Ben's Half Yard House - Lake Highlands

Pool tables, dartboards, budweiser and heineken signs lit up in neon – this is the kind of place you would expect to offer a good happy hour, and Ben’s Half Yard House doesn’t disappoint. The 34 beers on tap provide a wide selection for the 4-7 p.m. daily specials ($1 wells, $2.50 pints, $5 half yards), but that’s just the beginning. Regulars rave about $2 Tuesdays, which applies to calls, wells, domestic pints and even Jagermeister and Tuaca, and $5 burgers on Mondays washed down with a $1 pint of Coors. Plus, a happy hour menu recently made its debut at the brewhouse, offering its cheese fries, tater skins, hot wings and cheese stix for $3.95. Otherwise try the Chicago dog – co-owner Smalls (that’s right, and his partner is Bones) says he’s been told by Chicagoites that it’s nearly perfect, lacking only the poppy seed bun. Some patrons come for the big screen sports; others come for the karaoke and trivia, which makes for a diverse crowd. “We get everything from construction workers to the heart surgeons and nurses from Presby,” Smalls says, “which is always good in case somebody keels over.”

BEN’S HALF