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| - I was craving a burger on my walk up to the Capitol, so I figured I would try this place out since it has been around for a while now and had, presumably, ironed out any wrinkles.
The atmosphere is very nice, plenty of TV's if you want to watch sports (no subtitles were on though) and it really feels like a comfortable place to hang out. The place was relatively empty when I was in, but it was only 6:30pm when I walked in the door.
I sat myself at the bar and was promptly greeted by the bartender. She brought me the menus that I asked for, explained what was on tap, and as soon as I heard "Hop Cream" I knew what I was drinking.
The beer also arrived quickly, which was nice seeing as the place wasn't busy. Some places seem to lag when it's slow and when it's packed, but this place was great so far.
I ordered the Tap Haus Burger with Gorgonzola and I asked to add pub chips to my order. Now, the burger is $6.75 on its own, but the menu says that it is served with a salad. I added Gorgonzola for $1 more. $3 to add pub chips
The food didn't take long, but I was surprised that instead of "adding" pub chips to my order, the pub chips took the place of the salad. There was some pitiful coleslaw thrown on there, and maybe that's their salad for the sandwiches...but I hope not. Anyway, I was surprised that for $2 less than an actual side order, I basically lost my side salad with my burger and got less chips and no garlic aioli. In other words, what showed up on my plate was not worth the $10.25 I paid for it.
The burger itself was well cooked, medium-well even though I wasn't asked how I wanted my burger cooked. The meat was well seasoned as well. A lot of places miss that part for some reason. The garnish (lettuce, red onion, tomato) was ok, but it seemed like they took the time to painstakingly cut it all as thin as possible so that they could make their onions and tomatoes go further. Granted, I'm sure it's a deli slicer because their pub chips are just as (paper) thin. In any case, they were present on the burger but didn't really show up on the palate other than the onion. They might do better with a lightly pickled red onion because uncooked red onions basically dominate everything on the plate when you eat it. Speaking of pickles, there was a pickle spear and it was standard as pickles go. The pretzel bun was good, though once you actually grab your burger the bun basically compresses to the thickness of a dime. There is integrity to the bun though, so that's a plus I guess. I didn't taste anything pretzel-like, but it looked like a pretzel bun with the very dark and glossy shell. If they could give it a hard roll sort of texture and throw on a couple pieces of salt...it would be more of a pretzel I think.
The pub chips are ok, but they are too thin to fit what I think of as 'pub' anything. I know I'm being picky, but I was thinking of something thicker than what I got. Seeing as I paid $3 for the small handful of these thin-cut fries...there may be some bitterness tainting my review here. Actually, I think a lot of it could have been avoided had I been given the garlic aioli that comes with the pub chips regularly and, as I assumed, when you ADD them to your order (not SUB). Even my receipt said I added the pub chips, not substituted them.
The coleslaw was a lame throwaway on the plate. It serves no real purpose other than to be a bland garnish, which it was. So, if that's what they're going for...mission accomplished. I ate it because I was pretty hungry.
The Hop Cream was ok. Not very creamy for a cream ale though. Not very hoppy either, but that may just be the recipe they're going for. If you like really creamy cream ales or hoppy ales, don't get this one. If you want something that won't assault your palate like a lot of hoppy beers will...then this is your beer. It was a lot like bubblegum though; good when I was drinking it, but I won't remember it (or order it again). The pint was $4.25, which is pretty normal as pints go.
Total for a burger, a few chips and a pint: $15.31 *ouch* I regularly tip 20% and the bartender deserved it seeing as most of her checks were not customers so much as people who work at the bar (she said it, I overheard it). Anyway, all told I was $18.31 in the hole after a semi-satiating meal that left me wanting more in a lot of ways.
Moral of the story? Don't get a burger & fries. You're going to pay just about the same for most entrees and, based on what I read anyway, you're probably going to get more bang for your buck. I did think it was cool that they had a roasted 1/2 duck on special, but $18.99 is a bit steep seeing as it's coming out of a pub kitchen. I should also say that they use Hereford beef which is a very nice touch.
I couldn't tell if they use anything local. If they do, they should mention it on the menu. You can get better food for the same price or a tad more up on the square. I might go back
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