this place is my absolute favorite. my waitress was the most amazing person, she treated us with such kindness and respect. I've never felt more at home, her name was taylor. next time you come ask for her as your server. you will get nothing better then the best experience possible. on top of my phenomenal waitress the food was delicious. I really recommend the fish and chips! read more

Both the beer and food are great. First, beer: I tried their IPA and their Black IPA. The Black IPA was definitely my favorite. It has a strong malty flavor with coffee notes, but it still has the IPA hops. The Regular IPA was good; it's a pretty standard IPA. They have a pretty large selection of beers on tap, and I was surprised to see that only a couple were Quaff On! beers since they're a brewery. They're pretty new, so I'm assuming they just don't have a large enough selection of their own yet, so they have other beers as well. Still, I'd recommend ordering a Quaff On! beer. They make good stuff, and you're at a Quaff On restaurant so you might as well order their beer! We had about an hour wait on a Saturday night. It's a small place inside a house, so don't expect to just walk in and get a table. Once we got seated, our server was very attentive. We ordered pretzels and beer cheese as an appetizer, and tacos for our entrees (I got the Grilled Steak, my girlfriend got the Pork Carnitas). The pretzels/cheese was good, but be aware: you only get 3 pretzel sticks, but you can get extra pretzels for $1 each. The cheese has some serious spice to it, definitely spicier than expected. It's also served with some sort of horseradish sauce, which I find strange. If there's two options to dip (cheese and the sauce) one shouldn't be super spicy (i.e. the cheese should be very mild since there's a spicy sauce for people who want spicy). Regardless, the pretzels and beer cheese were good. My steak tacos were great. Good flavor, and a tad bit of kick. (side note: 3 tacos for around $10 is a good deal for this quality of taco). The pork tacos were also good, but again beware that they are extremely spicy. There's some sort of horseradish in the slaw on them, and it has a pretty big kick. My girlfriend doesn't like horseradish or super spicy food, so we traded a taco (I liked the pork), but it was just a bit upsetting that the menu doesn't say anything about horseradish--it just says something like "kicked-up slaw", which nobody will actually know what that's supposed to mean. Overall, I had a great experience at Quaff On! Bloomington. Just know that pretty much anything you order will be at least a little spicy, so if you don't like spicy food then ask your server before ordering. read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Grilled Steak Tacos - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

Had a wonderful dinner with my daughter. Shared a bottle of wine while listening to live music! Very relaxing We will come again b read more

Big Woods Bloomington - On the deck - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

I always feel welcome when I go to Big Woods Bloomington. The staff is friendly and always seems to genuinely care about my experience there being positive and satisfying. I enjoy sitting at the bar area because the bartenders, and often the other patrons there too, are usually engaging and fun to chat with. My personal favorites food-wise are the pulled pork nachos, cauliflower crust pizza with a variety of topping combinations, and maple bourbon chicken sandwich. It's always worth asking about the soup of the day too, as I've had countless tasty, creative varieties of awesome soup at Big Woods. read more

Food and service are both extremely good. Comparably priced to other breweries in the area. The service was very attentive and friendly. Such a great experience! I had the wild mushroom tacos and they were delicious, I'm a sucker for anything with siracha and avocado on it. Highly recommend if you're vegetarian, and remember to squeeze the lime on your tacos! I split the veggies nachos as an appetizer. Every ingredient tasted so fresh! The small portion is a nice split appetizer between two people. read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Wild Mushroom Tacos - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

Great time. Thanks mark. Brew burgers were delicious and the pretzel was outstanding. 10/10!! 5*

I've been here several times but after my last experience I won't be back. I went for lunch. There were a few tables eating outside and I was one of three parties indoors. I waited close to 45 minutes for my food. Looking around, the other tables didn't have theirs, either. Wait staff and bartender were standing around checking their phones. I asked how much longer and my waitress said she was going as fast as she could. And then she brought my check. Before my food ever came. After 45 minutes of waiting and no food, I walked out. No way to treat customers. read more

A must stop in Bloomington! I've come here with friends and taken family to it, it's always good food and beer. If you come when it's nice out, try the beer garden. Pretty much the same menu just outside. * Big Woods Classic Burger - pretty good, I always enjoy it but I know some people aren't a fan of the quaff on sauce on it, so maybe try the sauce on the side if you're unsure * Toasted Club - this is pretty good also, I recommend if you're in the mood for a sandwich * I recommend getting their kettle chips with your sandwich or burger, they have this Parmesan seasoning that's addicting * Beer - I'm a sucker for local beer, so I really like coming here for it I usually have a good experience here - I have had a bad one where the server just flat out sucked, I've also had great where the server has given me recommendations. The food has been consistent each time read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Classic Big Woods Burger with Kettle Chips - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

Delicious, high-quality food; a fabulous beer selection; creative spirits; and THE BEST service staff you'll ever find. Just a quick walk from the IU campus, and they're open every day of the week. Love this place! read more

The food, the beer (Oh my word, THE BEER!) and the service. And my server was soooo cuuuuuute! Cuban frita burger. Big Woods Cherry Chordial (cherry chocolate porter). Acquaint yourselves, people. This stuff is delightful. read more

Update: The Couscous is gone, I repeat no - NO more oatmeal couscous! All is now well in the world and I can enjoy BigWoods taco platters again. I be always thought they deserved five stars but that single menu item was just such a turn off. Now they serve the tacos with a Mexican rice which is a huge improvement. Good job Bigwoods! read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

See all

Big Woods is hands down my favorite restaurant in Bloomington. From all of their options of food to their different craft beers I always have a good time. I nice and warming atmosphere and great staff. If you put your name down for a wait (which most likely will have to) they take your number and give you a text when table is ready. This is great because you can go walk around Kirkwood to pass time on the wait. The wait is is totally worth it. All and all I love Big Woods and always make sure to stop there whenever I am in Btown! read more

Just a short walk from the Indiana University campus, Big Woods is a great place for student to grab dinner after class or for a meal with family. The menu has plenty of options. I most recently went with a group of friends, and everyone walked away satisfied with their choices. I went with the Grilled Chicken Asparagus Sandwich. It was very flavorful, but I wish that pizzas were available at this location as they are in Nashville, IN. The outdoor seating on the deck is one of my favorite aspects in the summer months. The only reason that I did not give my experience a five star rating is that the staff tends to scramble like they do not have enough help. Our server was definitely working hard, but it was difficult to catch him for refills/ a to-go box/ the check because he was always on the move. At one point we tried to ask another server if he could help us find our check, but that was not much help either! read more

The food is mediocre, the beer average, and the staff is the rudest I have ever encountered, anywhere.

With a 24-tap list, Quaff On does a respectable job of delivering decent craft beers. Sadly, there aren't any real standouts in the line up of their own 10+ beers. The Hoosier Red is nice, and the McRyan O'Bryan nitro stout isn't bad either, but Quaff On simply can't compete with local rivals like Upland Brewing when it comes to high-quality craft beer. What's worse is that the prices for their flights are unconscionable--a full 50% higher than Function Brewing just down the street ($10.50 vs. $7 for 4 tasters, and without the free pretzels that Function serves)! The service wasn't very attentive either. In short, this is a fine addition to the Bloomington beer scene, but you pay more for lower quality beer. Completionists won't lack for choice of styles here, but if you have time to visit only 1 or 2 of the 4 craft breweries on the Bloomington Ale Trail, this shouldn't be your first stop. read more

This place had a really cool atmosphere and the outdoor seating area looked awesome but I wasn't overly pleased for a few reasons. My party was crammed in a very small area with sub-par seating which made the experience somewhat uncomfortable. Additionally, our food took almost an hour to be made. It didn't appear to be out of the ordinary because our waitress didn't address it once. read more

This was our first time here, and Brice, our server, was absolutely great! He had many great recommendations, and was very helpful. He knows a lot about the beer, and genuinely loves his job. The environment was also very nice. The music outside in the tent was a perfect eclectic mix from Sinatra to Coldplay to some classoc rock n roll. I loved the Hare Trigger IPA he recommended, and my gf had the rotating Taxman. Highly recommend you sit outside if the weather permits, but the service was excellent! Highly recommend! read more

Good beer, good food, good service. Hoosier Red on draft, cold as can be. Nice spot.

It usually better than my most recent visit; got an artisan pizza that was extremely under-done. Ate the outside crust and took the rest home to try to cook the middle. Disappointing. Good beer! read more

Great casual bloomington place for food and drink. They have a jalapeño margarita that is stellar and the food is casual but a step up from other local bar places. I've had the nachos, fries, and wings - all great. I like that you can get a wine flight, great cocktails, or a beer. The patio is great in the summer and it's usually packed so expect a wait at traditional eating and drinking times. Service has been decent each time. read more

I genuinely don't get what Big Woods is trying to do with this place. The food is decent, but very expensive, and the staff has been snobby and rude to me on every visit. It has the potential to be a great spot but their attitude needs a major adjustment. Its vibe is currently like that guy with a handlebar mustache and a fedora that gets mad at people for not pronouncing foreign words as a native speaker of that language would; basically a confusingly self-righteous hipster. Honestly Big Woods needs to take a page out of Upland's book. Which until this place gets that customers don't like being looked down on for no reason, Upland is the place to go. read more

Waited forever finally left ,and went to Nicks.. we had 5 people hostess said about 15 mins. She sat several others told us she was waiting on a couple to move tables will that couple was not going anywhere and she said she couldn't move any others so if you have more then 4 people I would not waste your time stopping here... who knows if the food was good I won't be back to find out! read more

First thing to know: the name of this place is confusing! Is it Big Woods? Quaff On? Both? I asked our server, who told us that they had re-branded in the last year. A bit of Googling shows me that "Big Woods" is the restaurant branch of Quaff On! brewery (or maybe is a small chain of restaurants owned by the same folks?), and they're trying to make everything more unified and have a more coherent brand by calling the restaurants "Quaff On." I came for the beer, so I didn't try the food or consult the menu in a lot of detail. The beer was pretty good -- not the best I've ever had, but solid. However, I was not impressed with the prices for a tasting flight -- $10.50 for four 4 oz tasters, when you can get the same kind of flight for $6 - $8 at most breweries in the general area. If you're a serious beer drinker looking for a place to go with non-very-serious beer drinkers (any college kid beer snobs looking for a place to take your parents when they come to town to visit you?), Big Woods/Quaff On is a great option, as they have a full food menu and a large range of hard liquor/cocktails (to comfort your parents after you tell them you're dropping your accounting major to study theater, I guess?) read more

Took about 2 hours to get our food and the waitress never checked up on us once. Awful service, let's just say i will not be eating here again... read more

So, great tap selection. Unfriendly bartender, $8 pint (!) and dirty bathroom. Few places open on NY day, but it will be a long while till I come back. There are plenty of great brew pubs in Bloomington. read more

Went for the nachos! They were awesome! Usually love this place. My boyfriend got food poisoning from the fish and chips sandwhich (we are not 100% sure of course, but fairly certain). Things happen and he is ok as of right now. I called to notify them. I didn't want to bother anyone but I wanted to prevent someone else from getting sick! The person who answered was fairly short and impatient and did not seem to care about the situation. Hoping no one else ordered fish yesterday! read more

The food is pretty average. I ordered the wings with chipotle lime bbq sauce. The sauce tasted like your average bbq sauce. I also ordered the spicy bbq bacon burger. Despite having jalapeños on the burger it was pretty bland...same with the fries. The coconut rum cocktail I ordered was pretty good, but the second I ordered tasted significantly different. Overall, it wasn't bad. But, there are definitely better places in town. read more

Overall I was not very impressed with the experience. I ordered the chicken tacos and they were just ok. It took a very long time for our server to take our food order after drinks. The food also came out after a really long wait. This is my third time at this location and I've yet to leave feeling fully satisfied. read more

Fish n' Chips, extremely average, especially when you consider the adjoining price tag. I'm convinced I probably could have purchased better tasting and a larger portion of this meal from Long John Silvers. I make this statement as an ardent lover of fish n' chips. Quantitatively speaking, there were six "chips" in my basket. The fish measured 4 X 1 in. in size. Needless to say, this was the smallest order I have ever witnessed. It was reminiscent of fish sticks your mother would prepare for you as a child. I have never written a Yelp review before but I felt compelled to make this my first before others pay for an overpriced and under-satisfying meal. There is no bashing here, simply a disgruntled fish n' chips lover expressing objective sentiments. read more

Cute place. Both indoor and outdoor seating. Food was good--burger with pull pork was delicious (12 year old son devoured it); fish tacos also delis. Had a strawberry beer--yummy light refreshing. read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Ahi tuna tacos - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

This place makes great use of all the outdoor space they have, and the premises look much better than I remember them looking with previous places that used it. The food was, for the most part, very good. I got the crispy pork belly, which came with slaw and fries. The fries were large and maybe a little more mealy on the inside than my ideal fry, but definitely still good and satisfying. The pork belly had great texture and the BBQ sauce it came with had great sweet, tangy flavor to go with it, so no complaints there, except that I wish there had been more of it! The slaw was pretty strong, but if you're a slaw person, I'm sure that all checks out. I'd definitely go back to try something new, and you certainly can't beat the place for beer selection! read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Crispy pork belly with fries and slaw. - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

So I know this is going to seem petty but bear with me... The water cups at this restaurant are too damn small!! Literally half the size of the beer cups and the alcoholic drink cups...It makes no sense at all. If I'm only drinking water and not beer or anything else give me a normal size cup! The nachos are DELICIOUS but also very SPICY. Hard to enjoy when I don't have a nice big cup of water to wash down the spice with. Not to mention how little sense it makes logistically to have such small cups as waiters are busy and have better things to do than run to the table every 3 minutes to see if I need more water. read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Pulled pork nachos and mahi mahi fish tacos - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

Wow, not sure what the hype is about this place! Had the worst food outside of Applebee's here...

I've only been once but so far... Food: excellent Beer: good Staff: cool I am really looking forward to smoked prime rib, street tacos were great. Stop complaining about the small portion sizes, we're all fat people drinking beer we don't need to over eat quite so often k thx. Also three tacos for $10 is not terrible, the ingredients are fresh and tasty, prepared by an honest to goodness chef apparently. My only issue is that awful post thing that blocks the seats at the bar. "Yeah, but it's a load bearing blah blah" No , sorry. Please perform an expensive renovation to your space so I can man-spread like the good lord intended. ;) read more

The original location in Nashville fully captures the essence of Brown County with the woodsy decor but this location perfectly suits the Bloomington way of life. The restaurant is in this old/cute house which they transformed into a cozy place to eat and drink. There are a couple dozen taps so they feature plenty of other delicious craft brews along the flagship Quaff ON! beers which is always a plus. I love their pulled pork nachos - definitely need a few napkins for those! Their beer cheese pretzels are awesome too. Their menu is a little bigger from the Nashville one and there are so many things I have yet to try! read more

After waiting 45 minutes to get our food, my fish tacos were a slightly colder than room temperature. Both of these things were bad, but the WORST was that my friend ordered the shrimp tacos and I KID YOU NOT, each taco had ONE SHRIMP a piece. She had opted for the lettuce wrap instead of the tortilla, so essentially she got 3 lettuce-wrapped shrimp with some toppings. Not a good look. read more

Finally got around to trying this place tonight ... Verdict ... It's now a favorite for sure ! Great beers, and not your typical bar food menu. Couple of things to point out, this place used to be cafe dejango, which had a great atmosphere, great vibes and played live music . Quaff on has kept that spirit alive ... And added a bigger bar! Just winning already. Appetizer- pork nachos - full of flavor . Entrée- Balkan burger (really good, Could have been seasoned a bit more though) Dessert-cookies and cream, basically a deep dish cookie with ice cream,amazing. And perfect for sharing . Beers - did the quaff flight, all were pretty great ... Except the porter . Slightly disappointed. BUT total redemption happens with, big woods hazelnut stout - it was basically drinking a real smooth stout that's been laced with Nutella ... I've never been so excited . It was perfect . The service, top notch ! Can't wait to go back again and try the tenderloin ! read more

See all

Want the best burger in the country? The James Beard foundation honors Quaff On! In their better burger project. The place is cozy with 24 beers on tap. This isn't your stuffy gastropub. Quaff On beers settle in nicely against their competition on tap. Eat, drink, and quaff on! read more

Big Woods Bloomington - Best burger in the country. - Breweries Near Me - Bloomington, Indiana

It's great that Bloomington is finally getting places like Quaff On as drinking and eating options. This is in the old Cafe Django space, and it's a better usage of the space by far IMO. The interior is very woody - kind of a Forester's Cabin feel to it. Very different from the rest of the places in town. There's a large bar area with individual seating, and a proximal section with about 10 tables or so. There's also a patio which is pet-friendly. The beer selection here is excellent - not as expansive as The Tap or Yogi's, but with a rotating selection of 24 different options. The Quaff On and Big Woods beers are prominent, and I recommend them all - the Busted Knuckle is surprisingly tasty, and the Hare Trigger is a standout. I've only gotten a couple of appetizers so far, but they've been alright. Not quite as good as other comparable places in town. Service has ranged from just OK to really really good in the 4-5 times we've been so far. Yet to have any sort of bad experience. Ambience is good - there are a few TVs scattered around for sports watching, and occasional live music. This place has definitely entered into our regular rotation for night spots in B-town. read more

I have to say I was really disappointed. We came her last weekend on a whim to take the kids out for a nice dinner past their bedtime (And ours). The host seated us and took our order and promptly seemed to forget us, we got our appetizer and then waited 35 minutes with no drink refills and no sign of our food when the power went out. After about fifteen minutes of that we were informed it wouldn't be coming backing on, okay fine. Then we were informed to pay in cash for what we had already gotten and leave. What? No offer of discount, nothing. No apology except "my manager is missing". I have worked the service industry for years and managed, I've cooked, cleaned and been a server. To wait over half an hour for my food with you standing around and not even refilling our drinks or checking on us and then be demanded to pay in cash with no form of apology offered or discount.. or.. anything? No. Totally unacceptable Big Woods Bloomington. We won't be back if this is the way you conduct business. read more