Boulder Tap House — Restaurant in Rochester

We have been to Mayo in Rochester several times, but never really branched out more than across the street or in the hotel for dining. Last time we were at Mayo, we stayed at the Homewood Inn and Suites by Hilton (fabulous) and we found a gem restaurant that is the Boulder Tap House only 2 1/2 blocks away from our hotel.

We wanted to find a place that we could watch the Pacers game last Wednesday and just kind of eat, munch, drink, and watch the game. We were so glad we found this place that had ample seating in the dining area, but we chose to sit at the end of the bar which is a horse shoe style.

Our server was Ann who worked in the bar who I quickly assumed was an owner, turns out she was just the manager filling in. She worked the bar and interacted with the servers that were working the floor like she owned the place. She was seriously invested in the operations. I always seem to notice that and determine if it’s going to be a good experience or not. It was indeed a great experience.

Firstly, we told Ann that we were here to watch the game and arrived a little before 6 PM and the game didn’t start until 7:30PM so we told her we were going to munch a little bit and then get some meals but we were here for the duration and asked if it was OK that were going to camp out and take three bar spaces. She was 100% OK with that.

This place has an incredible beer menu and incredible taps and an incredible staff that is Ann. She was very patient and offered little samples of things that we had questions about, and she offered a Brewer‘s knowledge, although she did not brew the beer. It was super impressive. She knew where the brews originated from and she knew history.

It was simply incredible to talk to her about the originations, the crafters and history even though I am not a big craft beer person I found her fascinating in her willingness to stop what she was doing, and explain the ins and the outs. She also gave little samples and we landed on several favorites, heretofore unknown to us.

A serious favorite was brewed in New Ulm, Minnesota, The Grain Belt Beer Nordeast. Deceivingly Amber, but such a light crisp taste. Wow.

The food was so tasty. Cheese Curds which were huge cheese squares that would make every Wisconsinite instantly move to Minnesota; a Sourdough Burger; and a Stuffed Tap House Burger. All delicious and if I had been hungry, I would have ordered the Jalapeño Popper Burger…..next time!!!!

Visit this place. The people working their tails off in there are charming and the customers were very nice to us...

We visited on a Friday at about 4:20. I find it puzzling how almost every facet of our supper was unpleasant. This was easily our worst restaurant visit in 6 months, which I never would have anticipated based on other reviews.

We entered at the same time as another party. There was no staff at all in the main dining room, and only 2-3 tables with people. We stood around about 2-3 minutes waiting for someone to welcome us. In hindsight, we should've taken this as a hint to leave.

The ambience of the place wasn't pleasant. While we liked the soft rock music playing, it was so loud that we had a hard time talking--and it was that loud, even though the restaurant was almost empty. The tap menu was printed on dark purple paper that was very hard to read; my husband's side of the table was so dark, he had to use the flashlight mode on his phone to try to read the menu.

It took about 10 minutes for anyone to come to our table. My husband ordered a beer; he intended to order another one, but service was so sporadic, he gave up. On our server's initial visit, I ordered a cider. I was told they were out. I asked for a different cider. That was also out of stock. I did not like the third cider option, so I stuck with water. My water was only refilled once.

We ordered the cheese curds appetizer. We were told we could choose two different kinds of cheese, so we asked for regular cheddar and white cheddar. She even repeated this back to us. When the curds came out (and they technically were not curds, but cubes of cheese) they were white cheddar and pepper jack. I cannot do spice. My husband had to cut in half most of the remaining cubes so that he could eat the pepper jack ones and spare me the mouth of fire.

After a very long wait, our food came out. My husband's burger had apparently sat under the heat lamp for a while, as the bottom bun was soggy. The fries were quite good, though.

I had the Sweet Parmesan Salad without additional meat. It was very one-note. The dressing was supposed to include parmesan, but I was left wondering if there should've been parm on the greens as well--it sure would've made it a better salad.

We finished eating and sat and sat. No one had ever taken our empty appetizer dishes so the table was quite cramped. There were many employees there, but since there still weren't many customers, they were mostly gabbing in small groups. Our server was nowhere in sight. Finally, another woman stopped to ask if we needed anything. We were able to get the check, pay, and go.

We have no desire to ever return,...

I was really really hoping to be more impressed by this place.

Before we were seated, we were requested to wait outside in the fridged weather for our table. Basically there was a table open near the front door and our group sat down, hoping to be seated there. Instead of treating us like paying customers ought to be treated, we were kicked outside where we stood waiting for another 25 mins while the table we were sitting at, patiently and politely waiting, went unfilled. Apparently the management could care less if their customers wait in the cold, as long as their tables look empty enough for the government at this point in history.

Anyways, as we finally were seated (in the back, separated by 2 booths, making sure to follow the bs covid equality doctrine of course) we finally got service! However, our server did not know much about the beer list and couldn't provide many answers about the menu without constantly having to leave and ask the management. We still acknowledged that this place is still new and maybe they just don't completely have their act together yet. Is it really that hard to know if something is gluten free? Seriously just label it on the menu people.

In any case, after having forgot bacon on one of our burgers, and ranch on the side for another's fries, oh, and getting our drinks to us long after they were poured (they were at the bar, 5' away from us for a good 10+ minutes or so), we tried our food. Not bad. They got that part right. We also asked for a water. After waiting for that for another good 15 mins or so, I finally went up to the bar and ordered it from the bartender. He actually apologized to me for their slow service. I applaud you, sir. That was the most professional thing that occurred all night.

A professional and respectful management team would acknowledge and formally apologize to their customers when they, the management, should've known from the get-go that they were in the wrong. Maybe offer menus to the customers you're gonna make wait. Maybe offer them a free bucket of popcorn to ease their hangryness. Maybe formally and verbally apologize to them for unprofessional service. Maybe clean up their act and they'll earn our business again, a long time from now.

So if you like long waits in the cold, a confused and unprofessional management system, and getting separated seating from your friends, oh and let's not forget messed up orders, come visit the Boulder Tap House! Serving up disappointing service with 40,000 tvs to keep their...