New Albanian is the best place to get away from fizz-water drinkers. They used to charge outrageous prices for CoorsBudMiller products, presumably to encourage those patrons to buy the cheaper, yet better quality brews on hand. Now, they're giving those guys the finger. You can't get any of those beer-flavored sodas there anymore. With a constantly changing list of house brews, you'll find a reason to go there often. They've also got a killer import selection and lots of regional beers. The pizza is good, too. Beer needs to absorb something, right? Check their website for upcoming events like Gravity Head- nothing below 8% abv (the sky's the limit), or Lupulin Land- celebration of all things hoppy. And they'll sell bottles to go. I've got several rare finds cellaring in my basement.

reviewed on: 2009-01-13 22:44:23

the beer selection is as much as you could as for... 8 house brews on tap, few that are just decent to exceptional (thunderfoot, hoptimus) A very good selection of american craft thrown into the mix, with some exceptional european beers to round out for color... and they revolve like a door at this place.

The atomsphere is a great series of rooms., the bar room, the main room off the bar with the server pickup station that houses the swag, the room off the front door which is the largest by far, and then another small intimate stube in the back.... plus the party space which I don't know if it's part of an expansion or is borrowed as it was a contrast to the rest of the place with it's white walls. The taps are all over in six and seven tap mounts... It's really an interesting place over all and a good swagger around to take in all that's on the walls and couches and comfort and ease is very worth the time....

service was okay, we were there for an event, so you had to take what you could get.... If I were a local or visiting and I could be here when they opened.... I'd go into the room with the taps and trapse across the couches and own the room... and prolly get decent service as I like to tip welll.. We got some face time with the owner and he lolled us with stories of belgium and tales of bar patrons and good stuff like that... So all in alll a good ass time.

I had the pizza... ate a medium by myself... and it was good. very liberal toppings.

I'd recommend going out of your way for this place. It's worth it... if there's an event going on... expect service to be a bit challenging.

reviewed on: 2007-08-23 13:44:13

We stopped at this place on the drive from NC to IL over the holidays. The location is in a pretty good spot for a lunch break on our journey, so we made it happen.

We enjoyed New Albanian brews only, even though there was a great selection of other beers available as well. There is a bar and a pizzaria that both share tap selection and a kitchen. We chose the bar for this trip, but we did walk into the pizzaria at first to get an idea of what it felt like.

The food was great. There is a lot of pizza on the menu, but they also have sandwiches, calzones and stuff like salads or pasta. I had the meatball hoagie and it was wonderful (on homemade foccacia). The beers were also very tasty and our service was good.

They have a very large parking area at New Albanian/Rich O's. You should have no trouble parking here.

The Pizzaria area is definitely family friendly. If I had a family, I would probably choose to sit in there rather than the bar area.

reviewed on: 2007-03-22 16:12:14