David’s Tavern on Brown Square

My girlfriend and two best friends decided to head to David’s Tavern to listen to the live music that was playing on Saturday night (¹²⁄₂₆) and enjoy a nice relaxing meal. Upon arriving, the place was pretty dead, and the band was just about to be starting. We were seated, and approached with menus and drinks pretty quickly. They brought us our waters within about 3 minutes of ordering them, and then we decided what we wanted and ordered. We asked for bread as an appetizer before we got our meals and the waitress replied «yes of course!» We ended up waiting about a half an hour for just bread, and we even had to remind the waitress that we wanted bread, and a good 45 minutes or so for our actual meals. We were appalled. One of my friends and I ordered a steak tip ceasar salad, which came topped (without us asking for it mind you) with full chunks of anchovies, that my friend mistakenly ate as steak, and was purely disgusted. The salad was topped with more anchovies and croutons than actual lettuce in the salad. My girlfriend and other best friend ordered burgers (both medium rare) and upon receiving them, found that they were overly well done. Absolutely disgusted. This is not our first bad experience at this restaurant. Last time, we ordered a $ 15 dollar drink that wasn’t even that great to begin with. They only had two waitresses both times (except tonight was completely dead.) the waitress we had, while very sweet, was completely zoned out. Charged us $ 0.30 for mayonnaise that we didn’t even receive, $ 1.25 for a slice of cheese on the cheese burgers, and once we told the waitress we had anchovies on our salads they only took half the price of it off, and then proceeded to take my plate (half full) and didn’t even ask if I was all set. Around 9:20pm, the owner of the restaurant was turning people away at the door and cut the band 2 and a half hours earlier than planned. Completely disgusted with this experience, except for the live music. Absolutely phenomenal. I’ve heard they’re closing, and I’m not ashamed to say I think I know why. Don’t think I’d give this restaurant another chance if they were staying open.

Went there last night and sat at the bar the place filled up quickly. We have been there maybe a dozen times since moving to Newburyport a little over a year ago, and we have never had a bad experience I had steak tips, my wife had pork scalpini. The tips were tender and tasty, cooked perfectly at medium rare. Large portion size. Mashed potato and vegetables were also excellent. The pork dish was also excellent. Tasty and cooked perfectly.
The only negative was the staffing levels. Only one bartender and two waitresses to handle the full house. I must say that they worked very hard but it really was mission impossible for them. The bartender (female I didn’t get her name she was too busy) did a super job and never become flustered under the pressure.
In summary David’s has excellent food, very cozy décor with the stone and brick walls and soft lighting, and nice entertainment on weekends. We always eat downstairs I don’t think they do much business upstairs. Even at if understaffed we will go back because the overall experience outweighs slower service. The staff is very hard working with very little turnover. The manager Sammy is always friendly and helpful.

Old, musty carpeting that smells… outdated bar and liquor collection. Lots of «stuffers» meaning low cost, filling cheesy, carbohydrate laden options. Décor is cheap and uncomfortable and they dredge the worst entertainers up from the dead. They need a total overhaul. It seems like this place only stays in business because of the hotel rooms in the same building. The cook here (and notice we say ‘cook’ and not ‘chef’) is unimaginative, minimally skilled, and really needs to have a talk with his staff about how to actually wait tables and serve drinks.

Expensive ($ 350.00 for 4 people) and remarkably average. Really nice people.
But that describes the large majority of Newburyport restaurants.
Won’t go back.

Had heard great things about the child care here during dinner ($ 10/​hour per kid, includes kid’s dinner) but was a little disappointed at the execution.
They have a room to the side of the restaurant with toys, blocks, TV, etc. When we got there, the kid didn’t introduce himself, just sorta said «what do they want to eat, any allergies, etc». My 2-​year old (who I will fully admit is spirited and can be difficult) kinda flipped out when we left, which rarely happens when we do drop off at the YMCA, etc. we tried to get her to stay, which didn’t work out so we just plunked her in our lap for the meal and she was fine.
I will say, the kid had a lot on his plate with our party (3 5-​year olds, 3 under 3), but he was totally overwhelmed and told us «I don’t really have any experience with kids under 3». Well, if that’s the case then they shouldn’t advertise it as 18 months and up.
Also 5 year old did love it.
Food was OK, I had the Atlantic Haddock which was a bit overcooked with some standard rice and veggies. Beer list was decent, not great, but they had a nice selection of NBPT beers which is always nice.
Overall: really wanted to love it and have heard awesome things, so maybe it’s us.

Had a great night here! Bartenders were attentive and cool! Quick service! Shrimp are out of this world!

Genuinely stunned by the reviews here. We went last night and it is the best meal I have had in a long time. Maybe it is because it was so quiet but I had no problem with the service. The choice of beers was good and the food was absolutely exceptional. I had the steak tips (cooked to perfection and full of flavor) and my wife got the burger (she finished it which is saying something). Portions were perfect, leaving me satisfied but just enough room for dessert, which was also delicious. The fact that the beef was grass fed and everything made from scratch made the price worth it.

Food was good BUT there was a dog in the restaurant that was sitting at a table and drinking out of a glass… inappropriate.

The food was very good. The service was god awful. The waitress was snotty. There was no one there and it took them five minutes to seat us. Waitress brought our food out WELL before we’d finished our appetizers, it took her forever to get me another drink from the bar and we actually had to track her down and ask her to refill our water glasses and clear our plates. The food was good, yes, but honestly, for that kind of atmosphere (including poor service) the prices are WAY too high. If I’m going to pay $ 25 for a meal, I expect to be treated well, I expect to go to a place that doesn’t have metal chairs from the 1980’s.

This is my go to restaurant when I need something familiar. They are hit and miss at times, but when they are on the food and service is very good. The Friday night date night special is a great deal.

Four of us met here about 8:00 on a Friday evening. The noise level was such that I couldn’t hear the person seated across from me, nor of course could she hear me. It was equally hard to hear the singer for the first set though we were seated directly in front of the «stage». Enough people had cleared out by the second set that the music was audible. I only had a Caesar salad, but judging by that I wouldn’t bother trying anything else: dark green top of romaine leaves, no sign of Parmesan cheese, (never mind anchovies), Thanksgiving stuffing type croutons and a very liberal hand with the pepper mill.

A cozy restaurant in the basement of the Garrison Inn, this place is certainly worth a visit if you’re staying at the Inn or somewhere nearby.

This place in my opinion is amazing! I had the clam chowder and the baked stuffed Atlantic Haddock stuffed with crab cakes. Local beer was on tap. One of the best meals that I’ve had this year! I cannot understand why anyone would give them less than five stars.

Get the mussels! I come here for the mussels and love them. Dinners are decent. Wine is good. I have no complaints really but service could be quicker. You won’t be disappointed but you won’t be overjoyed either. Solid meal, solid staff, great tavern atmosphere. I go periodically and will continue.

2/​20/​2013Edit «
We dined early on this Sat evening because we had a 2 year old with us and needed to get him home.
We made reservations in both the downstairs dining room & the children’s room.
The child’s area had a delightful gal who intertained each child & was attentive & caring. She prepared the meal for each child in the micro.
We ordered fish meals and after a long wait, finally were served. They were both disappointing. No flavor, bland without any seasoning. We had a similar experience a while back. The chef needs cooking lessons!

I love the fact that this restaurant has a childrens room with toys for kids of every age and very enthususastic childrens room staff. The good times stop there, poor service like many other reviewers. The server I think is the same one for everyone, very meek and hard to hear also seemed like she was running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Our food was NOT good, sub-​par and cold. Food was pricey for the quality. There are SO many other good places in NBPT I would pass this one up!

Great food. Terrible service. Terrible management. Long wait time. Waited for over an hour for appetizers to appear on our table. Our waitress was nice, but seemingly meek. The real real problem was the manager. He came to the table acting to be sympathetic with the wait time and EVEN gave us a fifteen dollar gift certificate on a bill over 200 $…How generous… NOT. my mom approached the manager about being comped, in a more appropriate amount but the manager saw NO problem. Then proceeded to grab my mothers arm in effort to try and quiet her. he tried to bring her into the back room. WFT… Seriously imagine if this creepy pony-​tailed dude grabbed your moms arm. Honestly, for the same price and better service and more beers on tap and less creepy men … Go to the GROG!

I really wish I could rate this place 3.5 stars, but I can’t…and because the place is so hit or miss, I had to round down. What makes this place 3.5 stars is the fact that they have an on-​site kids room in which they will watch your children for you while you (actually) eat (warm food).
What’s unfortunate is that as great as their apps are, their main courses are really sub-​par. We’ve been three times now, and have had the same experience each time. Not only was my fish over cooked, but it was not the fish dish I ordered. I asked for the mahi special and got the mahi found in the regular menu. At least the server comped a dessert for us, which was a nice touch.
We will be back, just for the very fact that someone else will watch the boys while we can enjoy each other’s company. But we will stick to the apps and desserts and bypass the entrees.

My husband and I stayed at the Garrison Inn and loved it. We decided to try out the restaurant which turned out to be a mistake. The food was alright but I have never received such poor service anywhere, ever. The server didn’t take our drink order for 20 minutes. She kept going to the table next to ours completely ignoring us. We asked her who our server was and she put up the «wait one second» finger at us and walked away. She finally made her way back over to take a drink order. The rest of the experience was similar and I had to physically get up and ask the server for a check. The restaurant was filled but it didn’t look insanely busy.
As we were leaving we were debating on letting management know how awful the service was. I’ve never in my life complained about a server since I was one for many years. We decided management should know and asked the bar tender if we could speak to the manager. He asked what he could help us with and said the manager wasn’t there. We told him about our experience and all he said was «Really? She’s our best server.» No apology nothing. If that’s their best server that’s incredibly sad. Needless to say we won’t be eating there again.

What??? I can’t hear you??? Can you repeat the specials again? Huh!!!
We visited David’s downstairs a few weeks ago and it was quite an odd experience. After being seated directly under a powerfully cold air conditioning vent, we were moved to another table that was slightly warmer. Our waitress was friendly, but too bad we couldn’t hear her. Shortly after being seated, they had a guitarist set up and sing in a BRICK room with little insulation. As the meal went on, we just gave up trying to have much conversation. Not only was the guitarist a problem, but the setup of the table made it so you couldn’t avoid overhearing everyone else’s conversations.
The food was fine, wine list was adequate, but I don’t know how anyone can comfortably eat a meal here.