Tav on the Ave — Restaurant in Mankato

This place should change their name from Tav on the Ave to Additional Charge on the Boulevard.

I really, really wanted to like this place. They have a nice patio and a happy hour - what more could we ask for? Unfortunately, after we got several surprises on the bill, we all felt nickel and dimed to the point where we won't go back. (I recommend bringing your own food to the Mankato Brewery for awesome beer and happy-hour prices all day every day).

A group of us stopped into Tav on the Ave to enjoy happy hour on their patio. The drink prices were not great - but the appetizer prices were good so we started with onion rings and cheese curds... both were about what you'd expect. Good - but not because they were gourmet - good because they were deep fried anything.

We all ordered veggie burgers - two plain and one with cheese. My wife asked for sauerkraut and I asked for a side of barbecue sauce. The burgers come with chips - and the menu says it's 1.50 extra for fries. When two of us ordered fries, the waitress asked what kind of fries we wanted and listed some pretty amazing choices. I ordered sweet potato and my friend ordered waffle-cut. My wife asked for a salad - which the waitress said would be extra.

Everything was about what you'd expect - with the exception of the salad. I think this salad was one of the first salads ever invented. All the lettuce was brown around the edges - the carrot shavings had dried out - and the croutons were petrified. I know gerbils that wouldn't have eaten this salad.

The food, other than the salad, was fine.

Then we got the bill. Each of us had been additional charged to the tune of about 10% on our bill... the fries weren't 1.50 extra, they were 2.50 extra. The 1.50 was for french fries. Specialty fries were 2.50 extra... which is fine if it's printed or your waitress tells you. It is not fine when someone says I want fries to offer them a selection and not tell them that there is an additional additional charge for most of them. Inedible salad? 3 bucks. Barbecue sauce? Extra. Sauerkraut? Extra.

The only reason I gave them two stars is because the service was fantastic.

We...

We were promptly sat. Our server was very nice. We had seen a 25oz Long Island tea on the online menu and we were excited to try it. The first one came out and was okay. We ordered coconut chicken, loaded fries, chicken wing bone in, a bourbon burger, pulled pork tacos and fish tacos and another round of the Long Island teas. The drinks came back and one was dark and the other see through. One drink was completely just sweet and sours or lemonade and the other was mostly cola of some sort and sweet and sour. We didnt finish either one and I ordered a beer. The food came out. The coconut chicken was not anything special and didn’t taste like coconut. The onion rights that came with the chicken was from a bag. The fries were okay, the chicken wings had sat under the heat lamp for a long time and the sauce if it had any was dried. The burger had absolutely no flavor at all and that is hard to do with a BOURBON BURGER. The fish tacos were cold and the fish was somehow chopped up or it looks like mash somehow, the beans and rice that came with it were the worst I’ve ever seen and the beans were dry and flavored with taco seasoning maybe? The pork tacos were unimpressive. At least the beer was cold. None of us finish our drinks or meals. When our awesome server asked us if we needed boxes, we said no thank you just the check please. She questioned us about the food and we told her was I had previously stated. A manager of some sort had came out and apologized about the food and gave us a voucher for a free entree for a chance to get us back. The bill total was $178. $52 of it being for the Long Island teas. We left the voucher on the table and will not be back. We heard they had good food and maybe it was an off night for food and drinks but the visit was so bad that we will never return. We are here for work and from out of town so maybe that was good food for a local standard but I find it hard to believe that anyone would say...

We stopped here by recommendation of some locals. The atmosphere and decorations were very welcoming. The menu was large with many options for our whole family. My wife and I ordered beer and my wife asked to have an olive put in her beer. We ordered our food and asked to have some mayonnaise added to our daughter's cheeseburger. I was asked what side I wanted with my burger and I decided on veggies. Nothing was said about extra charges or substitutions. The food was good, but when we got our bill I was very disappointed in the "Extra charges". They charged us $1 (2x$.50) for the mayo(we didn't even use one of the two containers of Mayo they brought). They charges us $. 25 for the olive and $3 for my veggies. I literally got two pieces of broccoli and 5 green beans! The fact that we were not told about these before we ordered was baden ought, but it gets worse! We asked to talk to a manager after seeing the bill. He apologized and offered to make it right by taking some stuff off our bill. He took off $1.25 for the Mayo and the olive! That's it! For a $53 bill, that was not enough, in my opinion.

The net experience has left me deciding that we will never go back to this restaurant. I have noticed more and more that customer service is dead in a vast majority of restaurants nowadays. I can honestly say that I have not gotten my orders right in any fast food drive through for over a year. I have called to complain and get nothing more than a commensurate apology in a monotone voice. My experience at this restaurant was...