Flat Rock Saloon

Wish I could give negative stars. This is by far the worst bar I have ever been to. Just dont go here. There are so many better bars within 100 yards of this shithole

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. First of all, it is 2014, start taking credit cards. I was charged a dollar for a water. After having to ask for a drink, at my table, after 10 minutes. It was not busy at all, no one was at the bar and there were 2 other tables. They took my friends order and 10 minutes later we had to go back up to the server to ask him to put in our other order since he only took one of our dinner orders. Asked for more napkins and got 2. Servers were basically not there, anytime I needed anything we had to stand up and ask for it because our server never ever came to our table on their own.
avoiding from here on out.

Zero stars.
Don’t even bother trying to get a drink if you are brown skinned. Should have known when we read the ‘Obamacare’ and ‘Illegal Immigrant’ shot specials on the board. I have never experienced this kind of bs in Manayunk.
If you are fortunate enough to be fair skinned, then feel free to enjoy a crowded bar full of underage frat boys spilling beer on the people sitting at tables. Oh, and you will also have the pleasure of meeting the finest gentlemen in Philadelphia who will tell the ladies waiting at the bar that they need to back it up so their pansy rears can pull a chair in front of you. These are just my observations while being profiled and blatantly ignored at the bar.
We took our money elsewhere. JD McGillicuddy’s around the corner welcomed us with open arms. Plus it’s cleaner, bigger, more fun, and they serve us colored folks.

I heard great things about this place (food, entertainment, service, etc) but one night when I tried to enter, the bouncer would not allow my friend to enter. It wasn’t so much that this bouncer did not let her in that forces me to give Flat Rock a one-​star review, but more so because he was undeniably rude. Upon entering, the bouncer says to my friend «what, are you cold?» (It was indeed a cold winter night). My friend says yes, and takes out her license. Then the bouncer says «we don’t accept ID’s without a credit card to verify your ID, and if you want to show me your Facebook then that’s been done before.» Then he laughs… My friends and I were shocked by how unwelcoming this bouncer was so we just left! We did not want to give service to someone who represented this business. I plan to come back another time because I want to experience what is Flat Rock but and I hope it’s friendlier than my first experience!

I boycott this place because they will not give you water. You must but a bottle from them. What a shame.

Now I was only here for like an hour maybe two tops but It was a good time. We had live music and a great beer selection. The servers, bouncers, and bartenders were awesome! However, you couldn’t move in there. Seriously. It got so crowded that we were literally being like pushed out of our seats because of the crowd. Crazy. Also, the drinks were very expensive. Almost too expensive for me. And when I ordered my anticipated Malibu bay breeze, they did NOT use coconut rum. Oh boy the regular rum did not taste good. But we were already pushed away from the bar at that point so there was no asking for the right drink. I don’t know if I’ll be back, truthfully.

This whole area has had a cool revamp over the years.
There were always solid spots in Manayunk and this looks a winner too.
My best friend & I had a hard time deciding where to stop then we saw there were musicians playing so went in. Good choice. Relaxed vibe, spaced out well, appropriate lighting & even the musicians set wasn’t intrusive on our conversation.
There’s good service here and the main bar is well kept… shame about the toilets.

Flat Rock is one of my favorite aces to eat in manayunk. You can always get a table. The coveted outside tables are a little hard to get when there’s nice weather.
Excellent beer selection! Small amount on draft but they have a large bottle selection
My fav part is their mussel deal! Everyday 5 – 7 is half priced mussels– meaning you get a giant bowl of mussels (6 different flavors– I recommend he Dijon) for $ 4. You can add a giant bowl of fries for another $ 4 for doping in the delicious broth. I suggest requesting they do not toast the bread because it’s easier to sop up broth.
Be aware it’s a great deal so sometimes the mussels are a little small but can you really beat dinner for 2 with drinks for under $ 20.?!
Cash only.

Before you ever consider visiting this establishment, please read and consider the type of people that would run a business such as this.
A reserved the upstairs at Flat Rock a month in advance for a 30^th birthday party for my boyfriend scheduled for THIS weekend, I got the following email on THURSDAY less than 48 hours before the event:
Hi Julie,
I am so sorry to inform you that we will be unable to host your party on Saturday. I truly apologize for the inconvenience. We have to make immediate repairs to our kitchen in order to satisfy our insurance company. We only offer Open Bar Packages upstairs. Open Bar is not available downstairs.
Thank you for your interest in The Flat Rock Saloon and hopefully you will think of us for your next event. My sincerest apology.
Amy Talvacchia, Chef
I responded with the following:
Amy,
The fact that you sent this as an email and didn’t have the decency to call directly is both rude and unprofessional. It’s completely unacceptable to cancel two days before the event and not offer any consolation, meaning offering the open bar downstairs or suggesting another venue that might be able to accommodate us. It is laughable that you suggest that I would consider you for a future event. Not only would I never, you can count on me writing an unfavorable review on Unilocal.It’s unfortunate for you that a positive experience spreads by word of mouth and a negative one spreads even faster.
Julie
This is the email I got in response:
Julie,
I could not call you, we only dealt through e-​mail! The fact that you think cancelling is rude and unprofessional tells me that you have no idea what it is like to run a business, let alone a bar! I couldn’t suggest another venue because you we getting a great deal, any other bar is going to offer you light beer, box wine and crap liquor! I think it is laughable that I would ever consider hosting any kind of event for YOU! Go to Mad River the serve just your type! As for Unilocal,been in business 20 years and no one pay attention to that crap!
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It is unreal that anyone would do business this way! It’s no wonder they are in trouble with their insurance company and have been trying to sell the business for years! I hope you reading this will prove her WRONG and show her that people do pay attention to Unilocal reviews and that there are plenty of other bars that offer good beers and way better customer service!

Okay I have to weigh in here. My friends and I came to Flatty’s MOST TUESDAYS FOR FOUR YEARS. Authority! It is still our favorite bar… probably in the whole of Philadelphia. I’m going to do this review in phases.
WHAT IT USED TO BE:
Flat Rocks c2005 was absolutely perfect. It had the best beer list outside Monks and maybe Eulogy. It wasn’t overrun by hipsters, it didn’t overcharge, and there was always something new to try. Most nights you came in the place was wall-​to-​wall people. They had some of the best cover musicians and the occasional Kenn Kwedder sighting. By midnight every person in the place would be singing. It was like something out of a Dickens novel. We used to take down 200 of the BEST WINGS IVE EVER HAD. We’d routinely pick a beer and clean them out of it by nights end. Did I mention «we» averaged 10 – 15 people. Yep we paid for bottles of water, no we didn’t get refills on soda, yes we occasionally would not get the male servers and had terrible service, no we never were served shots. It didn’t matter. This place was perfect.
WHAT IT BECAME:
Somewhere toward 2008 aka the Great Recession the place started to struggle. The beer list dropped. The prices hovered. Drink specials were increasingly irrelevant. Wing Nights (the greatest night of all) were no longer wall to wall. Where we used to cut out of work early to send a scout to hold tables, now we walked in at 7pm and had our choice. The music was gone. The planned upstairs expansion was dormant. But we still came, every Tuesday. We still ate 200 wings. And they still treated us like family. And no that doesn’t mean free drinks. I’m not sure we ever got freebies in those days. Nope not even water. And that was fine.
WHAT IT IS NOW:
It’s recovered. The beer list is back up and running. Despite what I’m reading here THE FOOD IS STILL AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN TOP NOTCH. Top to bottom on the menu, no question. And trust me we were a picky bunch so that statement does not come lightly. I’m told the music is back. There’s even word of Sal sightings– the best waiter we ever had there. It’s so good to see that they are returning to former glory. The owner/​head bartender works his butt off EVERY NIGHT. He has kept this thing going and hasn’t compromised his standards of what he wants Flat Rocks to be. There were probably plenty of opportunities to turn this into TGI McScratchy’s or Kildare’s II but he didn’t. Not even close.
For those of us that love Flatty’s for everything it is and everything it is not, this place is perfect. If you are looking for your typical bar experience this probably isn’t the place. It’s Philly through and through– its not the best but it doesn’t care but it’s not all hipstery about that. There may not be toilet paper in the bathroom… heck the door may not even lock. You can get shots now but don’t hope for bombers and crap like that. For every review that says «I can’t understand why they don’t do X» the reason is that they don’t want YOU there. I can’t think of a more Philadelphia statement than that right there.
So call up your best friends, maybe your dad, add in a few people that just moved to Philly, your cousin that just turned 21, and maybe a foreign exchange student. Get to Flatty’s and try to sit in Sal’s section. Order a stupid amount of wings. Bring a lot of cash. Grab a big table and have a lot of fun. You won’t be able to do this at any other bar. You’re welcome.

Got the saloon blue burger to satisfy an emergency burger craving. Absolutely satisfied!

I suppose if you’re going there to drink beer I would still recommend the place but for any other reason I simply can’t.
My friend has a birthday tradition of AYCE Crab legs and her birthday happened to fall on a Monday which is how we ended up at this place. I had already done my Unilocal research prior to coming so I was aware of the idiosyncrasies of the place but not the severity. I’ll also say that I am much more patient than she is and her impatience was a partial factor to the disastrous experience.
One of the oddities about this place is the bar tender’s flat out refusal to serve a glass of water. I knew in advance that this is their policy and I tried to have a conversation with him to find out why he would cling to such a ridiculous stance when nearly every negative review the place gets is over that. He gave me attitude but no explanation. I had actually meant to stop at a Wawa and buy a gallon of water, just to kind of stick it to them but I forgot. No biggie. It was a beer night anyway. Nevertheless, bizarre.
We got there and there were a few other groups for the crab legs. We ordered our beers and expressed our intentions to eat crabs. Then we waited… and waited… and waited and finally got our beer. then we waited… and waited… and waited… and waited… and finally the crab legs came out. Maybe we should have waited a touch longer because they were mostly cold to the touch and my Friend said that the one she grabbed was actually still frozen.
Of course we sent the plate back much to the grumbling of the bar tender/​waiter. If it had just been me I might have waited it out but as I mentioned above my friend has a shorter fuse than I do. Between the bad attitude and the slow service we decided not to stay. Since there was nobody available to complain to we left enough to cover the beer on the table and walked up the street to change her birthday tradition to Sushi.

What a diamond in the rough!
I have been a fan of this old time bar for years! They were featuring craft beer long before any hipster of beer geek knew what and IPA was!
Bob the owner knows his stuff and makes sure that everyone else behind the bar does too. They have always been more Euaropean-​Belgian import heavy but that’s just fine to me.
The food has always been really good bar food and presented nicely. I love the homemade potato chips and a simple roast beef sandwich.
Always great service in the traditional professionally bartender style that you just don’t get anywhere else.

Flat rock is my ideal choice for a quick beer after a long day. Don’t forget to bring cash as they do not accept credit cards. However, an ATM is in the back.

The food here is very good and they have a good selection of beers. It’s does have an old school saloon type of feel to it. I’ve read some of the other reviews and I agree on the bottled water. It is kinda of ridiculous they don’t serve tap water here. They do have some of the best wings and mussels in the Philly area. It’s chill and I really like the musicians they have on the weekends. It is more relaxed but on nights where they have live music, people do dance and it can be a really fun night. It’s a place that I can really have a lot of fun on some nights and on others, the atmosphere can really put me to sleep.
Good — Food, variety of beers, live music
Bad — Does not serve tap water, bathrooms are disgusting, cash only.

I highly recommend against going here. If I could have given this place negative stars I would have. Our waiter was incredibly rude. We ordered glasses of water and he brought us bottled water. At first I was thinking, «ok, this guy is not only rude but is trying to run up the bill, that’s fine I’ll get tap water next time.» So we ask him for tap water the next time around and he says (verbatim), «We don’t have tap water.» What? Is this some kind of joke. There is ice in our sodas and water in the toilets and I’m pretty sure they aren’t using bottled water for that.
So we started to make our way through our crabs (that we waited 45 minutes for after ordering while there were no more than 6 other patrons), we started to get really thirsty, mainly because they were way over seasoned with old bay and salt. In an attempt not to overpay any more for my meal I confronted the surly waiter again, away from the table. I said, «do you really not have tap water, isn’t their ice in our glasses?» to which he replies, «we have it, we just don’t serve it.» I asked him if that was even legal and he told me, «yea it’s legal, we have been doing it for 22 years.»
Are you EFFING kidding me?! Did I just find myself transported to a bistro in Paris where they only serve Perrier? No, I’m in this dumpy saloon in Manayunk paying too much for mediocre food, so why don’t you spare me the hassle and bring me a cot damn glass water.
I literally have never tipped less than 15% on a meal but I was determined to do so today. Screwed again. we had over 6 people at our table so this a-​hole is getting a very much undeserved 18% tip. I have never been so close to walking out on a check in my entire life. Oh yea, they only take cash so bring lots because you’ll need it.
Do yourself a favor, walk ten feet in any direction on main street AWAY from this place. It boggles my mind how a place like this can stay in business when there are so many fine restaurants in Manayunk.
Oh yea, let me also ad that the coupon for 10% off the food portion of your meal that you can print online is a load of bull. They don’t accept it. don’t waste your printer paper.

As far as the Manayunk bar scene goes, Flat Rock is not the best it has to offer. It’s dingy and last time I was there, they were out of everything I had asked for. Everything. I was hardly asking for a particular type of imported wine or a potato vodka typically unavailable outside of Krakow. I will give Flat Rock two stars since Vinny, the bartender, seemed like a good guy but would urge you to check out Kildare’s instead.

Having lived in the Manayunk area for the past 3 years, there hasn’t been a bar I’ve been to more than the good old Flat Rock. More often than not, on a weekend free to travelling, you’ll find my friends and I with 2 – 4 tables pushed together drinking some great beers and singing along like assholes to whatever acoustic guitarist/​singer is playing that night.
During the week it’s a relaxed place to get some dinner with a great, warm interior without being super busy, and on Friday and Saturday nights, it’s exactly the place you want to start/​spend/​end the night. There’s a great beer selection (although recently it’s tapered into around 50 beers at a time), regularly-​rotating specials (giving you the chance to try beers that you wouldn’t normally buy at $ 6 a pop), enough room for you and plenty of friends, TVs for sports, live music on weekends to obnoxiously sing along to, old bartenders (who wear suspenders and seem like they’ve worked there since they were 15 years old back in nineteen tickety-​two), and just enough outdoor tables (that if you get there early enough to snag one during nice weather in the summer, you feel like the Mayor of Manayunk), and chicks actually go there! WHAT ELSE COULD YOU ASK FOR?
(Actually, one thing they could use: A more private toilet in the men’s room. Oh, and a toilet paper dispenser — I can only imagine the poor souls that go #2, only to realize they have to wipe with their shirt/​boxers. You’ve been warned!)
Another warning: It’s cash only, and their ATM has a ridiculous service fee, so Ladies — Bring some cash! I can’t afford to buy ALL of you drinks!
If you hate this place, I hate you. Seriously.

A great selection of beers both on tap and by the bottle, live music that doesn’t make your ears bleed, and no cover will make you smile. Food that is pretty much what you expect won’t shake this rating. Forgetting that it is cash only might irk you a bit. However, the lack any customer focus kept this Saloon from a higher performance.
Other Notes:
1) While prices are reasonable for the beer selection, it isn’t exactly Manayunk cheap (again cash only).
2) A slightly older crowd for Manayunk.

There are plenty of other reviews, I’m assuming because I didn’t have the attention span to read them all, that will tell you the vast selection of what I surmised to be excellent craft, local, and other delicious beers. I, unfortunately, do not have the palate for good beers. I like Budweiser. Yum. But my friends threatened to make me sit by myself if I ordered one there.
So I got a Bloody Mary, one of my favorite drinks of all time. Holy intense experience, batman. Go get it right now. Go when the owner (?) is there, an older man who always seems to be wearing a white shirt and suspenders. It may take 10 minutes, but because he makes them FROM SCRATCH.
Hand trimmed celery. Scooped horseradish. Cracked black pepper. Celery salt. Hot sauce.
That’s all I can say without salivating an embarassing amount. Go get the bloody mary! And I guess the ambiance is cool, everybody is chill, blah blah blah.
Bloody Mary!