Thirsty Moose Taphouse — Restaurant in Manchester

Two of us stopped in for lunch on a beautiful fall Saturday. We won't be back. It wasn't terrible, but not great, and not our kind of joint. For $65 we can do better.

The Pros: Extensive beer menu. Stouts to sours, and everything in between, including an entire page or more of those trendy IPAs, if you're into that sort of thing. The staff is friendly and efficient. We were greeted warmly, seated quickly, and got just the right amount of attention at the table.

The OK: The food. The menu is a good size, with a nice selection of stuff. You will find every modern pub staple/cliche you can think of. Poutine? Check. Tots? Check. Fried Brussels Sprouts? Check. Sliders? Check. Parmesan truffle fries? Check. A good big list of sandwiches, too. Everything we had was competently executed, but totally average. I'd go so far as to say this probably isn't somewhere you'd want to go primarily for the food. If you want to watch a game or get your drink on and happen to want a nibble while you do it, it's a good place for that. Just don't expect culinary delights.

The Cons: The atmosphere. I hear extroverts like lots of stimulation. If that's true this is a great bar for extroverts. Between the music and the huge amounts of crowd noise, you will have to yell to be heard by your partner sitting two feet away across the hi-top. And the place was only about 1/3rd full during our visit - at capacity it would be absolutely deafening. I almost wonder if they are piping in artificial crowd noise, it's so loud. Thankfully (this is sarcasm) there are 8500 TVs everywhere you look, since conversation is impossible. At least there's something to watch besides the bubbles in your beer and your tablemates lips moving incomprehensibly.

In summary, it's a chain sports bar just like any other. A local NH chain, to be sure, but unfortunately instead of taking the opportunity to do things differently they just copied the formula of every franchise sports bar. If that's your bag, you'll feel right at home. If you want to check out the excellent beer selection without blowing an ear drum, stop by when the weather is good and you can sit outside, away...

This is a tough one because you so want to LOVE a place right in the main drag of Manchester that seems to do so much right, but last nights trip wasn't my best. The drinks were very good, specifically my apple cinnamon spice margarita. So well put together with just the right amount of sweetness and tartness that made me wish it would last forever. And my friends Pumpkin Patch Martini, although sweet, delivered all the flavor notes you'd expect. Definitely more of a dessert drink, but good.

Onto the food, which was mostly good. Chicken Wings were 4 star and came in many different flavors, though they could have been smoked longer. Still, very good. Deep fried pickles were eye opening and good also as an app with drinks, but the "Naughty Tots" (parmesan crusted potato tots with a sausage, green chili and tomato cheese sauce), left a lot to be desired. Portion size and ratio was way off. Lots of hot and crunchy tater tots, but only a small ramekin of cheese sauce for all those tots. It clearly needed 2 ramekins. But worse; the queso sauce really lacked flavor in a big way. Sausage, although texturally present, was absent from the flavor profile almost completely. And a queso sauce with green chilis should have some hot spice notes present, even if faint. I had to stir in some buffalo wing sauce and to give this sauce some zest. It just didn't pop with any sumptuousness the way you want a fondue style queso sauce to hit your taste buds. The cheese sauce base was likely made with a flour based roux and not enough cheese.

I'll go back, but I'll avoid the Naughty Tots and Nachos that likely use the same...

I actually never write reviews but I will this time. Went here for a nice night out with my girlfriend, pretty cool place, nice atmosphere and plenty of TV's. Pretty good beer selection. The bartender was very into her phone and not actively aware that we were ready to be served. Her 2 friends came in and sat next to us and she was happy to spring into action and help them before us.

Aside from that, eventually I got my drink and decided to get some food. Appetizers were nothing special, just glorified fried food. I ordered a medium rare burger with fries, the bartender suggested I upgrade to the "Really good parmesan spiced fries" for a premium price. I did just that, food arrived and my burger was well done, burned on the side with raw bacon on it and the "premium" fries were actually barely seasoned tater tots that I could get at a local middle school. Those were horrible, food was pitiful. My girlfriend is 8 months pregnant and spent the whole next day throwing up, not because she's pregnant but from food poisoning. We went to the doctor and that was there diagnoses. Again, I'm not somebody who complains but for a 70 dollar tab I expect a bit of better quality. You may have 4 and 5 star ratings on your food but I imagine these are the people drinking in excess who think your greased up onion rings filled with scorching hot oil is good.

I'm no executive chef but I certainly know how to make quality food, and this stuff was just bad. My little sister and her friends could make better food. If this place wants to stand out on elm st they seriously need to...