Tavern Underground — Restaurant in Breckenridge

I really debated between offering 1 or 2 stars. I have been to the Tavern Underground several times and have found their cocktails to be really great, which is why I opted for 2 (my previous visits would have rated at least 4 stars). However, I went last night for happy hour and was incredibly disappointed.

On my previous visits, I typically just went for cocktails and they do make a good cocktail. When I have gone for food in the past, they had this incredible Asian noddle dish (miso? something else?) and I was very sad to see that it was not on the menu anymore. It really was the best thing on it in the past.

Instead, my partner and I ordered off of the happy hour menu. I started with the cosmo, which was overly gingered for my taste. When I asked for my next cosmo to have less ginger, I was very disappointed to hear that these were made in batch and that this was not possible. I don't really think ginger adds anything to a cosmo. Being that the rest of the specialty cocktail menu really didn't appeal to me (surprising in and of itself given how much I enjoy their cocktails), I went next with what was a very mediocre Grenache.

For food I ordered the shrimp and the au jus sliders while my partner ordered the fish and chips. We both opted for the bay seasoned fries. Absolutely everything on this list was an incredible disappointment. Starting with the fries, they were clearly just frozen from Gordon Foods or something and had neither bay seasoning nor even salt on them. Pretty lack luster, but probably the best thing on the plates. The shrimp was pretty ho hum. There was some sort of sauce that basically tasted like mayonnaise with food coloring. The fish, grouper, was pretty awful. It was tough and really not at all like typical fish and chips. The breading was horrible and not fried very well. I was surprised that my partner was able to eat it.

Then there was the au jus sliders, which were so bad I almost sent them back. They were so overcooked that the type of meat wasn't even recognizable. Was it beef? Wasn't it? Not possible to tell. There was something placed on the meat that might have been cheese. Or not. It was so overcooked as to be unidentifiable. And then there were the buns, which were incredibly large and so dry I had to drink something with every bite just to get them down. They put some au jus in a little bowl too small to dip the sandwiches in, so that was useless. Not that it would have done any good because it was so lacking in flavor as to have been pointless anyway.

I was truly surprised and disappointed. The Underground is part of the Carlin, which specializes in seafood. How our seafood options could have been so bad is a mystery to me. Further, both are run by the same people who run Aurum, which has significantly better food than what we got last night.

Ultimately, my partner did not order another drink because he just wanted to get out of there. There are many better happy hour options in town that are a fraction of the price. (If we are naming names, I would HIGHLY recommend BRB's happy hour...fabulous food and drinks at a fraction of the price!) It is sad. I love the atmosphere of the Underground. However, that happy hour experience...

My wife and stopped by the tavern as we were strolling through main st. looking for an interesting cocktail. We were greeted promptly and sat at the bar.

We had 3 or so Bartenders working on Saturday, all of which were pleasant to speak with casually.

The atmosphere is best described as Modern Speak-Easy, with dim lighting and a relaxed cool vibe that can at times make you feel slightly underdressed when walking in from a snowy day wearing multiple layers, but as you open the drink menu you start to realize that this bar takes itself seriously where it should and not where it's appropriate.

The cocktails are named after various pop-culture and nerdy references, The Nacho Libre, Tokyo Rift, and SSJ Spirit Bomb to name a few.

I chose the SSJ Spirit Bomb due to being both a massive Dragonball fan and a lover of old fashioneds.

The drink was $20 which is the second highest priced cocktail on the menu, but I would say the service, ambiance and quality/creativity of the drinks definitely brings it in line with the pricing.

My wife is pregnant, so mocktails and non-alocholic drinks are her only option. We were pleased to find multiple Alcohol free options and the bartender recommended the Sparkling wine over the NA Cabernet and we appreciated the candor on the options as we have both had terrible experiences with "Alocohol Free" wines outside of sparkling options.

We didn't order any food during our time in the Tavern.

Our drinks arrived fairly quickly, with my SSJ Spirit Bomb taking around 5-8 minutes to arrive. It came with a house made uncrustable sandwich in the shape of a dinosaur as a garnish. The only downside that it was sunflower seed butter instead of classic PB&J, but alas many people have nut allergies and it did well as a stand-in for the real thing.

The drink was delicious, and the service the staff provided prompted us to make a reservation at the Carlin restaraunt and we stopped in for a pre-dinner drink before our reservation time.

Our second visit was quite a bit slower, I believe they may have been a bit short-staffed expecting sunday evening to be less busy. This lead to some heavy delays on drinks in the range of 25 - 35 minutes. We had arrived 45m early for a dinner reservation and when our drinks were served we quickly had to finish them and head upstairs, you can bring drinks from the tavern up to the restaraunt but once you start drinking them it felt a bit odd to walk to your table with glass in hand.

I had the Nacho Libre this time around, which I highly recommend if you enjoy the flavors of Elote as this cocktail really nails the flavor profile of corn, Oaxaca cheese and spices. The Cheese foam is amazing, I can't believe how well it works in this cocktail.

Even in light of a slower service on our second visit, we really love this location, the quality of service and drinks. We will frequent it during future trips to Breckenridge and reccomend it...

We had a great time at Tavern Underground with our large family party. The staff was extremely gracious accommodating our large party and 3 month old baby (did not realize it was more of a bar/speakeasy vibe!).

The menu has a simple selection of well-made bites. We ordered the burger and fried chicken sandwich, both were delicious and well done.

Their wide selection of specialty-crafted drinks did not disappoint, and it is apparent that each is made with intentional ingredient pairings and flavor profiles. We enjoyed a few options, and our favorite was the Curveball, which they serve on tap.

The atmosphere was on point — was a mix between an upscale tavern and swanky speakeasy. It’s the perfect vibe for a date night or dinner with an intimate group of friends. Honestly, a refreshing and different environment than what you might expect from most restaurants in Breckenridge.

The service overall was great, but the stand out moment was when we had an issue with our meal and the manager and staff went above and beyond to make it up to our group. Honestly, you don’t find that kind of hospitality everywhere and it did not go unnoticed — thank you to the manager!

Overall will definitely be back to enjoy the bites and craft cocktails — especially after 9p during...