Tap Bloomington — Restaurant in Bloomington

What a waste of time and money. The service was bad and the food was worse. We walked in to find that the only unoccupied tables were dirty, and nobody was bussing them. After getting one cleared off (by literally asking the greeter if someone was sitting there), we sat down and (eventually) received our menus. It took over ten minutes before a waitress came over to take our order of a burger and a salad. It took an hour to fulfill (ordered around 2 PM; received after 3 PM), despite regular assurances that it was "on its way". Well, not that regular, because the only way we saw our waitress was when I actually flagged her down. And when the food came, it was terrible. The burger was dry and overcooked and had no flavor (unless charcoal counts as a flavor). The salad probably had more dressing than lettuce. What's unfortunate is that the food looks delicious, so you are really surprised when you actually eat it. However, we did have one hint, which was that the table next to us left without eating most of their food despite waiting as long as we had (see attached; that photo is 5-10 mins after they left). I appreciate that they took the burger off the bill after I pointed out that it was inedible (I gave up after two bites), but that doesn't make up for everything else.

If the management wants to improve, I hope this serves as constructive criticism: Clear off dirty tables ASAP, especially when there are no other tables. Don't leave them until a customer asks. If you ask people to seat themselves, make sure the servers are actually paying attention to their tables. Don't make people hunt down their server. This is a common theme in other reviews. If there is an abnormally long wait time for food, be honest and upfront about it. Maybe have some snacks for the tables or something. Don't keep people in the dark. We saw a lot of servers wandering around with food and trying to find out which table it was meant to go to (by asking each table). This shouldn't happen. Cook the burgers properly. Maybe get some meat thermometers. A medium burger should...

I've been here multiple (5+) times in the past year or so, mostly getting a drink with friends from out of town or family visiting. This place is great if you enjoy beer, but I'd avoid getting food while you're here.

I've ordered various food items off the menu, all of which ranged from pretty mediocre to sub-par.

1. The Charcuterie & Cheese Board - it's hard to mess up a Charcuterie board, to be frank. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the best I've had even in town. Cardinal Spirits' just tastes fresher and is more generous with their spreads/portions, for roughly the same price.

2. The Tap Fries - these seem to be "legendary" among regulars here. The fries themselves are good - cooked well, not too crunchy. The sauces they come with are great as well. However, my one complaint is they sprinkle a spice blend over the top of the fries before they serve (it appears to be mainly paprika). This wouldn't be a problem if they TOSSED the fries in this spice blend, but instead they just sprinkle it heavily over the top, leaving the top layer of fries 80% paprika and the rest of the fries essentially untouched. They should just toss them in a bowl before sending them out to ensure an even coating.

3. Fried Green Beans - these are good. Crunchy, the sauce is good. The second time I got them, however, they were greasier than they had been the last time, to where 1/3 of the serving was inedible.

4. Mac 'N' Beer Cheese Burger - this one was the worst for me, as it was the one I looked forward to most. The burger itself was just bland and dry and the mac 'n' beer cheese did little to relieve that. I found myself salting my burger in an attempt to get it to taste a little better, but it wasn't enough. I don't know it if was just a bad day or if it's a design flaw in the recipe, but I don't recommend.

Ambiance - 5 stars Service - 4...

I have been a patron of The Tap in Bloomington for around 4 years, however, I had a terrible experience today at the restaurant.

The beers were poured roughly 80% full (for the whole table - not a single occurrence). We ordered a meal and an appetizer that was not received for over 60 minutes (nor were we visited by the wait staff in order to inquire about this wait). We asked the waitress (clearly overworked - said she had worked for the last 15 days straight) and she said that the kitchen was understaffed and she would box it up when it was complete for us to carry out. Then, she told us she would bring the check. The checks were wrong. They had the wrong burger on the check (turkey instead of a bison burger) and there no side upgrade (to mac n cheese) on the check either. The waitress said she would correct this. Then the manager came over and gave us the burger for free, but the check (QR code) did not work and we had to ask others at the table for cash to even pay. Once we got home with our carry out bags, we noticed that the burger was still the incorrect burger and the side was still fires and not the mac n cheese. The waitress or kitchen still did not correct the order, despite us continuing to wait 10 minutes for the correction.

The tap is a great restaurant when they operate correctly, however, this experience had so many issues that I cannot in good conscience give them more than a 1...