Boulder Tap House — Restaurant in Ankeny

Went here Friday night. Service was good given how busy it was. Our server was scrambling to keep up with everything, so I understand.

Food was okay. We had the burger and shake combo - neither were really anything to write home about. Patty itself was very bland, which explains why there's a bunch of crazy burgers on the menu to compensate for that. The shake was, well, a shake. They also took forever on the shakes - we spent more time waiting on those than we did eating the meal.

There are no drinks listed on the menu aside from a seperate alcoholic menu. I had gotten the lemonade, but wasn't told after getting through one glass of it that it only had 1 free refill. It was also $4 - I wouldn't have ordered it had I been able to see that on the menu, so that was a little irksome. It also took forever to get the lemonade, just like the shake. Hilariously, when I realized I was charged twice for the shake, our server corrected it by replacing it on the receipt, triggering another lemonade to be delivered accidentally. That one arrived within a minute!

Prices overall seemed like it was designed to "nickle and dime" you - they look cheap at first, until you actually add up to what's "standard", and it ends up being more than usual.

I will say the fries were really good, and we got a lot on the plates.

Past that though, the place just felt pretty underwhelming for the price of everything. I don't think I'll be back - I get better meals and prices simply by going to...

The food was good, but the service was consistently poor—both times I visited. I gave the restaurant the benefit of the doubt on my first visit, since it had just opened. Unfortunately, the second visit was not better.

When we arrived, four employees were gathered at the host stand, talking among themselves and didn’t notice us. Eventually, we were seated, and our server was friendly but didn’t check on us after taking our order.

A different server brought my food and my boyfriend’s coleslaw—but not his burger. They also didn’t ask if we were still expecting anything else. We waited around 15 minutes while the servers stood nearby chatting. Finally, our original server came by and asked if we were done eating—before my boyfriend even received his main dish.

We had considered ordering another round of drinks, but no one checked in on us after we looked at the drink menu. Eventually, we were told the burger had never been made. It was brought out quickly after that, but by then we just wanted to leave and took it to go.

They didn’t charge us for the burger, which we appreciated. However, we were still charged for the coleslaw, which was supposed to be a substitute for fries. At that point, we didn’t care enough to bring it up.

As someone who worked in the service industry for years, I hope the service improves. My boyfriend had been excited to try this location, especially since he loved the one in Mason City, but we both left disappointed. We won’t be...

Food was okay, service was terrible. Went out with two friends. We were very polite but were rushed to order, eat, and get out by the waitress. It was a terrible experience and we decided we won’t be going back. We do a weekly dinner where we enjoy eating and having conversation about the work week. The restaurant wasn’t busy. Immediately we were demanded what we wanted to drink and eat. Then when approached the third time within 5 minutes the waitress said “menus are down, that’s a sign we’re ready” when our food came out, we weren’t checked on again until we were brought to go boxes and our checks which were simply thrown on the table. We wanted another round of drinks. One of the girls at our table asked for another beer. Then the waitress snatched the checks off the table and said “I’ll just take these back then” I never even had my water refilled, or offered. I was looking at the drink menu for a second drink and she walked by a few times, even brought the other drink by and ignored me completely. I didn’t cause a scene so I gave up. Chomped on ice instead of had more water while my friend finished her beer. Our other friend also sat there with no drink left, who was also still finishing her meal. Hope no one else has this experience. Maybe she was jealous that she doesn’t have girlfriends to chat with after work 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’d be wanting that 20% on more drinks and food, etc....