Victory Storm King and Hop Wallop, a few Troegs taps, a Pennichuck tap and two relegated to Miller Lite and Coors Light, among others. They also fill growlers and have specials throughout the week, including Troegs Tuesday, where they do growler fills of flagship beers for only $5. They also have Victory Fridays, with $1 off draughts, $2 bottles and discounted growler fills.

As for the food, the menu looked quite diverse and offered a variety of pizzas, sandwiches, salads and dinners. They also have daily food specials. We got a basic cheese pizza, but it was fantastic, certainly one the best local pizza I've had in the area.

Overall, this is a great addition to the local beer scene. The selection is awesome, the prices are reasonable and the food is very good. I'm glad I found out about this place, because I will definitely visit often.

04-04-2009 18:04:49 | More by ffejherb

Nattybohman

Pennsylvania

4.18/5  rDev -6.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped in today after work.
Overall a great place if you want to go for a few good brews and a pizza. Thats what it is plain and simple a pizza shop with beer. Great beer really.
Had pretty much a little of everything from Dogfish to Victory.
Daily discounts on food and beer.
Great tap selection.
Pozharnik Espresso Russian Imperial Stout from Pennichuck on draft was my beer.
There are sixers of one kind on one wall and a mix and match section on the other wall.
Can buy singles too always a plus in my book.
So if your not so certain about a beer here maybe is your chance to get a single of it before buying a whole case.
Going to be stopping in here from now on more often.
Easy off and on From the Wertzville road exit of Interstate 81.

02-14-2009 01:22:31 | More by Nattybohman

akorsak

Pennsylvania

4.38/5  rDev -1.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$

Edit on 11-Apr-10: First visit since expanding their tap last. A great selection that is IPA/DIPA heavy, just the way I like it. Our cheesesteak pizza was rockin' too. Atmosphere up from 3.5 to 4.0; Selection up to 5.0 from 4.5; Food up to 4.0 from 3.5; Service up from 3.5 to 4.5.

***

Atmosphere: Al's is a pizza joint in a two-store strip mall (okay, maybe it's not a strip mall). Approximately 10 tables are aligned around the counter (back right), six pack coolers (back left), soda/water/etc. (left) and singles cooler (right).

Quality: My sandwich was average and the restrooms were reasonably clean. Staff was friendly and lunch came out quicklty.

Service: There was no table service, only counter ordering. They diligently checked my id before serving my beer.

Selection: Six tap offerings and at least fifty different bottle offerings were available. I had a Blue Pointe Winter Ale with lunch. They also have Arrogant Bastard, Mad Elf, and Gritty's Christmas Ale on-tap. Bottle-wise, the selection was surprisingly good. I've seen Pennichuck bottles in the area but never Pozharnik. Guess what? They have bottles here. A nice array of Stone, Chimay, Lindemans, Victory and Troegs were available as well.

Food: Food is decent with an Italian focus. Subs, pizza, calzone, and stromboli are the headliners. I went with an Italian sub and found it to be average.

The restaurant is worth visiting for the bottle selection.

01-01-2009 17:12:21 | More by akorsak

thain709

Pennsylvania

4.58/5  rDev +2.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Stopped in after reading the excellent review on this place. It's a pizza shop with a hidden treasure inside...good beer! It's kinda small inside with all the tables...which were packed when I was there. They have a cooler full of nothing but six packs. On the other side of the restaurant is a cooler with singles and bombers. With the singles you could mix-n-match for $13...not a bad price. I walked away with Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Victory Storm King, and Rouge Mocha Porter and Santa's Private Reserve.

The selection all over is excellent. They have everything from Victory and Troegs...to Stone and Rouge. They also have a few taps which included Stone, Troges, Blue Point and a few others that I didn't get a good look at.

If you get the chance...stop in at Al's of Hampden. It's an easy on/off spot at 81.

Update: I finally tried the food here and it's really good. I went for a sub and I must say the bread was delicious. The pizza is also top notch! Also, they have expanded their tap selection to 24 taps and now 3 casks. This place keeps getting better and better.

12-28-2008 22:57:27 | More by thain709