9 East Taphouse — Restaurant in Dover

Not recommended. Went on Saturday 7 June, 2025 around 3:30. Slow to be seated in a mostly empty restaurant which should have been a sign to leave. It took a very long time for food to come out. They didn’t bring out soup I ordered so I had to ask for that. They also didn’t bring out coleslaw that I also had to ask for again. Ordered onion rings and got fries, and at that point I wasn’t even going to bother getting that fixed. Nobody ever checked on the table for drink refills or if we were good. But the worst part was the staff at the bar having very loud unprofessional conversations, dropping f-bombs and there were kids in the restaurant. We spent the entire meal listening mainly to our server who was at the bar. We could hear her the entire time ranting about how she could run the place and nobody knows how to their job. Meanwhile she didn’t do her job at all, our order was wrong, she never checked on the table and she didn’t bring any of the food put, one of the other people there did. The food was okay, but the service and atmosphere...

The food was great but the service was horrible. We arrived at opening and we were the only table in the place. There were 2 members of our group that arrived later. They ordered their drinks( a tea and a soda) but had to flagged the server down to actually get their drinks The server was sitting at the bar looking at her phone when we finally were able to get her attention. Our one guest asked for unsweetened tea and was brought sweet tea. The server proceeded to argue with our guest about whether it was sweetened or not and continued to mumble about it when she finally left the table to get the correct drink. We were never offered refills. We again had to flag down a staff member for silverware and napkins to eat our lunch. The food was very good and everyone received what the ordered in a very timely basis really the only poor part of the entire dining experience was a seemly lazy uncaring server who felt like she didn’t have to work hard for a tip as gratuity was automatically added...

Wednesday night, sat at the bar. Average selection of beers, 16 or so taps in the middle not in use, not sure if that's normal or they're just stretching the "Taphouse" nomenclature. Beer on tap was good though, tried a sour that wasn't for me but wasn't bad. Settled on a Dogfish Head 60 minute that the Bartender said was Seaquench... 😆 was her first day back though (based on conversations overheard).

Ordered the pulled pork sandwich after being told the mac and cheese was out (bummer). Took a while to come out, but expected for a slow night I suppose. The sandwich wasn't bad, it had good flavor. However, not what I'd call pulled pork. Wasn't super tender, so it was diced and there were a few unrendered fat chunks. Maybe taken off heat too early or cooked too fast & hot?

The place has potential though. Good location on the water. Maybe I just came on a bad night or...