Pat's Tap — Restaurant in Minneapolis

I have lived 3 blocks from Pat's Tap for the past 5 years and when I first moved close to Pat's I would go at least 2-3 times a month and always loved the place. About a year prior to Covid something seemed to changed where the food, the service and the atmosphere became very hit or miss. Seemed like there were clear management issues.

Being that we live so close and it had been almost 1.5 years since we had gone we decided to give it another try to see if things had improved post covid. Sadly that is not the case. First off our server seemed very annoyed that we decided to dine there. We had to repeat things several times because she didn't seem to know the menu at all or because she was distracted making googly eyes with her boyfriend who was sitting outside. At one point she even went to kiss him through the window while in the middle of taking our order. We ordered two rounds of drink and both times they would sit on the bar for a while because she was outside talking to him. To cap it all off after we were done eating and wanting to leave to make it in time to a concert at First Ave we had to sit and wait for 10 mins while she played pool with her BF and his friend. It was a Sunday night and the place was mostly empty so not sure if they had the B squad in due to how slow it was or if they are having a hard time hiring good servers after all the issues they had paying their employees with the covid shut down.

The food was good, not sure I necessarily love the slider concept. I also miss the potato chips that would come with the meal. We received a couple dishes that weren't clean and overall the place seemed a bit dingy. Sadly I don't think we will be going back unless major changes happen or its sold to a new owner. It almost feels as if Pat's has given up and is on their last leg, which is sad to see being it used to be one of my favorite...

The food here is good. I'm not even mad that they have very few vegan options because I understand that that dietary restriction is still pretty niche (and the tofu curry is bomb).

It's the service. Four occasions I've been here and all four occasions something is amiss. Service is abysmally slow, and it always feels like a lifetime before your server comes to introduce themselves and take your drink order. I also feel like every time I've been here, they're out of a few of their tap beers my dining companions' want, or they screw up my dining companions' beer order. I'm more of a cocktail person, and those are okay here.

The worst experience was when my partner and I stopped there for lunch on July 4th. Why the eff would you only put one to two servers on the schedule when you know most folks have that day off and will want to go out for food? Every table was full. And it was painfully clear the staff was stretched thin, leading to the slowest and unfriendliest service that I have ever experienced anywhere in the Twin Cities.

The only reason my dude and I returned on our most recent visit is because we had two free drink tickets and had just come from a store nearby. Despite some mild inconveniences through our dining experience, like both our table and the one next to us being super wobbly, which the manager kindly fixed with drink coasters, I can say that at least the staff was very friendly this time. Our server and the manager had a great attitude, making the not-so-great elements of our meal a bit...

My wife and I have been here plenty of times before and we've generally had good experiences. We decided to come back to Pat's Tap today because the weather was perfect and we wanted to sit outside with our dog. However, our experience today was a major disappointment. Our server, while very nice, was not on point. First of all she didn't introduce herself when we sat down or the entire time we were at her table. Not a huge deal, but usually that's the first thing a server does. The biggest issue came when we placed our food order (an appetizer and two sandwiches) then sat and waited 45+ minutes with no update from our server. Finally, she came back to our table and admitted "I forgot to place your food order. It doesn't happen very often, but I got overwhelmed and forgot about your order". She did take full responsibility and was very apologetic, she also comped the appetizer for us. While we appreciated her taking responsibility and apologizing, it did not make the experience better. A couple of other small things we noticed: usually the server brings a bowl of water for our dogs when we bring them, our server did not. Also, the sandwich I ordered was supposed to come with mayonnaise but I had to ask for it separately. Again, overall, the experience was a disappointment. We will not be returning anytime soon and will caution others...