Tony's Darts Away

DoubleJ

California

4.36/5  rDev -5.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | $$

So much has been said about this new Burbank bar that I decided to drive from Orange County to see whats up. TDA is well lit from the street at night, so finding was not a problem. There's plenty of parking on the street.

Well lit interior, pale colored wood all around, board games to play with friends, beer books waiting to be read, a pool table, a dart board, and a large bar decorate the interior of TDA. It's very clean, and very inviting. Nearly everyone there was around the age of I (I'm 24).

The foucs, as others have stated, are strickly California beers on-tap and cask. There are two cask engines to go along with the 30-odd rotating taps. Lots of IPA's on the menu, running about 15 total, while the rest are filled with "Not IPA's". There are beers from AleSmith, Stone, Ballast Point, Coronado, Eagel Rock, Bootlegger's, Kern River, Craftsman, Firestone, MateVeza, Anchor, Marin, Sierra Nevada, and Rubicon, including lots of "harder to find" kegs. It's a great concept.

Unlike other places, TDA serves an honest pint. They take an English pint glass (about 20 ounces), fill it to a certain point in the glass, and serve it. Your beer may not be filled all the way to the top, but you're still getting the pint of beer you paid for. Most of the beers are around $5 a pour. Other pieces of glassware are also used, including a half-pint.

The bartenders seemed to have a grasp on beer knowledge, and were quick to keep glasses full of beer. A small selection of food is served as well (sausages, fries, salads, onion straws), but I wasn't hungry. Maybe next time I'll experiment.

TDA is a fun place for the beer drinker. The craft beer bar scene in LA just got another great addition, in an area that's been adding them at a furious pace over the last few years.

05-25-2010 19:04:23 | More by DoubleJ

UCLABrewN84

California

4.45/5  rDev -3.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

My buddy and I decided to visit Tony's last night. It's a fairly small place with a bar with some seats and tables against the walls. They also have a pool table (which we played) and one dart board (I thought there would be more based on the name of the place). They also have shelves with lots of board games to play and beer books to browse through. The bartenders were very friendly and attentive all night long. Lots of good food choices with vegan and non-vegan options (somewhat interesting). I had a tasty brat and shared some poutine fries, both of which were excellent. The beers on tap are all from California only. Lots of IPA/DIPA choices on one list and everything else on another list. I was able to try lots of good beer I have never seen anywhere else. The highlight of the night was Firestone Walker Sticky Monkey (awesome stuff). All the beers were fresh and served appropriately. I really appreciated that they served half pints on a majority of their beers, which allowed me to try many more beers. Prices on the beers were very reasonable and I ended up getting 6 beers and the brat for $36 with tax. I would definitely recommend this place for a chill night of good beer and good food.

10-23-2011 18:26:04 | More by UCLABrewN84

Onenote81

North Carolina

4.78/5  rDev +3.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 5 | $$$

Had to, had to, HAD TO stop by this place when in the area last week. This was my #1 stop on our quick trip to the area. I now wish I would have gone everyday. Really cool looking building from the outside, but smaller than I thought. As others have noted, the parking is free on the street. We parked about half a block away which was nice. Nice bar that seats maybe 15-20 people. Small tables scattered throughout. A lone pool table and a lone dart board in the back. For having "Darts" in the name, I figured there would be more dart boards available. Ah well, it was free so we played for about an hour. Their tap list was nothing short of amazing. All beers are from CA, and half of them (about 20) are IPAs. I'm in heaven. The service was excellent. Friendly, but not overly so. Got our drinks quickly and in the correct glassware, which is always a bonus. We just missed Pliny, which was my biggest disappointment from our trip, but it was a small price to pay for such an awesome establishment. Were I a local, I would hit this place up constantly. A bar any city would be proud to have.

03-12-2012 19:32:19 | More by Onenote81

charlzm

California

4.5/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | $$

UPDATE - visited on Thursday night July 1st at 8:00pm; there were no tables and no spots at the bar. Tony's is a victim of its own success. I was in line between people who wanted to know what the best pilsener on tap was. Not really full-on beer geeks, obviously, but I applaud that more and more people are moving into the world of craft beer.

Get a clue, LA entrepreneurs: we need more places to have good beer in the San Fernando Valley, where over ONE MILLION PEOPLE live. That's more than the population of many urban areas with their own thriving craft beer scenes. Besides Tony's, what do we have? A couple of BJ's, a Gordon Biersch, Fox and Hounds, McG's, Laurel Tavern (ack) and Blue Dog. COME ON!

Anyway...
___

Tony's, I love you. This is a beer lovers' place, like Father's Office used to be (BEFORE the Office Burger). It compares favorably with other LA area haunts (I'm looking at you, Verdugo).

I can't fault the place in any way except to suggest more bar staff. The wait for a beer can range up to ten minutes at peak times.

But it's beer worth waiting for. While not a menu full of beer pron, the solid and changing lineup is skewed towards local and regional brews.

To sum it up, Tony's is the ideal neighborhood bar: clean, friendly, a good hang spot, average prices, great craft selection (with no PBR style concessions on draft), awesome staff. The crowd when I visited was actually drinking and interested in beer - surprising in a good way based on the their being youngish studio-type employees.

Ample, free street parking and freeway close location are just the icing on this cake.

My new favorite place in greater LA metro for a brew.

05-16-2010 04:23:11 | More by charlzm

Retsinis

California

4.78/5  rDev +3.7%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Had thought I had already reviewed TDA, but apparently not. Will keep this somewhat short, since I agree with pretty much everything in the positive reviews on TDA.

Great Tap Selection, some of them are consistently on Tap. Scrimshaw comes to mind, but there are many others. They also are very good about updating the tap list online, as well as in the bar just about daily.

Prices for flights are good at $8, as they as for pints, and half glasses. The pints, tulips, & snifters are honest, as is the clean rinse of the glass wear prior to the pour. The staff is friendly, attentive, and knowledgeable. They also keep a healthy supply of back up kegs in a second cold box, & you never know what they might just bust out when a keg pops ( as an example, Deliverance)

This place is the real deal. The theme of All craft, all draft, and all California is something I personally love, as I support local. The Vegan options are ideal for me, being vegetarian, and I greatly appreciate it. The sweet potato fries are awesome as well. I wish TDA many years of success. I hope they one day are able to expand the Burbank location, or perhaps even open one in the west Valley.

10-07-2010 18:16:56 | More by Retsinis

colonelforbin

California

4.63/5  rDev +0.4%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

Tony's Darts Away is a fantastic pub in Burbank, about a half mile off I-5. Long bar with comfortable seating and tables off to the side. Darts in the back and a few TVs on the wall. I was here during lunchtime, so it wasn't too crowded (though it was getting more crowded as we stayed). Very nice atmosphere.

Beer selection was excellent. I was very impressed. On the beer menu, they have one page for IPAs and one page for everything else. Must have been at least 30 (probably more) beers on tap, all carefully selected. Lots of local (LA and SD) selections, and some great stuff from up north as well. Prices were reasonable, not too cheap but not too bad. I have not been to too many beer bars in LA but this has to be one of the better selections in the area. Very impressive.

Service was great when I was there. The food was outstanding. They have lots of vegan options and they specify that all the vegan food is cooked in separate cookware, which is a great thing to see, particularly at a craft beer bar! Many thanks to them for doing this. The food was great, I had a vegan chili dog with the house potato chips.

Can't say enough good things about this place. Highly recommended. Not far from the freeway if you are traveling on I-5. Check this place out.

11-06-2011 05:07:46 | More by colonelforbin

augustgarage

California

3.98/5  rDev -13.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

The localvore concept applied to California's ample beer selection. No bottles, so less waste. Even the wine is on-tap. Taplist is kept up to date online, though the few times I've been there, much of what was on the menu had kicked. They have two cask engines I think, though they frequently don't have anything on.

The main focus is on the venerable IPA, so this is a great place to take hop-heads visiting from out of state who want to try some things not widely available. Their "not IPA" list is decent as well, with more of a focus on Belgian styles, stouts, and even lighter fruit beers and the like...again pretty much all from California brewers. On any given night, you'll find offerings from Stone, The Bruery, Russian River, Alpine, Green Flash, Ballast Point, Bear Republic, Moylan's, Lagunitas, North Coast, Alesmith, Hangar 24, Drake's, Port, etc. Paige used to work at Blue Palms Brewhouse, and I know Brian has sent kegs over to Tony's on occasion (I suspect he has a lot more storage space than they do).

The food is well made and creative. There are plenty of vegan options (indeed Tony's hosted the first vegan beer festival this year), though usually in the form of fake meat. Their specials vary, but the main focus is on sausages (much like Wurstküche, The Fifth Amendment/Broadway Alehouse, etc...again, no surprise as Paige has worked at the former and is acquainted with the people behind the latter) and their unique twists on appetizers/sides (maple glazed sweet potato fries; thinly sliced deep fried onion fries; house made potato chips).

A pool table, plenty of board games and a quiet TV with the game on are all there to keep boredom at bay...I think the staff controls the jukebox, but I'm not positive. No live music as far as I know. I actually haven't noticed a dart board despite the name of the establishment...if they have one it wasn't in use when I was visiting. Former dive-bar customers intermingle with a young hipster crowd which makes for some interesting eavesdropping. The decor reflects the clientele, straddling the line between earnest and ironic embrace of the "dive bar" aesthetic.

Service is rather mixed - friendly for the most part, but simultaneously too relaxed (misplaced orders, sometimes a long wait just to order a beer) and too regimented (from the way you order to the way the foam is scraped off the top of your pint with a sterile wooden paddle). That said, they will ensure you leave happy.

All in all, Burbank (and the valley) is very lucky to have a place with this good a beer selection (and decent food as well). Not just another trend-chasing Father's Office imposter, this is a proper destination for the beer advocate.

11-21-2010 03:14:36 | More by augustgarage

errantnight

California

4.33/5  rDev -6.1%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

Ahh Tony's. Thank you for existing.

A wonderful concept that I love and embrace... a no-frills bar dedicated to local brew with quality food in a relaxed atmosphere.

As you probably know, there's 30 odd taps (and pretty soon a couple casks and a few nitro taps) of all-California beer.... and that's it (there's some California root beer on tap as well). No bottles. Food, at least currently, consists of sausages, salads, and a few fried items (sweet potato fries, onion "strings" and homemade chips). Sausages are served with a myriad of side options. Extremely solid. Prices are great (topping off at around $6 for a real 16oz pint of beer, glasses only for the truly strong stuff). Bar pool table and a dart board (with honest to goodness nice darts) round it out. Selection tilts heavily towards IPAs (no problem there) but could stand for a bit of evening out on the back end (although it was already superior in terms of range of selection on my second visit).

I'm a bit biased knowing (well, knowing might be a bit strong, but at least a passing acquiantance) with the GM and friends with one of the bartenders, but I love the vibe of the place. There seemed to have been a couple early growing pains but there's always a crowd of staff around so it stands to reason that any bumps in the road will smooth out before long.

Good food, comfortable atmosphere, great beer, awesome concept, excellent people... not sure what more you could ask for? Certainly making my life difficult as I have increasingly less time to spend out at beer bars as more great places keep opening in the LA area. Hats off.

04-28-2010 22:58:16 | More by errantnight

route66pubs

California

4.5/5  rDev -2.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Nice, casual place. I have been here enough to have staff know me by face if not by name. Very low-key at lunch been can be crazy busy at other times. Do not go when you expect them to be busy if that is not your scene.

Beer list is exceptional and all California. It rotates regularly and is always enjoyable and reasonably priced.

Good, knowledgeable staff. It is nice to walk into a place and not feel obligated to provide beer answers for other patrons, as I frequently feel obligated to do. Here, the staff can frequently know MORE than I do.

This place prides themselves on being green and local (and vegan friendly). All are true. Sometimes only having California beers can become boring. But Tony's keeps the style and brewery varieties rotating at all times. They do a fantastic job with that.

The food - well, sausages, because that is 90% of their menu- are good and reasonably priced. But their lack of options keeps me from frequenting this place even more.

01-19-2011 22:00:11 | More by route66pubs

TheJollyHop

California

4.28/5  rDev -7.2%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $

Its location emphasized by a large TONY'S sign on a stretch of Magnolia Blvd before the 5 freeway. This place is easy to find and the ensuing parking concern is equally remedied by ample residential space.

Once inside of Tonys', the layout is surprisingly uncluttered. Large windows near the front along with a few wooden tables that are adjacent to a large bar that spans nearly half the distance of the rectangle shaped space. Wooden tables line the perimeter, and towards the back of there is a pool table and a couple of televisions for your viewing pleasure. The walls are adorned with craft brewery advertisements; a nice touch.

A big plus is the number of things there are to do at Tony's. There is a rather extensive beer library that you can peruse through while enjoying one of over twenty different tap selections (most being served in 16oz true pints) for a very inexpensive price range of between $4.50- $6. There is billiards, also there are a few additional games (gotta have darts right?) that I can not comment on because I didn't check them out (I brought my own games).

Food is good but not something to go out of your way for. Sausages and fries, not bad, rather keeping it simple, but hey beer doesn't need to be complex all of the time!

The crowd is mainly hipsters in their late twenties to a hodgepodge of people in their early forties. Everyone seemed to be friendly (hey at least there weren't any angry drunks), and as the sun set a few rays illuminated the bar through the windows which was a pleasant surprise.

Tony's is everything a neighborhood beer bar should be in my opinion.

05-13-2010 14:32:59 | More by TheJollyHop