417 Taphouse — Restaurant in Springfield

If this is a bar that was someone's labor of love and has become a dive bar. The decor is a lot of fun and the staff is pretty great-- if you're at the actual bar and not a table.

The lighting sucks, which led to us sitting at a table waiting for service until we noticed the one sign hidden in the dim telling us we had to order at the bar. Okay, that's fine. But something on the table would be better.

We moved to the bar because the table was sticky anyway. The menu has a wide variety of options: vegetarian, keto friendly, and some interesting ideas. It's obvious someone put some thought into it.

The ginger beer we got was unexpectedly non-alcoholic but the most delicious ginger beer or ale I've ever had. The Captain Marvel and Butter Beer were super fun and tasty.

However, things go off the rails in food execution. The chicken fajita nachos just have canned nacho cheese topped with thick slices of bell pepper and some unseasoned chicken breast cut into chunks. For some reason the otherwise delicious steak sliders have the toasted bun inverted-- so the slippery tops push the contents of your sandwich out as you try to eat it-- and the fries we paid two dollars extra for were limp and had no salt.

(TBF, my boomer take is that if I'm buying a burger or sandwich, fries should be free.)

I will add that this place has the only Mac n cheese bites I've ever actually liked, so they're not missing across the board.

I think a lot of things are good about this bar. The drinks are genuinely poured well and the bartenders know their stuff. But the food and care of the interior need some more heart and this place...

Not a bad alternative pub restaurant in Downtown Springfield. I had dinner there after work yesterday.

I had asked 417 Taphouse on Facebook Messenger if they offer coffee and if they require purchasing alcohol to order food. (Dublin's Pass, Early Bird, and The Pitch are pub restaurants that all offer coffee and do NOT REQUIRE purchasing alcohol.) They said that yes they do offer coffee, and no they do not require purchasing alcohol. BUT--and here's why I give this place a 4-star review, not 5--when I asked Hilary, my server, if they had coffee, she said that they do not. So I almost walked away. BUT Hilary managed to find out they did have coffee after all. They just had a K-cup, and only one kind of creamer. Despite the limitations, though, the coffee made the perfect alternative pub drink. After all, I am a coffee addict, and I don't drink alcohol. I really enjoy drinking coffee at pubs as well as more traditional restaurants.

I had two appetizers, their Loaded French Fries and their Waffles, with some coffee. I had already planned to order their fries because I felt that they made good "pub grub". And sure enough, I really loved them, and the waffles. You see, Dublin's Pass used to serve buckets of delectable potato chips and French fries of their own recipe, but not anymore. I really miss that "pub grub," and I wish Dublin's Pass would resume serving them.

One last thing, one of several flags hanging from the ceiling is the national flag of the Republic of Ireland. They are famously a European pub country, just like the...

Excellent beer selection, mate. Expect to spend a six-pack monetarily for most beers not domestic on the menu. Better happy hour pricing can be found elsewhere, honestly. Carrie's, Finnegan's, etc. have greater drink prices on deck.

Some like the novelty of pouring their own beer. While I see how fun it can be, it is not enough a selling point for me to be charged extra for the experience. I thought we went to bars to be served?

The food will soak up the alcohol, but I'm not totally sold on the uniqueness of it all. Taco Tuesday is nothing more than over-seasoned meat on old taco shells. The fries are okay, but I can't help but think everything is just saltier than any other restaurant I've gone to in Springfield.

The oversized Jenga blocks and the foosball table are obnoxiously loud. The clacking together of several pieces of wood when the tower falls makes the experience a literal headache, most of the time. Having anything to do with Taphouse on the weekend is a sensory overload experience at all times.

The chicken and waffles are an interesting concept, but I've never liked the square waffle style they have. The Taphouse is righteous for avant-garde beer lovers. I frequent it because of my love of beer.

But, I always hesitate to give Taphouse my plans for the day, and lesser bars crave my attention to the point I almost always leave Taphouse for a quieter, more relaxed atmosphere.

I've had less than stellar mix-ups with the wait staff, though that was during the Bar's infancy, and I've grown to enjoy the efficiency of the...