Main Tap Tavern

Really good, relaxed vibe and crowd. Super friendly, and although I haven’t tried it their food it looks great.

A little retro and unassuming from the outside, Main Tap has an excellent selection of local beers, both on tap and bottled. The glass tap handles are interesting. I’ve only had the tacos here and they’re good. The backyard patio could use more seating and better lighting, but there is a large fireplace in the back to sit around (if you can get a seat at it). This is a good place to take newcomers to El Cajon. You won’t be chased off by bikers.

Snobs… u went there for the first time… on Hollowween. I waited at the bar for over ten minutes… with cash un hand and was ignored. It WAS NOT BUSY. Maybe 20 people. The bartender completely ignored me. no mention of service. She seen me. but it seemed as though she didnt GAF that a «New Customer» was there. Then once i began to escalate the «non-​service» only then… did she acknowledge me. Buy then she «86d» me.
Point…if your not a regular… you may not get friendly servive… let alone timely service…

Pumpkin Cider was awesome! The atmosphere was nice. Not too crowded and definitely comfortable. We were there for karaōke for about 3 hours without a dull moment.
Could I have done without the 3 different limp biscuit fans invading my personal bubble? Yes. Was I okay with that the cute firefighter I ended up talking to? Yes. And was I okay that every song I requested to sing was available and I got to sing them all? YES! Good time, good friends, strange crowd. Overall: I’m pleased

The fist time I came in I had the Jalapeño Bacon Burger, $ 10.50 and it was almost awesome. I was so happy I found such a good burger near my home (for when I get that occasional craving). But then things went down hill fast.
The patty was seasoned very well, even though I prefer medium, it was well done and still impressively tender and delicious. The Sadie rose bun was awesome. And that’s it right there, well seasoned meat + excellent bun = the basics of a damn good burger. Green leaf lettuce, onion, cream cheese, Jalapeño and bacon. I felt the Jalapeño’s were a little too vinegary so I picked them off and wow! what a good burger. I had no idea cream cheese would be so good on a burger.
Fries are fresh cut, crispy and good. Onion rings are crispy and the whole onion doesn’t pull out when you take a bite. No old oily or greasy flavors, double plus.
My friend got the Black & Blue cheese burger and it was just as good. Strong blue cheese flavor.
Blueberry beer was awesome, crisp, clear, fruity taste but not sweet. Loved it!
Went back a month later, ordered a regular burger no cheese $ 9.50. The bun wasn’t the same and it was not as good. Homemade potato salad is a little on the sweet side but enjoyable.
Go back a month after that with a Groupon for any two burgers and beers. I am told they are loosing money on these Groupon’s so their only doing regular burgers with beers. The bun was thick, stiff, stale and dry. Definitely not the Sadie Rose we fist had and it was down wright crappy.
On the plus side, I found some local stores that carry Sadie rose breads. The pretzel buns are the best I’ve found so far and soooo good for a tuna cranberry salad sandwich. The sourdough is incredible. I bought a sliced loaf for my sis and she was so grateful. It reminds her of the delicious sour dough we had when we were kids.

Place has great atmosphere and great beer selection. Food I ordered was the wings which where very good. I enjoy the fire pits out back to sit around and relax. Great place I love going there.

Awesome place, with an amazing selection of craft beers. Plus, they also have hard alcohol! Super friendly staff, will definitely come back soon!

This place rocks! Great beer, great food, great people! Dria is awesome!

Main Tap is an awesome dive bar with a great variety of craft beer. Friday nights they have karaōke with a fun and lively KJ named Meth. Yes, that’s right… KJ Meth! Come out sing, grab a drink, and some grub. I promise you will have a good time. This KJ has a good selection of songs, good speakers, and nice microphones. The only down side is that it’s all the way in east county and I live in Mission Bay. Other than that, it’s one of my go to karaōke spots.

Went in today to have some beers and burgers with hubby! Walked in literally we were the only ones in there, we sat down, nobody ever acknowledged us, not even a hey will be with you in a sec nothing! We sat there for 5 mins even walked up to the bar and sat and still completely ignored! Plus it smells like a total dive bar inside. Im super disappointed as they had decent reviews on Unilocal and I bought a groupon that trust me I will be asking for a refund for!

This place needs to get more bartenders. The girl working tonight around 9:30pm was very rude and on her phone the whole time while I’m standing there waiting 15min to get my first beer. She was the only bartender working on a holiday weekend. SMH… Me and a group of friends left to another bar… This bar is usually good with customer service but tonight the girl ruined it for us. Thanks bitchy bartender

Great place to stop in for a beer. The beer selection is amazing. The prices won’t leave you broke either. Stop in for a good beer at a reasonable price. Definitely get some wings while your there. The service was very friendly and quick. Highly recommend!

Yay for groupon and yay for my extra 20% off coupon that day.
They currently have a Groupon special– I only paid $ 13.00 with my 20% discount for 2 burgers and 2 beer. Yes, that’s right $ 6.50 for a huge burger and a pint of beer on tap.
Came here Tuesday night and the bar was fairly empty. The bar tender was very nice letting us sample their different types of beer on tap. We decided to go with the Tony Gwynn and another beer that had a fruity strawberry taste to it. I’m not a huge beer person but it seems like they have alot of variety in their beers.
Burgers:
Mushroom swiss with onion rings. Their onions are fried perfectly and the onion stays in the ring when you bite into it. The burger itself was pretty good. I thought the patty was a tad on the dry side but it was seasoned well. Lots of sauteed mushrooms and a generous portion of avocado as well.
Jalapeño burger: This came with cream cheese, jalapenos and 2 slices of bacon. I think the cream cheese made this burger very juicy.
Onto their fries: Large cut fries seasoned with a blend of what tasted like Lawry’s. The fries tasted like they were homemade and cut from a giant potato.
Service:
Great bartender!
Come back again? For sure! With the groupon deal you can’t beat the price!

Hmmmm… been there 7 times, mostly on Business, but did enjoy some good grub and beers there. Kenny is Awesome… great guy! Randy… don’t know very well, but from what I did learn… comes across pretty intelligent.
So.what’s the issue with this place??? My consult is it could be deeper, more Operational at the back of the house versus the front of the house… Because the staff makes the place for sure, I’ve had good beer and good food, how can we get it to Excellent 100%?! Step up Mister «B»…don’t waste your business away with bar rescue and out of reach marketing either, you just need to trust someone to build you up and get some additional trust from more locals!
«Calling all People and Beer lovers, give them a try, you might like the venue, it’s Casual, good setting, good Taps too!» Word of Mouth from Experience is still America’s best form of Marketing.
yes, Cheers… Thanks A lot!

If you live in El Cajon you know it’s hard to find a decent go-​to bar so after seeing Main Tap on groupon for a burger and beer deal and reading several Unilocal reviews I thought why not give them a try… Sorry Unilocal’ers Main Tap was a fail to me. Beer selection was interesting, overall good but, the environment was wiggity wiggity wack. The patios was kinda creepy half way lit, outside service was non-​existent we sat there for 30 mins with no waitress action, and vibe was pretty slow for a Friday.
I was excited to try the food as fellow Unilocalers had given some rave food reviews until I realized there seemed to be no kitchen… what the heck where are they making this said delish food… then after look at a few appetizers on other tables decided to skip the food action.
Overall the place might be «the spot» if your looking to just sit at the bar for a beer otherwise keep it moving.

I felt like I was in an episode of Bar Rescue. I was there on 1÷21÷15 at approximately 9:00pm. I waited at the bar for 10 minutes and neither employee acknowledged that I existed. The bar wasn’t even busy! There were 2 employees at the bar and neither one made eye contact or said a word. Horrible, horrible service. That’s not even the worst part. Since I couldn’t get a beer, I went out to their back patio. 10 minutes later the bartender had the nerve to check me and my wife’s I.D. Ha… Are you kidding me?
What a joke, I actually had high hopes for this bar.
There are plenty of other bars out there with employees that care and want to make their customers happy. We won’t be back.

ALERT: The Hipster species has officially invaded El Cajon, or at least this bar. I thought this was Desert-​Bro territory? Doesn’t that violate the Hipster Manifesto?
This trend unfortunately bled over to the bartenders who seemed to avoid eye contact and service whenever possible… even when there was no one around. If you want a beer, come prepared with several flares, an industrial flashlight and a bull horn. If you manage to flag them down, they’re actually really helpful, which makes this anomaly of a bar even more befuddling.
Beer selection: Exciting, fresh and creative. Try the Cherry Saison if yer in in the mood for som’n less hoppy, The Brown Shuggah from Lagunitas might just be the best beer I’ve had in years. They have a cool card system where u can write down the beers you’ve purchased for future rewards.
In the end though, I need a better reason than good beer to travel to El Cajon, endure poor service, and self-​important fashionistas and their cliques.

There are few places that exude more home-​town comfort for me than Main Tap. Sometimes I’ll talk about how East County lacks this and that, but Main Tap doesn’t try to be anything that it’s not. It’s as if someone managed to purify all the good parts of East County and distill them into a concentrated experience here.
Of course, in addition to the environment, Main Tap gets a lot of outside help with its beer selection. I’ve seen places with more total offerings, but few places come to mind with the depth of selection that Main Tap has. Not only have I never had a bad beer here, I don’t think I’ve even had an average beer here: everything is good. I’m also impartial to the green jolly rancher shot (only $ 5 and totally worth it), which really does taste like what it says it does.
Food? Yep, they have that too. It’s nothing special, per se, but it fits the bill for quality bar food (read: grease and salt). I personally usually go for their garlic bread and onion rings with their horseradish-​y house sauce.

Best bar in El Cajon; great food, service, beer
selection! Kinda pricey if u don’t go during happy hour but still not outrageous. Kinda dead atmosphere, usually mostly empty when I go but still like it! They actually remember your name! When u make vip u get some beers for $ 3.50 on Monday and Tuesdays. 4 time VIP here!

I stopped in for some dinner, rather then indulge in their libation, but it is not to say I did not have a ice cold glass of fermented hops. For dinner, I ordered their Angus Beef Patty Melt with a onion rings instead of fries. I had to pay a little extra to upgrade to the onions coming to a total of $ 10. (
)
The patty melt was served with thick sourdough bread which came well toasted and crunchy. The Patty melt tasted good with its sauteed onions, melted Swiss, and Angus Patty (
), but the ¼ patty was underwhelming due to its small size. This tasty patty melt would be better served with at least a ¹⁄₃ patty which would allow for more accurate cooking temps if someone would to order one medium or medium rare. Nevertheless, this patty melt looked good and tasted good, but was not, for least me, not as filling as I thought it would be. (
)
The onions rings were great. They were perfectly fried and not the least oily. They came with great color, crispy, and the onions inside were tender and sweet. (
) The seasoning was spot on and they used a more course salt which was even better.
The patty melt was good, but that ¼ lb patty just got lost amongst all that goodness. If you have a beer, the glasses come iced cold and frosty, always a plus. Service was a little slow to order, but the food came out quickly.