Taphouse Unchained & Bottle Shoppe — Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene

This is long. Sorry. I'm a detail gal. I am a big believer in second and third chances. I have tried this place twice. Once at 4:30 on the day of the Ironman, one of the busiest days of the year, and once when the restaurant was empty in February for lunch.

Day of Ironman, I was lucky enough to grab a table right next to the sidewalk on the patio. Awesome view. Great spot. Fun décor, especially for Ironman. A server came over almost immediately, which was no small feat considering how crowded it was. He automatically (nice!) brought me a water, and I told him I was waiting for someone who would be there in 20 minutes, so could I get another water, and a couple of menus, and I said I would be having a coupla beers while I waited. He said he'd be back.

After 20 minutes of me trying to get his attention again and again, even when he was at the tables next to me, he never came back. After 15 minutes, even the people at the 2 tables next to me were trying to get his attention to go to my table. Even they knew how long I'd been there, and they were just as upset about it as I was. He never came back, nor did any server or manager come over.

My date met me at the patio, and I left. As I was walking out, the inside of the restaurant only had 2 tables of patrons. I told the guy he completely forgot about me, and he looked totally baffled. I went to another restaurant and spent my $75 there. And will continue to. Turns out I probably got a LOT more for my money because... ... the next time I went, I got to find out how overpriced eveything is. Again, we were the only ones in the restaurant, so service was good. They boast of a good draft beer selection, and the refrigerator full of cans and bottles has a better selection than some stores here, and the prices were reasonable for those. But we weren't drinking that day. We ordered the award winning deep fried Mac and cheese ball things (you get 3 for $11). Decent, but I wouldn't recommend them to my friends. Then, I was going to order a gyro salad that was $16. Was hoping we could share it, so I asked how big it was, hoping it was sharable. Server said it was about a dinner salad size. Not an entrée salad size. So, then I started looking at the prices more closely. And then I started reading the reviews. Wish I'd read them sooner.

Even for a resort town, considering all the other restaurants you can eat in, they would do well to lower their prices, or increase their portion sizes. We decide to share some hummus, instead. We asked for some veggies to dip in it, and those were $4 extra. See Pic for what you get for (maybe a cup of) hummus that wasn't close to being smooth for $9, and veggies $4: 3 slices of tasteless tomato, 3 slices of tasteless cuke, and 3 pieces of tasteless celery. Maybe that is supposed to help you fully taste the hummus, but it wasn't good enough for that. I have never tried to dip a slice of limp tomato into my hummus before. I suppose I could have put it on the pita, but...? No carrots? That's all ya get for $4. Incredible. You could have given me 6 pieces of carrot and 6 celery and I would have been happier. Still overpriced, but I can dip those in much easier, and carrots actually have flavor.  We won't be back.

I see that the owner responds to these comments. I think that's great!  But, from my two experiences, I'm not sure that they take anyone's reviews seriously, nor do anything about it. Granted, some reviews are opinions, and people can have bad days, so I understand that, but a couple of issues are repeated from reviewers and, sadly, nothing has changed. I used to be a server for many years. I get it. I know how a restaurant is supposed to work. Sadly, this one doesn't cut it for me....

When you stay at the CDA Resort, it is easy to get stuck in the Hagadone Bubble. Taphouse Unchained is part of that. And, to be fair, it is a fair enough spot when you want to leave the resort . . . but not really leave the resort.

If my memory serves me correctly, this place actually started out inside the resort, when it was the townie bar in the lobby. That stopped making sense, so the townies were moved to the nondescript mall that the Hagadone Corporation also owns. Then that was upgraded/smoothed over and became Unchained (think: Tito’s used to be Tito Macaroni’s until that sounded a bit too downscale for the resort).

This place seems like a light-hearted bicycle take on the Iron Horse down the street. Less authentic. Less local. More welcoming for those who are shopping for touristy trinkets and boats that cost just south of 200K (it is a mall, owned by a resort, in a town that has gone upscale). The theme comes off as an attempt to be authentic and whimsical that only partially lands. Bar stools with pedals? Oh, I get it!

Good selection of beers. Boat chips (basically, house made kettle chips) are nicely prepared, with a generous serving and a tasty cheese sauce (that is somewhat shockingly served cold when it seems like it should be hot but still tastes good). The garlic fries are just okay. Salads are large and filling. Miss the cheese curds. Service can range from awesome to odd (and they don’t seem to have a good handle on staffing). One day, our server was slammed and served us with a smile and great stories. Another day, the other server seemed distracted and was more interested in sweeping than serving us . . . and we were one of only two tables in the place?!?! And you get those clunky CDA Resort electronic menus, something that must have seemed like a great idea a few years ago. Now, they are a touch janky and make you feel like you are surfing the web in the 90s.

I think some of the negative reviews are fair, in that it seems like you are playing a guessing game regarding who waits on you. I also think some of them are also fair in suggesting that there are other local places that do this type of ‘thing’ and do it more authentically . . . because they aren’t part of the Hagadone Bubble. But I also think that their beer options are good, the food we tried was fine for what it was, and it is a close walk to the resort.

Is 3.9 or lower a fair average rating? Yes, I think it is. But this place could be rated a lot higher if it felt like they were trying just a bit more and doing what they were doing more consistently.

Again, Courtney, no need to reply. You...

Food was GREAT !!! Hands down !! I am local lived here my entire life! My family is in town (who are from here ) so don’t think we are some out of towners.

But the service was the worst I have ever had! My family owns a restaurant and multiple businesses , we know service and are extremely patient people specially when it comes to staffing. But being kind to your paying customers is #1!! and when we didn’t get asked if we’d like anything other than water, we waited 25 minutes before asking if we are going to get our appetizers before our meals. The waiter stated “we are so grossly understaffed it’ll be out” We got our appetizers the same time as our meal. Then had to wait 5-8 minutes for utensils to actually eat our salmon and kids Mac n cheese. We all had to pass around waters because we didn’t get re fills or checked on. Salad for “up charge” for a side never came out!! The table next to us left their iPads and left because they were never helped. The server came up grabbed the iPads and asked us “is there anything we can get you?” We stated “yes we are out of water and the salad still hasn’t came” she didn’t say a word rolled her eyes and walked away. The service was so incredibly sad and never got an apology . While walking out of the restraunt the server almost shoulder checked me. Lucky we didn’t make a scene in your establishment. Be kind your customers it’s that easy. We were...