Dan S.
Yelp
Cheap beer, full bar, great burgers and fries, and Karaoke every Friday night!
The Derby Grill is the kind of place that might seem intimidating the first time you walk in, if you're not either (1) a regular or (2) a greasy biker. But don't let that stop you - the staff and regulars are both very friendly.
Make no mistake, this place is a dive bar by most estimates, but welcoming, fun and reasonably clean. The burgers are the best in town for sit-down burgers (A&W would have to be the best take-out), I highly recommend The Duke - grilled onions and BBQ sauce. They are served with coleslaw and fries, both acceptable. They have chicken too, and fish and chips on Friday nights.
The cheapest beer on tap in town is Old Style at $1.50 a pint (as of May 07). It isn't much to look at, or even taste, but it's cheap and it gets you where you need to be on a Friday night.
And where you need to be on a Friday night is at the Derby for karaoke, from 9pm or so until closing. This is a lot of fun, even if you're not a karaoke type of person. You have a strange mix of clientle, from retired farmers and yokels, to high school drop outs, to bikers, to yuppies and empty-nesters, and depending on the Friday, lots of in between. The karaoke is run by a really nice Elvis impersonator or his attractive daughter. They have an enormous catalog of songs, and the crowd is almost always small enough and drunk enough to Bondo out any rough edges in your singing. If you're stumped on what to sing, try some crossover gold like Johnny Cash or the Charlie Daniels Band. At the same time, you'll find even some regulars humming along with Madonna.
They are very kid-friendly, with even a kids menu. They often have the big game on their big-screen TV, or will put it on by request. They now offer weekend breakfasts, which are decent though not stellar. The breakfast burrito is usually a good bet.
They also offer a large patio with seating and lights. This is where the smokers congregate now that Colorado has a full smoking ban. Depending on your tastes this is either really good or really bad. They have a juke box with a good mix of genres.
In the summertime, the Derby hosts at least one very big bike rally, and they often have a full stable of choppers out front on any given sunny weekend afternoon.
My biggest gripe is that they do not offer any dessert options on their small menu. For some reason after a burger, fries and a handful of beers, I just feel like a brownie or something. Maybe they need a special license to serve dessert. Also on weekdays they close up shop around 9pm, which is just pathetic for anybody from a big city, or even Fort Collins. I have been burned a few times by this, but it is understandable given the small size of Berthoud.