Pat’s Tap

Went on date night and did think it was anything special. True the beer list is massive and they have speciality cocktails but the food left something to be desired. Started with the garlic fries and sent them back due to them being old and soggy. The zucchini cakes were pasty and not cooked through.

I wasn’t expecting much from this place because it’s a bar. I heard they had good curds so we decided to try it out. They definitely exceeded my expectations! The place itself is cute and clean, doesn’t have that bar smell. Plus it has skeeball! Our waitress Brittney was darling, we loved her. Super helpful. The food was outstanding. We had the curds, Sorento chicken, and a burger. Yum, YUM.

Avoid the tall waitress.
We were there for a few beers. My buddy was passing his phone across the table and bumped his arm against his full beer and it spilled. Rather than bringing him another beer like most folks in the service industry would do, she came over with an attitude and the check.
On another occasion I was there with a friend and she had two glasses of wine and nothing to drink before we got there. She laughed a little too loud and the manager came over and cut her off.
I understand if they want to be a place where people aren’t getting extremely wasted and cater to hipsters who ride bike there for a couple beers and average food, but there’s a line there between being extremely wasted and the staff just being fun-​killers. This place leans more towards being fun killers. If you want to have a good time and a few beers, go across the street to Hola Arepa.

Vegetarian friendly with delicious options. The black rice burger is worth trying; the pickled beets are a great addition to the burger. Great local beer selection!

Charlie at Pat’s is the cream of the beer slinging crop. A real good crew runs a tight and happy tipsy ship at this gem in south Minnie.

I had the fish tacos here which were very good and my boyfriend had the lamb gnocchi. He didn’t like how much fat was left on the lamb and I thought the dish in general was very very very salty. I wish I could have given them a better rating but in general the restaurant was dirty. Our seats had crumbs on them when we sat down. The menus had food smeared on them. If it was cleaner they would have gotten another star but not anymore than that.

Great food and specials but the service was terrible. I sat down and didn’t get devices until 15 minutes later with just the menus and a water. 1 HR later people next to me get impeccable service! Multiple greetings, drink options and notification of special before even settling in.

Pat’s tap is an average place to grab a drink and some food with friends. The reason I am giving it less than excellent marks is due to the service, which was forgettable, and the food, which was blah. If you’re a beer drinker, this might get higher reviews but the food lacked flavor, seasoning and attention to detail.

SO loud. Food was average. Started with cheese curds, hard to mess those up. Still not the best I’ve ever had. Ordered the burger medium it arrived very well done. The Asian pulled pork sandwich was the special, that was very tasty but missing some meat. Canned and tap beer are chilled, certainly not cold. Tap was served in a hot from the dishwasher pint. Cocktails were just ok, tried The Peacock and King Friday. Service was quick for how busy it was. Skeeball worked on and off. I was excited and had been wanting to give it a try it for years. Meh.

Met a friend for lunch and ordered the Phở (servers suggestion). It was somehow extremely bland, but overpoweringly spicy. It tasted like jalapeño broth, and I could not eat it. I love authentic phở, and was hesitant to try it– spice is nice, but it’s no substitute for the dynamic flavor of an authentic phở broth.
The server seemed nice enough at first, but never asked how the food was, I had to ask for water, and didn’t seem at all concerned that my food was too spicy to eat, so I still ended up paying. I could have caused a stink to get it taken off my bill, but I was so hungry, I just wanted to leave so I could get SOMETHING, ANYTHING, somewhere else. I’ve been to Pats before, and had a good experience that time, that’s the only reason I’m giving it one star.

Update.
I like Pat’s Tap. Took me a minute to get into it but now I’m sold.
No problems with service.
Food has been pretty great. We had a work event here with ~12 people and a lot of food. Lots of trying and sharing, everyone enjoyed everything. Bison burger is good stuff.
Skee ball of course is fun, assuming they’re all working that night. Play your cards right and you’ll get a machine that works sans quarters.
They have a lot of beers — but the bartenders I’ve dealt with also make a mean cocktail.
Biggest downer: It gets really loud here sometimes. Louder than what you’d expect given the size/​crowd.

I’m adding 16 years to my age here… Soooo loud. Food is good, but hard to sit thru a meal with the volume.
Acoustic tiles? Carpet? Anything? But the skee ball thing is fun.

I want to love this place more, but every time I go I am not all that impressed. I will start with the positives. Definitely come here to play skeeball or pool (only 1 table). The bar is full of local liquids. Their beer, wine and drink selection is endless. The location is amazing is prime, but that leads me to say there are just better choices for food so close. Which leads me to the disappointments of Pat’s.
Parking around there is a mess. There isn’t a parking lot, so try to find a street spot on the residential side. The service is «meh». Translation– the staff I’ve had are there to get a check and don’t seem to smile or enjoy their job. Lastly, the food does not impress. One must eat are the happy hour cheese curds with their ketchup! I wish I could make a meal out of that, but want more. The pork belly was horrible and I really was looking forward to it with friends. The menu may potentially change and I could try again…

Don’t come for the food. Skee-​ball or beer, sure.
Patio for people watching, fine.
Black rice burger, no. Very plain.
Rice on a bun… Guess I should’ve known better? This was no veggie burger.
Instead of fries I got the greens. Mistake.
They were flavorless. Someone forgot the dressing?
Too many other places to go to… won’t come back here.

Had brunch around noon on Sunday. The is street parking was good. I ordered the $ 11 Florentine benedict that took around 45 minutes. There was 2 Benedict and they were not very good. I was disappointed with service because I’ve been to pats tap for happy hour and it was much faster.
Based off this experience
I would not goto pats tap for breakfast/​brunch but I would go get their greasy burgers during happy hour.

Stopped in for happy hour here with an old friend. Had a pint, some mussels and some cheese curds. All on special and all delicious. Wait staff was attentive and knew that we were there for happy hour. Even stopped by for last call on happy hour.
Loved it and the patio. Should have taken pictures of the curds/​spicy ketchup and mussels. Get the mussels!
Will be back many more times!
Also, 3 Sheeps brewing had a tap takeover going on and the head brewer was sharing samples and was also fantastic to talk to.
Pat’s is the best!

After a Friday morning/​afternoon spent at Lake Calhoun, Pats Tap came up for our burger/​curd exploration.
Parking… there is no lot that I found, parking will be on the street in front, or residential around the place. We stroll in, and ask for outdoor seating. Told it’s a 20 minute wait, despite there being 3 open tables, and another 2 that need to be busted. In utter amazement, I look at the woman and back to the employee and say «ok, indoors I guess.»
We get seated in a nearly empty inside, save for 3 tables. But, another 6 that need to be busted (I am not exaggerating, the entire row of tables we’re in on the back wall, not one was busted, nor were the two behind us). I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again, if you ever have «that» feeling when you go to a place like «hmmm, maybe I shouldn’t be here» you probably shouldn’t. The table next to us, two older gals — no I won’t disclose an age guess to risk an ass whoopin at the next Unilocal event — waited with credit cards in hand to pay for drinks for the entire 11 minutes it took us to get our server to come by. I say drinks because I could hear them saying that they’re going somewhere else to get food because of the service was non existent. Finally, after we get our order placed, they finally have a server come by and apologize for the wait and send them on their way. I should have taken that sign…
I opt for the bison burger with fries, the woman goes for a bacon burger with a fried egg with fries, and we of course go for the cheese curds to fulfill our weekly burger/​curd mission.
Curds come out soon enough. minus small app plates of course. They’re not bad at all. The «smoky ketchup» that comes with them is essentially ketchup and a dab of salsa. Not good, not bad, it’s just kind of there with the curds. The curds themselves aren’t the worst I’ve ever had, but, they’re not a top 5 or top 10 either.
Then we wait. And while we wait, a solid 9 minutes goes by (figured I should start keeping track after our ridiculous wait to start) between the time we’re done with an empty dish and two empty water glasses to the time anyone swings by to grab our dish or refill our water dish. Ironically enough, the gal who refills our water says «on a hot day like this, need to stay hydrated.» Keep this in mind.
Burgers come out 15 minutes after the curds are done. They’re delivered and of course that’s that. I get up and go get ketchup from the bar area because why would a runner/​server ask if we need anything? Upon returning, sample a fry and find out… they’re barely warm. Great. Just fucking great actually. I’d tell someone, but, we didn’t see our server the rest of the meal (keep this in mind too).
Bison burger. Glacier Wildfire blue cheese, garlic aioli, arugula. I had one bite of blue cheese taste, and that was it. Burger itself was ok. The sauce was barely a notice with the bison. Arugula added absolute nothing but a sight of green. And after two bites, I was eating nothing but a straight bison burger. And my water glass sat empty the entire meal. Not even ice chunks to chew on.
The woman’s burger came out with the wrong cheese (swiss instead of cheddar as requested). But, overall, an ok burger by her admission. Nothing great, nothing bad — save for the cheese. Like me, her fries were luke warm at the start and cold by the end.
And then we sat there. And sat there. And sat there some more. I did notice the hipster couple down the row had great service by our server. Made me wonder if I needed to start talking about a love of PBR and hatred of main stream everything in order to get some god damn service. So, we sat there more. By this time, we’re at the edge of getting up to go to the bar and request a check when finally the server arrives. I didn’t even request a check, just handed my card and told to run it. I don’t even care, I don’t want to wait another 20 minutes, I just want to get the fuck out and get on with my day.
At my utter amazement… two burgers/​fries and a bowl of curds somehow cost $ 46. Ashley snatches the check and a menu, and instantly goes through it wondering how the hell. It adds up. $ 2 for fries subbed, the fried egg was another $ 2 and our burgers were both $ 15+. Congrats Pats, you now take the cake for being the most overpriced place I’ve ever been to for burgers and curds. In closing, suck it Pat’s Tap. You are the most overrated, overpriced, and under whelming place I’ve been to yet on my burger/​curds mission. In addition, your service is paltry and I regret ever having stepped foot into your establishment.
On the bright side, I did scout a visit to Hola Arepa across the street.

Great place to bike too if you live anywhere in minneapolis. They have a great summer-​cocktail called the cumber patch. Have one and you will fall in love with it!

Not great but okay if you’re craving some bar food on a late night. I’m not too impressed with their for late-​night or dinner as it’s not as expansive as comparable neighborhood bars. I do enjoy their fried green beans and the games, but it’s not my first choice for a meal. I have yet to try brunch so that’s up in the air.
The beer selection however is quite good so if you’re looking for a late-​night drink I recommend.

This place is near my house so I love walking over and having a beer and playing skee ball! They have a huge list of craft beers so it is hard to choose! They only have maybe 10 – 12 that are on draft but the rest you can get in a can and then ask for a glass to pour it in.
I have tried the fried cauliflower and it was very good! I have also had the fried pickles, which were very tasty! They were spears so some bites had a higher pickle to batter ratio but that was the only flaw. I have had great service every time I have gone and really enjoyed the atmosphere. Not too loud or crowded and very relaxing.
Note: If you check in on Unilocal you get $ 2 off happy hour drinks! They also have a beer that is on happy hour all month so it only costs $ 3.25 any day, any time.