Kedar D.
Yelp
Oh First Avenue, you do disappoint me. Concert venues should not venture out of their comfort zone and The Depot Tavern is case in point.
For one thing, the atmosphere at The Depot Tavern sucks. What is this place? It's a generic sports-bar in the back, but some kind of cinder block garage up front, with lame metal patio tables. There's surprisingly little space and securing a table took ten minutes (fortunately they have a host that keeps track of table openings). Given that most people there were in groups of two, it's silly to only have tables for four.
The sports-bar mentality (multiple flat screen tvs showing a Twins game) suggests lameness. The beer selection was the clearest evidence of this---nothing but the usual, boring, crappy beers. Bud Lime on draft? Are you kidding me? What kind of a pathetic place serves Bud on tap, in a city of innovative and edgy microbrews? I ended up with a Leinie summer draft for $4.50 which was expensive and not particularly inspiring.
The food sucks for vegans. While the menu labels its vegetarian options, it does not do so for vegan ones (in fact, it has no options that are vegan by default). Hello, First Avenue! It's 2010, not 1995. Vegan food is not only delicious, but it also serves the needs of vegetarians. Get with the times, man, and learn more about your customer base!
We ended up getting their veggie burger ($8.95) which is, thankfully, home-made. That said, it's not vegan. You have to omit the bun and the aioli spread.
The bun contains egg, which is ridiculous, but at least the waitress told us. This is another sign of utter mediocrity: The Depot Tavern is clearly just sourcing from some crappy food distributor and not looking to serve quality products. It's not thoughtful about ingredients, that's for sure.
I asked if we could get the burger on a piece of bread instead, but was informed by our server, "That would require a favor from the chef. And he's not going to do that, given how busy it is."
First, it wasn't that busy. Certainly not so busy that someone in the kitchen couldn't find us, paying customers, a piece of bread that's not made with animal products.
Secondly, why should catering to your customers' dietary needs require a "favor"? The Depot Tavern isn't exactly sophisticated dining with a temperamental diva chef. It's a sports-bar attached to a music club. Come on.
The burger itself was decent. It was a little dry, and could have benefited from some mushrooms in the mix, and maybe a light soy marinade, but that's asking too much out of the uncreative kitchen in back.
I won't be going back to The Depot Tavern. If you like beer, go to Acadia. If you want a killer vegan burger, go to The Local. If you want hip atmosphere, go to Solera. The Depot Tavern offers nothing of value or interest other than the fact that it belongs to First Avenue. That's pretty sad.