The closure of Chatty Monks came as a surprise. I have no idea what was going on behind the scenes, but this was a place that had all the goods - good drinks, food, service, and atmosphere. It had a particularly good weekend brunch. My friends had it firmly in the bunch rotation. With a handful of West Reading staples closing in the past year, it's fair to wonder if the golden era of the 'Ave is behind us. That's an overreaction of course, but Chatty Monks closure leaves a gaping void in the hearts of locals and visitors alike. What's wild is Chatty Monks had opened up another location in Phoenixville just a few years ago. The new owner (who took over in 2021) and his family appeared on the cover of West Reading Avenues, a publication covering local small business owners. They had a merch shop. They were building a brand. And then one day, poof, it's all gone. There was always something new and fresh on the menu. When it came to brunch, for instance, you never knew what you were gonna get, other than some mixture of eggs, potatoes, and toast with miniature jams. I am such a sucker for tiny personal sized jars of jelly or bottles of ketchup. Sad to see another local watering hole bite the dust, but I'll always have fond memories of Chatty Monks and the roaring 20s of West Reading's downtown. read more

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Wow!! Mix Indian/ Mediterranean fusion food with good brewed beer & have the chatty monk. It was so good we were here 2 times in 2 days while visiting the area. Fast & friendly service with great recommendations for food & beer pairing! Cute little place to visit. If we are back in the area we look forward to another visit. read more

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Just trying to edit my review to a 3/5 instead of 4/5. After looking at the photos of the food it made me remember how nothing here was all that great. The cheese curds were undercooked. The fries look and were indeed sad. I think I gave a 4/5 rating because the sliders were so good. But they were so small. I spent a lot of money for subpar quality food. I haven't gone back since. read more

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This place is adorable! Love the fire pits and hand crafted brews. Fall is so nice to sit outside here. Can't wait to check out the new location! read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - We enjoyed a beer by the fire! - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

First, major props to the staff; super friendly and accommodating. They had Depth Has No Bounds was on draft, and it's a world class Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout - definitely try it if it's available! There was a fun and innovative brunch menu; I had the savory French toast, which came with a gochujang maple syrup - very tasty (A little more kick from the gochujang would have been nice - maybe a spicier variety could be infused with the syrup next time? Just an idea!)! If I was local, I'd definitely revisit! read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - Depth Hast No Bounds - BBA Imperial Stout - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

We were visiting the area and had scheduled an escape room just a few minutes away so had some time to kill and decided to stop in for a drink. I wish we had a lot more time to kill. We were greeted as soon as we walked in and we grabbed some seats at the bar and were served waters right away. It was pretty empty as they had just opened. They had a great tap list and we were happy to see some Belgians on. Unfortunately there was no way I was going to order anything else when they had a 16% barrel aged Imperial stout with my name written all over it. Depth Hast No Bounds (sea salt and caramel) was flavorful and had a great mouthfeel. You actually got the salt which often isn't the case. It drank way too easy for the ABV. I saw they have several variants of it. We aren't from the area but when we are back in the area we will definitely return and hopefully have more time. I would have loved to do a flight and get to try more variety. read more

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Honestly, this place is a gem. The Pale Ale and Pilsner were perfectly cold and refreshing. Our server was very friendly and attentive without being over bearing. The decor is casual and positive. The food is really something special. My wife and I recommend the Mussels, eggplant fries and any of the wraps. The currys are flavorful, well balanced and pair really well with the beers They have cold beer in cans to go as well, so don't forget to grab a pack before you head out. read more

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Love walking into a place where you have no idea what your in for! Yes you can read reviews but I'm always a little Leary! I've had great experience in place with bad reviews and vice verse! Chatty hit the mark! Loved the atmosphere, real cool decor, brick always gets me ! Staff was awesome, Nicky was fantastic! Great hospitality! Had the salmon burger with fresh cut fries (sorry no pic! I was so hungry forgot to snap one) definitely recommend a stop by! read more

"There are no monks in my band, There are no saints in this land" (Red Hot Chili Peppers) We stopped for the night in the Reading/Wyomissing area, and the trusty Yelp app led us to a fantastic meal at the Chatty Monks Brewing Company. We checked out their beer list and both settled on their Toasted Lager - a 5.4% ABV light and refreshing amber lager. Now we had been on the road for close to five hours, so we were famished and couldn't wait to check out their eclectic food menu. The menu is a real work of art, with touches of Mexican, Indian, Italian, Asian, and American comfort foods represented. My wife ordered their Fusion Style Quesdillas ($13) with chicken, cheddar, Peppadew Mango salsa, and a gochujang ranch and sour cream finish. She finished every morsel. I went for a bowl of the Cincinnati Chili ($9) with noodles ($2 add on). It was one of the best meals I had in a very long time. Such flavor! The meat, the sauce, the cheese, the noodles, it hit every one of my taste buds and then some. Pro Tip - your Yelp check in gets you $5 off a $25 tab. And how can I write this review without heaping praise on our server Miranda? She was an absolute delight and effortlessly chatted with us about the brewery, their food, their support of charities, and the very cool tight knit business community of East Reading. What a cool little town it is ! read more

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This is the original brewery , restaurant in West Reading I have been going there since it's opening under the original owners (Pam & Joe) ... when they sold it years ago I was not sure what would happen. The new owner Raj has taken this place to new heights in brews and food. Incorporating Indian food into the menu that excites the taste buds. He also kept the original flagship beer on tap as well new brews that satisfy a thirsty spirit. He also has another tasting room nearby Next time in West Reading, definitely check this place and enjoy read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

We had a nice Thursday early evening visit for a beer and some bar food. We had the nachos with chorizo, the nachos were good but the amount of chorizo was slim. The cheese was an interesting mix of cheddar and bar cheese (???). Enjoyed but not amazing. We split a salmon burger, which I'd suggest skipping. Sounds great on the menu, execution was less than good. Beers were tasty. Service was friendly and efficient (amazing they had one person bar tending, serving and hostessing. Cute area of Reading. Worth a stop for a beer. Would rate this place 3.5 stars. Don't forget to check in on Yelp for $5 off your bill over $25. read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - Yum - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

This is our third time at Chatty Monks and we'll continue to come here, when in the area. I can't speak for food, however, everything always looks good. Their drinks, however, are what keeps us stopping back in. I started out with their Seltz-Hers and a few months back they had a pina colda one which was to die for. This time in they did not have the flavor, however, I have begun to enjoy sour beers. You can choose a variety of flavors that are poured into a glass and then the beer on top of them. It's pretty ingenious to offer the flavors they offer! They also have a stand at the Fairgrounds Market, which was kind of strange when I sat down a few weeks ago to enjoy a beverage - just a me thing I suppose. I can't wait until we can stop in again (hopefully for food as well). read more

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Beer - 5+ Food - 4- We love craft beer, so we took an opportunity to visit a local brewery while visiting Reading area. Obviously we started with a tasting flight - 4 beers which we could select from the list of beers available on top (12 or so different types). We loved 3 out of 4 so much that we even got them all to go (these beers are only available locally, so if you like them you have to get them). We started our dinner with Monk Rolls, which were generously stuffed with meat, but a bit too bland overall. For the main dish, my wife got fish and chips. Fish was tasty, but heavily fried and greasy, we had to peel some batter away. I got Cincinnati Chili as my main dish - unfortunately, it was really thin and underwhelming. We probably made not the best food choices, but the beer aptly compensated for the food shortcomings. Definitely recommended. read more

Absolutely fabulous Vegan choices. Delightful service. My tastebuds were overjoyed! Highly recommend! read more

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Service was great, let's start there because no matter how good the food it, crappy service can end everything. Terrific beer flights. Could not decide on what exactly to get so we opted for several apps. The chicken nachos= tons of chicken and cheese, likely could have stopped there. GIANT pretzel = as big as your face followed by....... Bacon jam..... jam on. Chicken flatbread..... um Hmmmm. Not a spot to miss really. Very great music playlist and chill environment followed but great beer and food. Boom. read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - Great local brew - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

Great place, brewery with cocktails as well. Love the new Asian fusion menu with lots of vegetarian options!

Philly spring rolls to die for and arepas were so yummy I highly recommend this place really relaxing I even see some people sitting outside w there pets read more

Great food and drinks! Also loving the open mics! So great! Staff are amazing too! Great people and crowd!

Great vibe delicious margaritas and Cerveza Tigre was great and hummus was tasty waitress was friendly read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

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Okay. Sooo Jina and her friend (yes. Jina. Her real name is Gina. You get it) wanted Chatty, and although I always kinda poop on them and obliged. And I'm so glad I did. First of all the food could've been ass, but our server Jenelle would've made every moment spent worth it. She was hysterical, helpful, everything I love in a human I'm so happy we were able to share our evening with her. Also I loved her before the beer on the house. Just saying. Anyways. The FORBIDDEN NACHOS. Idk why I ordered anything else. I would've been happy just eating these. So much pork, flavor. Just beautiful. Tbh our mains weren't anything to write home about. The Mac and cheese wasn't that cheesy, my Q platter was kinda dry (but I loved the coleslaw), and I didn't try the curry chicken, but was told (and saw the reaction) it was fabulous. Beer was delicious. I've never had a gose I liked, and found one here. The Hey Rose was also crisp and delicious! I usually love New England's but stuck with these. Anyways. I'll be back for apps and beers for sure. Also the pride flags and straws were flowing. Thanks for the beads , friends. read more

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Was in the area for vacation so my boyfriend and I stopped in for a drink. The place is tiny but has about 8 drafts. The bartender let us try mini samples before ordering a glass which was nice. What was weird was that they had NO music or anything on. So it was just SUPER quiet and a little awkward, especially since we were the only two guests in side. But beer was good, service was friendly and quick. Didn't try any food. read more

Super trendy and hipster. Very much like all the micro-breweries that continue to pop up. We are from Lancaster, so the vibe is similar to those at home. We shared a flight - two DIPAs and a Gose. My fiancé enjoyed the Gose, but I wasn't a fan of any. The food coming out of the kitchen looked and smelled delicious, but opted not to eat here. Prices seemed a tad high for what it was. Overall, nothing stood out as unique. read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

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Excellent food, drinks and PERSONAL! Definitely I'm coming back! ..... Excellent food, drinks and PERSONAL! Definitely I'm coming back! ..... read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - Stateside Moscow mule - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

Was surprised on some of the beers offered. There Hazy Pale Ale was a real winner. Loved the eggplant meatballs. Will be back again for sure. read more

All the beers we tried were great in addition to a few tasty items from the food menu. Dining outside was fantastic, it allowed us to enjoy the atmosphere of West Reading. read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

Had an amazing experience at Chatty Monks in West Reading. It's a nice little taproom with an excellent staff and some good entertainment. Open mic's every other tuesday and sometimes they have a band. Not sure the schedule, check out their website! You probably will cause you're already reading their review! Just wanted to say it's a little gem in West Reading. Special shout out to Sarah and Jose who are super friendly and hospitable. It was just an overall good experience. I was having a rough day and it really turned things around for me. Service was good, food was good, promptly treated, great place for a nice semi lively not too loud not too quiet date night. Would highly recommend! read more

My son and I live far apart, and we were meeting halfway in Reading. Stumbled upon Chatty Monks by accident. I was thrilled that they had a lot of vegan options. Our entrées and appetizers were excellent, and we each had an unusual but delicious drink. I bet the bar is really hopping in the evening. If we meet in Reading again, we are definitely meeting here. I highly recommend Chatty Monks! read more

My GF and I started a Ladies Bday afternoon at Chatty Monks. Loved the Seltz-Her-Way and Sour-Her-Way! Perfect cozy atmosphere, Friendly bartender and pre-Covid a great open mike night. Cheers! read more

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Tried this place out for the first time and absolutely loved it! The drinks were delicious and the food was great! I also loved how this seemed more fitted for young millennials/older gen z which was a first for me! Lastly, idk if it's just cuz it's pride month but it seemed very lgbtq+ friendly read more

Main street location with a very friendly staff offering a great beer selection with a good variety - something for everyone. Non-alcoholic beverages also available. We did not eat there but food looked good. read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - a chalkboard with a selection of beers - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

For brews the place is ok. For food and service you can go to Wendy's down the road and get a better meal!

Absolute awful attempt at Indian food. So dry I needed to keep ordering water to get it down. Didn't want to use their beer to wash it down as that is equally bad and very overpriced. No spice whatsoever. Naan came out of a freezer bag and sucked. There are better brands of naan that are at least edible. So disappointed! Server was nice and the only good thing. Avoid this place! read more

Our first time visiting here...at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market. Didn't even know it was here but it was very nice and Ryan was awesome ! We really liked the beer and Ryan was nice as could be...homemade chips were outstanding and Ryan was very busy doing things, getting a growler made for someone, a beer for someone, making chips for someone.....you could tell he enjoyed what he was doing and made our first visit the best ever! We look forward to visiting again..great job! read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - What we tried - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

Impromptu weeknight date - turned into one of my new favorite places! It was a Thursday night, when we first arrived the restaurant was quiet and we were given a friendly greeting and seated right away. We were given some glasses of water and informed how to use the qr code for the menu. We were shortly after greeted by our server Miranda and she was so pleasant and friendly. She eagerly took our order and had our drinks out to us promptly. We started with some craft beers made by Chatty Monks - we had Electrify which was a very mild pale ale and Pray for More which was a very citrusy IPA - both were very delicious and hit all the taste buds. We also started with Chaat Nachos and they did not disappoint. Packed with lots of flavors and freshness with the beer cheese and paneer contrasting each other, along with fresh jalapenos and then tamarind and pico de galo - just a flavor fest, there wasn't a crumb left on the tray. My husband had the Chatty Burger and loved it - he actually had to take half of it home. The burger patty was huge, cooked exactly as he requested and full of flavor. I had the fish and chips - the fish pieces were huge, made with tasty, flaky white fish and the accompanying slaw and sauces, were very fresh and flavorful. Again this whole while our server Miranda being very attentive and pleasant. Great job to the team at Chatty Monks! We cannot wait for our next visit! read more

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Small craft brew spot with a solid selection. Food menu matches the venue... small, but there's something for everyone there. Service was friendly, but slow. From a business owner's point of view, they appeared to be mildly understaffed in the server department. It's a 3.5 to 4 star establishment to me. It's clean, and nice, but not really unique. I'm dropping 3 stars today for the slower service (which was apologized for by the server without any complaint from our party) and slightly undercooked food. With that being said... I'm not saying people should avoid Chatty's. I'll be back to give it another shot and hopefully will have a little better experience. Will be happy to update the review after my next visit. read more

If I could give Chatty Monks 0 stars, I would. THE worse service I have ever experienced. The hostess sat us upstairs. It was at LEAST 10 minutes, if not longer before we were even greeted and asked if we wanted anything to drink. We started with the chicken nachos appetizer. I kid you not, the table in front of us, who was seated AFTER us, received their appetizers AND their dinner, before we even received our nachos!! I waived the waitress over, who NEVER ONCE came over to us, on her own, to ask how we were doing, if we needed refills or give even us a status on our nachos. I asked her, "does it take 45 minutes for nachos?" She replied to me, "oh, the kitchen messed up, and they had to make a new batch." Regardless, 2 batches of nachos, doesn't take 45 minutes. Truth be told, I think she completely forgot about us because she was having social hour with the other 2 waitresses behind the bar. After I brought it to her attention that it's been 45 minutes and that the table in front of us is already on their dinner (served by someone else), she then immediately brought out the nachos. The nachos were absolutely FREEZING cold with cold cheese whiz cold chicken. No sooner, do I pick up ONE chip to eat it, of course, our dinner came out, so there was no time to eat the cold chicken nachos anyway. We pushed the cold nachos to the side, and we began to eat our dinner. Speaking of dinner & the menu, the waitress knew NOTHING about the menu. I asked her a couple questions, and her answer was, "I don't know." Chatty Monks, please train your waitresses, or at least have them carry a paper menu so that they could look down for reference; I had already closed my phone menu, so I couldn't look up my question quickly, but the waitress should have known the answer to my 2 small questions. During dinner, she NOT ONCE came over to ask, "how is the food? Do you need another drink?" Then again, she and the 2 other waitresses were busy chit-chatting behind the bar. I tried to get her attention at least 3 separate times by waiving my hind, trying to call out her name. I swear she saw me, but she either looked down or turned her head so she could continue to talk with her co-workers. The next day I called the "Manager" to express my concern. I was very professional and "matter of the fact." The Manager was no better. The Manager was curt and rude, and she replied, "sorry that happened to you, " and SHE HUNG UP ON ME!! I called back, and I asked, "did you just hang up on me?" and she replied, "I'm very busy right now. We have a big party. Email the GM if you want," and she proceeded to give me the email address of the GM, and then she hung up again. NEVER EVER EVER will I go back to Chatty Monks. It was THE WORSE service experience that I ever had and the food is nothing to write home about. Especially the cold chicken nachos and the over-dressed beet salad. read more

Service and beer is great. Food was meh. We got the lemon glass muscles. Broth has some type of thickener in it. Was a bit too sweet for my taste. Cheese stake egg rolls were meh. I would come here to drink beer and chill. If the food was better this place would slap. read more

First time there & loved it! Great drinks & food. Loved our waiter. Nice guy. Fun place! read more

Nice place great brews Morgan was good / great Like hearing the banter from kitchen actually Worth it to stop in great vibe Good variety of beers Parked around the block free parking today no problem read more

Chatty Monks Brewing - Wall art / different type of monk - New American Near Me - West Reading, Pennsylvania

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This place was amazing! Great drinks and food selection. Even it's a brewery, they have other cocktails on the menu. I had the pumpkin latte bear that I throughly enjoyed. I'm not a beer connoisseur but this bear was light and refreshing . It had a coffee flavor to it too. The food selection seem to be influenced by Indian food. We ordered fish and chips, nachos, naan pizza, vegetable samosas and fries. Everything was delicious and generously portioned. They put seasoning on the fries that was delicious. Service was great, staff was friendly. The place is small so you might have to wait for seating, but you can also seat at the bar. We parked a couple blocks away and found free 2 hour street parking. Definitely recommend this place! read more

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