Max's Tavern

I was lucky enough to catch this during happy hour, which gave me a chance to try a few of their items for a relatively low price.

Cheeseburger Sliders - the pickles seemed to be homemade and really complimented the house sauce they put on the burger. It was perfectly sweet and moist, which can often be over cooked with a bite so small. The $5 order came with two mini burgers, which seemed about right for the quantity and quality.

Pulled Pork Sliders - The pulled pork on the sliders was quite a bit smaller than the amount of meat on the cheeseburger sliders, but overall the bbq sauce was a good mix of tangy and sweet.

Mac N Cheese Side - Very creamy cheese and the bread crumbs were perfectly topped off. I thought the cheese blend though was a bit dull compared to other places. It definitely could have used some stronger flavors to give it a true signature at Max's.

Buffalo Wings - They were grilled and not deep fried, which was fine. The buffalo sauce was definitely not your average store bought sauce, which was a pleasant surprise overall.

My only complaint was no happy hour drink specials! They had a good selection of bottled beers to choose from however. All the small menu items do add up though!

Wait staff I had was attentive for our needs, so it was an overall positive experience!

In a town where there are limited decent restaurants this is an acceptable option. This chain of restaurants is known for quality food throughout CT and southern New England, but this location seems to be staffed with folks that are either trained poorly or just don't care about proper customer service.  I have been there a number of times for business and solo and the experience is similar, most recently however I was absolutely floored by the offensive behavior of one server in particular and it was significant enough to write this review.

I went in during the week, right around 5pm.  The bar here is a busy and loud one, and while it's a fine place to grab a cocktail and an app, I needed to do work, was going to eat a full meal and have a glass of wine.  I requested to be seated in the restaurant where it was more quiet (it was 5pm, there were maybe 2 other tables in that area and 1 waitress, with another that came on shift shortly after I arrived).  The hostess was nice enough, as she looked at her seating chart to determine the best spot to put me in, the waitress came up behind her to close out a tab and made the comment, "1 person?  Oh great, Awesome.  Yea, it will be in my section."  I wish I could say it was said with a positive tone, the fact that she thought i couldn't hear her snarky comment was shocking.  

I spent the first few minutes after being seated trying to decide whether to say something or just leave, this was not a teenager, but what I assume is an experienced server.  Ultimately, due to the limited restaurants in the area I stayed and decided to show this person that servicing a single diner is a pleasant experience.  Sadly I had the specials plopped down on a flyer on my table, while she went to another table to tell them about the specials, my food arrived with a piece of burned meat, and included all the items I'd requested to be left on the side or left off the plate due to allergies, I got no bread and had to ask for water.  

I used to work as a bartender and waitress, and I know that it is a hard job, and that there are always customers that screw you in the end.  It might be the 10 top or the single diner, but rarely did I find the later.  I regret that I didn't say something to the server, or at least leave a note with a tip that reflected her level of service and offensive behavior.  Instead, because of the holidays and my past work experience in the field I tipped 20% and vowed to write a proper review and suggest others to look elsewhere to dine, or at least know that they're walking into a sub par experience.  In looking at the reviews others have written it's not just a one time problem.

Max's Tavern can depend on business based on it's location, free parking and reputation, but I wont' be going to this one again.

Fantastic. Skip the chains, and stop by Max's for the best meal, service and ambiance in the greater Springfield area.