The Tavern — Restaurant in Salem

My family and I had dinner here yesterday. I don't like posting negative reviews because I don't like the idea of hurting someone's business, but in this case, the food was so bad that I felt it was more important to warn people. My kid had ordered the Chicken Milanese, described in the menu as coming with a lemon vinaigrette on a bed of fresh arugula. Sounds classic, great. The meal came not as described. The chicken was sandwiched between a bed of soggy arugula and a literal deadpool of sticky balsamic vinaigrette, old cherry tomatoes and stale fake parmesan, rendering the chicken sickly sweet and soggy. My kid initially felt self conscious and didn't want to send it back, because she didn't want to cause trouble or make a scene. I convinced her, after saying that this was not what she ordered and that as long as she was polite and gracious about it, we had the right to send it back. To our server's credit, he was a very nice guy and when I informed him of the situation, he immediately and graciously did his best to fix the situation. However (and this is not our server's fault) when the meal finally came back, it was as we requested but the chicken itself was borderline rancid. My kid goes, "this tastes like sour peanut butter!". I didn't quite believe her at first because I've never eaten chicken that tasted like sour peanut butter. She was right. In short, the service was lovely, they did what they could to make it right, but this restaurant absolutely needs to either fire their chef or get a new vendor that will provide the restaurant with (at the very...

Terrible service!!! The restuarant had seats available at the bar but Jada went out of her way to tell the bartender not to let us order drinks. The Bartender asked Jada “why?” because clearly there were seats available and she whispered something in his ear. After sitting down they asked us to leave for no good reason. I haven’t been this disrespected at any restaurant in my entire life!

Jake at the front was also terrible and didn’t want us to sit at the bar but it was Jada that went out of her way to have us kicked out. And what was the reasons when I asked? Because “we’re not taking any new customers”. And I asked what’s the problem to order a drink at the bar when you have empty seats? And they could not answer my question. What kind of bar that has empty seats asks someone to leave? Mind you we were well dressed and polite just coming in for a drink and they asked us to get up and leave.

These people should not be working at a fine restaurant. Was it because of our ethnic nationalities?

I’ve never heard of a bar kicking people out of their seats because “we’re not taking more customers.” That’s a terrible excuse. These people should be ashamed and the owner should do something about it.

What a terrible experience! I don’t recommend you coming to this this establishment unless you want to be...

We came here for my boyfriend’s birthday dinner, and when I say everything was absolutely perfect, I’m not exaggerating. From the ambiance, to the service, to the food. 10/10. Beautiful dim lighting, comfortable chairs. We enjoyed the Steak Au Poivre and the Coconut Curry with Chicken. The steak was the best I have had in a long time. THICK, amazing cut that was cooked ABSOLUTELY PERFECTLY to my Medium Rare liking. Flavorful, tender, amazing. And the sides were perfect as well. My boyfriend’s coconut curry chicken was excellent as well. Beautiful presentation, great taste, good quality chicken. Our server Brandon went above and beyond to ensure a wonderful dining experience. He was super friendly, down to earth, and had great energy. He was very knowledgeable about the menu, and made us feel super welcome. We enjoyed delicious creme brulee. Female manager on duty was also super warm and kind, was genuinely happy to hear our positive feedback. When Brandon found out that it was my boyfriend’s birthday, they brought out a really sweet & special birthday ice cream with a candle. Truly a romantic time, with excellent food and top notch service! Would definitely recommend this intimate spot to friends, and can’t wait to come back next time we are in Salem! Thank you Brandon, manager, and chef! Love,...