1861 Public House — Restaurant in Barboursville

🚨 Restaurant Reminder 🚨

If you haven’t been to 1861 Public House in Barboursville yet, let me save you from the chain-restaurant rut by the mall and point you just five minutes down the road to something way better. This locally owned spot—run by the Beter family (yep, the same folks behind Oscar’s)—is serving up killer food, friendly service, and the freshest beer in town. And I mean fresh… they’re brewing it right next door. 🍺

Inside stays buzzing, but the outdoor beer garden is laid-back perfection—ideal for sipping what might be your new favorite pint under the sunshine. They’ve got 20 taps, a rotating lineup you can preview on Digital Pour, and some seriously impressive brews with the Köerber Beer Company name behind them. Barboursville doesn’t just serve craft beer anymore—it makes it.

As for the food? Buckle up. Kick things off with the spicy feta dip and grilled naan—creamy, tangy, with just the right kick. The Starkey (pepperoni, sausage, ham, the works) is amazing. I built my dream buffalo chicken and bacon pie, because let’s be real… buffalo sauce is basically my blood type. These pizzas are massive, loaded, and only $12. Unreal.

And then there’s the Beter BLT, that you can get from the food bus outside the brewery —stacked high with juicy pork belly, crisp veggies, and pimento spread, on the most perfect hoagie roll. Eleven bucks. ELEVEN. Or grab the Brewery Dog for just $5: bratwurst, onions, peppers, kraut, mustard… the works. Wallet-friendly, belly-filling, flavor-packed.

I’m going back for the sandwiches soon.

📍 650 Central Avenue, Barboursville 1861 Public House Köerber Beer Company

Trust me—skip the chains, drink beer where it’s brewed, and eat food that actually feels worth the calories. Support local, drink local, and snag an...

I desperately want to love this place. The location, atmosphere, and the outdoor areas are great. Easily some of the best in the area. The beer list is extensive and high quality, and you can get additional local brews at the brewery next door that shares the courtyard.

That said, we’ve been 2 times now and the food quality and ordering system has let us down both times. On each visit we’ve had a food item ordered but that was never made. In both cases, by the time this was discovered we decided to just go without, in part because it’s taken us over an hour to get food (pizza, salad, whipped feta) on each visit and it feels like it isn’t worth waiting for them to sort it out. On our last visit, in particular, the food was underwhelming. We got two room temperature pizzas with ingredients that frankly seemed like they were just tossed on there after the base was cooked, and a Cobb salad that ended up being lettuce and tomato with some blue cheese cups. It was not great, and certainly not a good value. Bright side is the whipped feta is very good.

Service was fine, if they seemed overwhelmed by the crowd. It was quite busy.

Still, it’s a great place to sit outside and have a quality beer in a pleasant, social environment. Hopefully they can get the food straightened out because I’d really like to...

I’ve had several pizzas from here and very inconsistent. Pizza combinations look similar to a few well known craft pizza places in our area. Entire layout also looks similar to a place in town. Friendly bartenders and knowledgeable

Edited that layout looks similar, not decor, my apologizes.

Edited for the final time since I “added more” and actually didn’t but I am now.

Edited again since the owner deleted his responses to me

Hard to believe that a business owner attacks potential customers over a 2.5/5 review and chooses not to respond to lower rated reviews. Apparently “Keith” has also came up with a fake story about “me” to post under both of the business pages I reviewed. I have never talked about my personal and business endeavors with strangers or tried to leave an establishment without paying a tab so that is mind blowing. I would like to see the camera footage of that to clear the air since the owner threatens other patrons to watch camera review with him.

I have never met this business owner but apparently he knows what style of beer I like? I can appreciate all styles of beer so that also is a wild take to once again attack a potential customer.

I would think twice about spending your hard earned dollars at establishments like...