Taphouse On The Edge — Restaurant in South Bend

! FOOD CHALLENGE ! - Details at the end

My family visited Taphouse on March 1, 2025. Jazzmine was our server, and she was awesome! She was very friendly and helpful. My family said the smashburgers were amazing, and my wife who doesn't typically like sauces said the BBQ sauce on her Cowboy Burger was delicious! They also said the fries were far better than most places.

Monster Melt Challenge: For my first-ever food challenge, I took on the Taphouse Monster Melt Challenge. It is 6 smashburgers covered with caramelized onions, cheese, and thousand island dressing sandwiched between 3 grilled cheese sandwich buns; and the challenge also includes a pound of their loaded tater tots covered with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and sweet jalapenos. The tots are not listed on the menu as part of the challenge, but they are definitely the biggest hurdle. It is currently $30 to attempt, but if you finish everything inside of 20 minutes, you get the meal for free and a super cool T-shirt! The burgers truly are amazing - flavorful and perfectly done and so delicious! These were a delight to eat. And while I'm not usually a fan of tater tots, the Taphouse tots were crispy and delicious without being even slightly greasy - I don't know how they did that! There are sweet jalapenos on the tots, but don't worry - they really are sweet and not at all spicy. This is a wonderfully delicious challenge to take on, but don't dawdle - 20 minutes...

I’m a South Bend local and I finally came in to try Taphouse. I know it is supposed to be a staple here in South Bend.

Unfortunately, I only had an okay experience. The first I noticed was our server smelled like straight cigarettes. I don’t mind what people do on their own time, but I don’t want to personally smell cigarettes before eating.

Another factor was the water just doesn’t taste right.

We started with the jalapeño popper stuffed mushrooms, those were actually pretty good, I wish it came with more since the price is $12, but only get 9 small mushrooms.

My boyfriend and I got burgers since we had a bogo coupon. He ordered the French onion burger and I ordered the mushroom burger. The fries were pretty good and crispy, but the burgers were too salty.

Lastly, I felt as the server wasn’t fully attentive. We waited for our checks and finally I just went to the bar asked if I could get the check. She asked where my server was I didn’t know. They called her name and they found her sitting on her phone.

I’m slightly upset because I really wanted to like this place since it’s near Notre Dame campus and it’s supposed to be a staple.

I don’t think I would come back for the food at least. Maybe a...

I've heard such great things about this place, but I was really disappointed. I was honestly not that impressed. Our server was sweet and informative, so we appreciated that. However, the atmosphere was boring and basic. Nothing to write home about.. And the food was just so-so. There were multiple smashburger options, but they were all so very similar.. Mushrooms, onions, or jalapenos. Not a lot of variety. There was Velveeta on almost everything, but I'm guessing that's their special thing. I got the French onion smashburger and honestly found it a little flavorless. All I could taste was the patty and the previously frozen fried onion. I was expecting a more bold and creative dish. Plate presentation looked appetizing, though. We also got the tater skins and garlic parmesan shrimp. The tater skins were on point, but the shrimp was extremely oily and the cheese on top was rubbery. I really liked the idea of this restaurant, I just thought the food could have tasted a little more gourmet and less frozen. I'm sure if I were drunk I would have loved it. It's something I would have devoured on a night out of drinking in my early twenties. As far as smashburgers go, Beibs and Ash for the win! My...