The Tavern Restaurant

Outstanding. Started with cocktails in the bar. Very cozy. Bartender knows how to make a great martini. Dinner was excellent. We had the calamari for app. One of the best. Dinner of Salmon and Flat Iron Strak. Cooked to perfection. And the sides were very good

Absolutely the WORST! They should be ashamed of the quality of their food. I also ordered a glass of Pino and it tasted like water. My martini also tasted watered down. I think they have seen their day.

Let’s split this review into two:
1. Service was great, no complaints at all
2. Sunday Brunch: Food choices aren’t great and I strongly suspect that quite a few dishes uses frozen food instead of freshly made ingredients (fried calamari, crab cake, fried fish…). Now, I understand restaurants uses frozen food packages, but not when you’re charging $ 20+ for brunch… not to mention, it doesn’t taste great.
I wouldn’t suggest brunch at the Tavern to anyone…

This is your standard «take the nephew to a nice dinner in the midst of faculty on date night and visiting prospective business students and their dads» restaurant. Generous portions of meat, bottomless sides in teensy dishes so you have to ask for refills. Frequent requests for refills graciously acceded to by staff. Not my style but perfectly adequate. Maybe I should give them four stars…(I had given them three). It’s not their fault it’s not my style.

Thought it was pretty good. Had a steak. Service was pretty good. Dessert was good.

We had the Sunday Lunch Buffet today! The food served is just amazing except that the rib is too salty. The price is also reasonable. We guess we’ll come back another Sunday! ^ — ^

Almost a home run. Asked for medium rare steak got closer to well done. A little over priced for the portions.

Had the steak salad. It was very good. They have unlimited sides with entrees, which included steak salad. The garlic mashed potatoes were great.

I’m making it a Tradition… can they ever make a good meal… not yet.
Order the NY Strip MR… pointless to say too much more. The outcome is always about the same-​not good.
Maybe next visit they’ll be able to get to 2 or 3 Stars

The Tavern is one of the fancier feeling restaurants downtown State College. It feels like you’re somewhere else not in a college town. The waiters and waitresses are always super nice and helpful.
The menu is constantly changing and always has fresh choices. The best part of the restaurant is the unlimited sides that come along with your entrée! You read that right — unlimited sides… for free!!! I always get corn, fries, mashed potatoes, & spaghetti! It’s all tasty stuff.
This is a great spot for a date or to celebrate a special occasion!

I really hate that our experience wasn’t better but my colleagues and I were all disappointed. One of them was a Penn State alumn who had been to the place several times in the past but it did not live up to his memories. I love the historic nature of the house-​restaurant and the layout… it’s got all these different rooms and areas that look like an old house and the smell of the burning wood is amazing. Aside from the ambiance, bread and service, there’s nothing that would make me go back.
The food is poor quality, bland and my co-worker’s dish was probably the worst. She ordered «Maple Glazed Salmon» with steamed broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes. First of all, the «glaze» came in the form of a paper sauce cup on the side and most people in the common world call it «pancake syrup» not «maple glaze». It was about the laziest thing I’ve ever seen a chef do… everyone at the table had a taste of the «maple glaze» and we all agreed it was pure, un-​doctored pancake syrup; they could have at least added some spices or brown sugar reduction to try and pass it off as genuine glaze. There’s nothing worse than a restaurant serving bland, frozen vegetables which is exactly what the steamed broccoli was. I ordered blackened Salmon and «fresh pasta», which was like having oil with a side of pasta… just wayyy too much oil and no flavor at all. We also had spinach-​crab dip, which was «OK». One of my colleagues had the crab cakes, which were like mayonnaise cakes with sprinkles of crab; sadly it was his first time having crab cakes and even he didn’t like them!
The one thing we learned about State College while being there for a week was the dirt cheap cost of food and drinks. This was, by far, the most expensive meal for the week and ironically, the most disappointing. We all came from different areas including Minneapolis, Atlanta and Bentonville, Arkansas and no one was happy to have spent our dinner at The Tavern.
I’m giving them 2 stars for service and ambiance only.

This used to be THE PLACE. I had my pre-​prom dinner here, everyone did! The ambiance is TOP NOTCH. The food, however, is so bland. It’s overpriced, the servings are small. Yes, you can get as many sides as you want, but really, there is no really good side. Their slaw is just cut up cabbage and vinegar. All of their food is like that. Their steak is thin. I’d much rather go to Roadhouse for a good steak. You can still bring someone here to impress the heck out of them, it’s just so romantic and beautiful! But the food is bland, boring, uncreative. I can’t believe the owner eats many of the things on this menu, especially their sides. Blah.

This is an updated review and one star less. It seems the lunch-​time chef is not the same as the dinner chef — dinner time is always good!
I ordered the escargot, great as always. I guess you can’t mess up sticking snails in the oven. But then my entrée and coconut ball ice cream were sad, I hope they do a little more quality control or training the lunches.
Will visit again this spring on my annual fishing trip.

Pretty chill place it’s a great wine and dine for a girls night out if you don’t mind the noise.

There are just a few restaurants in State College that deserve 5 stars. This is one of them.
I am going to start with the glorious dessert. Chocolate mousse is the epitome of the dinner. The coffee was a great companion for my mousse. The beef was EXTRAORDINARY. THE TERM OF THE BEEF WAS EXTRAORDINARY TOO.
I insist that the pièce de résistance was the mousse but the other meals were perfect too. You can order as many times you want refill your sides. The broccoli was good because it is a rich in nutrients veggies that has no taste. They serve it with butter and pepper, great choice!
My waiter was super nice! We left him a good tip because of his attentions to us and his smile.

The staff is unpolished, the wine and spirit selection is terrible. These people couldn’t cook my steak right 3 times. The broccoli is drenched in butter and NUTMEG? Apple pie doesn’t taste fresh, escargot is also drenched in way too much butter and had no flavor. They put the butter under the bread, you know so several hands have to mine through every last piece of bread to find it.
The chairs suck.

Summary: Resting on their reputation. 20−23% overpriced, by my feeling. Not terrible food, but poor value.
First, the menu displayed outside was not the menu given to us by the server. Turns out that’s their weekend menu. Why display it on a Tuesday night?
Ambience is nice, old school. Tables are incredibly small, though. At once point I was holding salad plate with my hands and eating because there wasn’t space to put it down. Our party of four was seated at what should have been a two person table.
Escargot, drowned in butter, no real flavor. If you never had good escargot, you would have been fine.
Shrimp cocktail, frozen shrimp dumped on a plate. Terrible presentation.
I had a strip, $ 30, felt like I should have been paying $ 23 or $ 25, this wasn’t a $ 30 steak. Good, not excellent.
Sister had veal Alexander that had no flavor whatsoever. Nobody could eat it. It was surprisingly bad. Took it home for the dog.
Other two party members had good steaks, slightly less overpriced than the strip.
Cheesecake, made on the premises, was excellent, but the chocolate mousse probably came from a box.
I give the place a B. Not bad, but not great, and not worth the money. Won’t be going back.

Came by looking for good food on the way through PA after a very disappointing lunch. Good, reasonable food. I admit I enjoyed the unlimited sides even more than my main. A little on the pricier side but not unreasonable given the quality.
It was nice to sit outside in the summer and enjoy my meal.

I’m not sure why many people still eat here. It’s mediocre at best, and the last time I ordered, the vegetables tasted like they’d come from a can.
You can do better for the same price elsewhere in town. I probably won’t be back unless my friends drag me out.

This place is really good and oh so filling! Unlimited sides? Wait, really? That’s just crazy. I’ve been here twice and both times I made the mistake of ordering all the sides and almost getting full just from them. Some of the sides lacked flavor but I’m not complaining because you could keep ordering the ones that you like. Our table ordered different entrée items on the menu and we all shared. The menu changes but I’ve tried different things both times I was here. Everything was good. Aside from the sides, for a town like this, this restaurant definitely stands out. It deserves five stars compared to a lot of other places in town.