A lot of people have told me I need to go to Pat’s Tap – mainly all of my friends who live in Uptown. I finally had a reason to go there – my wonderful cousin DishSoap was in town visiting and I wanted to try out something new. DishSoap is generally up for anything, so we dragged her to Uptown to check this place out. I also happened to mention it is a skee-ball bar, which may have helped the cause… Yes, I’m serious, it’s a skee-ball bar.
The place is packed. ALL THE TIME. Just put your name in at the hostess desk and grab a drink at the bar. D.Rough ran into one of her friends from college while waiting and we got (re)acquainted with her, which made the time pass quickly. The hostess said it would be a 45 minute wait, but it ended up being closer to 20-25 minutes. Even better.
The menu is full of amazing things. They do serious cheese-related items here, like curds, goat cheese fritters, and home-made cheese-its, but we were all in the mood for deep-fried pickles. So, we got those. D.Rough wanted the Harissa & Honey Roasted Chicken and DishSoap wanted the Bacon Cheeseburger. I opted for the Friday Fish Fry, which I’ve had a craving for recently (usually on non-Fridays when I can’t order it anywhere).
Bottom 5 things
1. You will have to wait. Maybe not long, but you will. Just get comfortable
4. I want SO many things on the menu
The place is packed. ALL THE TIME. Just put your name in at the hostess desk and grab a drink at the bar. D.Rough ran into one of her friends from college while waiting and we got (re)acquainted with her, which made the time pass quickly. The hostess said it would be a 45 minute wait, but it ended up being closer to 20-25 minutes. Even better.
The menu is full of amazing things. They do serious cheese-related items here, like curds, goat cheese fritters, and home-made cheese-its, but we were all in the mood for deep-fried pickles. So, we got those. D.Rough wanted the Harissa & Honey Roasted Chicken and DishSoap wanted the Bacon Cheeseburger. I opted for the Friday Fish Fry, which I’ve had a craving for recently (usually on non-Fridays when I can’t order it anywhere).
The deep-fried pickles came out and we were all thrilled. They were HEAVILY breaded pickle spears. Not pickle chips. And you HAVE to get the aioli dipping sauce that comes with them. These things were the best fried pickles I’ve ever had. There was a few fights over these as dinner commenced. We will be ordering these again. Probably one order for each person, so we don’t have to share.
For as busy as the place was, the food came out pretty quickly. I’m not sure if they have a giant kitchen filled with cooks or if they’re just amazingly fast, but either way, I was thrilled. We didn’t even have time to get up and check out the skee-ball action. It was packed over in that area with people playing, anyway, so we wouldn’t have gotten to play or anything.
DishSoap’s bacon cheeseburger looked delicious. It’s topped with Swiss cheese, fried onions, and of course bacon. She said it was a pretty amazing burger, so you’ll have to take her word on it.
D.Rough’s Harissa & Honey Chicken Sandwich had pickled chilies, Burgkäse emmentaler, garlic aioli, and is served on focaccia bread. She was really impressed with this sandwich. Lots of fun flavors, and the sweetness of the honey was impressive on the chicken. Great pretend-healthy option!
My fish was fantastic. The breading was thick, but not greasy. There was a lot of fish on the plate and with the lemon squeezed on it, tasted wonderful. It was exactly what I wanted. The tartar sauce added the right amount of tang, as well. The fries are pretty good here, so I would not steer anyone away from them. I’m a fan.
Great food, lots of good drinks at the bar, and an extremely lively atmosphere – and that’s all besides the fact that they have skee-ball. If we didn’t have to rush off to other plans, we would have stayed and played, but we didn’t. Next time, since we’ll be back soon. I guess my shifty Uptown friends weren’t lying about his place. It’s pretty awesome.
Top 5 things about Pat’s Tap
1. Deep fried pickle spears
2. Friday fish fry
3. Harissa & honey chicken sandwich4. SKEE-BALL!!!!
5. Great cocktail menu1. You will have to wait. Maybe not long, but you will. Just get comfortable
2. Parking can be an adventure during busy times in Uptown. Or you might get lucky
3. If energy (noise) isn’t your thing, then don’t go here4. I want SO many things on the menu
5. You may have to wait in line for skee-ball, it’s pretty popular