Royal Tavern — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I want to start this by saying I have never written a review for a restaurant before, because I’m normally not bothered to write one. However, after my experience this morning I feel compelled to. As my friends and I (party of three) walked in to The Royal Tavern, we weren’t greeted. There was no real sense of leadership or direction on where to go or who to speak to regarding seating. So we ask the only employee near the entrance, the bartender, where to sit. He directs us to a comically small circular high-top table. Mind you, we are coming in to eat brunch. It made absolutely no sense to sit a group of three at the table so we asked to move. We were directed to the back of the restaurant and were asked to sit at a two-top table where they added another chair on the side of the table. Sitting directly next to the (open) entrance to the restrooms, we were greeted by the smell of urinal cakes and general bathroom cleaning supplies. After about a 7 minute wait a young woman walks over (May or may not have been our server. We order coffees and I ordered Huevos Rancheros. The drip coffee was over extracted and an incorrect amount of grounds were used to brew it. My Huevos Rancheros was tragic. The undercooked runny eggs sat atop a single burnt tortilla that lay in a puddle of black bean juice. The pico de Gallo added to the watery nature of the dish. On the side was a pile of sour cream with about 10 tortilla chips sat up in it. I have worked in restaurants for about 15 years and I just don’t understand how someone in their good conscience could send that food out of the kitchen. I asked to have my food comped and was so put off that I just wanted to leave as quickly as possible. I took two sips of my gross coffee, a bite or two of my gross food, returned it all (the waitress was not concerned in the slightest about the quality of product), and took my last breath of urinal cakes before leaving the restaurant promptly.

Do yourself a favor and do not eat here. You cannot just have a dim-lit brick building filled with an apathetic crew of hipster employees with a fairly untraditional menu and scrape by. I have never been so displeased with a restaurant experience in my life. I’ve eaten at worse places, sure! But the apathetic nature of the staff was what really bothered me. Reduce your menu by 50%, practice those few items over and over and use good quality ingredients and a good quality service staff that cares. That would be my...

I'm not an early riser. We went for brunch. I guess to start, the best compliment I can give is that Royal Tavern is worth waking up for.

First, the Bloody Mary. I only sampled a friend's and absolutely regret not getting one for myself. great tomato flavor and a hell of a kick to it. Absolutely delicious.

Now for the food. Orders at the table were the Strawberry Crumb Pancakes, An omelet with potatoes and toast, a Merguez Sausage plate, and my tater tot scramble.

The omelet looked like an omelet. A nicely made omelet, but nothing special in and of itself. The pancakes looked great, a good amount of strawberries, and plenty of the crumb topping. the bite I had was quite delicious.

The star was the Merguez sausage plate. I totally had order envy for a food I don't particularly care for. it may have been the best looking plate of food I've seen in some time. The sausage came over a tomato type sauce, with 2 beautiful eggs sunny side up, and a hash that had some peppers,probably poblano, in it. In hindsight I feel as if I'm a failure for not taking several food porn pics of it. judging from my friends reaction it was as delicious as it looked.

Now for mine, the Tater Tot Scramble. Compared to the sausage plate, this looked...bland. It was exactly what it said it was, scrambled eggs with tater tots, a pinkish sauce on top, and some toast. It was fine, but compared to the other plates, it was not nearly as drool inducing. Some parsley or a tomato or something would have made the plate far more appealing.

Then I took a bite. Perfect eggs and the tater tot crunch. It didn't matter what it looked like, this was delicious. A few bites in, I hit the center which is where the jack cheese and onions were hiding and reached another level of taste bud satisfaction. The chipotle crema added a creaminess, but I didn't taste too much of the chipotle. I wound up adding some Sriracha that they were kind enough to leave on the table because I like heat and really, why wouldn't you?

Our server, who's name I forget sadly, was awesome. She clearly knew the menu well and helped two of my friends down the path to meals they enjoyed greatly. She was quite attentive, but not annoying, throughout the meal. She was clutch in having our drinks refilled before we knew we needed it.

Will definitely be back next time...

If i could give it no stars i would. Place is horrid. Not so because of the food, but the service.

As tourists we visited 7 friends to be exact. There is NO PARKING for this establishment. Only slots available is the pizzeria across the street which clearly states parking for pizza only or will be towed. I took the shot of ordering food from the pizza shop so that i can take the chance to speak with them and delegate a peace offering which was if i buy a pie, can i park here and not be towed. As such they agreed. Great guys over there! As for RT.. i arrived with a small box and a tiny order of onion rings only to my dissapointment that the bartender Michael was a total douche. Immediately greated with hey you cant eat outside food here.

My friends gave him the reason for the pie yet he remained stiff on 6 people eating their food because of parking he was not going to allow outside food.

In total there was 9 people in the retaurant 7 of us.. 2 possibly locals. Obviously he cannot do the math that business is hurting because of poor customer service and business management rationalization.

I asked for a menu to try and rationalize with Mr. Michael. And proceeded to ask hey. If i order something can i eat a slice of this pie: michael reponds with NO OUTSIDE FOOD. 🙄... at which point my friends all decide theyve had enough rudeness and we all decide to walk out. Touche Michael, 7 guests and 0 tip. Plus various negative reviews.

Why not consider asking your manager to see if it would of been permitted given the circumstances?

Why be rude?

Michael if this is the way you treat all of your guests perhaps it is the reason the bar itself is failing.

Guests, if youre fine being treated rudely, this is the place for you. If not, go across the street to the Pizza Place and i promise you will have better treatment, parking, and an amazing menu which is not limited...