Tavern 22 — Restaurant in Rochester

Overall, I would likely not choose to come back to Tavern 22. It has a few redeeming qualities but not enough to change my mind. If you like bland unsalted American food, this spot is for you.

Positives: big space, very nice booths, tables, and chairs. Since it's a new building everything inside was very nice. Plenty of parking. The fried pickle appetizer was really tasty. It appeared they had several pool tables in the bar portion, as well as arcade games, and electronic gambling/pull-tab machine(s).

Negatives: Server failed to tell us the evening specials, we had to ask twice what the featured beer (Busch light) and Friday dinner special was. Otherwise, our server was very nice. The food sucked imo. We started with the pickles mentioned above and the "loaded" tots. The tots were a very generous portion but the toppings left much to be desired: some shredded cheese (melted on but also dry?), bacon bits, onion, and HUNKS of tomatoes thrown haphazardly on top served with 2oz of plain sour cream. The toppings were barely there and had no flavor. I think if they could add more toppings and another side of sauce (like aoili?? Chipotle sauce??) they might be worth it. Second, I got the Reuben with fries - this is my go to sandwich to try at a new place. The fries were under cooked and had no salt at all. Very disappointing. The sandwich was the same: the dressing tasted like mayo and sugar with some orange food coloring, it had no flavor but sweet, it was served on the side. The sandwich itself also lacked any flavor or texture, the only redeeming quality is it wasn't greasy or soggy. The sauerkraut was mushy like gas station kraut but didn't have any flavor at all. The corned beef and cheese likewise lacked any seasoning, it was little more than chewy wet paper. Overall, I hated the sandwich and the fries. Maybe I ordered the wrong thing for this establishment.

My dining companions got a burger, the Friday fish special batter fried, and the chicken sandwich.

Thankfully, they had ketchup and hot sauce on the table because it's the only flavoring you're going to get there. You must ask for mustard if you want it for your burger (which my dining companion did) which is a strange thing not to have...

I really wanted to like this place, but was pretty disappointed. We seated ourselves and waited about 15 minutes for anyone to come take our drink order. We were about to leave when she finally showed up. It wasn’t busy on our side- we set on the side with tables & booths opposite the bar. Maybe 2 other tables. We finally received our beverages and were ready to order. I wanted the Broasted chicken, but was told they no longer offer the 2 piece. I would have to get 1/2 chicken or whole chicken. 😳. I have a hard time getting through more than one piece and part of a side. She left and came back 5 minutes later- I ordered a burger. I don’t recall what my hubby ordered, but she said they were out of it- to pick something else. He was trying to quickly come up with an alternative. She didn’t want to wait, and said she would come back….she went off playing on her cell phone. She came back 10 minutes later- finally took our order. We received the food very quickly. I got the burger and it was very basic. No lettuce, pickle, tomato, onion…..just a burger with cheese. Very unimpressive. My hubby got his food and he was felt like it lacked flavor. We were out of drinks- like zero to drink and she never came back by to get us another beer, didn’t offer water. Nothing. We saw her back on her cell phone. The service was poor and food just okay. It wasn’t bad, but nothing that would make me want to return. I liked the way the restaurant was a bit separate from the bar if you had youth with or friends that don’t drink. Maybe we would have had better drink service on the other side? I’m not sure, maybe this side doesn’t expect you to order alcohol. It was just odd. We had wanted desserts, but when we asked the waitress she said they don’t have desserts. We paid and left. We ended up going to the bar across the street. They have a mile high chocolate cake and great service. Free popcorn too. It was our only time coming to this restaurant and...

I was hoping that TAVERN 22 would be good, being that it’s only a mile or so down the road from where I live, I wanted to add it to my list of “go-to” places that were close to me and conveniently easy to get to…I was NOT disappointed…my cousin and I went on a Friday nite, which is normally “burgers and beer” night, but we were grilling burgers and hotdogs the next nite for our “monthly poker get together” so we had to consult they’re quite large menu for something else…The Tavern was rumored to have good chicken, as well as they’re famous “Juicy Lucy’s”(hamburgers stuffed with cheese) originally introduced to Rochester by the NEWT’S restaurant some years ago…Our waitress Sara (ask for her, she’s GREAT!) confirmed that the chicken was good, so I ordered a crispy chicken sandwich w/coleslaw and my cousin with his larger appetite went with the 1/2 chicken dinner…EXELLENT, is the only word that comes to mind here, piping hot and served up quickly, despite it being a Friday nite…The Tavern is large and split into two sections, one side a family oriented restaurant and the other side a bar with a “sports and game” atmosphere, the latter being a GREAT place to take in a Twins or a Vikings game…In summary, I’ll be going back soon, and I think I’ll have another crispy chicken sandwich and cold beer! Heck, in the summer you can grill your own burgers!!…but just TRY and make chicken like...