bell's eccentric cafe

best beer in michigan......good but not awesome food

excellent beer, great food and cool atmosphere. two hearted ale is just so great on tap and their selection of other beers that they do not distribute is always a treat. i like their mead once in a while. i dig the food too, the chicken bbq samich is delish and comes with yummy chips. this place is great for a few beers and a sandwich after work on a sunny day so you can hang on he patio or out in the beer garden. great live performances out in the beer garden in summer time, in college i danced barefoot out there with all of the hippies. great place for people watching : ). the beer is strong, flavorful and some of the best microbrew in the country.

best beer of the town.. staff is very courteous,ambience variety of foods are welcoming. not much loud music which is nice to have .. must visit if you are in kalamazoo.

not impressed. i wanted to like it, i really did. but the service was bad, the food came out cold, and it was just an all-around so-so experience. i think i might need to go back some other time when it isn't so crowded. the beer was good though.

went with here with family and friends. everyone’s food was good and the beer selection was awesome. i would highly recommend stopping at the store while you are here too!

a beer hall with a mediocre restaurant inserted inside. the beer is fantastic - always - and the outdoor beer garden is lovely when the weather is good. skip the overpriced, largely average food items on the current menu. even the burgers, though tasty, are over-cooked and dried out. better fried fish can be found innumerable places. the side "salad" was nothing but a bunch of greens from a bag. this place needs to up its game considerably if it wants to survive in a town with first-rate foodie options. service was good in our experience, though things weren't very busy either.

revisited 4 months later, w/visitors: similar. good salads and sandwiches (pulled pork is worth repeating) and a decent app (buffalo chicken dip). good service. still not a place that will make our regular rotation in town. i'd say in fairness, better than mediocre - but not great, even by pub grub standards.

aug. 2017: 3rd try, this time for brunch. had veg frittata and egg sandwich of the day. both fine, but boring. need more flavor - add a remoulade or some kind of sauce to the sandwich, for pete's sake. fries are standout, and the pickle on the side is farmer's market quality, but again, features are mediocre at best. food is 1000x better at one well, and despite the limited menu, we'd choose arcadia before eating here again.

my opinion of bell’s hasn’t changed. there are positives and negatives with this new space, but all-in-all, i enjoyed my meal and will always love the beer. just in the six years we’ve been in kalamazoo, we’ve seen bell’s grow and reinvent themselves so many times. this new eccentric cafe just puts them on another level when it comes to beer in michigan.

i attended a business meeting at bell's and, being from texas, had not heard of it before then. we took a tour and got to try some of their beer which i loved. i understand there are some great musicians that come through there as well. i will definitely be back

love bell's beer! my favorite thing on the menu is the jambalaya. it's so good! great atmosphere, though loud... but there's always lots of people. so loud is easy to expect.

what a gem of a place - such a pleasant surprise to have our dinner in the beautiful garden area. it was perfect for our son to run around while we enjoyed dinner and a flight of brew. there truly is something for everyone here!

next time we do our beer tour, i’d make this a first not a second or last stop. bell’s eccentric cafe is better designed for beer tasting and sampling/sipping. this is not a good place, in my opinion, to sit and relax or order food. there’s no table service, and i found it to be popular, crowded and chaotic. still, my family assured me that in the summer, the beer garden is a nice place to visit–if you can get a table.

overall, i like their style, but the menu is rather limited and the food isn’t quite up to my very, very high standards. it could be better. but they do a fantastic job with the limited kitchen they have. maybe things will change once they’re done expanding.

not family friendly. got there at 745 for dinner, told no kids after 8. they only serve dinner until 9. wtf! boooooo... you suck bells.

nice beergarten. myself and two co-workers stopped in here for beers and food a few weeks ago while in town on business. i'm a big fan of bell's beer and they had many different varieties on tap that you cannot get elsewhere. the ordering system for the food was a bit strange but once we figured that out, we got our food and it was quite good. i would definitely come back if i'm ever back in town.

surprisingly good food. my fiancée and i stopped in to see what beers they had to offer that you can't get outside of the cafe and decided to grab something to eat as well. the place is awesome on the inside with brick and hardwood interior. there are really neat beer bottle chandeliers and other pieces of art on the walls. the staff was extremely friendly and helpful (even with finding other places in kalamazoo, so far as to draw a map on a sheet of paper for us).
the beer selection was phenomenal, but that's to be expected from bell's. had several of the cafe only options (which there are quite a few), all of them solid beers. as for food, i went with the sweet potato and black bean quesadilla, while she had the spinach and feta burger with chips. the quesadilla was pretty good, though i could have done with more black beans and less sweet potatoes. the sriracha based dipping sauce that came with it was delicious. the spinach and feta burger was really unique; the patty itself was comprised of spinach and feta, and then topped with cilantro-jalapeno mayo, provolone, lettuce, tomato and onion. that thing was extraordinary! there was so much flavor going on there and the texture of the patty was nice. it was easily the best veggie burger i've ever tasted! she definitely picked the winner as far as food was concerned.
i highly recommend the bell's eccentric cafe, and not just for their beer. the food is well above par pub food and the staff is great.