Cork Street Tavern — Restaurant in Winchester

I am only giving Court St. Tavern three stars based off of my most recent visit.

I recently came into the Tavern after a networking event with my service dog. I was told immediately that my dog was not allowed to be inside even after I explained to the waitress that he was a service animal. The waitress stated that due to health code violations, he could not be inside the building.

As a person that spent two decades in the military and earning the right to have a service animal, I was taken back by this statement. I even paused for about five seconds to give her time to ask the right questions when dealing with someone with a disability. After not being asked said questions, my party and I politely made our way to the patio.

When the waitress came outside, I informed her that I wasn’t going to make a scene, but she was 100% in the wrong for denying us access to sit inside. I asked the waitress if the manager was in today and she replied very sneakily that she wasn’t.

A few moments later, her manager (who mysteriously appeared) comes to the table to speak with my party and I. I informed her of the situation and she vehemently tried to defend her employee by saying that she was new, she didn’t know, and they had been in trouble before by the health department. She even had the audacity to say that she has taken her own dog (who isn’t a service animal) into establishments and when asked, lied and said her dog was a service animal. This obviously did not sit well with me so I had to educate her as well.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a person can not be denied access or ejected from a premise unless (1) the animal is causing undue hardship to the business or (2), the animal poses a direct threat to the health and safety of others. Neither of these instances happened or were happening.

When you know better, you do better and I feel that those two individuals didn’t learn anything from my calm but stern demeanor. Ignorance doesn’t give an establishment the right to deny access for a legit service animal - regardless if they had been burned in the past. If she (the waitress) was uninformed about this federal civil rights LAW (§ 51.5-44 or anything dealing with the ADA), it is on her (the manager) to train to this.

My party and I received subpar service after this exchange but still payed and tipped well. I hope that these two learned something that day; I am also glad it was me instead of someone that could have chose to make a bigger scene....

Very disappointed in service and quality of food. It's a shame too as my wife and I frequented Cork Street Tavern in years past.

My family decided we wanted to eat out at a restaurant that provided table service late-ish (7:00pm) on a Friday. Our first couple of choices had wait times of more than 30 minutes.

Upon entering Cork Street Tavern we were told again wait time was 20 minutes or more. As we were about to leave an occupied take left, the hostess said they would clear the table and it would be ready in a few minutes.

Table cleared, we were seated and the hostess took it drink orders. She returned quickly with our two sodas and a water. We then waited in excess of 15 minutes before we were approached by anyone! We were just about ready to leave.

Once our orders were taken the food arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

I ordered the fish and chips. They were hot is the nicest thing I can say. The fries were very unevenly cooked and not seasoned. The batter on the fish was nice, the fish flaky, but again not seasoned.

My wife had the pulled pork sandwich. It was just okay. The accompanying coleslaw and fries were just okay too.

My daughter ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries. The burger was cooked to medium as ordered however, it did not have bacon. I told her to just eat it as I thought it would be awhile before they could replace it or even just bring her a couple of slices of bacon.

I'm glad she did. We were well into our meal before we saw our server again. Our server refilled my soda, the same one the hostess brought. Upon returning with my refill the server noticed my wife needed a refill.

Finished with our meals we waited, more, for our check. I was just about to ask the bartender for it when our server appeared.

I hope this experience was just an anomaly. If going by this single experience, I cannot...

I visited Cork Street Tavern a few days ago, hoping my initial feelings would pass, but I feel compelled to share my experience.

The place wasn't busy, yet we were seated next to the patio sliding door, which had more traffic than the DMV beltway at 5:00 PM. It was extremely distracting, with people constantly passing by just two feet away. This is something I would consider moving tables away from as it significantly detracts from the dining experience. The atmosphere felt dated and uninspiring.

Food: Where do I begin? None of it was edible. First, I ordered the chili. It was bland and covered with so much unmelted, shredded cheese that it seemed like half a block was just dumped on top. The chili itself was congealed and came out of the cup in one solid piece with my fork—just awful. Next, I tried the pulled pork BBQ sandwich. If you thought the cheese on the chili was excessive, the amount of BBQ sauce on the pork was beyond ridiculous. The pork tasted awful and had clearly been frozen and thawed multiple times. Nothing tasted fresh.

Drinks: How can you be a tap house and be out of all your beers?

Overall, it was a very disappointing experience. I won't...