Michael Waltrip Taproom — Restaurant in Concord

My family and I went to the Taproom the first time the other day. We had an amazing experience. The place is so open with high ceilings that even when packed I don't think it would be claustrophobic. When we went in we were seated within a couple of minutes by a very nice host. We ended up sitting near a big window meant to look like roll up doors on a garage. This let in a lot of natural light.

Our server came over, giving us our menus and talking about the beers that were on tap from their line as well as the more typical beers. We ended up getting a flight of beers that gave us a nice selection of various types they had (IPAs, lagers, Ales, etc). We got to choose which beers to have in the flight so if a person just wanted to try a specific type of beer that is possible.

We ordered the "The Bench" which is pretzels and cheese as well as pimento cheese. The pretzels were SO GOOD. I would go back again just for those pretzels. You get 2 larger pretzel sticks that are cut in half. This was enough to feed the three of us but if you had more people you may need more than one serving.

Two of us also got the chicken tenders and the other person got the Olympic Caesar. To say Olympic might be an understatement. The salad was huge and the person ended up bringing it home to have as a second meal. The dressing was already on it and mixed in nicely but they did bring out a small ramekin of dressing if we wanted more.

The chicken tenders were on the plump side but they were very well cooked. We both got buffalo dipping sauce to eat with ours but there are rubs, sauces and and dips to choose from. I also got a side of Tots to go with mine and who can go wrong with tots?

Service at the Taproom was great. The woman that waited on us was very helpful and very attentive to us. She checked on us frequently and had a lot of nice suggestions for both beers and food when we asked. The bathrooms were clean and well lit.

The space itself was huge and had a pool area toward the back and another area of darts off to the side. The server told us they have various theme nights like poker night and trivia night that people can participate in.

Overall this was a great experience and I would go back. It just opened recently and is right near the track so I suspect on race weekends it could be packed and service could be slightly slower but for me, I would be willing to wait as it was a very nice place...

I NEVER write bad reviews so this is a surprise even for me. I have been a waitress for over 10 years and have never given or recited atrocious customer service like i did this evening. I cut my meal early because i was so beyond frustrated with the management and server (young brunette with little arm tattoos). The woman who sat us was very sweet and kind and she said a server would be with us shortly. Unfortunately that was not the case. The server took almost 10 minutes to even greet us (service standard is greeted and given drinks within 2 minutes). She dropped drinks and walked away without even giving us a chance to tell her we were ready to put in apps. When she finally came back we were ready to put in our whole order but as soon as we said our app choice she once again rushed off without giving us a chance to finish. The apps came out in a timely manner but were delivered by someone who was not our server but we had no plates or dips so we once again waited another 10 minutes until the manager came to our table (she had passed us multiple times already but didnt stop) came over because im sure i looked visibly upset and kindly asked for plates and dips. The manager was the one who brought us everything we need and im sure told our server to come and check on us which she had not done since we placed our app order. I was already over it and wanted to go somewhere else so when our server finally did come back she didnt ask us if we needed anything just asked what we wanted to eat and said she was in the back waiting for our apps which is why she wasnt around which obviously was not true since someone else brought our food to us. We asked for our bill and left. Very disappointed with the service we received. Also this was 7pm on a saturday and the place was dead. Very disappointed and all of this could have been avoided if the server just paid a little but more attention to tables. Also server tip - never bring food out without asking if the table needs...

Finally went here after knowing about it for a year. The bad reviews had initially kept me away, however in the past few months they have gotten better, so I was ready to check out a place that’s very local to me.

First, it was the weekend of the Coca Cola 600, so I expected it to be crazy busy, and it was, but I was able to get seated right away(was only with one other person). Off to a great start, right?

Well, it took our waitress a good 20 minutes to greet us, then another 20 to get our drinks, and we had to ask the waitress twice for waters. Initially, it seemed like she didn’t even care to be there, as she had an AirPod in while taking our drink orders, and she just seemed out of it. I know it was a busy day and they were probably understaffed, but our waitress didn’t even offer an explanation until later on.

Finally got drinks and ordered our food, which thank goodness was brought out by runners and not our waitress, as we may have never received it.

Now this is where MW Taproom shines, as they have some of the best wings I’ve ever had, and I was blown away by the quality of the food and how good their beers were. Definitely made up for the slow service. I’ll come back for their food because we had plenty of time to see everyone else’s orders, and they looked great!

In the end, our waitress checked on us a couple of times after we got our food, and apologized for the slow service, saying she was running on minimal sleep and had been working since open. I’ve been there so I understand, but an explanation up front would have been nice as we just sat there waiting for the first 40 minutes.

It was also a bit pricier than I expected, with 2 orders of 12 wings, a side of tots, a pretzel appetizer(which had more dipping sauces than the actual pretzel), 2 flights, 1 beer, and tip cost just about $100.

Hopefully next time around the service is better, and the app portion is also more generous, as I would love to have given the taproom 5 stars...