American Tap Room
One of my good friends and I had a little playdate with our babies yesterday. After an hour at the park, we decided to stop into American Tap Room (ATR) for lunch. We had heard mixed reviews and decided to check it out for ourselves.
Large, well-appointed space with high-end fixtures and furniture. Absolutely loved the “winged” club chairs. It was so easy to get comfortable in those things. Had my baby not been throwing food at the neighbors, I could have sat there comfortably all day.
Service from start to finish was excellent. Our waiter was friendly and attentive, and awesome with the babies, which was a HUGE added bonus. Right after we were seated, he asked us if we wanted to go ahead and put in an order for the babies ahead of our own order. Only somebody with good experience waiting tables would even think to ask something like that.
The menu is digital and LED-lit (the photo doesn’t quite do it justice, but trust me - it’s bright.) It’s something I can’t say I’ve ever seen at another restaurant. I’ve seen digitized fast food menus and billboards, but not personal menus.
We each ordered one of the $5 kids meals for the babes. I ordered mac and cheese with peas for my little one, and my friend ordered the grilled cheese with green beans for hers. For $5, the quality and portions were outstanding. It took a lot for me not to refrain from eating my daughter’s meal.
As an appetizer, my friend and I shared the ‘IPA Veggies.’ Another acronym in a city that is already overloaded with acronyms, but in a nutshell, it’s tempura-battered veggies (asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini) and sweet potato fries with 2 types of dipping sauces. We loved it. Beneath the perfectly-fried golden shell, the veggies still had a nice snap to them.
After the starter is where the meal went south for us. This is where we told each other we should have stuck with the kids meals and tempura veggies.
For our lunch selections, we each ordered sandwiches. I ordered the Turkey-Avocado grill, and my friend ordered the Farmhouse Club. At first bite, I hated how crispy the bread on my sandwich was. It was browned to a nice color, but it was way too crispy - almost the texture of a crouton - and the flavor was a hint on the burned side. The filling was delicious, though.
My friend’s club sandwich was your average club: served cold with nothing particularly memorable. We each traded halves of our sandwiches, and we each had the same criticisms.
Had we stopped at kids meals and tempura veggies, I think we would have walked away happy campers. It was the sandwiches that brought our experience down (and the loud elevator music, for that matter.)
