The Tap Trailhouse

We went here for date night drinks and Melina was our server. She had great recommendations and was very attentive. We can’t wait to get back!

This place has great pub food. Had the soft pretzel app which was so tasty. Def stop by for a cold beer, friendly service and get the pretzel

I really want to be a fan of this place b/​c the ambiance was great (great upscale pub feel) and the people who worked there were so friendly and welcoming … but the food is just too fancy for what should be simple and delicious pub food. And the prices are pretty steep for «pub food».
We started with the pub pretzels which were good, but nothing too special. For entrees, we decided to split/​share two entrees: the Monticelle’s Mac and Quartermasters Plate (aka Fish and Chips). The restaurant/​kitchen did a very nice job of splitting the dishes in two and presenting us with half portions each to try. I just can’t justify $ 19 for Fish and Chips and $ 26 for Mac and Cheese with a small topping of short ribs.
Our bill was just about $ 100 for two people for one appetizer, two entrees, and we each had a drink. Yikes! I can think of a lot of other places I would rather eat at in Boston for $ 100. Sorry!

This place is great. I come here often for the great beer selection. Everything they have is New England based beers and it is a good spot to try new brews. The bar staff is knowledgeable about the beers they have on hand. New face behind the bar Nikolina did a bang up job, she is very friendly and personable and this makes for a very pleasant experience. The food is also great, again with a New England flair. I recommend the bacon app (bacon is always a good choice). Add the bacon to their clam chowder and you are winning at life. They also have an excellent burger.

We came here for drinks only as my beer app Untappd alerted me that a beer on my wish list was nearby. Also, we were the first in the door at lunch and the Big Cranky was indeed on tap. It was a great double IPA with many floral and fruity notes and a high ABV to back everything up. They also have other high quality producer beers and the critically acclaimed Sam Adams Utopia. Our stay was brief but just what we needed while we waited for a table elsewhere at our first stop on our first time to Boston.

Not really happy. We went here for food and my burger was super dry… If I wasn’t so hungry, I probably wouldn’t have finished. My friend ordered nachos and those were good. I’m disappointed.

I went here for drinks and food on a Saturday afternoon. The Hostess refused to give us a table even though there were plenty open, not sure what that was about because I dropped over $ 100 (for 2 people) at this place within an hour and would prefer to sit at a table.
The bartender was a space cadet and interrupted us several times. I mean she’d explain the menu for 10 minutes even though we never asked her to, and told her we’d been there before. After placing an order she’d come back at least 3 times to re-​ask us what we ordered as she’s typing it in, this was very annoying and made it difficult to carry on a conversation.
The food was bad and small portioned for the price. I ordered hash and eggs, it came in this little frying pan but the hash was burnt and not enough food to satisfy my hunger.

This review is for drinks only.
Gong show. First, they didn’t have half of the drinks on the menu, so there’s poor management. Second, the waitress couldn’t answer any questions about the craft cocktails because she said she doesn’t drink. Why is she working there? So I ordered a random drink and of course it was the opposite of what I would order. So I complained right away. Then I decided to bypass her and went to the bar. The bartender understood and said he’d fix it. Then the manager came to our table to ask what the problem was. I was a bit taken aback as the issue had basically already been solved, but she had to put in her two cents worth. My issue had been that the drink tasted weak and I wanted a stiff drink. She said the bartender is professional so the drink was made properly and if done right one should not be able to taste any alcohol. She also pointed out that the drink contained three types of alcohol so it had to be strong. I bit my tongue and just said I thought the issue had been resolved with the bartender. The bartender soon brought my drink and it was fine.
Besides the bartender, the rest of the staff don’t have a clue.

Good ambiance. Good food. Would recommend the turkey sandwich, which came with a sweet Chutney. Great selection of beers.

Yummy! This is the kind of place that you go into and have trouble picking out something to eat because everything sounds so good. The menu items are spectacular– such tasty combinations. Also, it’s located right in the center of downtown Boston, near the «oldest bar.»
My friend ordered the lobster roll, which is a must eat if you like seafood, and raved about it. There were huge chunks of lobster stuffed into a roll. I, on the other hand, don’t like seafood and went with the August Bird. It was surprisingly difficult for us to find restaurants that had good non-​seafood options, but this place had a decent selection. My sandwich was sweet and salty, a great combo in my opinion.
This is definitely a good spot to check out if you’re in the area. On top of the great menu items, they have a decent beer selection which is always a plus!

Service was a little slow, but I can’t take a star away because the Eggs n’ Pearls were so good. Our entire party wanted to return to have them again. The oysters were perfectly fried and combined with the cayenne deviled eggs, avocado purée and sweet pickled jalapeño, made each bite a to-​die-​for morsel.

Good food and good beer, hard to beat! There are several restaurants with similar menus in the area but we randomly stumbled on Tap. I liked the beer selection and I thought my burger was delicious. How do you top a grass fed burger with butter poached lobster?! Awesome. Service was good and restaurant was cute, I would go back

Meeting up with a few friends on a Saturday night, we went into The Tap on a whim. We wanted a place where we could sit, be able to have a conversation (not screaming over music), have some drinks and be comfortable. The Tap checked all those boxes.
We were able to find some seats at the bar. It was fun to see a majority of their beer selection was from New England and they definitely had pride in their spirits and specialty drinks.
We didn’t feel rushed, we enjoyed our beers, I indulged with a delicious whiskey sour, and we left having had a great night.
One note: watch out for a tiny incline when walking from the bar to the restrooms. Even though marked with red tape, it tripped up people as well as ourselves. Nothing major, can be fun to watch, but a little embarrassing if it’s you.

We had a great experience here last night. The general manager and our waiter, Stephen, were so welcoming and personable. We felt like VIPS ;)
I tried the apple pie drink, per Stephen’s recommendation, and it was DELICIOUS. The food was yummy as well.

It’s my first visit to Boston and last night at the hotel while watching the news, I happened to catch a short feature on the Tap Trailhouse. I was literally salivating watching this feature, and decided that it was where I was going to celebrate my 24^th birthday the following night. It was awesome! The food and service blew me away. I had the Winter Squash Ravioli, and I can honestly say that it was one of the most delicious dishes I have ever eaten. I will come back on my best visit to Boston. It is a really fun place!

Went there on a Friday night for the bar scene– it was pretty mediocre. Beer section is great, though.

I found the Trailhouse while embarking on a beer and bacon bar crawl. This was a must-​stop bar because of their house cured bacon appetizer, which was good but not a snack I’d go out of my way to eat again. Good beer selection but I must say, their mysterious $ 6 Freedom Trail IPA is the reason this place scores high with me. Such a delicious IPA, great to drink at the bar on an uncrowded weeknight. I would like to come back to try more food and hopefully bump this to a 5-​star review… stay tuned.

I wish I could give this restaurant 10 stars! Such amazing food, service and atmosphere.
We celebrated our 1 year anniversary here after being turned away from other restaurants in the area due to their kitchens being closed. We were welcomed by our server, who was so sweet and very knowledgeable. We order our drinks and the bacon appetizer. AMAZING! You must order this or you just haven’t lived. We split our entrée because our server told us it was a hearty meal to share. She didn’t lie! The braised beef mac and cheese was OUT OF THIS WORLD INCREDIBLE! The best part was that the chef came around to each table to check on the parties sitting down. Such a wonderful touch, especially for a Friday night.
Thank you, Tap Trailhouse, for giving us a wonderful way to remember our 1 year anniversary!

Went for lunch with a group. My burger was OK– the truffle parmesan fries were very good! The service was efficient. Lots of drink options.

Visiting the city for the weekend and stopped in to this place on a whim. The atmosphere was so relaxed and cool, phenomenal food (oh my god, the Woods Waterfowl), and customer service was absolutely great. Our server, Stephen, couldn’t have been any more personable and attentive. We ended up staying for hours– had a wonderful time and already have plans to return. Highly recommended.

Food: pretty solid, particularly anything that involves oysters. We were intrigued and delighted by oysters on deviled eggs, blueish pâté, and rabbit on corn cakes. The bacon disappointed and made me wish I’d checked Unilocal first.
Drinks: also solid, although they run out of their evening-​special lunch remarkably early (gone by 5:30?). The focus on MA beers is nice, as others commented.
Price: Meh. It’s not insane, but it’s far from cheap, and portions are not generous for what you pay (I.e., that’s 3 deviled eggs to an order, and those beers are 13oz, not pints). Unsurprising, I suppose, given the location on the tourist trail.
Service: slower than colonial molasses. They’re quite friendly (*too* friendly; I don’t want to be chatted at when I’m waiting for the check), but a simple round of appetizers took 30 minutes. Overall two drinks and snacks was 3 hours. That’s a little much.
Bottom line, it’s not that I disliked it, but there’s a lot of equivalent options that I’d rather check out first.

Food was good but took forever to get served. Waited 45 minutes for two burgers. The waiter didn’t seem to have any urgency to take care of us. A couple that was seated next to us after we were there for 10 minutes finished their burgers and left before we got ours. Would not recommend this place to anyone, especially for the price.

This place was good. Okay, their bloody marys were good. Probably a 5-​star bloody mary. I was loving the little menus/​check list so you can ‘build your own’ without any labor! Little pricey but with pickled asaparagus and blue cheese stuffed olives, one or two would suffice. I was actually most disappointed that they didn’t have old-​bay seasoning for the rim of the bloody mary as it was listed on the list! Our bartender looked like his hangover was worse than mine. He was a little slow, didn’t smile and went downstairs to clean… which was the reason he forgot to put in our appetizer order. Man… Boston really needs to step up their service game! Standard bar/​restaurant atmosphere. I’d go back for another bloody mary if I’m in town again.

We stopped by for dinner but chose to just try some appetizers. It is a bit pricey and the food wasn’t something I would normally pick. The service was polite but a little slow. She made sure to apologize tho, making sure we were all set. They have an extensive list of New England beer that was great.
We ordered the candied bacon. It seemed more like just a few slices of good bacon with a declines soy based dipping sauce. It was something fun to try but didn’t seem worth $ 8 for 4 slices of bacon. The crab nachos were good. They were very different. The tortilla chips were nice and crunchy. The cheese was nice and bubbly. The pickles jalepenos were yummy. There didn’t seem to much crab tho. I did like the sprinkle of greens on top. They had a fresh crispness.

Interesting menu with candied bacon, yum. We had the burger, grilled cheese and French dip. All were good. Waiter and service was good. 2 PM on a Monday no wait only a few customers. Great for us! Overall good. Hit he spot.

Crab Nachos.
Came here after a Celtics game and wasn’t ready to go home. I love how they revamped The Tap and decided to stop by for a glass of delicious velvety Malbec. What I left with was the desire to come back and have again and again the blue crab nachos. Simply delicious! Some of ya might say omg no, you can’t mix seafood and cheese but yes you can because I have lived to tell the tale. The mixture of fresh cilantro, pickled red onions and fresh herbs with a little sour cream is like heaven in my mouth. I ate the whole thing and I was supposed to share!
We got a high top table on a busy friday night easy. It’s a relaxed environment, great service and the food is delicious (obvi).

What a pleasant surprise to find a nice pub in such an awfully tourist area.
When we stopped in for a quick drink, our waiter was telling some crazy ol’ tourist that he indeed could not take his brew to go. That aside, he was very friendly and quick with our service, letting us sample a few beers before we made our choices.
The dining area is spacious, clean and refreshing and the beer list is varied. It’s pretty dead on the weeknights and worth checking out if you want a relaxed drink away from the kitschy, crowded places nearby.

I have been here multiple times on a late Thursday nights and Friday nights for a beer or two (I mean the name of the place IS Tap Trailhouse, so it made sense). The atmosphere is great, there’s enough people there, but it’s not too crowded or loud where you have to yell to be able to hold a conversation. This was surprising to me with their great location, but it was perfect for what I was looking for.
The beer list is great, as expected from the name. They have great (rotating) selection of ales, IPAs, stouts, and porters. People with different beer preferences can find a new beer that they might like. What makes this place even better is that the price is pretty good even though it’s located near the tourist central (Faneuil Hall) of Boston. Also, even though I haven’t tried it yet, they do give an option of getting a flight of beers, so you should check that out.
I’d definitely recommend this place to any beer lovers out there!

I came here for lunch with a friend while I was in town. We originally wanted to go to Saus but they were closed that day for some reason. This place is alright. The beer selection is great. Lots of New England choices. The lunch menu is a little too short on choices with nothing really standing out. You end up flipping through the rest of the menu looking for what else there is, only to find its just booze. I mean, they have a build your own Bloody Mary with toppings and garnishes beyond the usual. This place is very much a bar first and a restaurant second.
I went with the French dip, but the meat was a bit tough and very fatty. Fat makes flavor, sure, but it also has the worst texture. While its served in a small skillet, allowing the bottom bun to soak up the juices, the top bun ends up sitting up top, since this is really a fork and knife sandwich. Friend One’s lobster roll looked great, but in-​substantial. Fries also good, but not great.
I wish I could write better of this place besides the beer, since when our waiter overheated us talking about Unilocal,he asked if there was anything he could do for me to rate this place better. Points for you, my dear, but I am one, not one to greatly take advantage of such offers and two, those extra stars were certainly beyond his power. Go for drinks, skip the food.

Went here for lunch and some drinks while on a recent trip to Boston and honestly I could end this review right now by just saying, wow, this place is great!
The interior is very warm and inviting and makes you feel instantly at home, and the bar is perfectly situated further towards the back, away from the noise of the street, and diners coming in and out. However, they also have window seating which opens out onto the street. We elected to do that because we were visiting Boston and love to get the true feel of people in a new city, it was really fun to do that and makes you truly feel part of the action!
The service here is as friendly as it gets, and super helpful, they answered the many different questions we had on different menu items and drinks and honestly just seemed interested to get to know what we were doing in Boston etc. I love that.
For food I got the Colonial burger. I’m very particular with how my burgers are cooked, my home state does not do medium rare well. No problem here, it was perfect, so juicy and succulent. Mix that with the flavor of the cheddar cheese and the smoked bacon and it was heaven in a bun!
My wife got the Q Market Lobster Roll, it was amazing too, in fact she said it was the best one she had during our whole trip. I tried it and loved it too.
With both we got fries, and all I can say is, Boston knows how to make good fries, these were amazing. We found that in a lot of places during our visit.
By now you are saying, that’s all great, but what about the drinks situation? Well as the name suggests, you are not going to be disappointed. They have an enormous selection of all local craft beers, everything we tried was amazing. We tried a few since we were enjoying watching the passers by at our open window to this awesome city!

It’s true, I’m a fan! My husband and I are big fans of pubs and your bar/​grill type and we love this place. We’ve grown beyond the pubs that smell like beer, peanuts, and frat boy sweat and are now more into the craft beer, better quality burgers, and a cleaner atmosphere. Tap Trailhouse is just our place.
We’ve been here several times and ordered several things and each time have walked away full and happy. The menu can be limited but we still seem to find things we like. They have a great burger, fish and chips, and don’t even get me started about the roast beef sandwich submerged in au jus. Delish! (Hint: Please add it to your dinner menu!)
They have a great selection of local and regional craft beers and wines and they are located in the fun, historical area of Boston.
We are quickly becoming regulars of Tap Trailhouse and have no complaints!

I had the Clam Chowdah and a beer, but the highlight was the truffle parmesan fries. They are to die for! Best truffle fries I’ve ever had!
I really wanted some real New England Clam Chowdah on my trip to Boston. I tried it here and it was delicious. There was no fishy flavor at all. My only complaint was that the cauldron it came in was smaller than I expected.
Service was pretty good. Our glasses were always full and we were happy throughout our visit.
The décor is very interesting and pretty awesome if you like history.

First time in the place, it was a Wednesday evening, fairly dead. Saddled up to the bar and took a look at the tap list. Damn, they don’t call this the Tap Trailhouse for nothing.
Wide selection, decently priced for the fanuiel hall area, but not cheap by my somerville standards. Tried a few tastes and had a beer. The barkeep was friendly and not standoffish. And quick with the bill when we had to go to our meal in the north end.
If your in this neck of the woods i suggest checking this place out.

If you ask to sample any of the draft beers they give you a super tiny beer glass that makes you feel like a giant!
But since the beer is really good you’ll probably want to order a larger beer that makes you feel normal sized again. I really liked the Tuckerman’s Pale Ale so I sampled a few normal sized glasses of it!
Other than good normal sized beer we had some great appetizers.
You have to try the
Dock Square Mini Oyster Tacos,
you should try the
House Cured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze
and you could try the
Quahog Stuffies with Lemon and Tabasco.
Stuffies could be explained as the bastard child of a clam and thanksgiving stuffing baked in the shell.
It was actually not bad… Not great but definitely not bad!

I had the Cold Apple Pie drink which was great. Really sweet though, so if that’s not your thing…
I had no problem with the service, but my aunt did. I can’t say what it was that irked her (I didn’t understand) but she wouldn’t let it go. I think he was a bit rushed when he explained the way the menu worked (drinks were in the middle) even though the bar wasn’t full, but whatever. It’s a bar.

We chose Tap Trailhouse because there were pictures of their very clever, «colonial» menu posted online. I’m so glad we did!
They had two Pre-​Revolution drinks — Hot Grog and the Colonial Flip, which I had and enjoyed (rum, molasses, bitters, brown ale, and egg). My wife had their version of an Ol Fashioned and it was excellent.
Instead of full meals, we ordered three of their «Vittles» — a take on small plates: Fried Smelt (my wife liked them a lot), Cheese Plate (artisanal, creamer cheese, served with house made pickles, and brown bread — the kind that comes from a can and that New Englanders love), and the Candied Bacon (which comes served with an amazing sauce that tastes like the best baked beans).
It was all amazing.
We finished it all up with the Boston Cream Pie that comes in a jar. It was amazing. Get that one. I’ll get it the next time I eat there.