Triple Rock Brewery & Ale House

It looks like the bad reviews are coming from people with children or people who don’t like beer. It is a brewery folks.
This is a great place to drink beer and watch a game. They also have games at the bar that you can request which is fun too. It’s old and rustic– a Berkeley landmark. It gets loud during game days so anticipate that. Monkey head Thursdays are crazy-​the line stretches down the block-​if you want to avoid the college kid scene avoid Thursdays! If you’re looking to get wasted and hang around the college kids go on Thursdays! But get there early. The beer is great-​not just Monkey head. I personally love the Red Rock. Honestly their nachos suck but they do have some of the best wings around.

My husband, his friend, and our two small children sat at a table and were brought menus yesterday. It was busy and crazy. I walked up towards two men who seemed to be running the place. One of them actively seemed to try to make eye contact with me, noticing I had a question.
Me, perfectly polite: Do you have kids’ menus?
Manager: No. It’s a BREWERY.
I stare at him, shocked that he would be so rude, but say nothing.
He has the gall to continue: It’s a playground for adults, not kids.
The other man starts to get uncomfortable with his coworkers attitude.
He tells me: you’re fine.
Me: we were let in.
The jackass chimes in: we let kids in. We do NOT CATER TO THEM.
Really, really unnecessary. There are many, many breweries in the area that cater to families. What a jackass.

I can barely comment on their beer. It tastes good to me, but dufuq do I know about beer? Their burger is kicking ass though. So is the service and atmosphere. I like this place. 6 stars to my Lyft driver for recommending it.

Not a big beer person — this place is known for its beers especially its Monkey Head (or something like that) on Thursdays — I think. Anyways I’m not a big beer person so I got a cider. The cider was good though.
I ordered the burger — it was okay. Decent and not bad. The garlic fries were too much — the fries were a bit too hard and the garlic wasn’t on there well enough. Just wasn’t as awesome as I had hoped. Boy ordered the salmon sandwich and the coleslaw. The salmon sandwich was pretty good — it has this interesting sauce with the salmon.
Protip: go upstairs — they have a nice area up there.

Triple Rock is a great bar to grab drinks and snack-​y food, especially if you’re coming on a Thursday night.
On Thursday nights — or «Thirsty Thursday» as the Cal students call it — Triple Rock serves their famous Monkeyhead beer. It comes in a huge bottle with a monkey face on it. Personally, the beer is a tad on the metallic side, but I’m not much of a beer person to begin with. The Monkeyheads are a great price for what you get — $ 8 a beer for a lot of beer. After one Monkeyhead, you’re well on your way to a good one.
The food is ok too! The Triple Rocks, which are Mac n cheese balls served with a cheesy dipping sauce are some of my friend’s favorites. The turkey burger is ehh, but I’ve heard some of their other dishes are bomb (like their wings and nachos).
Definitely would recommend this bar to those looking to have a fun time with their pals in Berkeley!

Triple Rock is bae. I love it and it loves me. This is my #1 spot in Berkeley to get a drink with friends and hang out. I also have invited a few first dates here, and like it because of its laid back environment. It’s not pretentious, but it’s also not ratchet. It’s the perfect atmosphere for me. This is also one of the few places where I feel comfortable drinking by myself. I rarely, if ever, get harassed or bothered by creeps, so that’s a huge plus.
Never been here on a Thursday and actively avoid it, because I have been told it gets pretty crowded for the Monkey Head IPA. Not a huge issue for me because it’s just one day a week. I usually get the Ipax, Red Rock, or Bug Juice, although I haven’t had a beer from here I haven’t liked yet! Oh, and I’m a huge sucker for their hard cider. I frequently get the pomegranate one. It tastes soooo good, so sometimes I have to watch myself. I can’t recall its ABV right now, but I think it’s higher than what I originally expected.
I don’t always order food, but when I do, I usually get a burger or split an order of nachos with friends. The salmon sandwich is pretty delicious too! I haven’t had any complaints about the food so far, but I do usually just come in for a drink.
Service is also good. Everyone has been pretty friendly to me, but I have had friends who had issues with their bouncer before. If it’s a nice day, definitely check out their patio upstairs! It’s quite nice.

Great spot to go for bites to eat and great selection of beers. You have to go during a Thursday just to get the monkey head ipa because it will blow your mind on how smooth this beer is. The best time to go is in the early afternoon to beat the crowd and find decent parking.
They have a great selection of food to eat while having beers with your friends, but the burgers are where its at. Triple rock could possibly be my favorite place to get a great burger and i always get the mesa burger medium rare. The buns they use are soft and light, the meat they use for the patty is tender and juicy, and the veggies are on the side for you to add yourself. I recommend you eat the burger with fries instead of the coleslaw because its just not that great. Their fries are amazingly good like, its nicely crispy on the outside and super soft and light in the inside.
If you’re going on another other day besides thursday (for the monkey head) my choice of beer is the frog tree. They also have a beer garden in the back and whats great is that they are expanding the space!

Great spot in Downtown Berkeley, just a few blocks from the Bart stop.
Atmosphere:
This place is huge, the bar itself is small, but plenty of tables and open seating. We chose to sit up in the ‘beer garden’ which is more of covered roof deck. Perfect way to get outside without getting too much sun.
Service:
As this is a ‘seat yourself’ place, I was pleasantly surprised by the quick and efficient service. We were greeted immediately and the server took our order right away. Also, with the fact that the server has to go downstairs to get beers, food, etc, she was great, super quick and friendly.
Food/​Beer:
Yum yum. THe server recommended one of the house IPAs and it was excellent, a nice hoppy beer, but light and easy to drink. This place has TONS of vegan and vegetarian items, which is always good when going out with my bf so we can find a balance. I got the BBQ seitan sandwich (vegan without the coleslaw and a side salad), and the bf got a burger with avocado and fries. Everything came out super quick and tasted delicious. The burger was a tad overcooked (more medium than med rare) but my bf still said it was delicious.
coming over from SF this place was cheap — a great filling meal for two people under $ 40 — yes please, a place I will return to on my next trip in Berkeley.

Great beer selection but my pulled pork sandwich was nothing memorable. Got lucky finding a parking in front — that was the best part.

I’ve eaten at Triple Rock several times over the three and a half years that I’ve lived in Berkeley, but I’ve never felt compelled to write a review on Unilocal.The beers were good, but the food was mediocre. Triple Rock was just a place to go when my friends and I really wanted to get beer and burgers semi-​close to campus.
However, about a month ago one of my friends and I had lunch at Triple Rock and the food was way better. I’m not sure if they got a new chef or what, but the food was definitely not the same as it was before. The burger was juicy and well-​seasoned. The bacon was thick and crispy. All of the vegetables on the burger were fresh. The bun had a crisp toasty exterior and was soft and chewy inside. The fries were nicely seasoned. Before, the burgers were dry, had bland toppings, and the fries were too thin. Whatever change happened, I’m so glad that it did. Now the food quality is on par with the taste of the beers.
I’m impressed with the improvement in the food at Triple Rock, and I will definitely be back soon.

Triple Rock is a major contributor to my already quite massive beer belly. This is the perfect place to take a group of friends and be rowdy for a great night out, or come a bit earlier with your beer-​obsessed bae and enjoy a slightly less rowdy dinner.
The Recommendations:
Avalanche Platter: Bar grub at it’s finest. Meant to be shared between two really hungry people. And oh god, it really hits the spot. Two very fine-​looking burgers on ciabatta rolls, all the fixings you will ever need on the side (there’s half an avocado!!), cheesy fries, coleslaw, sour cream, and finally, the whole thing is sprinkled with some very large tostada chips. This is definitely a food baby worth having.
2. Garlic Marinated Olives: Pairs perfectly with beer. Great snack to munch on if you’re a sodium lover. I think their olives are house-​marinated and I’m pretty sure they coat it in some sort of salty crack cocaine.
3. Beer (duh): Stonehenge Stout and IPAX are very solid choices, but definitely try anything from their rotating selection. I’ve never been disappointed.
4. Monkey Head: You know the drill. Thursday nights only. Come early or they sell out by 9. Super hard to find a table but if you have eagle eyes, it’s not too bad to try and snag one as soon as people leave. This place gets LOUD on Thursdays.
Overall: Fantastic food and beer, prompt service, please never change Triple Rock.

Nice chill pub for a late night snack. Stopped by here on my way out of SF after a night of partying. Came here for a couple more beers to finish the night, really enjoyed how they offer 5oz samplers of their beers for $ 2 each. Pretty good deal. The beers were pretty good too and they seem to have a large seasonal selection. We also had the chili cheese fries which were a great choice. There was honestly more chili than fries which was fine by me. Their chili also had a lot of spice and kick as if it had stewed for a long time, really enjoyed it!

It was a girls night out, and this was our 2^nd bar stop after dinner on Oakland. Triple Rock is just up the street from Spats, our last stop. This is beer and wine only, so I guess we’ll just have to drink beer then. It wasn’t very crowded mid week, so it was easy to get a table. We sat at a high top. They have all their own beers here, and I hear it’s one of the original brew pubs, before brew pubs became all the rage like today. The feel, is pretty easy going here, didn’t seem like a pick up joint at least not on a mid week night.
The beers are all listed on the board with type name and alcohol content by %. Double that number if you wanna know what «proof» it is, if that’s what you like to compare. We all had the Stonehenge which was 7% rated alcohol … really, we didn’t pick that cause it happened to have the most alcohol … it’s a dark stout, more like the kind we used to get in Europe. I stopped at one pint, since I was driving, but the other 2 had maybe 2 or 3… I can’t remember. Service was fine and we had a fun time out on the town… no wild shenanigans, …this time. Parking is Berkeley tight, so no secret there.

The atmosphere: This place is a little out of the ways, but there’s a reason why this place becomes so popular with undergraduates on Thursday nights. Every time I’ve come here on a Thursday, there’s always someone you’re bound to run into from class. Also, Triple Rock is SUPER strict about carding… so I wouldn’t come in here with a fake (i’ve heard they’ll take the IDs from you). So most days, this spot is usually going to be filled with seniors and graduate students. The upstairs patio is a great place for groups, but there are booths on the inside you can grab a seat at. BUT on thursdays get here early! I’ve seen lines start to form outside even as early as 7pm (and you have to wait a while since the staff won’t violate any fire codes).
The drinks: 90% of the time I’ve only gotten the monkey heads. To be honest, when I first came here as a new 21 year old, a friend and I split the infamous monkey head with a friend, both of us could not finish it. The beer was way too hoppy for me and it felt like it had a bitter aftertaste. One year later. I could probably have an entire bottle to myself. The monkey head can be an acquired taste, but I grew to love it. The other 10% I’ve tried the beers, and the beers have been pretty good – I don’t think you could go wrong with any of their ales. (I’ve only gotten the beers on non-​Thursday nights and on Thursdays when they run out of the monkey heads). Service is fairly average.
Recommendations: The monkey head and the fries. Also get a stamp card – you get a t-​shirt after you complete it (i think there’s 10 stamps?)

From what I can remember, I had a really good time here LOL. Came here after checking out the Sierra Nevada torpedo room. I ordered the sampler of all 11 – 12 beers on tap and my date ordered the wings and fries. I think I got a little over halfway until I started feeling the beers.
I had some of the garlic fries and they were delicious! I didn’t have too much of the wings, but my date really enjoyed them. This place was a bit on the louder, rowdier side but I was having a good time!

The salmon burger is delicious. If you are a salmon fan I highly recommend it.
Lively ambiance and attentive service.

Pretty solid wings, but thats about it.
Its no secret, I love wings. They are maybeeee my second favorite food behind pizza. I ordered food to go here yesterday. I was hungry so I got a burger, fries, and wings.
The wings were good, a decent ratio of meat to crispiness and the sauce was okay, coulda been spicier. The burger however was just not good, at all. I mean $ 15 bucks for a swiss avocado burger and I get this? Ordered med rare, got medium to well done. The taste of the meat was actually pretty good, but the bacon was disgusting – literally all fat– and the burger was way overcooked and just bland. I got a lettuce wrap which they accommodated well, though.
Overall, decent place for wings and fries, but that about does it. There beer really isn’t that good, either.

First, I feel obligated to address people who left shit reviews after trying to attend the infamous Thursday night monkey head shindig.
If you have an expired ID, or don’t know the information on your ID (and you still look relatively young), how the hell can you expect to be served alcohol anywhere? Any reasonable business that serves alcohol will not serve those who may endanger their business.
If you left a terrible review because you had to wait for 2 hours on a really really busy Thursday night, make better plans instead of trying to squeeze in during peak business hours. I mean come on, you cant reasonably wait in a long line and then complain about waiting in the line…
As far as the booze and the food, it’s pretty amazing. Especially the god damn hamburgers! Holy shit. Prices are really reasonable too, especially if you get a growler. And the rotating beer selection makes an even more fun environment coupled with their hometown favorites.
Lastly, this place exist to serve beer and food, and to make sure everybody has a good time. If you potentially have such little self esteem that you feel upset that the staff doesn’t want to make friends with you, then consider the fact it may not be the beer that is terrible, but rather your lonely teers polluting it as you look around for reassurance. I mean Jesus, how hard is it to drink beer and have fun?
Major shout out to the staff, you guys rock for not being fake, pretentious assholes. You’re always busy for a reason, and haters are going to hate.

Triple Rock is THE place to go on Thursdays! Why? Their famous monkey head beer of course. However, during the school year, expect to wait in line for at least an hour if you arrive after 6:30pm.
Their monkey head beer ($ 8/​pint) is served only on Thursdays so you can imagine why it’s busy. It’s a dark beer — I want to compare it to an IPA but it’s not. It’s just perfection. And obviously with how busy Triple Rock can get on Thursdays, many others feel the same!
Their food is also pretty good, although it’s a little pricey. I’ve had their nachos, wings, and quesadillas; all worth ordering again.
Their service is alright. I’ve had some pretty bad service here but casually I’ve had some good experiences. It’s hard to get a waiters attention, especially on game days. It’s a little frustrating when the staff are too busy talking amongst themselves to even pay attention to guests.
Triple Rock is a place I know I will come back to (only on Thursdays) since it also has an older crowd. It’s a nice place to hang out with friends but be ready to stand in line for a bit.

I’ve only been here on Thursdays to try the infamous Monkey Head! There’s a line that starts forming if you come after 8, so plan accordingly.
The Monkey Head is a delicious beer that runs about $ 9 each, but worth it! It’s a good size bottle!
Food is decent. Fries are super crispy.
Great place to just come and chill with a group of friends