I've stopped in twice during weekday afternoons, both times when Thirsty Buffalo has been pretty dead. Perhaps that's not the best time to get a read on a place, but from what I've seen, the beer selection is OK (were out of our first choice of porter--Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald--but had the respectable Four Mile as a substitute), but not great compared to many brewpubs around town, the prices ($7 a pint) were very Elmwood, and the food menu is standard bar fare without much to help you out if you're veg or vegan (we ended up going elsewhere). That's not their duty, of course, but also doesn't set the menu apart from most other comparable places. Service has been fine while I've been in. Perhaps if I came with a party or for a sporting event, I'd get a better sense of the Thirsty Buffalo's charms, but as of now, I can think of a number of bars in the area (Mr. Goodbar, Thin Man Brewing, Gypsy Tavern, Tabernacle Lounge, Sports City) that I'd generally do first. Maybe the patio ads some appeal in the summer? So, a spacious and attractive pub with potential and certainly nothing disastrous here, so by all means give it a try, but Thirsty Buffalo just might not be my thing. read more

We had an event at Thirsty Buffalo so I thought it the perfect opportunity to try the food and drinks. Julie was our server for the evening and she was pretty attentive considering how busy it was. I ordered a turkey rueben and substituted the chips for hand-cut fries. My friend ordered a chicken wrap with fries. The kitchen seemed like it was living pretty slow. We waited over 30 minutes for our meals to come out. When they arrived, the plates were extremely hot to the touch yet my sandwich and fries were only warm, not hot. To me this means it sat under the heat lamp in the kitchen forgotten by a server or food runner. The flavors of my rueben and fries were actually very, very good. My friend said his fries and wrap were actually a perfect temperate and very tasty. Given the event that evening, I would be willing to give Thirsty Buffalo a chance for redemption since the flavor is there... Just an off night for timely service. read more

Thirsty Buffalo - Sports Bars Near Me - Buffalo, New York

I've been here a few times on Tuesday for evening trivia and it's crowded (over 20 teams of competitors) and fun but the food menu is a bit pricey and rather mediocre. I've tried their burgers and Buffalo chicken mac and cheese and neither are special. If you like beer, they have a pretty large selection so you might be able to find your favorite. The place gets crowded and wild for MLB wildcard games, so I imagine any televised sporting event is going to be rowdy and nuts. read more

Great atmosphere! Amazing bartenders and happy hour. Sean and Brian are the best bartenders.

Best brunch in Buffalo! I usually come here for their burgers which are always awesome. (They have a huge selection and are always cooked perfectly). However, I came here recently for their brunch on Sunday and it was SO good. I had the Guinness battered french toast and the $7 all you can drink mimosas AND bloody marys. That's right- you can switch between mimosas and bloodys from noon to three. I also love the atmosphere here. Its very relaxed and the service has never been a problem. Only suggestion-don't come here too late on a Friday or Saturday night. It gets very packed. read more

Thirsty Buffalo - Guinness battered French toast - Sports Bars Near Me - Buffalo, New York

Pretty good bar food here. I've had the chicken quesadillas, fries loaded with cheese and chilli and a burger (not on the same occasion!!!). All were delicious with generous portions. Very good beer selection. Only 3 stars because I'm not a fan of the atmosphere late at night. It's a college bar to be sure. It gets packed with lots of loud, obnoxious and borderline pretentious 20-somethings. Sort of like a Chippewa bar for people over 22. Also, the amount of televisions here is seizure-inducing. Yikes. Much more tolerable if you stop in before 8pm. Clock strikes 8, run away!!!! read more

Went here yesterday for a quick bite during the game. We weren't notified until after we ordered our food that there's "no table service". Why they decided to initially come to our table to take our orders/deliver our food then is beyond me. No drinks were refilled and we had to wait for WAY too long at the bar to grab our check (once we realized we were no longer being waited on). It wasn't a full or packed bar either, there was plenty of time/space for us to be waited on the entire meal, not just the first 10 minutes. The food was great, but customer service (or lack of) has me likely never visiting this establishment again. Such a shame. read more

3 guys walk in and order 3 beers: Flying Bison, Southern Tier, and Brooklyn. It took the bartender 13 minutes to notice us and 3 minutes to saunter on over (I wish that I was making all of this up in terms of the 3 theme. Sadly, I am not). All of our pints were lifeless and flat. Upon tasting them: yucko! All of them were definitely fermented and sour, which is nice if you are drinking a Flanders Sour Red or a Lambic. Not so much if it is a Flying Bison Scotch Ale. All 3 of our beers were definitely contaminated with bacteria, which means that they do not clean their draft lines. I wonder what else they don't clean? read more

We went here the other morning for brunch. I had a Breakfast Sandwich (Brioche roll over hard eggs, cheddar & jack cheeses, your choice of bacon or sausage & home fries). Bloody Mary's & Mimosa's ordered with your brunch are only $2.50 the Bloody Mary's are home made and probably the best one I have ever had!! I will be back here again very soon... read more

See all

Everyone was 40 and over. They dont have a drink menu. Only a beer list. The music was a mix between folk and rock. Not for the youger crowd or even the young at heart. They do have liquor but they are not familiar with its placement. I got a hard cider. $5 for a glass which is a good price. And it was cold which was also good. The bartenders were nice and attentive. They seemed to have a lot of regulars because they knew a lot of ppls orders as soon as they came in. If you're a beer drinker, I say try them out. But if you're 30 and under, only go if you don't mind being the youngest ones there. There's also a sense of uncleanliness there so I probably would never order food. Trivia Tuesdays (7pm) is a great time to check it out for the first time. Also, dont worry about being cold. Unless you're directly under the ceiling fan, you won't feel the air.... read more

Returned one year after my last visit and review and I have to say once again was really impressed by this place. It's crowded, people are bumping into one another but it's a bar what do you expect? The bartenders are seriously on their game! I waited maybe ten seconds at the bar until I was being helped. They are really friendly and attentive and the drinks are cheap. They have a good selection of beer on tap. The crowd here is also really chill, people seem so friendly! Maybe it's just the booze talkin....... read more

Went there on a Tuesday night (tonight actually) and played trivia. Their trivia is good, considering it's organized and displays on-screen questions, answers, and teams. I've been to other trivia nights where they have had a soft-spoken DJ try to make their inaudible trivia questions project over the loudness of the crowd..which doesn't work. So kudos for that, Thirsty Buffalo! They had a Sabres game playing in between rounds of trivia (which I didn't mind). But then I guess when they scored a point or something an extremely loud and obnoxious fog horn sound would overpower any other sound in the bar. I'm unsure if this is just a hockey thing, Sabre thing, or Buffalo Thirsty thing. Either way, it was ridiculously distracting. No me gusta. I saw some girl with a dish that looked delish, so I asked her what it was. She told me she was having Buffalo Chicken Quesidillas. So I ordered myself some as well. The first two bites were tasty and enjoyable. After two bites though, it's just not as appetizing. Maybe I should have been sharing with more people or something, but it just seemed liked they overloaded on the Buffalo sauce. Would have been way better had they not drenched the dillas! The crowd is varied. Some people are in business attire coming straight from work, some are sports fans with jerseys on, some are just casual Buffalonians just enjoying the laid back environment, taking down the beers. CAUTION: stage right from the bar....the ramp that leads to the patio.... DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DESCEND FROM IT IN HIGH HEELS! I completely ate it...gracefully of course. Stage left entrance to the Patio has a laarrrgggeee step that is almost as dangerous. Sheesh. Be careful peeps! And I wasn't even buzzed. read more

Thirsty Buffalo is my go to for a bite with my kids or friends. The chef rocks ! Best wings in Bflo. I crave the wings!!! Amazing homemade blue cheese dressing that's far superior to anything I've had around. Food is consistently excellent. My son loves the Philly steak , burgers are amazing, salads also great ! Very diverse menu for pretty much anyone's taste. The bartenders are super nice and make a great martini! Evidently coming out with a brand new menu this Wednesday... can't wait! Only suggestion... make the front entrance more inviting .. maybe some big planters with flowers?! read more

I've been to Thirsty several times, mostly in college a few years ago and as a bar it's ok. Nothing to write about home about and over the last few years has become a nightmare in terms of being able to go in and get any decent bar service. Today we went for brunch and the service was not much better. When I've gone for food in the past their burgers have always been great but as a brunch I would not recommend. The service was awful and the menu is very limited. The 'buffalo chip' that a few of us ordered was basically just scrambled eggs with some veggies, home fries and sausage and some of their house hot sauce sort of cooked/crusted on top. The eggs were kind of cold but also overdone which was interesting (not in a good way). We ordered some of the breakfast tacos for the table as some appetizers to go with the $7 'unlimited' mimosas never came until all the good was served and we ordered three for a table of 8 and the waitress brought out one. Again they were ok but there was very little bacon and the eggs were overlooked as well. No one was really impressed with the service, food, or mimosas. Our waitress would be gone for 15 minutes at a time so the ones drinking ended up with only a few mimosas. Overall I was very disappointed because I had heard good things and it seemed like a good deal. Not busy and not expensive but not worth it either. read more

Thirsty Buffalo - The 'buffalo chip' - Sports Bars Near Me - Buffalo, New York

See all

Not too bad for brunch. Wish there was more breakfast options. Patio is covered and heated in the winter. Almost a little TOO hot haha. It is a little noisy with the TVs, but it's a bar first before a restaurant. Mimosas are pretty on point. Don't see anything about bottomless but they're only $2. Had the buffalo nachos. Not bad... A little dry, but tasty. Portions are pretty big overall. No bad! Service was ok. Took quite a bit of time to get our bill read more

Went here last night to take in a little final four action and it is A-OK in my book. The service, was pretty quick, we ordered two draft beers, the Philly Nachos and Pizza Logs. The food came out in average time, it was hot and pretty tasty too I might add. The bar wasn't packed when we got there, but it soon filled up. Our waitress kept up with us pretty well, considering she appeared to be the only one on. I'm going to go back and try their actual food menu - as much as I like appetizers, I would like to give their burgers' a try. I was surprised as their menu, pretty extensive considering that I didn't even know they served food (last time I went there was a drinks only trip) read more

Thirsty is the place to be on Elmwood when a local sports team is playing. I was here for the Bills opener this past season for my first experience. It was an excellent atmosphere. Tons of beers and the food is pretty good too. I love the dark wood interior here and all of the tvs. I came back during March Madness and will continue to come back. P.S. Trivia is on Wednesdays. read more

I think it was about two years ago I cut Thirsty Buffalo off my list of places to go. they changed the menu and the food quality was poor. The servers and bar tenders had horrible attitudes (not all of them). I disliked it so much, my friend threw a birthday party for me there and I would not go. BUT............. Recently my friends were there and talked me in giving the Thirsty Buffalo a do over. I did and I am happy we made up. First of all, our beautiful and pleasant host/server Victoria was attentive and had answers to all the questions about the establishment and the menu. We sat and ordered drinks and food. They have a number of craft beers along with a full bar. Good choices of drinks and inexpensive. The food came, I had the fiesta burger and it was very good. I ate everything on the plate. The menu improved from before and there is a real chef working with fresh ingredients not caned foods. So in closing, I learned to give second chances and will party there again. I would rate them higher, but I want to see if they're consistent. read more

I went in here on a Bills game day. Needless to say, it was a full house. It took about a 20 min waiting time before we got seats. It's a nice pub for a game day. Shouts and shirts of the Bills fans make it worthy of a sports bar and yet on any other day, it is anything but. Also came here for a Tuesday Trivia night and all the energetic, lively people did not disappoint. Definitely try their nachos - unlike any I've had before and I can almost say they're the best I've had in my life. the black beans, the salsa, jalapenos and the mountain of chips and cheese make it a perfect bar food to go with the regular drink menu. Oh, their wings are pretty nifty too. read more

I enjoy this place for a couple of reason. 1) The atmosphere is always very welcoming 2) the bartenders are awesome and 3) I love the location. I go the Thirsty Buffalo every once in a while and I am never disappointed by the service or the drinks. One thing that I can think to complain about it the location of the bathrooms and how obnoxiously small they are. In a bar full of a couple hundred people there is only one stall and one urinal which makes it hard for a line of drunk dudes to zip by. While I have only been here to drink I heard the food isn't half bad but its always a plus that Lloyd is there friday and saturday nights to entertain and deal with all of our drunken antics. As far as bars go... its got the Brad A stamp of approval read more

Drinks and service was great. However all 4 people had ordered something different and had something to complain about. Ordered hot wings with No taste, grilled chicken ciabatta came out completely wrong And was different from what the menu said. not coming back, I did like the wings but my friends seemed to very much dislike it :/ read more

Just started going to Thirsty for food and drinks this year and am a huge fan. Food: I've seen some reviews saying the food is mediocre or just okay. I disagree. When it comes to good food you get what you pay for and at Thirstys you're getting some of the best food for the price ($10-$15 per person) Big menu with daily specials. Recommend the wings, wraps, quesadilla, meatballs, they also have a great brunch menu ($2.50 mimosas!) drinks are very reasonably priced too. 9/10 Service: These people are great. Super attentive even when the place is packed for a sporting event. They seem to genuinely enjoy what they do and really bring positive and light hearted vibe to the experience 10/10 If you want the authentic buffalo sports bar experience skip the overly commercialized PearlStreet or 716 and head to Thirsty Buffalo! read more

I always have a great time at Thirsty, though it's definitely a college bar on weekends at night, and has a bit of a nightclub feel. A good mix of people standing around and people dancing. Underrated beer selection as well. A great weekend/late night bar if you're already buzzed and looking to meet up with people and have a good time. read more

First time in awhile, a group of us descended there for the afternoon start of the hockey season. It had been awhile since I've been back and it wasn't bad. Service was good and attentive. We were watching the game and the in-house announcer might want to put some space between mouth and microphone, but other than that not too bad. They poured guinness well and the food we got came quickly, looked good. I snacked on the soft pretzel sticks and those were tasty. One friend got wings that looked good. We pooled some fries and rings. Nothing too groundbreaking, but decent enough. I'd go for a game again. read more

Today was the first time I have ever been there. It was JAM packed because of the bills game. My one friend got shoved by another person and accidentally shoved a girl who works at the bar but wasn't currently working at the time. We apologized 100 times (even though it was not our fault) and our friend got kicked out. After that, the girl that works at Thirsty kept trying to initiate a fight with us. Very unprofessional. I am very disappointed with how this was handled. This was was suppose to be a fun time to watch the bills game and the staff of Thirsty made it frustrating and kinda ruined it. read more

Prices were good at 2.5 a beer for happy hour. Drank and ate for about 3 hours for 90$. Pretty good if you ask me. Bartenders were nice and the wings were BOMB! read more

Went for a late lunch so it was super dead but perfect timing to have the restaurant to ourselves. The bartender was our server and she was very attentive and made some good drinks. Food was decent it's a lot of bar food and sandwich's. Overall had a good experience! read more

Our local watering hole! The floor may be sticky but the bartenders make it feel like Cheers. A great place to watch the game or play trivia. Food isn't special but you come for the booze, not the grub. Sit at the bar. Make some new friends. Throw a few back and call it a successful night! read more

Wow. Just found out my favorite bartenders were let go from Thirsty. I miss one stinking trivia night and all hell breaks loose! Well, if the comment section of this website means so much to the management at Thirsty Buffalo, let me make this crystal clear: I will not patronize an establishment that adheres to such a lousy business model. I've been a regular for years. I truly appreciated when "my bartender" had my beer waiting for me as soon as she saw me walk in. I enjoyed the small talk and her insane knowledge of all things trivia. If Thirsty Buffalo is going to allow the opinion of one guy to dictate their operations, well, I don't foresee them staying in business all that long. I'm a "bar guy" and I like good service and cute barmaids and y'all just went and ruined a good thing. There are hundreds of bars in Buffalo. The Thirsty Buffalo in and of itself aint all that great . .. but "my bartender" was. read more

This has to be the most disgusting bar in Buffalo for food and cleanliness for the $$ you pay. Not to mention most of the bartenders have their heads in their a*#es as far as service goes. Good bartenders normally look down to see if you need a drink and not stare at you to see if they want to serve you. If you get a bartender by the name of Pat, make sure he remembers to give your change back (will automatically think its a tip), that's if he decides he wants to wait on you. read more

UPDATE: ***Just gave this place another try..... and I received attentive and friendly service...........the wings looked good, and I'm looking forward to trying them.....Was greeted by the folks behind the bar before I even posted up...... KUDOS to management for taking a closer look and making some changes....... I'm sure changes were made based upon observations, not just truthful experiences conveyed over social media For the recent whiner posts about yelp*** News Flash: Good service industry employees keep their jobs and make tons of money, for themselves and their employers...... *** Trust me, not only do I have better things to do than walk into a bar and leave (more than once) without getting a drink because the service was so comically poor, I also have better things to do than go online and make up stories about it....... That is, plain and simply, why these reviews were posted....... The bottom line is that THE TRUTH HURTS. Bartenders in this town make more than PhD Engineers, and should be friendly as all hell to everyone just for that reason alone. Besides, no names were mentioned, so there must be more to the the firings than one post...... probably took a closer look and saw what I saw.... Look a little closer to home in order to find the blame on this one.......... sorry..... ******************* I'm from Buffalo, born and raised. I had just moved to a new place quite near the Thirsty Buffalo. After mentioning my new location to friends, I was greeted with a few unsolicited reviews about how bad the Thirsty Buffalo was....... apparently horrible service was the main gripe. I had to give them a chance though, due to my close proximity. I popped in for some food, and to watch the game on a Sunday afternoon . The side patio was packed with people dining and there were a handful of people in the bar area. Guess how many Thirsty Buffalo employees there were...... One (total). She was not only serving tables but running behind the bar to pour all the drinks too. After I sat there a while wondering WTF was going on, she told me on her way by my table (again) that she was the only one there. I felt bad for the poor girl, but immediately thought about the comments that my friends had made about this place..... So I left and decided come back another time (because I live so close and wanted to give it a chance) when they were better staffed. When I did, I was met by indifference by a clueless gal behind the bar. She took her sweet time to notice new customers and get them drinks......When I asked if they had WiFi, to use while I had a few cold ones and watch the game (after seeing a wifi network named "thirsty"), She replied "free internet? no, there's no free internet........ WE don't get the internet for free.......". (I didn't imagine that you did - genius.) No lie, I tried again another night. It wasn't very busy at the time. This time this guy behind the bar was texting and made me wait a good couple minutes before he glances up from his phone and says "you need something?". .... ....No, I just walked in, walked up to the bar and stood here for 2 minutes, in plain sight, because I'm all set...........Have you seen me in here tonight? Do I have a drink in front of me? Are you for real? Of course I need something ....you clown..... ..... The employees that I had met were clueless and I can only assume that they are poorly managed, if managed at all...... ......... what a shame. On the plus side, if your 25 and under, there seems to be a decent amount of people drinking in this place for whatever reason. You might have a chance to hookup, but you also might have to bring yourself something to quench your thirst with............ read more

We were in there at about 9 one early summer night, and the bartender seemed more interested in drinking his beer and trying to impress the single lady at the bar than he did in providing good service to two of the three people in the bar. Seeing the bartender drinking bothered me, especially since he had quite a pretentious aura about him. I understand that bartenders tend to drink on the job, but at least they usually try to shield it. If this guy can afford to blatantly drink expensive beer out of a pilsner glass in front of his customers, than surely he can afford to charge me less for my drink and doesnt need to be tipped, right? read more

After several misses of places in Buffalo that had 'good burgers', my husband and I were recommended by a native to come to this place for lunch on our travels. My husband and I were in town for a wedding, and had no idea of the area, but when we walked into the Thirsty Buffalo, we were greeted by a sweet barmaid, Lori, who was awesome throughout our meal. The burgers were AMAZING! In Colorado, we have plenty of bison burgers, but these were magnificent! I got the Buffalo burger and the spicy sauce complemented the burger perfectly. My husband got a bacon and cheese burger, which he gorged down quickly. The fries were freshly made too and so delicious. Lori was awesome with recommendations not only for food, but also with the beer and she had a great sense of humor. I am so glad that we did not follow what other Yelpers have said about this bar because we would have truly missed out of having the best burgers throughout our entire trip. If we ever return to Buffalo, we will make sure that we visit the Thirsty Buffalo again. read more

Follow up review! I got a call from my friend who was at the Thirsty Buffalo, for Tuesday Trivia. I had sworn off the place due to the most incompetent bar tenders in the city.. He tells me both of them were canned! I met him out and the new bartender's were on their game. For the first time in all the times I had gone there, I actually had a bartender ask me if I needed anything before I even had decided on which beer to order. Nice to see owners responding to their customers. Great job and will be back again and again! read more

I used to stop by here often for a late lunch or early dinner as it was close to where I was living in Buffalo and found myself stopping by often. It's an alright place with some decent decor and some generic crap on the walls. It's clean, which cannot be said about some other taverns/bars/restaurants in the area. The menu had some surprisingly good food. I recommend the burgers and buffalo chicken mac and cheese. Some of the bartenders were down to earth and personable. Not a bad place to stop by. read more

Routinely terrible service. Went here for food and drinks after work tonight and waited... and waited... and waited. The waitress came by once quickly, didn't stop long enough to ask us if we wanted anything, and then disappeared. The bartender kept promising to send the waitress over, but she never came. There was a decent crowd for a week night, but it was by no means jam packed. The bartender did give us one free beer to apologize , but I don't intend to go here again. This is one of a handful of bars within walking distance of my house - I will start taking my business elsewhere. read more

I frequent this place all too much. It is never for just a meal. This is a great bar to catch multiple sporting events at once since there are so many TVs available. Being one of the (very) few Jets fans in Buffalo this is the only place I seem to scout out that will air the games! Other than that I have ended many nights out at this bar. The staff is okay. The crowd is young. I'm not that excited about it. But I would recommend it for a some TV watching and bar snacks. They do that just fine! read more

Food was great. In our group of six people we had french onion soup, burgers, salad, fries, chips.

Pretty much don't be a chick if you want to try and get services. The females are bitchy or must always be PMSing. I had a group function there and everybody had a 'tude. After awhile Head Bitch warmed up and was like my shadow refilling my drinks. Apps were decent the buffalo chicken quesadilla was bomb. Drinks are fairly cheap gets hype during games & on the weekends. Just be prepared to die of thirst before you order your first drink. read more

After the Bison's game last night myself and a few friends decided to go to the Thirsty for a beer and a snack. We were immediately greeted by maybe the friendliest bartender I have encountered in Buffalo, Anne and the rest of the visit couldn't have been better. Our drinks were served fast and correct and with the friendliest service you should expect anywhere! I haven't eaten here on previous visits but tonight we were hungry after only eating pop corn at the Bison's game. We shared wings and the nacho's and in the time time they disappeared i can tell you they were both very good! With the number of TV's around the bar I'm sure this place will be a favorite during football season! read more