Delicious food, great atmosphere, friendly staff! This place has it all. Would highly recommend to anyone in the area. I am new to Reading and I went there with a friend a few months ago. The bartender was so much fun. He was very friendly and engaging, and I ended up having a blast! I ate the wings, which were amazing! Will be going there again in the very near future!! read more

This was our first trip to the peanut bar in about a decade. Food was very good. We ordered linguini and clams, filet mignon, spaghetti and meatballs and a crab cake. All dinners came with a big salad to start and portions were just right. This is one of the few restaurants with a dedicated fryer for gluten free people. Many things on the menu looked good... next trip I would love to try the wings or scallops. Service was good... they take reservations as well. read more

I dined here on 4/18/2013 at 2:00 P.M.. I was not impressed. The food looked excellent. Service was prompt and courteous. My crab cake sandwich was lukewarm. It was out too long. I had gas and felt bloated the rest of the evening. I am just glad I didn't have to go to the E.R. Ask for Alayna she is an excellent server. My next visit will be during dinner time. read more

Not impressed. They said they had the top ten wings in the state but they were soaked in liquidy sauce and not the best. I order the lobster risotto and it was not great. It was very fishy and the lobster was over cooked. There was suppose to be a corn chowder sauce on it but instead it was just some sort of oil like substance. read more

This place is so local, almost to the point of being depressing. The bartender has likely been there as long as the peanuts on the floor. While the peanuts are a nice novelty they do not give this place nearly enough charm to make it tolerable. The place is first and foremost a bar and the drinks are certainly priced well for where I come from however by Reading standards they are nothing to write come about and while they do have good beer (I had a Franziskhaner) it was not exactly cheap (~4/pint), though the bartender does pour a nice pint. The Peanut also serves food; I ordered the roast beef sandwich, which the bartenders compared favorably to Katz's in New York. While having high aspirations is admirable false advertisements are not. The roast beef sandwich was mediocre at best. In fact, I could make a better sandwich with store bought cold cuts. While The Peanut has the charm of being over 100 years old overall it just a depressing reminder of the realities of this area of the country. read more

As I write this review, I am still sitting waiting for food. It's been almost an hour. My friend and I came here before a show at the arena. We ordered almost immediately upon being seated, we each ordered burgers and we have yet to get our food. 5:30 was around our order time, it's 6:23 ...still waiting. Our waitress (don't recall her name) who was rather nice told us all the orders went in at once. I find that hard to believe considering when we arrived the place was almost empty. At this rate we are going to have to eat quick and dash- these burgers better be fantastic for this long of a wait. Very unhappy customers here...don't see myself coming back here at all. read more

I rolled into Reading about 4 PM yesterday and was at the Peanut Bar by five. Reading is an interesting dichotomy with a very affluent section and the other parts about as bad as an inner city can get. The Peanut Bar sits somewhere in between. It's a third generation establishment run by a nice enough guy, Michael. His grandfather opened the spot about 80+ years ago. I was stopping by to visit my college buddy Todd who has lived here for the past 18 mos. and managed this place since he arrived. Props' must be paid to the bartender who has been here for 20+ years, Pete Johnson. He is absolutely Dan Ackroyd reincarnated and has awesome stories like most great bartenders should. He's also an interesting cat with hosting his own local book show. He is certainly in the top class of bartenders. I met up with Shooky and Ray and Todd and myself all sat down at a table. Okay,,,, the peanuts. I really don't care for all the peanut shells that are on the floor. I mean I guess I can see why people like to throw them on the ground, but to me it just seems unsanitary. Especially, when I believe they only clean them up once a week. This place is a good family joint as was evidenced by the brisk business being done on a Friday night. I chose not to get too adventorous with my order and stuck with the house burger. It was served with gouda cheese and bacon. Overall a very fine burger. I ordered it medium and while it was a bit overcooked it still was delicious. I'd guess they don't chop the meat on site, but it still did not taste like it was frozen prior. The chicken wings were really good. They came swimming a bowl of sauce and were very plump and delicious. It was a nice touch to have the rolls lightly buttered and salted and served warm. Todd got the softshell crabs, which I considered ordering, but having had them just a day or two ago chose not too. I did sample them and they were quite good. My fries were a little burnt, but that's the way I like them. I will definitely visit this place again on my next visit. I just wish they would clean up those damm peanut shells, but then I'd gus they'd need to change the name. read more

Have been coming to the Peanut Bar for 25+ years. The service is good and the food exceptional...except for today, had the single worst (expensive) lunch I've ever not eaten. Both soups ordered were way over done with spices that made them taste terrible. The "crab cake" platter was a fried ball of some awful filler...not even sure there was any recognizable crab in them, served with fries that tasted old and cold. Our server apologized, but seeing how we hardly ate a thing, thought the least they could have done was adjust the bill. Really dropped the ball Peanut Bar! Think I won't be coming back anytime soon. read more

I really want to like this place as I am huge proponent of supporting urban business and this is a slice of my childhood. But I have given it several shots recently and I just can't give it more than 2 stars. The food is expensive and average at best. Everything seems massed produced, frozen, and reheated. sorry... read more

This was a place my parents used to visit when they made trips to Pennsylvania and my dad took me here to relive some memories. The Peanut Bar is essentially par and that's only because the service was friendly and the food wasn't anything special. Everyone gets free peanuts but unlike Five Guys, the shells are all over the floor. Recommended for the fish and beer selection. Otherwise, it's average. read more

Feel bad posting this review in light of all the positive reviews but have to be truthful. A group of ten of us came last night for a friend's birthday and were all sadly disappointed. The drinks and appetizers were great (recommend the cheese balls and fried pickles) but our meals were awful. The crab cakes were 95% filler which tasted like whipped mashed potatoes and the sauce they used for their Italian dishes tasted like ketchup and sugar. Half of us didn't eat our food and they saw that we didn't enjoy the meal and didn't particularly care - especially when they asked if we wanted take-home boxes and we said no and made faces and they asked if everything was okay and we said no. Was very tempted to tell Management but didn't want to make a scene so we said nothing. We all left highly disappointed after spending around $400 total and vowed we would not be going back. Plenty of better places around to spend that kind of hard-earned money. read more

Thumbs up to Peanut Bar. Arrived half hour late for 5:00 dinner reservation prior to Miranda Lambert concert. Appreciated staffs attentiveness to get us to the show on time!! Great good and drinks as well!! read more

Went there yesterday for wings and a burger...both were really good. Wings are good but are not the best in the world. If there is a local bar around you and you love their wings...that is how I would describe this place. This is a place where the locals would defend their wings but nationally the place wouldn't win. Wings are a bit expensive for a dozen...10 bucks. There is limited choice in sauces...there is only buffalo and garlic and herb. I tried both and the garlic and herb are really good. You can tell that this is a homemade sauce. Waiter was really nice and you can tell that he took pride in his job...that's rare. If you are hungry and want some good pub food this is the place... read more

Inconsistent food quality. In the heart of beautiful downtown Reading Pa.

Disappointed!!!! went on Saturday evening with a group of ten.Waited a long time for are food, when it came, the food was cold.Reheated in microwave, then the food got hard and nasty Won"t be back read more

Had heard so many good things about this restaurant. Hadnt been there for awhile so decided to give it a try. Was a birthday dinner with family. What a disaster........ waitress was terrible, menu was very limited & pricey. Waited for an hour for food without waitress coming back to check if we needed refills etc. Very very disappointed. Everyone in our group ranging in age from 27 to 57 was extremely dissatisified with everything. Some food was cold just a disaster sorry to say we wouldnt be going back. read more

By far one of the best experience I had besides the start of it. Let me explain we came asked if had a reservations we said no and got sat right away that was awesome cause the place was packed. Another plus was you can throw peanuts shells on the floor. The waitress came over and took our drink order great but then forgot about us for about a half hour that when the bartender Jessica took over and got it moving. Excellent personality great customer service. She made a possible bad experience to a great one. A plus was the food was great. Great selection of food and beer. If you skip this place your nuts. Go Jessica thanks for a great experience. read more

Went here one night for all you can eat wings. Our server was miserable towards us all night. She was so rude my friend was afraid to even ask her for a drink refill for fear she would get even nastier. Food was great, but the service and organization of this place was not. Don't think Ill be returning any time soon. read more

Been coming to the Peanut Bar for years! Not sure what was going on on Monday, 7/23/12 - Used to love their wings! This night they were only semi warm, not crisp and barely any sauce! Service very slow! The wait staff is usually very friendly but our waitress was extremely stressed, or appeared to be, never smiled until we were leaving! Hope this isn't a trend! read more

My husband and I went there on a Sat. night for their $19.99 seafood special dinners. We were very disappointed by the portion size of our dinners.Our broiled seafood dinner consisted of 2 scallops, 2 shrimp a mini-crab cake, and what a was called a filet of salmon, tilapia and shark. The fish " filet's" were two bites of fish. Each dinner did come with a baked potato and a vegetable. Not worth the price. read more

I don't know how they got the honor of best buffalo wings in berks. The wings were okay as they have a good fry, but I have had much better. The buffalo sauce which came on the side was also very mild and foamy. The atmosphere however is great and the wait staff seemed very nice. read more

We went in for wing night. The wings were awesome, a nice size and crispy with lots of sauce. Our server Edwin was the best, prompt and friendly, and described every wing flavor for us. The berry sriracha were great! We'll definitely go in again, and we'll be asking for him! read more

went for lunch and had the crab cake sandwich. food was good and came out relatively quickly! love to go back for drinks one night! unique beer selection read more

Don't be deceived by the many reviews here. This place is mediocre at best; terrible at worst. We walked in to a scowling look from the bartender who made it very clear that we were not welcome since we didn't have reservations (on a Monday??). After asking if we could sit at the bar, the scowling look turned into a rude and arrogant attitude from the bartender who seemed less than pleased- almost offended that we were sitting at HIS bar. We finally were served beers and rushed to order our food as the place quickly filled up and potential customer after potential customer was turned away. From here- things got even worse. We weren't as much as looked at for the next 30 min and literally had to beg to have our drinks refilled- all the while the barkeep gave us dirty looks as he made comments that could only be taken as offensive. After a hour of waiting for our food (a burger and roast beef sandwich- nothing complicated) we asked about our order- which was clearly forgotten about. We finally had enough of the waiting and the uncomfortability of the staff and threw our money on the counter and walked out. We would definitely never go there again- and the bartender as experienced as he seems to be needs to learn a lesson or two about manners and serving paying customers. read more

i have been a peanut bar patron since 1993 & unfortunately, it's only gone downhill every year. yes, the wings are still worth going for but the current food & staff cannot hold a candle to what this establishment once was w/ one exception: Todd is a superb server & would fit in w/ the old crew very well - he's really one of the only reasons we keep returning (other than the previously mentioned wings). case in point: the simple schnitzel (choice of veal or chicken) dish that's been on the menu forever & what i used to consider a 'safety' order has become a bastardized version of what it once was. the noodles are a cheap version of what they once were & the chicken was simply a very small breaded breast piece not to mention the lackluster & luke warm veg accompaniment. i remember the days of real kluski noodles & a thinned or pounded piece of chicken or veal (that is what schnitzel is after all) that was barely contained by the plate - this is not the case any longer. lots of short cuts to cut costs that result in a sub-standard meal imo. anyhow, thanks to Todd & the wings, we'll return but really, that's the only draw these days. & then there's peter...lol, don't get me started. read more