Church Key

mjl21

California

3.71/5  rDev -9.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$$

Church Key is a new beer bar/lounge located in North Beach. For those going, parking around the area is extremely tough. If you are going out later than 6, take public transportation or be prepared to spend $20 to park. They serve only beer and wine and don't do food, but the table next to me had brought in pizza.

It is a fairly tiny space. There are two levels, but I only stayed on the ground floor where the bar is located. There is not a ton of seating room. They have a booth, a few hightops, and some seats at the bar.

They have a few taps that they continually rotate. When you come in they give you a clipboard with their draught offerings as well as their bottle offerings. When I went they had Curieux, Maharaja, Buffalo Belgian Stout, Duchesse, and a few others that I don't recall. The bottle list seemed fairly large, but I did not even take a look at it.

My biggest gripe was that it was a little too loungy for me. Think lots of Eurotrash and crummy Radiohead knockoff bands playing on the stereo.

The prices were in line with what most Belgian beer bars seem to charge (not very cheap). Draught offerings went from $7-$10. I think my Maharaja was $8. The bartender was friendly and quick at getting my beer.

This is by no means a bad place. If you are waiting to eat at Tony's pizza down the street it is a great place to go and have a drink. I prefer La Trappe and Rogue because of their atmospheres.

08-01-2009 19:18:29 | More by mjl21

nickd717

California

3.7/5  rDev -9.8%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 3.5 | $$$

This place is decent. Pretty nice ambiance and a fairly good beer selection, albeit extremely predictable. They've got some Allagash (White/Curieux), Dogfish Head (90 Min/Midas Touch/Palo Santo Marron), Delirium Tremens, some De Ranke, Nogne, Duchesse de Bourgog....(yawn)...zzz. Ok, maybe I've become too much of a beer snob for my own good. But really, nearby La Trappe dominates this place, and that's not even considering La Trappe's awesome moules frites. Church Key prices are also pretty high, although not unexpected for a high-end North Beach beer bar.

One interesting feature on the menu is the $2 "mystery beer."
***SPOILER ALERT!***
It's something crappy, almost definitely some variety of bland American macro adjunct lager. If you're lucky, it'll be PBR. If you're unlucky, well, let's just say I hope you have lots of Advil and easy toilet access the next day.

Still though, it's another place to get a good beer in the city, and is worth it if you just want to mix it up a bit.

06-24-2009 22:17:16 | More by nickd717

jp11801

Florida

4.3/5  rDev +4.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | $$$

Great new beer place in North Beach. I went there last Sunday for a pre-concert round of beers. First off the service was great and the women bartender was excellent (sorry forgot your name). She had a good handle on the beer and was very nice.

Great beer selection started off with a draft and then jumped to the beer menu and much to my surprise they had the Mickeller IPA. Price as all hell but a great beer and kudos to Church Key for stocking it.

I likely be back to see how the place evolves over time

03-28-2009 23:48:57 | More by jp11801

Newmerator

California

4.25/5  rDev +3.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 5 | food: 4 | $$$

Church Key -

In my honest opinion. La Trappe has this place beat, so far. When I went there, they were serving some appetizers, and the beer selection (book) was pretty extensive. I had a Grand Cru and Saison. But they have a different 2$ tasty libation every night, from Mickeys to Highlife. I thought the bar tenders at La trappe knew a bit more and offered a bit better service. But this place started by one of the owners of another bar in Haight is just what he wanted. They had some rock music playing (i think avenged sevenfold or something to the same melody) and it had the exact environment that I'm certain the owner had in mind. While I do appreciate the menu so much and the food (buffalo something or other was delicious), I might only go here with friends every so often. I highly recommend going here to see if it fits your attitude and beer palate.

This was from 2 weekends ago. I just love seeing more places with good beer. Keep it up!.

03-16-2009 03:48:37 | More by Newmerator

funkmaster229

California

4.58/5  rDev +11.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

This place is great! It is one of the only places to drink better beer in North Beach- and without the crowds.

They don't serve food yet, but along with the developing decor, storefront, and evolving beer menu, I've been assured that it's all only going to get bigger and better. They have only been open a few weekends and I've been in three times.

Unibroue bottles and drafts are all reasonably priced and Aventinus is on tap! Other usual suspects include: Delerium Tremens, xxBitter, Allagash White, Bluebird bitter, Dogfish head 90min, and NC Scrimshaw pils. There's also Hercule stout, DesRocs grand cru, and O winter and saison- some pricier and more rare offerings.

There's enough decent glassware to go around and a push for labeled/brewer intended glasses is underway.

There's a small, chill lounge upstairs perfect for hiding from the world or PDA.

If you like Lucky13 and wouldn't mind toning down the punkrock vibe, check it out. If you love Toronado, but find the smelly crowds to be a deterent, definitely check it out.

Oh, yeah...high life cans $2!!!ha!!

12-17-2008 11:02:31 | More by funkmaster229