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Taps Fort Lauderdale

Taps Restaurant, Bar and Lounge

330 SW 2nd Street
Fort Lauderdale FL, 33312
954 459-7770
Overall Rating
2.4
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
04/28/2014

Details

Hours: Lunch and Dinner
Attire: Casual
Parking: Street Metered, Garage
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Full Bar
Outside Dining: Yes

Critic's Review

To illustrate what a complete and utter joke Tripadvisor is: Taps has won a 2015 Certificate of Excellence award. Now Closed.

In other news, It seems that Taps has tapped Marc Falsetto, owner of Rok:Brgr, Public House and TacoCraft to save their business. Now why would you ask a competitor to help you out? The idea is to lure business AWAY from Falsetto's other businesses, not to create a block party where the same people own all of the restaurants. You're just sharing the same crew of bar hoppers.

The "concept' is; hold your ball caps: Pizza. Yes, with Squiggy's down the block, Falsetto will spin his culinary magic to make even better pizza; maybe "Craft" Pizza? Or maybe round flatbreads? I can hardly wait.

Competition benefits the community. What's going on in Himmarshee is just more of the same with different bad actors. At least before there was Limoncello and Himmarshee Grill, 2 decent restaurants. Now you just have a bunch of bars serving burgers and tacos. And now we have another Pizza place. And you know it's not going to be good pizza.

Review 4/28/14

Taps Restaurant Bar and Lounge opened quietly and the 4 customers they had at 2pm is what happens when nobody knows you're open on a Monday afternoon in late April. \This "chain" has 4 locations; Tampa, Orlando, Naples and Fort Lauderdale; it's kind of strange to open restaurants so far apart. They bought Mugs Sports Bar's Liquor license, so we can forget about anything opening in that space anytime soon.

The first impression is that the place is very small, although an odd layout makes it seem smaller than it is. There are two dining rooms with a wall between them; the bar runs the length in the rear. Sitting in one room you have no idea that there's another; or that there are 3 more TVs on the other end of the bar.

Taps Bar

The bar has a mirror on the rear wall, so you get to look at yourself while you drink. I opted to sit at a table. The decor looks more like a hotel business center than a restaurant; chrome and laminates and couch-like bench seating. There is a big painting that I'll name "The Nipple". It seems completely out of place.

Taps Restaurant

The menu reminds me of PL8; they have "tapas", salads and sandwiches and desserts. No entrees. Sound Familiar? The point of tapas is that you can try multiple "small plates" instead of having to try just 1 thing, but the tapas here are $9 to $15. They're either not small plates, or they're wildly overpriced. $15 for meatballs?

The salads all sounded bad too; they all had arugula, fruit or the dreaded "mixed greens"; I went for the Turkey salad which seemed the most benign without any offensive ingredients.

I ordered an iced tea with extra lemon and it was delivered with 1 slice; "Is that enough", my server asked. No, "extra" means more than 1 slice. Music is good; Red Hot Chili Peppers and "This Love". A big bowl was placed in front of me.

Taps Turkey Bacon Salad

Ok, well I can't complain about the portion. Unfortunately I wasn't warned about the Mixed Greens; argh, yet another place that thinks that salads are purple. The turkey was the deli sliced kind. There was hardly any dressing; I had to ask for extra. The "crostini" was more like garlic bread with cheese, but not bad. I reluctantly ate the greens, but overall it was a pretty good salad. The only complaint was there there were only like 3 squares of avocado. They're cheap with the lemon, salad dressing and avocado; c'mon I'm paying $13 for a lunch salad here.

Service was awkward; I think the dude said "No Problem" like 8 times. Servers shouldn't say "No Problem"; it's their job to serve you. They're not doing you a favor by getting stuff for you.

He then gave me the wrong tab, which was stuffed with $20 bills and his receipts from the day. Awkward. Over $18 for a salad and an iced tea.

When I first found out about this place I was intrigued, but that was before Public House opened; and before Himmarshee was further drained of its crowd by Tap 42 and American Social. There's now a whopping 6 places open for lunch in Himmarshee; which is a lot for the 28 customers.

My personal impression of the place is that I don't like the decor; I wouldn't want to hang out at the bar here, or watch a game. In fact I think that there's a 98% chance that I'll never be here again, even if someone else is paying.

This place has the same type of "desperate to be cool" menu as Big City Tavern, Tap 42, American Social and Public House; but those places have superior ambiance and better locations. It's going to be a long, long summer for this place. If they even make it to next season.

Comment Policy Add Comment
Pete
Reply
You called it in advance, once again. Nicely done.
Katie
Reply
This place can't still be open? It's dead on Saturday night.

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