On Tap is one of them bars you really don't know about until you visit. I had the pleasure of visiting this bar one night a few weeks ago. And over all I think it takes the crown for all of the bars that I have been to so far in the Essex area.
Is this a dive bar? You bet ya! But don't let it take away from any of your interest. To be fair its a dive bar with some style! Much better than other bars in the area. You do have a set group of locals that come here but with them they bring other friends. So it still offers a good stop to just mingle around in town.
On a Friday night they seem to have live music going on. Mainly local bands. The sound system could be better but for what it is its not all that bad. Music normally ends around 12:30am - 1:00am. Not 100% sure what time they start because I have shown up after 10pm and they seem to have already started.
The bartenders are OK here. It can be slow so don't go and expect fast service. They are friendly and easy to deal with so that's always a plus.
I have yet to try the food so I can not comment on that. But if I do I will update the review with the information!
So over all its not a bad hang out. They offer a smaller crowd then what Burlington has to offer but these locals seem a lot more on the normal side! I'd go again for a drink and maybe even try out the food. Either way as far as Essex goes its one of the better bars in the area.
The best thing about On Tap is the opportunity to sit outside on a nice day. Â There are some glaring problems with the business though.
1- The service. Â To call is slow would be painfully understating the problem. Â Don't expect piping hot food or drinks while you wait...they just don't have a good system in place at all.
2- Management. Â More than once I have left feeling like it is amateur hour over there. Â I should never see a customer have their drink spilled by someone else and be told "sorry, we can't just give you another one". Â I would never return if it happened to me.
3- Entertainment. Â Some of the music they have there is pretty pedestrian. Â Nothing that I would show up for...its usually just happening and could be much more focused and intentional. Â They have a great space, but they don't use it well.
Overall....I think On Tap would make for a great episode of Restaurant Makeover
I'm surprised there aren't more reviews for this place, as it is well-established.
I don't often get the food here... not that it's bad, in fact most of the time it's very good, but the service leaves something to be desired. We used to go there almost every Tuesday night for the live trivia game (which can be fun) and there was only one server there that was any good, and I'm not sure she still works there as I recently saw her serving at another bar/grill nearby.
On Tap can be different things on different nights. It's the only decent bar in Essex Junction, so it's popular. Trivia night tends to fill the place which is pretty good for a Tuesday. You WILL see a mix of people in there. Very occasionally you will see a family eating there, but not often. I wouldn't recommend it as a kid friendly place as more drinking than eating goes on there. On Friday and Saturday nights it can be wall to wall people...even in the summer when their very nice outdoor seating deck is open. On those nights, the bar seems more like the meat markets in Burlington than a pub. Mostly younger to middle aged people getting hammered and rubbing up against each other on the dance floor to live bands. They book some pretty good bands if you like that scene where you can't talk to your friends because it's so damn loud in there. If you go there often, you may see the same old bar flies surrounding the good-sized bar. Â Lots of beers on tap, a good number of them craft brews.
You will see bikers there, especially since they host a bike night once a month in the summer, but don't let that scare you. I'm a biker, and they are some of the best people you will ever meet.
So depending on the night, you could be in a pub, a dive bar or a nightclub. Pick your poison.
Good beer selection as well as food selection. The prices are also pretty low. So overall this is a great place to just hang out with a couple beers and some food.
The ambiance is a little weird, but in a good way. It was an interesting mix of older people, families, Harley bikers, students and seemingly everyone else who lives in VT except the hippie people. They do have live music, but so far the acts that have come on while I was there were pretty bad so I'm not sure that can be counted as a plus.
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