So far, this place has the best burgers in Ellensburg. Its your basic dimly lit bar but the food is awesome. The service is excellent. The drinks (well soft drinks as I did not sample the alcohol) are sweet and syrupy like you would expect pop to be in a bar. The hungry mother is my favorite. I loved the donut burger they had as a special. I have been here 5 or 6 times and its my favorite lunch spot in Ellensburg. Plus its walking distance to my workplace.
Review Source:THE FOOD - Killer !!! Highly recommend the Bacon Blue for all of you TAV Rookies!
THE SCENE - Not a dive, but not where you go to sip wine,...not that I sip wine in public. : ) GREAT BAR FOOD served here with beer !!! Very simple
THE MEMORIES - I swear my mail used to be forwarded here in the mid 90s when I was an undergrad student at CWU. Loved to take guests from out of town there when I moved back to manage Bank of the West starting in December of 2005. If they only had a few hours in Eburg I wanted them to have a "Tav Experience" to talk about when they thought of their time in Ellensburg.
I've only lived in Ellensburg a few months, but I've already been to the Tav more times than I can remember. They have a pretty decent beer selection (including Iron Horse) and good happy hour, I only wish they had happy hour on the weekends too.
Compared to the other bars in town, the Tav is my favorite for its laid back atmosphere and drink/food price/selection. The food is actually pretty good for a bar, and I will usually just come here if I want to "eat out." Â Definitely recommended.
Easily the best bar in Ellensburg.
I was a student in Eburg for 5 years so I would consider myself fairly versed on the bar life here.
The food is great, the drink is great and the atmosphere is amazing. I prefer the outdoor seating in the back but to each their own.
If you're passing through eburg, stop and have a drink here. Its amazing.
SUPER MOTHER! mmmmmmmm.
That in and of itself pretty much could say it all about this place, but I'll go on.
The Tav is a fun place. Their burgers are always good. The patio is great in the spring and summer. Basically the deal is if you love burgers (and, uh of course some beer) then you'll be set at The Tav.
I was a member of the Super Mother Fan Club (the punch card they had). I still am in a way :)
The Food -
I always dig the food here. Happy hour is really great. I can't recommend the texas toothpicks more. Piles some of those things with some bbq sauce on any burger to make it amazing.
The Service -
On the BEST of nights it's on par. I've had too many poor experiences to count. Don't be surprised if you are treated with borderline hostility, have to wait an eternity for service, or get over charged.
Overall, go if you are thick skinned, and love good food
I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty my french dip was, and even more surprised by the genius that is fried green beans. It's about time a local dive bars got innovative with what they toss in the fryer.
Overall my meal was well rounded by a few beers. If we ever find ourselves back in E-burg we will probably wander back in for some greasy grub.
Best bar in Ellensburg
This is not a "party" bar, but rather a nice place to sit relax and enjoy good beer with the best burgers in town.
There is a full service bar, and the kitchen runs good specials everyday, so be sure to ask about those.
The prime rib on fridays in great, but be sure to get there early or it will be sold out.
The outdoor seating is very nice in the summer.
The back room is a little quiter place to sit if you would like a to get away from the crowd.
It can get pretty busy, but the service is still good. Just remember that you have to go up to the counter to pay your check.
Good place to stop by and watch the game, just be sure to ask the staff to change the channel to, and they will.
This place is a well-loved, neighborhood watering hole. The burgers and appetizers are pretty good, but nothing really memorable. The rest of the menu consists of standard, fried bar food and portions are a little bit on the smaller side. While this place boasts a great atmosphere on a summer evening, the service is absolutely horrible. Not only is this place under-staffed but the serve staff they do have are not well-trained. Expect to wait a while before they even grab your drink order and don't be surprised if someone else gets your food or another table is serviced before you, even if you have been waiting longer. That being said, this is probably the best bar in town for cleanliness, overall atmosphere and pool tables... so take it or leave it.
Review Source:The Tav will always be a favorite among our group of friends. It seems to be the one place we try to hit up whenever we go visit the Burg. The burgers are absolutely delicious.
My favorite on the menu is the Steak Fries. Strips of steak that are deep fried heaven on earth. Chase em down with a little Vitamin R (thats Rainier Beer for those out of the loop).
They used to sell 6 packs of PBR Tall Boys that you could just set on your table. We have spent many days/nights playing drinking games at the Tav. Summertime is the best time to go because the Patio is open... ie you can sit outside and enjoy great food and sun.
I have never had a bad meal at the Tav and suggest it to anybody going through the Burg.
It was such a great time visiting the Tav again. It's been 10 years! I can't believe it!
Ellensburg, a college town and The Tav has it all. It's a restaurant; it's a bar; it's a hot spot for college kids to hang out.
My favorite in the Tav is the Chef Salad. Yes, it's not gourmet or fine dining, but it did play an important role when I was in college. My friends and I spent many times hanging out here and having the Chef Salad. It's the sweet memory it is!
The Chef salad contains lettuce, cheese, ham, turkey, two pieces of garlic bread, and choice of your dressing. The best dressing I've had with the Chef salad is Honey Mustard.
I don't know when I will go back to Ellensburg, but The Tav, I will miss you! :-)
So this place is a bit dark, has pool tables and TVs, and is not a place to go if you're looking for high end dining. Â However, if you're looking for some good, greasy food this is your place to go. Â The BF and I stopped in here as we were nearing the end of our cross-country road trip and it may have been one of my favorite spots for the food.
We started our meal with the fried mac 'n cheese. Â I'm quite certain that if I lived closer I'd weight at least 10 more pounds from how often I'd crave that. Â It was fried, but not overly greasy as I had expected. Â The mac 'n cheese inside was delicious, but remember to let it cool before you eat or else you'll definitely burn your mouth!
The BF got the special of the day which came with a side of onion rings. Â The rings were delicious and his sandwich was pretty yummy. Â I got a garlic chicken sandwich and it nearly knocked my socks off. Â It was *full* of garlic and delicious. Â If you don't like garlic, this sandwich is not for you. Â As a matter of fact, if you plan on smoochin' with anybody for the next 12 or so hours, you may want to avoid this sandwich. Â
The service was attentive and the price was right.
I love The Tav. The food is good, the beer is good, the atmosphere is good (if you like unassuming places). The only time I was ever dissatisfied there it was my own fault for being old: There was a guy at the door checking IDs and he barely glanced at me before turning away, and OUCH, dude! You could have at least pretended you didn't know I was 40.
Review Source:Cheap. Greasy. Â Good deal for happy hour. Fifty cents for a game of pool. Problems: Â greasy food and other clientel making a lot lugi-hocking noise. Â Can't hold that againt a place though.
Food was okay typically greasy, burgers, fries and the like. Decent beer on tap, nothing special, but decent in that it wasn't of the big three and gross.
I'd go back, if I were in Ellenaburg, it was happy hour AND the new Iron Horse place was still not open. What can I say, I'm a beer snob but this place is okay too.
I love Deep Fried Macaroni and Cheese. It's sooo bad for me, yet so good.
On the way back from camping we went through Ellensberg and stopped to check out the biere de garde at Iron Horse (delicious btw). The people who worked here were pretty nice, and the atmosphere was good. Also the happy hour special was excellent, half off apps which are normally 6 bucks? Full meal for two people with enough to take home in 15 bucks? WIN
I would totally go back to eat there if I was in Ellensberg for some reason.
First and foremost, let me point out that everyone in these reviews is ordering the wrong burger. Â I love a bacon and bleu burger as much as the next guy, but you go to the Tav for The Supermother. Â This is a burger that has its own fanclub (they'll give you a fanclub card if you order one). Â You can get it with a slice of ham or a strip of bacon, or if you're smart, both. Â It's the best burger in the world. Â Burgers are my favorite food in the world, and this is the best one.
My wife and I often try to make time to drive from Seattle out to the Ellensburg area for hiking or camping or concerts. Â But those are really just excuses. Â We both know that we are really going to get this burger.
Nothing wrong with the fries, but they aren't going to blow you away. Â You're better off getting two Supermothers. Â If you must have a side instead of two burgers, get the Texas Toothpicks. Â Battered and deep fried onions and jalapenos with a superb dipping sauce.
The prices are very fair, the atmosphere is relaxed (no kids or underclassman from CWU), they have a pool table, a jukebox, and a great beer garden for windy Ellensburg days.
Everyone is always raving about The Tav and it is even referenced by my profs in class, so when I finally turned 21 I thought that I had to try it out.
I had class the following morning at 8am, so I really just wanted a nice first time bar experience. Then the bartender mocked me and called me a loser for only having one drink. I am sorry, but I think it is lame to get people so drunk that they can kill themselves on their 21st, and I don't support this cultural custom at all. I also don't like businesses insulting me because I don't buy as much of their product as they'd like me too.
Thanks to this they have gotten a person who just turned 21 and is a regular at several other local bars to completely boycott their establishment.
(also, the nachoes we had were pretty sub-par)
Here's my memory of the Tav...though I have many, this is the one that sticks.....I remember that it was 5 minutes to midnight on my 21st B-day, 1992. Â Of course I've already prefunct, but the goal was to get into the Tav, and all the other bars in E-burg, all legal like. Â Denied! at the door with like 5 minutes on the clock! Â Then, like a dumb ass I try and argue with the guy until he hit me with some good logic...."Dude, you've waited 21 years, you can wait another (looks at his watch) 1 minute." Â Even happily buzzed I couldn't argue with that kind of logic now could I?
Anyhoo, Â been back several times post-college, the last being a month or two ago and the place hasn't changed. Â I've forgotten where my name is on the brick-wall and I swear everytime I go back I go on this search for it, but that doesn't really surprise me because 3/4 of the time I was at the Tav back in college I was drunk anyways.
So anytime I'm in town gotta have a couple of Bud Lights and a couple of Super Mothers! Â Tastey as ever...drunk or sober. Â
All this talk of the Tav, beer and Super Mother's has got me Jones'n now....dammit!
Oh, how I love a tavern with pool tables, juke box, locals, and good freaking food. Oh, how I love it so much more when it has a beautiful beer garden such as the Tav's with trees, old brick walls, and nice wooden picnic tables. The sun peaked through the trees as it set over Downtown Ellensburg and as we sipped on our beers after a dusty and sweaty day hiking Untanum Canyon. We split the Blue Cheese Bacon Cheeseburger and Chef Salad. Bacon was a little undercooked for my taste (love my bacon cripsy and crunchy) and the burger was somewhat thin, but still good and I ate every bite of it. Service was hopping as only two servers were covering the bar, the inside of the Tav, and the beer garden. They were pretty quick considering they were taking care of the entire place, which had a modest crowd on a Sunday night. Will definitely hit up the Tav again. Maybe during the rodeo!
Review Source:So the man at the visitors center may or may not have told us the best place to go for a burger and beer after a hike in the desert. Say he did, or that we guessed right, and say that brought us to The Tav.
Say anything you want - we made it to the local fave for post-hike fuel on one of the nicest patios (or beer gardens) I've seen in all of Washington. Downtown Ellensburg is adorable, and after trekking through the brush, dirt, and hot hot sun, this was the perfect spot for reflecting on the adventures of the day.
We shared a Blue Cheese Bacon Cheeseburger, Chef Salad and of course, Beers. Really, how do you not enjoy such fare when you are hungry - and what comes with cheese and bacon that doesn't rock your socks off? Win, win for all.
Grab a trail or go to the rodeo and head to the Tav for a great time!
We stopped in here for dinner on the way from Seattle to Yakima for our camping trip this weekend. Â We had no idea what to expect, except that the local college kids love this place. That was enough for us to know we'd probably enjoy it as well since you can never go back and relive college too many times. :)
Anyway, we all ordered burgers since they seemed to be coming out of the kitchen faster than we had time to select which combination we wanted! Â They had a decent selection of beers on tap and we all walked out of there spending $12 each for a burger and draft beer. Not bad at all.
Minus 1 star though because you had to go up to the bar to get your check and pay it. Â Also, some of burgers could have used a bit more toppings. Â We loved this place though and would definitely stop by again on our way through Ellensburg!
I'm not sure if it was the burgers or Mr. Phister that made the Tav a 4th of July highlight, but we've been raving about our experience there ever since.
In fact, it's worth a story...
4th of July in Seattle is always a hit or miss, depending on weather. This year, it was a big fat miss. So day two of camping, we decided to ditch the plague of mosquitos, load up our air mattresses, and head East in search of sunshine and a river to float.
We found both. We crossed Snoqualmie Pass only to be brightly greeted by this thing you easterners apparently call "The SUN." Â Before long, we had ditched our car, blown up our air mattresses, and were happily floating down the Yakima River.
About hour two of our sun-drenched float, we realized that we had not had the foresight to park a car at a pull-out spot. Â Hmm.... (you'd think all of my friends are blonde like myself) so we did the next logical thing: we hitchhiked. (Don't tell mom.)
Like 5 shivering wet dogs, we climbed into our newest female 20-something hero's station wagon. Ironically, she was very shy, but she did ask us one question: Â "so, have you guys ever been to the Tav?"
We had to go.
The dark, air-conditioned tavern was a drastic hit to our sunburnt bodies, I don't think we ever quite adjusted...but the burgers, oh the burgers. And for $4.25? Â
We spent the afternoon laughing until we cried over a pitcher of cold beer -- continuously rooting on our man Phil Phister as he threw kegs, dead-lifted safes, and held up pillars at the "World's Strongest Man" competition, which happened to be playing on the large TV.
Long story short, the Tav is the perfect place to go after, well, a ruined camping experience turned river adventure.
Hitchhiker suggested, Phil Phister approved.
(<a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.strongmanphil.com%2F&s=04d5e54cb0cca695f94f6712be1c9377ac14766fd1b70d23bbeba5d44958375d" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.strongmanphil…</a>)
The Tav is a typical small, college town bar. Â Nothing real exciting but it gets the job done. Â Drinks are reasonable and they have good, cheap food. Â I love the blue cheese burger.
One of my school friends and I have a relationship that consists entirely of the occasional dinner at the Tav.  We'll  kick around the idea of another place but we always go back to what is familiar and non threatening, just like religious folk do.
Let's be honest, The Tav is in no way a supreme culinary experience, the beer selection is limited, and the condom machine located above the urinal trough is a questionable decor choice. Â Still, something about the combination of a Hungry Mother (if you have to ask, you have to try one), an ice cold Blue Moon, and friendly staff that make you feel wanted keeps my friends and me coming back weekly.
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