Shandygaff

I loved this bar when I went to Penn State but now that I’m older I’ve been here on an afternoon where it was fairly empty and it was fun! The drink specials are great and they have Not Your Father’s Rootbeer (bottles) which is awesome! They have no food and honestly if they did I don’t know if I would consume it.

Ridiculously crowded. Bathrooms are smaller than my car. Music is bad. No draft beer.

Not my favorite place, management was quite awful.

The security staff will do anything to kick you out and are very unprofessional. It’s very smoky inside, dance floor is very slippery, and usually very crowded. Karaōke is usually a hit on Wednesday nights.

Went on a bar crawl with some people from out of town and I joined about halfway through. One of the guys had an expired license and wasn’t let in, which is fair, but I was next in line and the doorman told me I was too visibilly intoxicated to go in. Anyone who knows me would find that hilarious, especially since everyone else in the group had been let in. I’m not sure what the real reason was, but based on the other reviews here there are better bars to go to in town.

The bouncers treated me very disrespectfully. I waited about 40 minutes in the cold to get in with my friends and was on the dance floor for about 20 minutes when a bouncer comes over and tells me I have to go because I’m too drunk. I thought it was a joke because I was the DD and hadn’t drank a drop all day. They must have seen me get jostled on the dance floor because it was very crowded. I had to argue for 5 minutes with them just to get my cover money back. Needless to say I won’t be going back. There are plenty of other bars that don’t hire a$$holes for their staff in state college. Don’t waste your time time on this grungy dive.

Not the biggest fan. The place is really dirty and the lines are always long. If you like to dance it might be for you but I don’t think it is worth the wait.

This is the kind of place you either love or hate.
The bar is bleak with a small amount of liquor, the lines get really long if you get here too late, and the bouncers will not let you in if you appear intoxicated.
Their vodka turbos will put you on your ass, and riving to dance.
The DJ is an old bloke that is cool with recommendations, and the dance floor is small.
However, if you like to dance this is the place. People aren’t too aggressive, and its a really fun time.
Check it out.

I had to leave a review seeing the 2.5 stars…
My favorite bar in State College as a student, and my favorite spot to visit as an alumni. Drink prices and the music selection cannot be beat. It is 100% a college bar, so if you are going there looking for anything more than that, you will be disappointed.
P. S. I’ve had my picture taken there almost every time I’ve gone in and so have all of my friends. Don’t believe it’s discriminatory, just on busier nights it happens more often.

If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t mind waiting about a half hour plus on a line for about the 70% chance of being kicked out for no reason then this is the place for you. Been kicked out for simply ordering a drink at the bar while I was more sober than most of the people there. On nights the owner and bouncers aren’t pieces of sh*t and let you actually have a good time, it is a place when you can have an awesome time. But otherwise on normal circumstances you will feel like there is always an eye on you because the slightest thing might get you kicked out.
And the owner who always stands around smoking the cigar is a fugazy when it comes to running his business like a professional.
Wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who is going for a sure thing of a good time

I personally love the gaff, but I completely understand why most of my friends hate it.
The lines are absolutely ridiculous and still to this day I don’t even understand how they get like that… I’ve never had any problems with the bartenders, they are all very nice and fast!
The bouncers however are something else. They will kick you out for next to no reason at all. Again it is a pain, esp after you waited in that stupid ass line for so long.
BUT YOU CANT BEAT $ 5 LIQUOR PITCHERS. So I will forever love the gaff. Go at 8:30 when it just opened, get a table, get two or three pitchers, chug, dance, leave at like 11 and go somewhere else

The only reason I go here is because it is one of 3 places in state college to actually dance, (indigo is creepy with watered down drinks). The drink prices are good and so it the music, but the staff and atmosphere leaves much to be desired. There is a constant long line that takes forever. I have seen them kick people out who slip (dance floor is disgusting with all the spilled drinks) so they can let more people in. I have seen this happen on many occasions, with the bouncer who kicked people out signaling to the door guy to let more in. If the gaff would stop being a dick, it would be a good place.
Edit: THEY DONT DO CHEAP LIQUOR PITCHERS ON FOOTBALL WEEKENDS. Just a heads up
Edit: I have seen people say they take pictures of only select people at the door, but I see them take pictures of everyone every time I have been there. so there is a lot wrong with this place but discrimination at entrance isn’t one.

The ‘Gaff should probably receive 2−½ stars, but it doesn’t deserve three.
It’s a college bar. I get that. People go there when they’re very drunk pretty often. I get that. They have some good drink prices (e.g., the $ 6 pitchers of liquor). I get that.
However, most bars in downtown State College can offer that.
The problem here is that many of their staff — not all of them — are assholes. At the door, they take pictures only of select people; selection is done via profiling from what I can see. The cover depends upon who you are. Service at the counter is generally indifferent at best and occasionally surly.
It is a good place to go dancing and, honestly, if you’re into such things, to get a hook-​up.

This was my experience at gaff last night, when beforehand I waited a half hour to get to the front when it’s 0° in state college.
Me (trying to be nice to ugly/​fat bouncer): my friend just turned 21 so I really wanted to bring her here
Ugly fat bouncer: well we don’t do 21^st birthdays, so go home
Me: well it was the other day so…
Ugly fat bouncer: we have a 48 hr rule. You’re not getting in
Me: it’s past midnight so it’s over 48 hrs since her birthday
Ugly fat bouncer: I don’t care.
Me: are you serious? I want to talk to a manager
Ugly fat bouncer: sure hold on.
Then a guy carrying a trash bag, CLEARLY NOT a manager comes down, and the bouncer goes: Tell them they’re not coming in
Guy agrees with bouncer, because he obviously knew the situation well.
Me: That’s not a manager, are you kidding me?
At this point the bouncer decided that my arguing led me to be «visibly intoxicated». Mind you we had not been to any bars yet that night, and I hadn’t drank much since I went a little too hard the night before. Meanwhile people around us were asking to let us in because it was obvious we were doing nothing wrong.
FINALLY after 15 more minutes of being out in the cold a real manager comes down, doesn’t even look at me and says «we have a 26 hour rule of no 21sts, sorry, go home»
26 HOURS, when my friend had been 21 for over 2 days. Ridiculous. Never felt so disrespected and definitely never going back here. Try Phyrst or Saloon, same prices & atmosphere, no assholes working there.

No coat check anywhere, they have a rack next to the bathroom, anyone could take your things.
At the door:
The wait is ALWAYS FOREVER LONG. Be prepared to be outside a long time.
Only SOME PEOPLE get their picture taken by their computer system.
AKA: if you seem like a threat of any kind, it is Central PA so you can imagine what that means… hmm.
At the bar:
Bartenders are cool, no complains here. Drinks are normal, nothing special, the Den cost less though and has $ 4 Long-​island specials all day, everyday. Just fyi.
Smoking:
Indoors?! Its disgusting. Go spread your poison elsewhere people.
The floor guys/​bouncers/​whatever:
Power trip!!! I get that there is some SERIOUSLY drunk people at this place at all days of the week, but I don’t believe they choose fairly who to kick out. I’ve seen too many dangerously drunk people here who are not asked to leave, and yet I was just because I was pushed into some guy working the floor that night. It was not fair, or justified.

Ok, its nothing fancy but it is fun. They have cheap drinks but the staff is fast to serve and the cover is usually cheap too. It gets packed because its small and the bathrooms are well um. they leave something to be desired. But they play good music, lots of dancing, and the DJ always is nice and will play requests. I have always had a good time here. Some of my best memories (and some forgotten I’m sure) are at this place!

Had a blast at «The Gaff»! I was in town for a friend’s bachelor party and this was our first stop of the evening after dinner. There was a line outside that took about five minutes to get through. We were then sent up the stairs to the bar. It was dark, dirty and smelled like college (by which I mean light beer, a hint of sweat and a little bit of shame).
The bar was super crowded but it was easy to get a drink. There was a special for $ 6 mixed drink pitchers which I gladly indulged in. I forgot how cheap it was to drink in a college bar and felt like a high roller when I pulled out a $ 20. There was a DJ playing everything from Top 40 music to Shout! by the Isley Brothers. Had so much fun just dancing like and idiot while belting out the songs.
Go in expecting a college bar and you’ll be very satisfied.

If you like inhaling second hand smoke and being kicked out for just sitting with your friends, definitely spend all your money here.

Stop number 3 on my bar tour while visiting Penn State and my first stop here ever. Not really sure why I never made a stop to Shandygaff as a student…
Anyways, this is one of the few bars you actually have to go *upstairs* to get to (why are they all in basements?). It seemed like a pretty decent sized bar, but it was a Tuesday night and pretty empty so I could have been fooled.
At all my stops, I ordered a vodka cranberry. All the other bars gave me the standard sized cocktail. I ordered one from here, however, and was given a mini-​pitcher of my drink. Holy crap I didn’t know what to do with the thing. My tolerance is shot since I left school and I needed to be up early the next day. So my husband and I shared and managed to drink half of it… we didn’t feel comfortable going much farther than that. $ 6 for the thing. 6 bucks! Being a Vegas girl now, I’m not used to these affordable prices.
Can’t really say what the atmosphere would be like on the weekend, since I’ve never been… but if you’re looking for a chill place on a Tuesday to watch a hockey game and get your drink on, then head to the ‘Gaff.

There is ONLY one reason to go to this place:
— foosball table.
That is, if it isn’t under the exclusive use of the Hawaian shirt wearing cigar smoking manager who plays there all night with his buddies.
The drinks are cheap, but not that cheap. You get similar prices at the Den and other places in town.
The dance floor is a roughly 10 X 10 area, right next to the very smelly bathrooms and a couple of small TVs showing sports replays, resulting in a bunch of creepy old guys fake-​watching sports but instead staring at the young girls on the dance floor. Not sure why anybody would want to go dance there.
My worst experience with this place (and the last time I went) was when a friend took us there for his bachelor party. I was taking pictures of some of party guests (7 – 8 guys) when the manager came up to me and told me I couldn’t take pictures inside the bar, because I had a «professional» camera. It was your standard Canon entry level dSLR. I tried to explain to him why I was taking a couple pictures, showed him the groom, and told him I wasn’t a professional, but no. It was either this or we left. This was especially stupid considering that I saw tons of «camera flashes» from drunk girls around us just as we were having that discussion. I guess he was afraid I was a reporter doing a piece on underage drinking, or something like that.
All in all, if you’re in the mood for foosball or if you need a buddy to wear an Hawaian shirt with, this is the place. Otherwise, stay away.