Ortlieb’s

Funky place. Good music and sound in the back live room, inexpensive brews, solid grub. Will be back.

If you want hipsters with full sleeve tattoos, ironic music, and cheap Kenzingers, then this is your place.

Mackenzie puts on the most lit as fuck shows. Bands be sick. I’m telling you fam, get the tacos. Shit is nice.

I love the new lay out! I’ve been going to this place since it was a jazz bar and the stage location was awkward. Performers essentially played to the wall. Now there is a separate room with a stage in the back half of the venue. It’s much easier to watch the show and you can also choose to just come there to drink now. The cover is no longer charged at the front door. Same great beer selection and cool vibe. I’m happy to see this place doing so well.

I always drove pass Orlieb’s, but never got to check it out until yesterday’s happy hour with $ 2 tacos (DELICIOUS) and $ 6 margaritas. Why not?! Attentive cool staff. Chill ambiance and great music. Definitely worth it!

Decent selection of beers for the guy who only drinks IPAs or Yuengling for the other guy, some seriously good tacos that you may not believe were crafted in the back, and an awesome performance by some local/​new bands.
Beer, tacos, live music. Do you need more information than that?

has all the makings of a cool space, but all the broey douchiness of the worst old city bar. it’s a shame all the douchebags found this place.

Went for taco tuesday!!! service was very fast and tacos and drinks were even better!

definition of dive bar! hipster central but great atmosphere & cheap drinks

Great happy hour. Tacos are amazing and whoever suggested getting a soft bean and wrapping it around a hard (insert delicious meat here) was a genius. 4 beers and a few tacos and I was out of there for under $ 20

This is my favorite bar in Philadelphia.
I cannot believe how long it has taken me to review this place. I’ve learned that I never review the places I frequent most often. I can honestly say that out of all the bars I’ve visited in Philly, this is hands down my favorite. One of the best happy hours in No Libs going from 5:30 to 7:30 with $ 4 (basically) all drafts, $ 5 well drinks (The Big O is ridiculously good), and $ 2 tacos. My god the tacos. What you need to do when you get the tacos is to get a soft bean and hard whatever. Combine the hard taco into the soft one and BAM, you’re in heaven. The bartenders are fantastic, the atmosphere is chill, the food and drinks are great. What more could you ask for?

What the heck happened to this place?! Where is the Jazz Haus? Where do can a person go to listen to traditional jazz –not that Kenny G early 90’s junk.

The Wet Bar
The bar that is named after a great old beer that is not made anymore. Ortlieb’s a beer brand during the grand old 1970’s American beer explosion.
This bar is dark and tries to portray a bit of the 1970’s sleaze that made that decade great. The only issue is that the place is actually kind of nice inside. I was expecting much worse. They also have a very good variety of craft beers available and not much junk cheap beer available, which is a marquee of a great 70’s style dive bar.
I like Ortlieb’s especially for the name, but there is so much potential here to make this place into a great dive bar. Not a bad spot, I would like the beer sign in my basement.
Thanks

This place is so fun and they had some great bands playing the night we were here. Only complaint would be there was no where to sit. We got there early bc we wanted to get a bite to eat (which by the way, the Cuban sandwich and their fries are delicious) but there was no where to sit bc everyone else had the same idea so everyone was sitting around just monopolizing the tables. Not too terrible though, we did eventually get a table after 30 mins or so but it did take forever to get our food. We had to ask our waiter a few different times; I think he had forgotten at one point. In his defense I think he was helping set up and it’s a bar not really a restaurant. Once the band started playing there was plenty of standing room and it is a great place to hang out with friends.

New!!! Exciting! VENUE SPACE!
Before, you used to have to pay an $ 8 cover when walking into Ortlieb’s if a band was playing, whether you wanted to see them or not.
They recently converted the large kitchen space into a real, live venue. With a closing door. So you only have to pay to see the band, if you want to see the band. And I appreciate that. Even if it means less items on the menu (who gets anything at Ortlieb’s besides their insanely delicious tacos, anyway?).
As far as size goes– it’s a tad smaller than Boot & Saddle. Go see a local show and lemme know what you think.

Living around the corner I’ve been wanted to go here for quite some time. It was such an awesome environment. I really loved he booths. The bartender was nice and attentive. Definitely looking forward to going back again.

I dig Ortlieb’s because:
1. Their happy hour goes until 7:30 (as someone who works until 6:30 and misses happy hour all of the time this is welcomed) and they have $ 1.50 soft tacos!
2. Those soft tacos are pretty good. In general, all of the restaurants that are owned by the people who own Ortlieb’s have fairly cheap food that is actually delicious which is why I’ll pick this spot over some others in the area.
3. I don’t go to shows there often but it looks like they finally blocked off the show area from the main dining/​drinking area which is good because I don’t always want to come for the show. Now I can come and have a beer without having to pay the $ for the show. Also the set up of their stage before was awful and this is a much better way to divide the room.

This is 3 stars, but it’s not A OK. Pros and Cons here as simple as possible. I saw Whirr & Adventures here. 3 stars for band quality and live sound.
Staring with the PROS: cool bands play here. It’s a great place to discover new music. The sound of the room is really good. It just has that «IT» where music sounds good. The stage is tiny and it’s asses to elbows for the crowd and backs to the wall for the bands. But I like that. And from what I have read it is a place that bands seem to like playing. I hope so at the very least considering the cons. And thus.
CONS: From what I saw, STAFF! Holy God! Okay. Strike one. I actually PAID for the show. At the door. I know there were tickets and all, but that’s how I did it. It’s not a big place, and I heard the tickets were almost gone, so I made sure to be there early enough to get in. meaning I got to get in and chill for a sec. And I watched the door guy let people just walk in without checking for a ticket or paying or anything, just rolled out the welcome mat. Maybe I’m wrong, but I know what I saw. As far as I’m concerned, that’s money out of the bands pocket and that blows. I’m pretty sure I could have just walked in and saved $ 15, which I would have/​could have spent at the merch table. Which brings me to strike two.
The mac machine was busted. Okay fine. The place had just opened, I assumed maybe it just wasn’t turned on, so I asked the closet staff member, the same door guy. I didn’t even finish my sentence and the guy gave me a real nasty condescending NO and turned his back to me. OK, so not only does it seem like you don’t want to collect ticket money for the band, but you’re a dick too. Which leads me to strike three.
When the bands were playing, this same guy kept walking back and forth from the back to front for… I don’t know… some reason. It’s a back room. From what I saw one way in and out. Didn’t see a fire exit (might just have missed it honestly) I watched this SAME GUY push and ram into people without any regards to them or their stuff. It was a chill concert, people just digging the band. Why was this happening? Why was this guy touching people, and their stuff? What kind of dick does this? Let alone at tiny chill place?
I cannot say I had a bad time but that’s because of the bands. If this exact show happened anywhere else, it still would have been great. Now I don’t know if the guy was working for Ortlieb’s or just a guy for the bands. If it’s the latter, someone from the venue please tell me, and I will retract this review, and write a new favorable one based on what I enjoyed and what I am told. But if it’s so, and this guy is an employee of Ortlieb’s, owners take notice please:
The guy who worked the door that day SUCKS. He made your place somewhere not worth going to. And you guys missed out on some serious cash droppage due to the busted mac machine (might not be the venue’s fault), the guy being a tool and touching people, and the same guy seemingly letting people in for free, and the seeming lack of any staff giving a damn about pretty much anything. Fire that guy, cause he sucks and thus makes your place suck. The only reason this review is 3 stars is because of the music you guys get there, and the sound of the place, which I consider sheer luck of the room being complimentary to the live music sound. I just don’t see what people on here think is great. I see what is good, can become great, and stay that way wit ha few changes.
Also, if the door guy happens to read this. A bunch of tattoos and a beard doesn’t make you a tough guy. It make you sheep who looks, acts, & dresses like every other skinny guy who bought a Black Flag record and suddenly believed they were in the UFC. You’re a jerk that needs to learn how to treat customers and you made your place of business look kind of stupid. Amateur stupid. You suck as a person.

Great people, solid beer selection, and great music. That’s everything you look for in a good pub.
They are best know for their music, but to just grab a beer in northern liberties there is no better place.

$ 2.75 Yards Pale Ale
$ 1.50/Chicken Taco
$ 5 ½ lb wings
Can’t beat the happy hour prices at Ortliebs and it goes until 7:30! none of this 4 – 6 nonsense when we’re all still at work. The wings weren’t the greatest, maybe I got a bad batch but the sauce was tasty and rarely do I find hot wings «hot», these actually had some burn.
Great for the dive feel, friendly bartenders with great beers on draught and cheap eats. Definitely putting this one in the Happy Hour rotation.

Ortliebs is a pretty cool spot for a beer or a smaller live show that’s a little bit off the beaten path.
A few years back they flipped Ortliebs from a dive jazz club (which was charming but a dump) to a little more upscale venue with a kitchen. Music ranges from jazz to hip hop to even some rock bands. The stage is small and the entire room is narrow, but it is still a nice spot to catch a show.
As for the food, I remember it being pretty decent although I haven’t eaten here in a while.
Parking is on the street and can be tough on the weekends.
Definitely worth a hang on a week night or a quick drink on the weekend.

Orliebs, a bar of wet beer. Divey, dark, and awesome. Happy hour here is amazing because it run 6PM-​8PM. I am often not out of work until 6 or 7, so this is perfect. It’s also great to finish up a happy hour that you’ve started elsewhere.
The beer is cheap, the food is cheap, there is often live music ($ 5 cover after 7 or 8, at least on Fridays). During happy hour, draught beer is $ 3 (domestic) or $ 4 (craft) and there are dollar tacos served with one of my favorite homemade hot sauces to date. I could drink the stuff! Pro tip: order 1 soft bean taco and 1 hard beef taco. When those suckers show up, slam the beef taco in the bean taco to create a heaping double decker of delicious flavor-​texture magic. Also, their sweet potato fries are off the hook. Large, crispy, and perfectly salted. Don’t order the shredded chicken… it’s kinda dry and not very flavorful.
Their new drink «The Big-​O» is $ 5 all the time. Muddled orange and cherries with Tully and a splash of sour mix. It’s one of my personal faves but results in an empty glass faster than I can say «yum!»
CAUTION: If you order the hot buffalo wings, be ready to be brought to your knees. I like spicy… but these things could bring down a small empire.
If you’re looking for a chill place to have a speaking voice conversation with friends, get drunk, and be merry, look no further!