Steel Wheel Tavern

Very accommodating staff while we visited. We went on a Saturday night about 7:30 and it was about a 45 minute wait with no reservation... they let us wait at the bar and have drinks while a table for 2 became available, and it took way less than 45 minutes..about 20, so we closed out at the bar, and we were seated in the room to the left of the entrance, with a large flatscreen tv... that unfortunately was not powered on.... we also noticed the flush mounted speakers in the ceiling were not playing any music, which was disappointing because we had just left the bar area which was playing audio at a nice level and we could listen and enjoy while having conversations... it was a bit of a let down going from that to mostly family chatter and the like, so we asked our server if he could turn on the music, to which his reply was,"it is on, you just can't hear it over everyone talking"... so we asked if he could have someone turn it up to match the bar area we just came over from? He told us he would, took our drink orders, walked away... came back a few minutes later eith our drinks with no mention of the audio at all... then allowed us time to look over the menu.... but that was legitimately, 30 minutes... which we understood was very likely due to how busy they were, so just politely ordered and asked that the entree be split because our whole order consisted of the limited Vegetarian options and we wanted to share it all... we probably waited about 25 minutes for the food but it was separated nicely for us to share which we appreciated and loved they went the extra step of even separating the fries into two smaller portions for us to each have our own on our sides of the table.... and cut the veggie burger in half, served one half on each plate as well... so we didn't have to mess around on the small table doing it ourselves....very thankful for that. The food was very good, we just wish they offered more for Vegetarians... our server seemed very conciois of the difference between vegan and vegetarian as he made sure to ask once we questioned options with no animal products, weather we did dairy or not.... so they do seem generally aware of dietary restrictions at this place, and it would be nice to see their menu reflect that too. The audio issue was never mentioned again, so I assume our request was ignored or the system was broken... I installed commercial audio systems like theirs for almost 10 years, the music wasn't on.???? They should fix that and the blacked out TV... the existence of both but them not functioning takes away from the cozy, welcoming tone in the space. The woman who greeted us as we walked in, was beyond pleasant... I wish we got her name, she even held two seats at the bar for us as we gave the hostess our name for the wait. We loved that as well.... our bartender was quick to ask our order, the bar was neat and clean, their appearance was sharp, I got a craft beer from a NJ based microbrewery, my wife got a vodka drink... the prices are about the same as all other bars in Ridgewood. The bathroom was very clean, they had an acoustic musician performing as we got our check....the crowd ranged from young professionals to middle aged couples and several familes with children, so it's very casual here even though upon first approach through the door, felt higher end. They should expand on that. I would give it five stars if they offered more for Vegetarians, if the music and video elements functioned correctly and if our server didn't vanish for half an hour. Not bad at all, but nothing new either, we will probably try it again on a week night sometime. Cheers????

Nice place to get a drink and some bar food after work. I recommend the buffalo chicken wrap.

If one commutes to Hoboken and back to Ridgewood, NJ every weekday, there will come a time -when arriving back in Ridgewood after a long work day- one just needs a good cold beer and a basic hamburger and fries. Cross from the train station to Steel Wheel Tavern. Real short walk. Nothing fancy, mind you. But staff is attentive, beer is top notch and food more than enough.

Might see you there one evening.

I love this place. Everything is amazing. My favorite is the Southwestern Chop Salad. Pulled Pork Sandwich. ......Heaven.