Susan H.
Yelp
The first time I heard about Taffer's Tavern was when I was looking at Yelp friends' reviews. Since I've watched "Bar Rescue" from time to time over the years, I was intrigued as to what a restaurant with Jon Taffer's name on it would be like. I expected that it would be clean and orderly with well-trained bar and kitchen staff plus efficient front of the house employees.
While the reviews have been mixed, we liked what we saw on the menu then decided to give it a try. I made a reservation for 5:30 on a Saturday night. When we got there, it was clear that not having a reservation wasn't a problem as the place wasn't very busy.
Upon entering, we noticed that the place wasn't ADA compliant. Once inside, one has to walk down some stairs to the host stand. While we didn't have problems, others who don't get around very well could have trouble getting around.
The 2 women at the host stand were friendly. We chose a table over a booth and were given menus. On the way to the table, the manager was on the floor and as he walked by, he greeted us. We were told that our server, Sean (Shawn?) would be along shortly. He was prompt getting to us and we gave our drink orders. In addition he was friendly and polite. I had ginger ale while my husband had a Coors Light.
Since I wasn't very hungry, I chose to have a bowl of French onion soup and an appetizer of six chicken wings. For my sauce, I chose honey bourbon bbq sauce and for dressing for dipping the carrots and celery, I chose ranch.
The chicken wings turned out to be the best item we ordered. Not only were the wings on the large size but they were moist on the inside and the skin was crispy. The veggies were very fresh. My husband said he would try one piece and liked them so much he took seconds.
As for the French onion soup, it was okay. Nothing to write home about. It came to the table warm, instead of hot. The cheeses used were provolone and mozzarella, which I thought were a good combo. Croutons were supposed to be garlic bread but I tasted no garlic. The portion of onions was generous.
My husband ordered the "Classic American Burger" which consists of: "Classic burger with American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onion and Tavern fries". He had this to say about his burger---Burger was good, not great because the hamburger tended to crumble and because the pickle chunk was on top of the burger making it hard to handle for a handheld item. Suggest a pickle slice placed on the plate. The burger bun needed to be sturdier - it tended to flatten and fall apart. He suggested fewer fries with the Classic American Burger. He couldn't finish them all and he's the kind of guy who was raised to finish everything on the plate. The place looked kind of upscale. We would go again---especially for the wings :)