The Tavern Downtown

Popped in for a quick lunch the other day with two other co-​workers in a hurry (actually because the line across the street at our first choice Agave was ridiculously long, so, short of time we figured how bad can you screw up a burger). We were expecting fast but mediocre bar food. Boy were we surprised! They must have a new chef! The food was absolutely great. Granted, this is not haute cuisine, but what was served was delicious! I had the pulled pork sandwich, probably the best I have ever had and my co-​workers had corned beef and chicken chef salad. We were all raving about the food and it is now definitely on the list of places to return to eat! Our waiter should have a second job as a comedian and made the entire experience fabulous. My advice to the owner, give the chef a raise and make sure he doesn’t jump!

We’ve never had a bad meal, bad service or even slow service. We do love the boneless wings! If you’re looking for cheap this isn’t the place.

Busy night at the Tavern for a show happening at the XL center. Service was slow to start but our waiter managed to get all of us many tables coming in at once taken care of. Over all we ate, had a beer and made it in time for the show! Good work.

We stopped in before a Huskie game for food and some beers. They had an extensive beer list with descriptions but no prices. We asked why no prices and they told us the list changes too fast. Bad answer and it should have been a red flag. The food was OK but took quite some time to get. The beers were ok but the prices were all over the place. One of the beers came in a 12 ounce mug and was $ 8! I prefer consistency such as the place on the other side of the XL center where we went after the game and all beers, import and domestic come in a pint glass and are $ 5. Customers should not have to ask how much and what size glass for each beer. It should be posted on the menu.

I used to be a regular customer at The Tavern Downtown, until one day I got fed up with paying for terrible food and expired bottled beer. The quality of the food was never consistent or they were out of the key ingredients needed to make dishes on the menu. That right there speaks volumes. It shows that the owner is not paying his vendors, he is cheap, or just does not care. They have some good offers during the week to generate business, I give them that. Some of the promotions that used to get me in the door were buy one, get one pints or buy one, get one burgers. On Sundays, they used to offer 50 cent wings and some drinks specials. For anyone who recently moved to Hartford or are visiting from out of town, the deals seem great.
I cannot tell you how many times I have had to send something back or been let down with the quality of my food. It seems that the staff does not care about the quality and it shows. Their kitchen staff is so out of whack, they offered to put salsa on my meatball sliders because they were out of marinara sauce. Are you kidding me? I do really enjoy their buffalo chicken dip and have ordered it tens of times over the years. The consistency would sometimes be different or they would switch up the toppings. They used whatever cheese they had at the time because they were out of the cheddar blend that went on top, it was ruined. Everything seemed to be an after-​thought.
I still do not understand why they claim to have 99 different bottles of beer. They do not have the constant customer flow to carry that many beers without losing a profit. I will give them credit for the variety of beers they have on tap.
The Tavern is a good place to go before and after a sporting event at the XL center. The different events at the XL Center pack the place, but it is not a regular happening. Football Sundays are decent. The wings are standard and nothing to write home about. The Tavern’s saving grace is the fact that there is not any other place like it in downtown. Hopefully, one day they will get their act together and the owner will stop being so pompous.

Service at the bar was great, good seasonal beer selection. We ordered buffalo boneless tenders, yum. Nice flavor & spice. The tavern primer sandwich… Short rib meat w melted cheese… Soooo good. French fries were… Forgettable…

Hostesses and owners are real jerks. Open seats everywhere but was made to wait for a table that I walked to which was subsequently given to someone else. Owner reserved the largest table for himself and his friends but didn’t show until an hour later. Patrons aren’t treated with respect here.

Worse then Farmington. My only review, close these terrible places so people stop wasting their money on dog food and poor service.

We had a horrible experience here before the Tom Petty concert. They cannot handle a crowd. The waitress was crying and we went to the concert with no dinner after waiting an hour to be seated and 45 minutes after ordering still waiting for our food.

Wow, this place blows. Hubby and I just got two beers which were served in snifters and $ 8 a piece. Anywhere else they would have been $ 5 and served in a pint glass. What happened to the old tavern?

Alex was the perfect amount of attentive and helpful with great recommendations and accommodated us last minute right before the kitchen closed. Awesome experience thank you

Good scene, a lot of space, great place to watch a game. Boneless wings are truly incredible… cheesesteak is fantastic too. Lots a local beers.

I’ve been here on several occasions for drinks in the awkward hours between happy hour and «going out hours». I’ve had a lot of fun every time I’ve gone and have always found the service to be at least average, if not above average.
The bar is relatively large. it has a separate section with a couple of pool tables, which costs $ 1 in quarter per game. Every time I’ve gone they’ve always had a large selection of beer on tap.
Overall, I think this place is a pretty fun to have a relatively chill night with friends. It’s definitely one not of the pseudo-​club bars in the area that turns into a dance club on the weekends.

My friend and I went there before a uconn bball game. They were out of Guinness and Yuengling. It look the bartender 10 minutes to get us the menu with the beers on tap. They were out of several food items.

I just experienced a 1.5-hour lunch, where almost NOTHING came out right, in a restaurant that had only 3 tables with customers. It started when we asked for another minute to look at the menu… which turned into 5+. Then the waitress came back another 10 minutes later and let me know they didn’t have what I ordered, so I ordered something else (not a big deal, but not sure why it took so long to figure that out).
Then the food came (an hour later) and that’s when everything went from annoying to just terrible. We had ordered boneless wings, but they were bone-​in. One person in our party asked for no mayo, there was extra mayo. One person’s food came out 5 minutes later than everyone else’s because they were «waiting on the fries,» but it came out without fries. The waitress said she’d be right back to fill our waters twice, but she never did. The manager finally came over and the fries finally came shortly after that. By this point, we just wanted to get out so we asked for our (separate) checks. To no one’s surprise, it was all on one check. At that point, we just split it evenly and got out as quickly as possible.
On a more positive note, I have no complaints about the salad I ended up getting, I think it was the Cobb?

Worst fish and chips I ever ate. I have had better fish from a Gorton’s freezer bag. Whatever fish they used it was a very light white fish that was not hearty enough. It honestly felt like tilapia. I also thought I ordered french fries with a side of fish. There was three times more fries than fish. They do come with a coleslaw that tasted like mayonaise with a crunch. Absolutely no spices were used to make it.
My wife got blackened chicken sliders that were as blackened as a boiled hot dog. No spice or flavor on those either.
Not sure why but all dishes came with dill pickles even when it wasn’t warranted but that was the best part of my fish and chips.
Will avoid eating here as much as possible unless I am forced to be here when I am hungry.

All I have to say is this place is a HOT MESS!!! The server hasn’t been back to our table for about 20 minutes. We got the wrong beer delivered to us. Food took about an hour to come out. This is the second time this has happened to us. We won’t be coming back.

This place really makes me scratch my head. It’s really the only bar with real craft beer in downtown. (Sorry city steam beer doesn’t do it for me.) Yet they promote cheap domestic beers.
I have had Stone Enjoy, Dirtwolf and Gandhi Bot by the PINT there. Others beers that sell out in mere minutes elsewhere are also sold by the pint. The staff and management are friendly.
The food is decent. I like the wings. If your looking for a gastropub, this isn’t your type of place.

Meh. I don’t know why but after years I just can’t get on board with tavern. The food is ok, uh nothing exciting, just pub food. Their fries are pretty lame, lettuce accompanying burgers or sandwiches can be droopy.
I’ve had drinks here more often than food and while I will give them a thumbs up for a more extensive beer selection than some of the typical bars downtown, I ALWAyS seem to have trouble getting a drink. Busy, slow, you name it… Its like I always have to stare someone down until they finally help me. People wait with an empty glass until they can flag a bartender. I’m not really sure why that is.
The live music I’ve seen is decent, but can be loud for the smaller space so don’t plan on doing too much talking. It’s busy before and after a lot of events downtown, especially any sporting events at the XL center. It’s one of those places that I’m sure I will find myself back at again, but it’s not a personal choice of a venue. I’d likely go in a group that was meeting there or something like that

This is the first time I have visited since they moved in March. Love the new space. The New York Strip was served with a red wine sauce, the sauce was sweet and garlicky — very nice steak.
Good to know– show your dinner receipt at the Russian Lady, and they will waive the cover charge, or that was the deal the night I was there.