Tap n Barrel - Revisit

Hey Everyone,

On a Friday night after a tough week at work, what better way to get the weekend started than by going to Tap n Barrel for some good food and craft beer? My buddies and I decided to do just that at the Olympic Village location. 

We got there during the height of the dinner time rush, so we ended up having to wait for an hour and a half! The weather was beautiful and so was the location, so it wasn't the worst of waits. 

Saw the A&W manager filming a new commercial while we were waiting as well!

When we finally got seated, we were seated in the first floor near the back of the restaurant just past the bar.

We started off with a round of beers:

Being a restaurant with tons of craft beer, we had to try some of them. The two darker ones that my buddies got were the Howe Sound - Super Jupiter Grapefruit ISA $7.50. I got the Parallel 49 - Jerkface 9000 Wheat Ale $7.50. I tried their beer, which was not bad, but I personally liked mine better! I like pale and amber ales, so this was pretty close to them and had a very good flavour!

Now for the food:

We saw Famous Fried Pickles $5.95 on the starter menu and this intrigued my buddy, so we had to try some for our starter. These tasted very good for someone who does not like eating pickles straight up. I normally would only eat a pickle if it was sliced in a burger, but this was very good!

Next came the mains:

I had the Tap Burger $14.95 with sea salted fries. The burger was delicious! It comprises of a hand pressed CAB patty, sharp white cheddar, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, house mayo, and a pickle wedge which I did not use. The bun is a sesame seed bun with what looks like poppy seed. I added the option of strip bacon into the bun. The other option was pulled bacon, but no thanks. The bun was soft, the burger was juicy and flavourful, everything worked so well together. This was just a very delicious burger! Their fries are pretty good as well. They're somewhat on the thicker side of fries, so they needed ketchup or extra salt and pepper to get through, but they were pretty good to compliment the burger. 

My buddy also had the Tap Burger but he substituted fries for a poutine $1.95, and chose pulled bacon instead of strip bacon. His choice of pulled bacon was a regretful, as it was quite dry, which ended up making the burger dry. The poutine was very delicious though; well worth the $1.95 upgrade!

My other buddy had the Seared Spicy Tuna Burger $16.95 substituting the fries for caesar salad $1.50. 

The service was pretty good considering how busy it was on a Friday night. The food didn't take particularly long to arrive, and the server was friendly and helpful. 

Overall the food here was delicious and the service was great too. There are still so many other options here that I have yet to try, so look out for more revisits at this restaurant in the near future! Highly recommend checking this place out if you haven't already. This place is located across from Craft, and I would choose Tap & Barrel over Craft every time!

Food:
4/5

Service:
4/5

Price:
$$

Overall:
4/5

Thanks for reading everyone and enjoy!
- Phil