Tavern in the Square

While the food is decent (and slightly overpriced, in my opinion), this review is on the overall customer service experience from last winter. Let me set the scene. It’s March Madness but a Bruins game is starting soon. I’m thinking a few beers, some food. «Ahh!» I posit — «let’s go to Tavern — a thousand TVs! We’re sure to get a good seat!»
The website boasts 17 TVs and 2 projectors «so everyone has view of the game.» (Their words, not mine). The game has already started but it’s cool, we’ve arrived. It’s pretty busy and loud. Even if we can’t hear the game, we can watch! I can’t wait to see what beers are on tap!
This is not verbatim, just the gist of what transpired: I ask the hostess, «do you have the Bruins on any of the TVs by chance?» «Mmm. (looks around).No, we don’t.» «Would it be okay if one TV is changed to the Bruins game, please?» «Let me ask…» We stand at the hostess desk for a minute. «Sorry, no.» «You can’t change not one TV to the Bruins, maybe the one on the end? The one in the corner?» «I’m sorry, no.»
Maybe I’m being too critical. I guess this March Madness is a big deal, but can we just break this down for a minute? There are 17 TVs. Not one basketball team was local. The TVs are spaced out inches apart. Had one screen been changed, even the one in the corner, I’m sure the handful of folks who were watching that particular TV wouldn’t mind shifting their eyes 4 or 5 inches to the left to continue watching their beloved basketball game. It’s not like I asked for an end to March Madness (God forbid).
The whole thing just doesn’t sit well with me. I definitely won’t be back, March Madness/​Bruins game, or not. Nope.

I have been here for more than 15 minutes with 1 hostess and 2 servers rolling silverware, and no service. I walked by them 3 times and said hello… No response.
Thankfully, Russell came in and saved the day (as far as «service» is concerned).
The food was lackluster at best, and cooler than room temp.
Overall, this was an extremely frustrating experience.

Nothing spectacular food wise and a bit overpriced for what you’re getting. Came here with a group of friends because it was convenient and we knew there would be plenty of tables.
Positive service experience with a friendly waitress, but the place was freezing! My friends and I were literally wearing our down coats during our meal because we were so cold.

Great experience with Tavern: staff is super-​nice and welcoming. A lot of space for you and all of your friends. Good for watching sports events and parties after work.

I dunno why this place doesn’t have better reviews. I go here all the time and get treated great. I always look for Nachielie (the hot female bartender. I think she’s brazilian). I always tip really good and she hooks me up by only charging for one or two of my drinks, even if I’m there for hours. And last time my friend forgot his ID and she still served him because she knows me. Now thats what I call good customer service. I wish all bartenders respected loyal customers like she does.

This place is alright. Although the cocktails are watered down, they have a good variety on tap, and some fun seasonal cans. The food is pretty good, and you can feel less guilty knowing that the meat served is humanely raised and organic. The ambiance is a bit dark, but there are lots of TVs for light! The service was slightly slow — and for some reason the manager came by to see how we were doing, since all the servers were in a meeting. Why would they schedule a meeting during prime dinner time!!! Otherwise, not a bad place.

Where do I begin, …
We visited this location on a Monday Night because my girlfriend had been here a few years back. We were greeted very quickly. We asked the waitress for her food recommendations and she recommended that we try the blackened chicken pasta; so my girlfriend ordered that and I ordered the buffalo chicken salad, which was a modification of the suggestion on the wings.
Our food arrived fairly quickly but was terribly cooked.
— The Blackened Chicken Pasta was undercooked, the mushrooms that we weren’t informed would be an add on, were not cooked well and overall this dish was just awful. I attempted to get my server involved but didn’t see her after the food was put down until maybe 15 – 20 min into our meal, at which point the both of us were so frustrated that we just got our check and left.
The buffalo chicken on the salad was dry, very dry and just not good.
My main issue was with the Chicken Pasta, if the dish isn’t good the server shouldn’t have recommended it, and inform me that it is an add on for mushrooms. I honestly don’t have an issue with paying extra, but cook them correctly and inform me that they would be an add on.
Overall, I would pass on this location based on the Quality of Service, the Quality of food, & Wait time.

This wasn’t the best visit. I used to prefer this location over the much closer to me Porter square location. Today’s food for my party of 3 was just ok but the service was subpar. It was not a crowded afternoon. The place seemed to be adequately staffed. Failing to fill empty drinks when the meal is delivered and failing to bring a requested drink change shouldn’t happen and isn’t something that can be blamed on the kitchen staff. The bar drinks were OK but I’ve had better here.

I wrote to Tavern in the Square via their contact us submission form. They did not respond. I filed a compliant with the Better Business Bureau. They wouldn’t respond to that either. Looking at the other reviews on here customer service clearly isn’t a priority. After my two failed attempts to contact them I’ll know post my experiences on here, open table, and any other applicable restaurant review site.
I wrote the following:
Good evening,
I’m contacting Tavern in the square about a terrible experience I had in your central square location. Apologies as this incident happened on 6÷6÷2015 and I’m just getting to this now as I’ve been traveling. But I wanted to make sure I did make contact because this experience was so awful and I certainly have not forgotten it. There was 7 of us and we were seated in kind of a tight spot however it was manageable and the table next to us which was bigger we were told we could move there once those guests left. Which we did. Our server a young lady with brunette hair seemed very upset that we did so even though we were told by the host it would be ok. That was just the beginning of what came across to me as a very rude attitude for the rest of our time there. One guy in my party asked for a glass for the drink he ordered didn’t traditionally come in and I asked for the same however he got the glass he wanted and I had a martini glass which I was very upset with. However I’m easy going enough and cracked a joke about it and our server didn’t have any personality and acted like she was doing me a HUGE favor by getting me the drink in the first place. We were ready to order our food and someone in my party flagged the server as she walked by our table and she very rudely told us to wait while she took the order for table that we were originally seated in even though they were there well after us. Every time we tried to interact with her we were met with rudeness and it was really uncomfortable. I can understand in this type of business that you may encounter disrespectful customers however none of us were being disrespectful. She made it seem like we were being disrespectful which offends me after all I’m spending money in your restaurant. One inconvenience in the service was she forgot to bring me a drink BUT STILL PUT IT ON THE BILL! When I informed her about the error she argued with me and that really upset me. It’s a pet peeve of mine anytime I’m out a restaurant and I have to ask for something twice in this case I ignored it and just went without the drink but somehow it was still on the bill. I did eventually get it corrected that night. After we put all our money in 7 ways she told the people paying with credit cards what the whole bill was. Basically soliciting us for a tip after the horrible service she gave us and the way she treated us like 2^nd class citizens. I’ve been out to restaurants many times and never has any server I’ve ever had solicit me for a tip they just give me the bill and walk away. I gave her 20% because I’m a nice guy but I definitely feel guilty about it basically felt like I rewarded someone for giving myself and my group terrible service. All 7 of us agreed how awful she was and we’re planning my birthday in July when I visit Boston again and we all mention we hope we never get a waitress like her again.

This place is almost laughably bad. From the tough-​guy doormen to the confused club/​sports bar atmosphere to the incredible helpings of cheese that are slathered all over everything they serve, there’s really something for everyone to not like. First time we went there they served us nachos that had must have spent at least 30 minutes marinating in the kitchen. The cheese (and there was no shortage of cheese) had re-​solidified so it was like excavating chips from the ruins of some tex-​mex empire. The waitress actually seemed surprised when we complained.
The second time, we’re outside and it starts lightly drizzling. We ask if we can move under the umbrella and she says, complete with indignation, «Oh, I’m not gonna come out here if it’s raining.» Totally cool if you don’t wanna serve us in the rain. Less cool if you wanna talk to us like someone’s snotty girlfriend.
Just kind of a confusing bar. They don’t seem to know what they want to be. Well, except unlikeable.

We came here for lunch, and apps and drinks in the same day after discovering how close it was to the office we work at. Lunch was great. It was very quiet, the staff helped me park my scooter out of the way without complaint, and the manager gave us a «frequent lunch» card, to get stamped each time we came in. I had the Moscow Shandy and the cobb salad which was actually really delicious.
When we went in later that night it wasn’t quite so wonderful. Our waiter seemed pretty clueless about the menu and at one point he started to take away one of our apps that still had quite a bit of food left. I told him he wanted to keep it, and I think after that he was so mortified, he just sort of stayed away. The food was decent, and I highly recommend the tots trio. The drinks were pretty meh, and I had the «Breakfast at Tiffany’s» and definitely expected something more like a martini but everything was pretty watered down.
Basically I would go there for drinks or for an accessible place to meet people, but I think the verdict was we like the TITS in Allston better ;)

Decent bar food, and a nice atmosphere on the Wednesday evenings I’ve been there.

Ughhhhh they kicked me and my friends out of the bar because we were Seahawks fans. We hadn’t even gotten our drinks yet! And were not drunk yet or screaming or anything! And it wasn’t even the SuperBowl! We were playing the Packers!!!

I used to greatly enjoy going to tavern, but it has gone downhill over the last year or so. I get that a lot of drunk college students frequent here, but the bartenders treat you like they are doing you a favor getting your drinks. If you order a bowl they try and send you to another bartender or say they can’t make them. THEY ARE ON THE MENU. If you don’t want people ordering them, take them off or don’t complain about doing your job. Decent place for drinks if its not crowded, but the rude bartenders make me never want to come here.

Great service. Food portions are too big. Bar tender made a really good drink. Great place for a beer on a Friday night after work.

Went for the brunch buffet over the weekend and was impressed. Normally I feel disappointment when going through buffets but there were so many options to choose from– including lobster macaroni and cheese, mushroom polenta, eggs Benedict, pulled pork hash, home fries, sausage, bacon, raspberry pancakes, buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with goat cheese, salads, a create your own omelet station, fresh fruit, pastries galore, desserts… you get it. Tons of choices. In addition to the brunch buffet my group of three opted for quite a few mimosas and «executive» mimosas, which have vodka in them also. Our bill was somewhat pricey, at $ 170 for three of us… what can I say? We had a boisterous start to the day.
Our server was efficient and very friendly.
I’d definitely go back when in the area again.

Had an awesome experience here tonight. The restaurant was empty but it was also pretty charming on a Monday night.
For dinner I ordered the turkey burger and my husband got the quinoa veggie burger. We were both really really satisfied with our choices. Our waiter, Sergio, was extremely attentive and gave us ample time to ponder our choices on the menu. He also gave a really good recommendation for dessert of which we ordered the profiterole ice cream sundae.
My burger was ginormous and so I saved half for lunch tomorrow. Burger was nicely seasoned and was very tasty. I also ordered it with sweet potato fries which were damn delicious.
The one recommendation I’d make is to keep the second door shut at the entrance. It’s cold out and the building is pretty drafty.
That’s all.

One of my friends loves coming here to watch games and simply because the name in short is TITS. Me? Not so much. I have been to another location. In comparison, the one in Central Square is definitely subpar.
My friends and I were hanging out in the area on a Saturday night. We were looking for a bar to have a couple of drinks and talk, so we came to TITS. That didn’t seem to be the smartest choice. Being a sports bar, the place is very spacious but also extremely loud with various games on multiple screens and music playing in the other room. It was impossibly to carry on a conversation with someone sitting just across from me. I had to constantly ask my friends to repeat what they said, which became really tiring.
I ordered a cocktail and it was overly sweet and clearly watered-​down. I’m sorry, did I order a glass of ice?! There was barely any drink in the glass. It was so weak that we left immediately after finishing our drinks and went to another bar a few blocks away for the rest of the night.
The chance of me revisiting is very small, unless I’m with a group of friends who want to go somewhere for game-​watching. There are far better bars in the area.

This is a sports bar. The food is subpar. I could stomach the tater tots but anything that didn’t seem to have an idiot proof stick in fryer and wait 3 minutes instructions on the frozen goods box it came on was pretty bad.
NONETHELESS…they have many huge TVs which are great for watching sports. Yes. Like I said. This is a sports bar. And I’m totally cool with that. I wish their food was better because when you spend 3 – 4 hours there watching a (college) football game, you just want something to nom on.
As far as prices go… I’m not sure this is the cheapest place to get a beer in Central either (that’s probably Cantab, if I had to guess) so I really only see this as a place to go to watch a game. Alas, I do that maybe once a year.

Okay, so I don’t really love this place, but it’s conveniently located, and their menu is well labeled for the gluten-​free crowd (me!). I went to meet a few friends after work at an odd hour recently (3:30, 4:00) and though we only had snacks, the service was unbeatable. I ordered the nachos, and they had several different things: one had a Ceasar salad, the other had three different side dishes. My nachos are always good, thus I always get them.
My friend asked if she should complain about her «old-​tasting quinoa,» and though we tried to tell her that there were polite ways and rude ways to complain about something, she chose the rude way. «Has it been sitting in the back all day?,» she asked. «This tastes really old.»
It was an awkward experience, because the server was clearly uncomfortable. My friend tried to make it less uncomfortable by saying she just wanted to let them know because she had been a server before. Minutes later, the manager came out and asked if we wanted dessert– and my friend said she wasn’t interested. He then said it was on the house and asked if anyone had allergies. He brought dessert out, which my other friend really enjoyed.
They didn’t charge my bratty friend for her meal, and I left so damn embarrassed for all of us. It sucks.