Tap & Vine at 559 — Restaurant in Medford

Not that impressed. Our giant pretzel appetizer and cheese dip were very good, but it took a long time - several minutes - to be greeted or offered a beverage. We arrived at prime time, we had a reservation through Open Table. Many tables were full. We didn’t really see our server much, though she was very busy at first. We arrived at 6:15p for our 6:15 appointment and then it took a few minutes to seat us. We were seated in the big outside covered pavilion. It was kind of neat and definitely warm enough. I am always wary when a restaurant offers many styles of dishes, makes me think of that quote “Jack of all trades, but master of none.” They have Asian curry, Argentinian, Mexican, American. We got a drink 20-30+ minutes after being seated. The appetizer took awhile to come out. The food also took awhile to be served. I decided to try the clam chowder that is made to order. My boyfriend had the NY strip with herb butter. His steak was quite good, his mashed potatoes were okay, and his veggie medley was good. But there’s a lot to be desired with made to order clam chowder. There were 6 tiny clams and the soup was decent with lots of bacon, but made to order doesn’t really give the chowder time to develop flavors one normally gets with pots or kettles of chowder that have been simmering and bubbling with ingredients cooking together for hours. Also my clam chowder had serious grit, which is pretty frustrating with only 6 clams in the shell. I took a bite and had that extremely off-putting sensation of sand grit in my teeth. Then my next bite, same problem and was quite loud, my boyfriend heard it. The bread that comes with the chowder is quite nice with the crispy crust and soft dense bread, but a little butter would’ve been nice with that, or better chowder to dip it in.

Our server never asked how our food was, and my boyfriend had to ask for salt and pepper twice. The chowder needed butter and cream or milk. I didn’t get dessert and I very frequently order dessert because I have a big sweet tooth. But I was done and didn’t want to stick around another 20-30 or more minutes if I ordered it. And by the end of our meal the tent had only two tables left, one table with 4 diners plus my boyfriend and I. Yet we didn’t see our server for long periods. She did ask if I wanted to take my chowder which I had barely touched, I declined, and I feel like that should’ve prompted an inquiry into why I didn’t eat it or want to take it. I could’ve said something and tried to get them to remove it from the bill, but he just wanted to get out of there.

We’ve wanted to try them since they opened their doors but the couple times we tried to walk in and COVID complicated that effort. Plus attitudes from their host staff one night was fairly unwelcoming, and I saw one bad review that a diner noted a definitive lack of customer service and attitude. I felt like that was also our experience. We aren’t in any rush to return or recommend this...

This will be our last time coming to this place. Had a bad experience and I’m not letting this one just go by. Was there yesterday with my family visiting from TN. They have a 8 month baby and she was playing with her rattle…not making noise excessively…her just being a baby! This guy comes up to our table and demanded to put the rattle away. “Ok it’s time for you to put that away, noise travels…put it away” with a demanding tone of voice, and NOT tactful AT ALL. At first I thought this guy was joking at first but they way he looked at us and tone of voice was unnecessary. After a couple of min sitting there processing what just had happened I stepped outside with the baby. And let me point that this baby is a happy baby!! Wasn’t crying at all!! Came back in the restaurant and talked to our waited and asked if we can go outside instead and told him what had happened. He apologized, felt bad and he accommodated us outside. I asked him who the guy was and to my surprise it was Joey the manger!! After dinner my sister and partner went inside to talk to Joey and my sister told him “hi my name is Cristina, what’s your name? Joey. Ok Joey nice to meet you, I just want to let you know that I didn’t appreciate that tone of voice and your demeanor, there are ways to talk/ask to your customers. I hope this experience will help you to do better” he said NOTHING!!. Seeing this attitude from Joey my partner approached him and said “ I see you’re not taking accountability for anything, we come here a lot and spend a lot of money…will be the last time” Joey then replied “ I didn’t think I was disrespectful or rude” and went back to eating. It’s sad to not have management treat their customers with respect. I’ve Never felt discriminated until yesterday I’m sure he wouldn’t have talked the way he did if we were white, yep we are Mexicans. To tell you the truth we should’ve gotten up and left. Ruined our meals. Didn’t eat. Joey this message is for you…there’s ways to talk to people. You have a position to make sure your customers feel safe and heard. You should set an example to your employees on how to treat people…and you failed miserably. The waiter was more apologetic and felt ashamed for what...

Tap and Vine used to be one of our favorite restaurants. We were regular customers but after our experience tonight, we won’t be returning. My husband and I came for dinner. They didn’t appear overly busy. There were tons of open tables outside! We put our name in for a table and had no problem with waiting the estimated 30 minutes for a table inside because it was really cold outside. The bar was full and we were NOT told where a waiting area was so we sat at an empty table to outside not realizing that that was apparently a huge no-no! Two Other employees who were very friendly, passed us, and asked if they wanted us to turn on the heater, and we said yes please and they asked us if we had reservations for a table inside and we said yes and at that point neither one of them told us that we weren’t allowed to sit there. About 10 minutes later, this extremely rude woman comes aggressively storming up to our table and tells us that we’re not allowed to sit there because they have a huge waiting list and every table is reserved and we need to leave and then stormed away! She treated us like a couple of homeless vagrants huddling underneath the heater. My husband and I were both stunned because the way she talked to us wasn’t friendly at all. We could totally understand if we were sitting someplace weren’t supposed to be, it wasn’t intentional, but the way she said it was beyond rude and degrading. So I decided to go inside and take our name off the list and let her know that the way she spoke to us was really rude and we didn’t appreciate it. She then proceeded to argue with me in an aggressive manner, and told us that she was “told to do it, so…..” it was extremely Unprofessional and uncalled for! If Tap and Vine condones telling their employees to speak to customers that way, or ANY human being the way she was supposedly told to,then shame on them!! Do better Tap...