Tavern On Main — Restaurant in Belleville

The ONLY reason I am giving this place a 2 out of 5 is because the food was okay and our waiter was extremely polite. My friend and I ordered a salad a piece (I ate all of mine), and shared a plate of bruschetta. I ordered 2 cocktails - the basil strawberry martini and the raspberry bramble. Finished the martini (it was delish) but sent the bramble back after 1 sip. It just wasn't a good drink. Either the proportions were off or maybe there wasn't really any puree in it (like the menu stated)? Either way, no way I was powering through it. So when the waiter came back around and asked how everything was, I told him the food was good, that I liked my martini I finished, but needed him to take the bramble back because it was not good. He was very polite about it and took it away. About 5 minutes later, he came up to the table and said his bartender will not be taking the drink off my tab because "people can't just come in here to try drinks and not pay for them." I then went up to the bar and sat down. After guessing who the bartender was (wasn't obvious bc nobody was up there when I sat down), I said "hi." She said hi back, then I asked "are you the bartender?" She said yes, so then I told her what the waiter said. It ALLLLLLL went downhill from there." No restaurant just let's people try drinks and not pay for them." When I asked her why she was getting so defensive, she told me I was the one being hostile and that she was "only matching my energy." Mind you, I didn't raise my voice. Wasn't cursing at her. Didn't call her any names. I simply went up to the bar to tell her I didn't like that drink and didn't appreciate what she said to the waiter. At the VERY least, she could have asked me what else she could have made. At one point during our conversation, I asked her her name multiple times and she REFUSED to give it to me. Even though I gave her my name when she asked. I ended up walking back to my table without coming to a resolution (with her, anyway). The waiter brought me the check with the drink still on it, so I asked for the other manager. After a couple of minutes going back and forth with this other manager, she comped that drink AND the martini - I made sure to vocalize I didnt need the martini comped because I finished the drink but, appreciated it none the less. I want to finish this review by saying I understand that this place is a mom and pop joint, and I get why they can't just go comping food and drinks willy nilly. But it is completely unacceptable for a bartender to immediately fly off the handle and tell a customer "you can't just try drinks and not pay for them." When that's clearly not what I was doing. I know I like gin. I know I know I like lemon. And I know I like raspberry puree. So there wasnt any need for me to "try" out the drink so see if I liked it. The drink just wasn't executed well. I will absolutely never come back...

This is an update to a previous 5 star review:

We came in on a Sunday around 515 pm. Tucked out of the way with the fruit flies, our waitress took the time to introduce herself and ask for drinks. My daughter ordered tea to which she would need to add sugar. Waitress brought three flavors of artificial and said they do not have regular sugar, not even in packets…. Ok…. Then the Waiter for the table near us delivered plenty of regular sugar packets, then upon request brought us some. My Guinness arrived half foamed and apparently unprofessionally tapped. Waitress said nothing and didn’t remerge so I went to the bar where the bartender didn’t even let me say anything and just tried to refill the glass. I guess my input counted for nothing or whether I wanted something else mattered not all. Later I got a flat Pale ale and just didn’t feel like “complaining” about something else so I didn’t drink it. Calamari was great! Ordered a meat lovers pizza and a half pepperoni/supreme pizza. Supreme and meat lovers came out, but not half pepperoni. So, we ate while my daughter watched us…. Eventually the other half of the pizza arrived. Waitress then asked if we wanted boxes. Yes please I said, and was brought a Styrofoam container for 2 large pizzas (kids didn’t care for the pizza, meat lovers seemed “off”). I asked for a pizza box, she brought me one big enough for a few pieces. Then finally it clicked and she brought 2 large boxes where I’m sure it was amusing watching us try to slide the pizzas into the boxes with the limited table space. Waitress seemed inpatient, and eager for us to leave. When asked how things were she didn’t stop long enough for a reply. Definitely disappointed with Tavern this visit.

2 years ago: I absolutely love this place. The staff is super friendly and the food is excellent. I come here often to watch the Cardinals or to have a variety of beer. The pizza is the best in town (I wish they delivered). I want to try other establishments on Main Street but come back to this...

So I'm not one to write reviews on restaurants, but this was such an awful experience I needed to. We just got done with our meal and I'm thinking of all the things that went wrong at this place. We were there today for lunch. The person I was with wanted a Mojito and they didn't have mint, so they ended up getting a mule instead and we asked for the house vodka. We got upcharged 3 dollars for the drink that we really didn't even want to begin with on top of the charge on the drink? what? Then I ordered a lemonade and dranked it down to the ice and started to feel a crunchy feeling in my mouth. I originally thought maybe it was sugar they might have added, then when i took a tiny piece out it was hard and shiny...and glass. I told the waitress and she got me another one and i even showed it to her. I really wish i would have gotten a picture of it. She came back and apologized then proceeded to ignore us pretty much the rest of the time until we got the bill. Then when we were about to check out we handed her a gift certificate for 40$ and she came back with a bill of 58$ that she charged on our card even though we only owed 18$ I mean after all this was said and done I was actually pretty upset about the glass in my mouth. The least a manager could have done was come over and apologized or comped our two drinks I mean the least.... but no nothing as if it's like normal or something? A customer finds glass in there drink and managers are to busy to stop by and see if were cool???? We paid with a gift card so i didn't want to make a scene but we left totally upset and annoyed. Worst service ever. Food was good and atmosphere was good, but no way we would ever go back. There are other much better places on main to go to with much...