Kickbacks is located in an older part of Jacksonville that appears to have been revitalized. While the business district is a primarily renovated older buildings, the area had a vibrant buzz about it and was pretty busy, especially for a Tuesday evening. The majority of the homes in the immediate area are well kept and look similar to the one my grandparents bought sometime around 1940.

The first thing that we noticed when we pulled up was that all of the outdoor tables on the sidewalk were full. That’s always a good sign. The moment that you walk in the door, you know that you’re in a beer destination, not just a bar or restaurant that happens to have beer. The top of the bar is a wall of tap handles. There are 84 in total.

The interior decor gives the place an older feel with the brick on the walls and the exposed beam ceiling. Beer bottles line part of one of the walls and tap handles hang from about two-thirds of the cieling in the dining area. TVs showing sporting events and trivia games are mounted throughout the establishment and are easy to see with the dim lighting.

The crowd was pretty diverse in age as was the music selection playing overhead. They played tunes from the 80’s as well as recent hits.

There’s a pair of big chalkboards over on a side wall listing the beers. When I asked our waitress it there was a more handy list that didn’t require my walking across the room, she said that “there’s an app for that.” Unfortunately, we had some trouble getting it downloaed and running. Plan B. Go old-school and walk over to the chalkboard. The selection is overwhelming. I wasn’t real keen on standing there in the middle of the aisle reading the small handwriting on teh wall but the great choices made it worthwhile. Heck, they had Crème Brûlée by Southern Tier Brewing Co. Seriously, how could I complain?

Saying that the food menu was pretty diverse would be an understatement. The selection ranges from Spaghetti-O’s (with or without meatballs) to steaks and bacon wrapped pork tenderloins.

Besides the Spaghetti-O’s they have several other ‘vintage” meals that our waitress claims are very popular. These include Ramen Noodles, Hamburger Helper flavor of the day and PB&J with bananas.

Everything that we had was top-notch and I’d definetely go back for dinner when in the area. That being said, we did have one gripe. While the waitress was attentive and kept checking on us, it took just over an hour to get our meals. Maybe it being later in the evening had something to do with it? Next time will tell.