TapRoot — Restaurant in Decatur

Not at all impressed. Passing through town on a business trip, we were looking for somewhere interesting to eat dinner for the night. TapRoot had a modern looking menu, so we went with that.

The good basically ends there. Walking into the building, it smells heavily of tobacco smoke, as did the table they sat us at. I am not sure if it's the cigar lounge below, but it was awful. The decor makes no sense, the lights above covered in dust, the curtains that barely fit in the windows and look ridiculous, the wobbly chair... I have no idea what they are going for, but hey, the table had flowers.

We ordered cocktails, I will say the drinks came out quickl (in poorly cleaned glasses), but they didn't taste bad, just incredibly sweet (we tried 4 off of the list) like a dessert, not balanced at all.

The bread came out quickly, followed shortly by our appetizers (bacon crab dip and lobster stuffed mushrooms). The bread wasn't bad, covered in butter (so inedible if vegan) and warm. The mushrooms were so dry and lacking much flavor. They reminded me of store-bought stuffed mushrooms you just throw in an oven, edible but not good. The dip basically tasted like a baked potato topping, salty sour cream, and bacon... some may appreciate this, but it was way too salty for me. It came out in an incredibly hot dish, but the dip was cold.

The service was good until this point of the night, but the building was now full of customers. You could see the waiter struggling to keep up, as well as the kitchen, because many tables around us were getting their food brought out one dish at a time as their company waited patiently. Our water was no longer being filled, longer waits to be checked on, but the waiter never buried his head in the sand either and truly did his best.

The entrees come to our table. I ordered the duck tacos. Oh boy, his has to be one of the worst dishes someone has brought to me in a while. The duck was gamey and watery, like it was cooked in a slow cooker. As if they just scooped it into a flour tortilla that was pulled out of a package. It was so incredibly salty. A completely inedible dish. Disgusting. I will normally choke down something if it's less than perfect, not today.

My wife ordered the crab encrusted cod. It wasn't bad, but it tasted like garlic bread. It came with potatoes and so much melted cheese. The potatoes tasted like cheese garlic bread 😄. I mean, we might as well have ordered garlic bread. The food is laughablely mediocre, to just bad. There can't be a chef, or they are terrible at making recipes.

I eventually asked for boxes, got them. Left my duck tacos with two bites taken right there on the table. Nobody asked if they were okay, just took them away and charged me for them. The waiter eventually asked if we wanted dessert. Not in a way that was trying to make the restaurant money, in a way that read as "Please don't, we are slammed. Oh, thank you for not ordering, have a good night."

I rarely say this because I will usually give someone a second chance. Not this place. Waaaay too many corners cut in the kitchen to keep up. Bravo to the ladies that sat us at our table. They were lovely. The waiter did his best but slightly deteriorated under pressure. Still, the service was better than anything else going on in that place.

I am shocked by the reviews for Taproot, I always try to be fair, this was just a bad experience in...

We came here because the grille was having a private event and we were hungry. From the outside, it doesn't look as nice as the inside is! I thought it was going to be like a pub and grille. But the black linen table clothes, fresh flowers on every table, low lighting and soft music background, makes this spot an incredibly romantic date night spot. We were sat near a window and the waiter quickly greeted us at the table for our drink order. The espresso martini is like drinking chocolate covered coffee beans and I immediately decided I would like to have one of them every morning instead of my normal coffee. We ordered cheese curds from the appetizer menu and those were decent, however we weren't crazy about the cocktail sauce for the dip. A simple marinara would have been nice. For dinner I ordered the veggie burger on the pretzel bun with fries. It has a very distinct flavor, but a good one at that. With a little sauce or seasoning of some sort, this burger would be perfect. My boyfriend had the regular burger with bacon and fries and says it was good, but nothing special. However, the dessert was HEAVENLY. The dessert made everything else worth it. We ordered the strawberry shortcake and my goodness. This was a dessert that left us wanting more. Our service was fantastic, food was decent, atmosphere was intimate and romantic...over all, it was a great experience. Next time we are in town we will plan a...

I would normally give Taproot a much higher rating but all I can honestly give is a 2.0-2.5 rating after last night's dining experience. Our reservation was at 7:30 and our food did not come out until 9:00. We had a party of 8 (celebrating several birthdays). Most of us ordered twice baked potatoes - they later came out to tell us they were out (okay, that happens). We ordered garlic mashed potatoes instead. When our food finally came out some of us had mashed potatoes and some of us did not (they ran out of those as well). Our food was barely warm (the mashed potatoes were cold). I ordered the truffle filet medium-rare and it was cooked medium-well. All of our meat was overcooked except for one steak (he likes his well done). The drinks were good, the cheese curds & crab dip apps were yummy, and the bread is always delicious. Taproot has a nice atmosphere. We have been many times but last night was sub par. The manager came out to apologize and some of our meals were taken off (the meals we didn't eat). We will go back but it won't be for a long time. I hope whatever happened was just a bad night and...