Five Horses Tavern — Restaurant in Somerville

Date night - new place.

The good: great beer selection. Actually one of the better selections I've seen. It's a shame that the pours come in mostly 10 and 12 Oz. Especially when you're paying $10 for 10 Oz. Either way, it's a really good selection. Decor was nice as well.

The bad: we got 4 appetizers because none of the entrees stuck out as being worth the $15-$20 tags. E.g., Mac and cheese (i.e., the world's cheapest meal) was like $14 and when we saw am adjacent table get it, it looked runny and not very good. Our apps as follows: Chicken fingers - breading was as crunchy as the vein, that they left running down the centre of the butterflied tenderloin, was chewy. Cornbread was dry on the outside and so wet I could taste the flour mix in the middle. Pappas fritas(translated: fried potatoes) were in fact roasted potatoes with no flavor, and the chipotle mayo was weirdly lumpy. Loaded tots were the best part of the group. But who can really mess up tater tots, cheese, pico de gallo(which was actually just diced tomatoes with herbs) and jalapenos?

The ugly: service was atrocious. We arrived at around 5-5:30, before it got busy, and were promptly seated with glasses of water and left for about 10 mins before anyone asked if we wanted anything to drink. The server came over and let us know that she was replacing the previous server, that we didnt know we had, and took our order. Another 5-10 mins went by and a different server came over saying that she "was given this beer and didn't know what it was or who it was for". Some time later when the food arrived, we asked about the cornbread being so wet (my gf is breastfeeding and we were worried about raw egg etc.). Instead of providing an explanation, she left and a few minutes later the manager came over and said that it's supposed to be that way and "would we like for them to take [the same dish which had been cut up and moved around to look at] put back in the oven". We were also told that they "do it a bit different". We both lived in Tennesee for a few years and we've seen cornbread a bunch of different ways, sizes, and styles, but this was a first.

The uglier: I tipped more than I should've based on the above because I'm English and wasn't paying attention.

Not going back. Too expensive, food is underwhelming, and...

Support other Davis Sq restaurants that have better management and better servers. I've probably spent ~$1000 at this place, but over the last few months, the service has gotten worse and worse. Capping off with last night's event where the host (5' 10" man with short trim hair) was yelling at the three of us because it was "our fault" for getting no service for over 10+ minutes. Talk about a headscratcher, right?

Because we sat at a table in the bar area and were looking to have drinks only (at 9pm on a Sunday night); there was confusion whether we could sit there without having food. The first waitress said she was about to leave and just walked away! The second waitress (presumably the one taking over her tables) said let me check if we could just have drinks at that table. She went to two host people (mind you, it's ~8 feet away from our table). Chatted and then walked away. And never to come back! Neither the waitress nor the two host people.

After another 5 minutes, we just walked out. So a total of 10+ minutes, two waitresses came by with no help. And on the way out, blaming us it was our fault we didn't get served!

Even if we were 100% wrong (even though I've sat in that very seat / table and gotten drinks before at 4pm), why blame the customer!? and yell at us that it was our fault for not getting served? (Also, apparently it's not standard procedure at this place to apologize for not getting service.)

What kind of customer service (or lack thereof) is management training the host staff and to the "not my problem" waitresses? Anyways, perfectly happy to spend my money...

This place was terrible essentially because of its poor customer service. The drink menu was extensive in comparison to the food menu. I ended up picking a sangria. When it came I took a sip and it tasted terrible to me. I called over the waitress and let her know and she asked if i wanted different drink. I asked for a moscow mule and she said that was fine. Seconds later, someone came over and essentially interrogated me asking what my problem was with the drink. He asked me to be specific and that he didnt understand why I didnt like it. I gave up and stated that it was just a bad drink. Mind you he NEVER introduced himself, apologized, or explained my options before disappearing.

A few seconds later he comes back and asks me what I want instead. I repeated what i had already told tbe waitress-- a moscow mule, he then, in an extremely condescending tone asked me if i wanted to try it. I responded that it wasnt necessary since i had already tried my friends. He then without saying a word disappeared again. They brought the drink and the waitors and waitresses then proceeded to ignore our table for the rest of the night.

Listen, I understand that the restaurant is probably not obligated to switch my drink at no cost. However, for a waitress to offer it and then be subsequently interrogated and talked to in such a condescending and rude manner is completely uncalled for and inappropriate. 1 star for the extremely rude service. I personally will NEVER be coming here again. By far, this is the worst customer service experience I have ever had. Congrats to anyone who had a...