Craft Beer Bar BRONX : The Bottom Line
Craft Beer Bar BRONX may look a bit seedy and run down from the outside, but Craft Beer Bar BRONX should be on your list of bars to go to when you’re in the area – just ignore the pseudo-craft beer attempts from Asahi and Kirin if you do end up there and stick to the main beers on tap. Besides that, Craft Beer Bar BRONX does everything else right – prices inclusive of tax, no smoking, no table charge, and free wifi. Moreover, the staff are friendly and accommodating.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX : The Full Write Up
Craft Beer Bar BRONX was the second place on our little jaunt around Saitama – but it wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit. Nutori Brewing was supposed to be the second place, but due to the owner contacting Covid-19, they had to close and we were in need of a place to visit. Our original thoughts on Craft Beer Bar BRONX were, ok, maybe it’s seedy and has some dodgy tap decisions but let’s go along for the ride and some beers.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX opened in May 2018 and is located a few minutes walk from Higashi-Urawa station, in a small residential area of places. It might not be easy to spot Craft Beer Bar BRONX though as the actual entrance is behind some other stores in the same building, so ignore the fried chicken shop and go to the back of the building to get up to the second floor. More about that later.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX : Atmosphere & Interior
Craft Beer Bar BRONX during the day seems to be a different proposition altogether than at night time. With the windows open, it’s a very light and airy bar with some baseball on in the background. The owner is a Hanshin tigers fan, but the surprising thing about the bar was a lack of Urawa Reds FC items, in spite of being deep in Urawa Reds’ territory. At night time, Craft Beer Bar BRONX reminded me a tad of Craft Beer & Whisky Bar Transit, with it’s counter seats at the bar and whiskey bottles stacked across the back of the bar.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX is supposedly non-smoking, as on the day we went, noone was there smoking and there was no indication of it being a smoking bar at all – no ashtrays inside or outside of the bar – but we may be wrong. The website does say it is non-smoking until 15:00, but that may be old information. In terms of seating though, there is space for about 32 people, with 8 seats at the bar, and then table seating for about 24 people – give or take a few due to Covid-19 rules. There was no table charge at Craft Beer Bar BRONX either – a big positive from us.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX : Approach to Covid-19
Like other bars in Saitama, Craft Beer Bar BRONX had a pretty strict entry requirement. You have to have proof of being double vaccinated, or boostered, so no certificate and no entry at all. Moreover, time is limited to two hours, and you also have your temperature taken, before being shown to your selected seating. All the staff had masks on and there were lots of plastic barriers separating groups and solo drinkers alike.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX : Beer & Tap Information
Craft Beer Bar BRONX had plenty of tap options on the day we went, with them listing around 20 taps of beer. However, some of those were from the Asahi and Kirin pseudo-craft beer lineup with Tap Marche so we’re ignoring those and instead going with the 12 taps of actual craft beer that can be seen as you walk in. The beers were mostly domestic efforts, with the beers coming in three different sizes: mini (150 ml) from 360 yen, half pint (283 ml) from 760 yen, and US Pint (473 ml) from 1260 yen. The prices aren’t cheap but then we’re in the middle of what appeared to be nowhere of Saitama but the prices do include tax. There wasn’t any happy hour nor any beer flights on offer – the latter being a shame but I guess that was the purpose of the mini-sized beers.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX : Food Information
The food at Craft Beer Bar BRONX was rather an eclectic mix of small dishes, and finger foods, with then some larger choices. There were though plenty of choices for vegetarians though so there’s no doubt you’ll find something to eat on the menu. The menus were all in Japanese so either make sure you can read katakana and some kanji, or just take a gamble and have some fun.
Craft Beer Bar BRONX : Details
- Open : Tuesday to Sunday 11:30 – 22:00 (L.O Food 21:00 Drink 21:30)
- Closed : Mondays
- Happy Hour : N/A
- Phone : 048-767-4781
- Homepage (in Japanese) : https://bronx2018.jp/
- Social Media : Facebook / Instagram
