We've been wanting to try Tavern on Main for some time, and finally scheduled a date with friends of ours to check it out. Felt like dressing up a bit and this seems like a good place to do it. First off, the ambience is a fun 20s "Great Gatsby" bar, with gold leaf pinstriping, black and white accents, etc. I loved it! We made a reservation which was recommended but honestly, not really needed for a Thursday night before Labor Day weekend.
We started with drinks: a beer, a rum & coke, Soursop Drop, and Tavern Lemonade (someone had to drive). I think the first two were rated as standard fare, but the Soursop Drop was given two thumbs up and the Lemonade was good but not great. I couldn't decide if it was the bitter or the coconut that made it less appealing.
For starter, we ordered a half size of the oysters on the half shell. The plate was large, could have accomodated more oysters of that size for sure. Was nice they served it on ice, and the sauce was a malt vinegar with diced onion. I would have liked an additional sauce option but also, I can't really speak to this app too much, I am not a huge oyster fan (its a texture thing). In comparison to oysters I have had else where (New Orleans) these were quite small and I only tried one.
For entrees, around the table we ordered the Tavern Smash Burger, Fried Chicken Sandwich x2, and the Steak Frites. The burger looked good but I don't recall any comments about it. The steak frites were rated as "just ok" and somewhat disappointing. The dish looked good, was cooked to order but just didn't have the flavor. The Fried Chicken is what I had and while it looked amazing, again, the flavor just wasn't there. And I am fairly certain my chicken fry was overdone, it tasted and looked a bit burnt. In addition, it was definitely not Nashville hot. Note that I requested no blue cheese (not to my liking). What saved this was that the fries are very good!
We also ordered desserts, a scoop of vanilla ice cream with blueberry compote and honey comb (yes, actual honey comb) and the bread pudding. Hard to go wrong with desserts, so not much to report here though it was odd, the ice cream had salt on it, which at first wasn't that bad but then it was like there was a LOT of salt on the bottom... not good.
Overall this experience was nice, but not outstanding. I am giving the Tavern 4 stars instead of three because the ambience was very cool and the wait staff was quite nice (please know that this is not FAST FOOD). The food was fine but not amazing. Will certainly return but try different dishes. Plus it is always nice to have a place worth dressing up for. read more