Winberie’s Restaurant & Bar

I give My favorite bar in Princeton only 3 stars because the jazz music during the day needs to change. I can appreciate it during Sunday brunch but other times during the week I spend $ 5 -$ 10 each trip to change the mood of the bar and restaurant. Help change this practice and it’s a ⁵⁄₅!!!

Good happy hour. The apps were big enough to you can make a meal of and includes a few vegetarian options. Nice beer selection too.

I have always been curious about eating at this restaurant every time I walked by. It was about a year ago when I came to Winberie’s for the first time. The restaurant was inexpensive and affordable and served your traditional American food. Ever since my first visit it has been a go to restaurant for me and my girlfriend if we cannot think of a place to eat. Couple of my favorite dishes from Winberie’s would have to be the Irish Nachos, the Cajun Chicken Mac & Cheese, and the Crème Brulee. The service is nice and friendly and I think this is a very good go-​to restaurant when you are in Princeton.
~ Stanley

Confused as to why they wouldn’t serve food to a group of 9 people and forced us to leave. Ok sounds good.

My mother made reservations to celebrate after my brother’s college graduation. At the time, it was discussed that if we were running a little late due to the ceremony we could call just to give them a heads up. We did just that. We were running about 15 minutes late. The hostess answered and sounded pretty flustered. She told my mother that we only had a two hour window for service. My mother asked for more of an explanation on this «two hr window «and the hostess said she was getting the manager. My mother was confused but sat in hold waiting for the manager that never came to the phone. The ceremony ended and we rushed to take a few pictures and head to the restaurant. Half of our party was present and the hostess asked when we arrived if everyone was there. We explained a few others would be there any minute. She was completely rude and explained that there was another party coming at 830 (we were there at 645) and that we wouldnt necessarily be rushed out but needed to leave to accommodate the other party. While I understand this, her delivery was rude and panicked. We finished on time and were able to leave by 830. She thanked us for leaving on time and laughed saying the other party was already seated. It was a smaller group at a table right next to us. Our server was great but the unnecessary feeling of being on a time limit was unacceptable. Especially since we didn’t have to leave after all. I’m glad he graduated and that we won’t be returning again. End story, the food was ok, the server was nice but the hostess and atmosphere is less than desirable.

I have this love-​hate sort of relationship with Winberie’s.
Love: I love the fact that it’s located in the heart of Princeton. The lunch and dinner menu offers great variety. They have a nice and inexpensive happy hour drink and appetizer menu. Not to mention their happy hour goes longer than most (until 7pm on weeknights and until 8pm on Friday night). And the Princeton theme décor is really cool. I can’t leave out the fact that I met my soulmate here.
Hate: I find the food quite average and overpriced in some cases. Last time I got the blackened mahi sandwich and my boyfriend ordered the bistro burger. For basically two good, but average «burgers» it cost us over $ 40. Anywhere else, for the same type of food we would have been out of there for half the price. On the last visit our server was also in outer space. She seemed disinterested in being there, was not attentive to our party of 6, and completely lacked customer service skills.

Pub crawling in Princeton~Midnight~ bar is full~ service is quick~drinks are great! Jen was our server-​pleasant and attentive to our group of 12~we will be back!

This place has not changed in how good it is since I’ve started coming here 29 years ago. It’s a fun, cool bar. Bartenders are awesome. Rafaella isn’t one of the best and here a very long time. Love her! The food here never fails. Whether it’s the amazing happy hour, or entrée, or salad. Food is always great. I’ve probably eaten everything on the menu over the years but my favorites are burgers, chicken quesadilla (so yum with black beans, bacon and cheese), buffalo tenders, Ruben sandwich. Pasta dishes are great. Can’t go wrong here with anything.

Stumbled across this place as I was finding a parking in Princeton downtown. Neat restaurant and bar in the basement. Seems tiny from outside but they had good space for a Saturday night.
Plenty of veggie options on the menu. A long list of beers on tap.
The service is super super slow, I think they have just 1 waiter for all the tables. :(and a bit pricey (its what you pay for eating in Princeton downtown).
Try the vegetarian chili served with rice medley. The food is good. I will probably come again once a save up a few $$$.

We came here on a Sunday and sat at a table near the bar and the experience was pleasant.
I ordered the shitake mushroom burger, my husband ordered the penne spinach pasta, and my friend ordered the shrimp and rice bowl. Everyone enjoyed their food.
I ordered a Piña colada and the waitress totally forgot to put in my order but she made it right by not charging us for it which was appreciated.
Overall a pleasant experience. Will be back again

Decent neighborhood watering hole in downtown Princeton. Despite living in the area for over a year and a half, I stopped in for the first time only recently. I had noticed their extensive selection of tapped brews through one of their windows which faced Palmer Square a while back and went there last weekend for some drinks and appetizers with a friend who was visiting.
The beer selection is top notch as I expected. Lots of (relatively) local and craft brews on tap, the majority of which were from NJ, NY, and PA. There are so many excellent breweries to be found in the general region, and it’s great to see that Winberie’s supports the local brewing community.
I ordered beers which I had never seen before from two of my favorite craft breweries: Ommegang (Cooperstown, NY) and Forgotten Boardwalk (Cherry Hill, NJ). Both were excellent and well presented in the appropriate type of glassware, though I did find the portions (10 oz) a bit small.
We ordered some chips + salsa/​guacamole to go along with the beers, which were pretty good. Salsa and guacamole were very flavorful and tasted like they were made with good quality ingredients.
Prices were quite high, in my opinion: upwards of $ 8 for beers which I have ordered for $ 6 elsewhere. I guess that’s expected since downtown Princeton is quite pricey in general, but I’ve been to several bars in Philadelphia and other areas of NJ which offered similar selection at cheaper prices. The chips were also around $ 8, which seemed quite expensive for what was basically the equivalent of the complementary appetizer you’d receive at any Mexican restaurant.
Atmosphere was decent: essentially your typical upscale bar atmosphere, very inoffensive, but nothing really too remarkable about it.
Good overall and I am glad I finally stopped in. That said, nothing really sets Winberie’s apart in my mind, so I doubt I’ll be back.

Must try the Irish nachos… They are the best ever! Can’t go wrong with one of their burgers for the main course but be sure to come hungry as they are massive! Sometimes theirs a crowd so you may have to wait a while (20 minutes on average)… And the noise level can be a bit much. I love going to this establishment whenever I’m visiting in the Princeton area. Be sure to stop by.

This place is infested with nats. When we told the server she says they are aware of the problem and can’t do much about it. They fly around you while you eat also land in your food
Food was great and we packed it up to go. They just have a terrible sanitation problem.

Came to Winberie’s for a late night meal with drinks. Was seated fairly quickly for a busy Saturday night. It was packed around the bar but the ambience and vibe were nice. Ordered:
Buffalo wings, they were typical bar wings.
Irish Nachos, which I heard were infamously served on a skillet, but ours were not :(They were very good though and perfect finger food.
Bistro burger medium well. It was very juicy and delicious, came with a side of fries.
Ordered 2 drinks (vodka tonic & malibu bay breeze), they were ok I’ve had stronger.
Over all yummy, I’ll be back to try more.

Although my most recent visit was just for a few (expensive) beers ($ 8!), I’ll review my many times eating here as well. They have great food. Their mac and cheese is probably the best lunch or dinner option. But of course, the Sunday brunch really takes the cake. It’s great for a special occasion combined with a walk around Palmer Square. Winberie’s is quintessentially Princeton in my opinion — make sure you go!

4 stars for the bar on a late Friday night in November. I didn’t have any food but the bar atmosphere was great. The ceilings feel kind of low and this helps with the place to feel cozy. Pick your own music on the jukebox… there were some interesting and fun choices going on. Beer list was adequate. Bartenders were pleasant. The bar wasn’t too crowded. Overall, a good find!

So I’m pretty rare with my 5-​stars but I really truly had no complaints. Service and hostess were very nice. Its not just a pub with the beer atmosphere– it’s in Palmer Square so you know it isn’t. There are several different sections which makes it easy with a toddler. Although, there is a section right when you walk in for the sports watching — don’t let that sway you from ordering their food.
The food– spectacular flavors.
One of the best veggie sandwiches I’ve had here and it’s made by them– saw wild rice and black beans — Perfect chipotle sauce and bun — it was really good.
But, the real hit was the special mahi mahi sandwich my husband ordered with a slice of pineapple that took us back to our hawaii vacations. This rivaled the best fish sandwich place in Maui — unfortunately it is only a special but hopefully they think about adding it to their menu. It was Cajun-​style.
Seeing as to how this little Irish pub spot knows their Cajun flavor, will definitely come back for their Mac n cheese and a few other things!

I just can’t… I’ve been to Winberie’s many times over the years and no matter how many different meals or drinks I’ve had, nothing has managed to change my mind about this place being a sub standard bar.
It’s a very townie place. It’s a place where university students congregate because the prices are cheap and there’s plenty of beer. Aside from that, there isn’t any draw in my opinion. The food is average at best and the drinks are a basic as a bar can get. And when it gets crowded? You’ll want to scream.
The Princeton bar scene is beginning to evolve from the staple places like Winberie’s that have been here for years. With newer places that serve a variety of drinks and tasty food to go with it, there are plenty of options worth exploring before venturing here.

Came here for dinner recently, not expecting a ton of vegetarian options. I was sort of correct: there’s pasta, a black bean burger, and a vegetarian chili/​salad combo. I ordered the chili because it was the most atypical option of the three. The chili was good but could have had more spice. They served it over rice, which was interesting but not unpleasant. The salad was a standard house salad — mixed greens, 2 slices of cucumber, 2 cherry tomatoes. I feel like there could have been more effort put into that since it’s one of the three veg main dishes they have.
I’ve been here a couple times just for drinks: the beer selection is standard. Many of the apps sound good but have bacon on them or something :(

Excellent bar for it’s great ambience, collection of draft beers, wines and great samplers. Their beer and whiskey flights are awesome. Waitresses are awesome. Upbeat music, not too loud where you have to scream to hear one another. Very decent crowd. Been going back here for a year now.