Beaver’s Pub

Sketchy on the outside. Inside wasn’t much better. Smelled like smoke. Asked if the 312 beer was an IPA to the bartender, with response «what’s an IPA?». Interesting people. Definately locals. Had baby back ribs and they were decent, but not awesome.

Everything on the menu is awesome. My picks. The BLT. Loaded up with bacon. The Italian beef sandwich is something right out of a new York City deli. Loaded with green peppers and some dipping juice. The rueban is excellent also. Good waiter there in the afternoon. Nice young man. Would like to see some Bottles of Molson Canadian beer, otherwise good selection of beer. Lake Shafer Wilbur.

Hadn’t been here in years, sign said under new management… wow, this was the worst dinning experience in my life.
Waitress was fine, but only able to do one thing at a time so you need patience.
Menu is limited we ordered onion rings as an appetizer and they were good. We both ordered the marinated chicken breast, you can’t screw up chicken breast… right?
We were served dinner salads and they were fine.
Our dinners arrived (bad sign when a boneless chicken breast is served with a steak knife?)Chicken was very rubber, I took one bite, apparently the unnamed marinade is made from old shoe inserts. My wife took one bite and spit it into her napkin. My special «garlic» potatoes appeared to be last night’s baked potatoes heated up in a broiler. Brown dry and tasteless.
Please be aware I don’t send food back, I don’t post bad reviews for fun but this place is horrible.
I called the waitress over and said that the food was bad and we just wanted the check so we could leave. She sent the manager out she asked if there was a problem. I replied that everything was horrible and we just wanted to go. She said she would «adjust» the check… after a 10 minute wait they finally brought the check. It was still $ 25.
The place is loud and smokey, the service is suspect and the food is awful. I saw many doggie bags at other tables but I love my dog more than that.
Do yourself a favor and eat anywhere else…

Great diverse food menu, specials are fantastic. A great value for good food. A local atmosphere. A lot of smoke, just part of it when eating in a bar. But worth enduring the smoke. Good service and attentive wait staff.

Great burgers. Must visit when in Monticello.

Small local bar, clean with good food. Ive had several menu items with the Italian beef being the best. I also recommend the French onion soup, however avoid the pizza.

The comment above is understandable, there are so many jokes to make I am forced to leave them alone.
But if you don’t spend any considerable time down there, and stick to the beaten track you may not think of going into what looks like just a regular bar to find some of the best ribs and clam chowder there is out there anywhere in the USA, but luckily it exists and it’s in good ol’ Monticello.
No joke-​I had assumed my g/​f just wanted a nightcap when she took me there a 4 – 5 years ago during a weekend we spent in Monticello where she has spent a few or more years summering down there. When I looked around I thought, ok maybe some bar-​food like the fried green beans (onion battered) which are also very tasty, but certainly this isn’t what she meant for dinner?
It sure was! Boy am I’m glad too– they have the best New England Clam Chowder I’ve had anywhere between the coasts-​and even then, it’s a close call. If they did a lobster bisque I’d move down there full time I think. I don’t care how they do it (lots of cream and other non American Heart Association Approved Stuff I’m sure but that’s not the point, it tastes like you’re having a hot cup or bowl of soup with the actual Gordon’s Fisherman-​or at minimum the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island, standing by your side. You can taste the cream and the ocean all marrying with the potato in one velvety gulp of Chowdery goodness!
I won’t even get started on the ribs which I like them better than the Chowder. But if you want the best rack (of ribs) in Indiana, I’ll let the cat out of the bag 5 years after I stumbled into both my future wife and a place called the Beaver in Monticello.
I married the former, the latter still accepts customers and treats them like normal people eating and drinking and all of it pretty darn well and at very reasonable prices to boot. I love my wife and the beaver in different ways, I love them most together. But that clam chowder had me on the first cup.

Why hasn’t anyone told me about Beaver’s Pub in the last year and a half that I’ve been in Monticello? I guess I’ve stumbled across a town secret. This restaurant has the best hamburgers in town, like the kind you would get in an upsacale restaurant. It’s made of more than half inch thick angus beef, cooked to your liking with a big roll-​type bun, not the little, flimsy buns you get at diner and fast food restaurants. I had the fried chicken which comes with 4 large pieces (enough for two meals or to share). Whatever the batter is, it’s perfect (read enough salt but not too salty) and comes out steaming hot and super crispy without being burnt. The prices are not cheap. The hamburger was $ 10.00, and the fried chicken was almost $ 12.00, I think, but they are definitely worth what you pay.
The décor is not upscale and looks like it’s circa the 70’s. It’s a bar with a restaurant inside. The seating is old booths or those cheap metal and vinyl chairs and veneer wood tables. There are at least 4 tvs, and none of them are flat screens. The place does have a simple, good olé boy character. You can easily imagine a lively Harley Davidson reunion here.
The bar tender was also the waiter the Saturday afternoon we were in. He could teach a class in customer service to all the waitresses in every restaurant in town. He was attentive without being overbearing, nice without being sugary sweet, accurate, punctual and just did his job super well. The kitchen though is quite slow. When there are only half a dozen people (most of whom are sitting at the bar) and only two couples at a booth, I don’t think there’s any excuse why it should take over half an hour to get our meal.