Thirsty Turtle Tavern — Restaurant in Whitehall

This had to be the absolute worse and most bizarre dinning experience we have ever had. My husband and I loved keystone. We were sad when it left but when we heard they would be opening this place we were excited to try it out. Fast forward to today my husband has been non stop talking and waiting for this place to open and we had high hopes. I CAN NOT make this up. We sit down and in the main dinning room and the music is so loud we are shouting to each other. People behind us were also trying to find someone to ask to turn down the music. Our waiter comes over and says he would be with us in a sec. Comes back about 10 mins later and says the weirdest introduction to a restaurant I’ve ever heard, but whatever. We order 3 drinks (which we had to repeat about 3 times) and say we are ready to order. A few mins goes by and our waiter comes back and is like “I’ll be right back to put in your order”. We all look at each other and are like what? He comes back and says “ok I can take your order”… we are like…ummm you already did we ordered 3 burgers. (The red flags at this point are piling up). Some time goes by and a manger brings my mother in laws beer over. Another 5-6 minutes goes by they bring mine drink. A manger come over and asks how we are doing and we say we still are waiting on my husbands beer. Then our burgers come, still no beer. my husband finally gets his beer after half way through our meal after having to get up and go over to the manager and explain to him what he ordered. All our burgers are cooked incorrectly and stuff is wrong with our order. I then start to feel the worst stomach cramps…I thought I was going to jump over my husband to run to the bathrooms to puke. Pretty sure it was the drink. We ask for the check and the manager was unbelievably friendly and said it was on the house. They comped the whole bill. Which they didn’t have to do and we did not ask for. It was such a disappointment. I’m not one to leave reviews on places and while I do appreciate not having to pay, this place needs to iron out the kinks or it won’t last. The people behind us also got comped and the party on the other side were also complaining. My husband got in the car and said it felt like we were...

Thirsty Turtle Tavern is a restaurant, bar, and pizzeria located on Grape St. in Whitehall. They are open Sun - Thu 11AM - 11PM and Fri - Sat 11AM - 12AM.

The menu offers a unique twist on traditional pub dining. While you'll find classic favorites like wings and burgers, the restaurant also features tavern style pizzas and sushi.

My friends and I dropped in for the first time last Thursday. Overall, it was a mixed experience. Some of the dishes were well executed and enjoyable, while others fell short of expectations.

We started with Chipotle honey tavern wings, Wisconsin cheese curds, and nachos. I also had a crock of French onion soup. The wings were sweet, crispy, and easily the standout. The cheese curds were decent but slightly under-fried. The nachos were awful, with barely any toppings and mostly crushed, bottom of the bag chips. The French onion soup was hot, flavorful, and topped with onion straws.

After the appetizers I moved onto the BBQ pulled pork mac & cheese. It's made with a five cheese sauce, macaroni, pulled pork, and seasoned breadcrumbs. While it sounded promising, the flavors didn't quite come together. It was decent, but not something I'd order again.

One of my friends ordered the chicken vodka dream, a much better choice than mine. The hand breaded cutlet, homemade vodka sauce, fresh mozzarella, and pesto made for an awesome sandwich. The sweet potato fries were undercooked and bland, but the sandwich more than made up for it.

Service was great overall. Tyler was attentive and very helpful with the menu, and the manager checked in a few times, which is always appreciated. The only downside was timing. Appetizers took awhile, and entrees followed almost immediately after.

Pickup is available, but there is no delivery. Happy hour is Mon -...

We stopped in this weekend because we missed the old bar and wanted to try this place out….mixed reviews. We sat at the bar and the music and beer was great but that was about it. Service was slow with two bartenders and they weren’t busy (at the bar or in regular dining area) but we will give the bartenders credit…they needed food runners. A bar shouldn’t have 7+ patrons at it and not have a bartender at it because they’re both running food to high tops. The credit we won’t give them is verbally discussing their grievances with their job where patrons could hear them. I’ve worked in the restaurant industry 13+ years….there’s bad days, good days, understaffed days and everything you can imagine in between but you don’t let the patrons hear about it. :( We were intrigued with a slightly different menu than what other bars offer but the food was mediocre. My husband was excited because the meatballs seemed like a staple here and they were insanely salty. My Cuban was on the spicier side (but that’s my personal taste talking). Full plates and we couldn’t eat everything so we packed it to go. Oh, spinach and artichoke dip was awesome!…we go to eat the Cuban the next day and theirs a metal shaving in the sandwich :( maybe off something used to clean the grills, not sure. Not looking for anything in return, not sure we’ll be back, but thought some constructive honest feedback would be...