Tavern on the Green

don't let the fancy decor intimidate you.  lots of different people eat here and the food is really good.  i had the smoked salmon and arugula salad and it was delicious.  hubby was unimpressed with his fish burrito.  the service was friendly.

The Tavern itself is a very pleasant space, with tons of light wood, nice windows looking onto Salem Green and high ceilings.  The lunchtime sandwiches my wife and I had were mediocre, fish enchilada and fish sandwich.  The sweet potato fries were the mushy kind.... its hard to screw up sweet potato fries by this place did.  Others have complained about the service.  We weren't in any sort of rush, and so I wasn't troubled by the fact that the food took a while to get to us.  My only complaint was that the waiter kept referring to me and my wife, both well into our 60's as "guys".  It kind of ruined the nice atmosphere of the place.  I will say the choice of draft beers was impressive.  I chose the Harpoon summer, but there were others that would have worked for me as well.  Don't go to the Tavern at the Hawthorne for the food, you'll be disappointed.

Went on a Friday afternoon on Salems off season in March. There was only one other couple in the restaurant when we walked in. I was very excited to go because this place ( and the entire Hawthorn Hotel) had that old spooky vibe I was looking for in a Salem experience. The decor was elegant, but of an older taste. I felt like I was in a movie at times.

There was only two workers in the restaurant. One waiter and one bartender. However there was nobody in there are this particular time. So service was not a problem for us.

Let me just say the food was awesome. Now I had a simple cheeseburger with sweet potato fries. However they were both incredible. You would be surprised how many places can not make sweet potatoe fries. And my burger was cooked exactly how I asked. But the real gem of this place was my boyfriends dish. Pumpkin Ravioli! Yes! I have been looking for that dish everywhere! Only had it once somewhere else, but I have never found it at a restaurant were it was an actual entree on a classy menu. I bite into it, and all I could taste was Halloween! Okay a bit over dramatic... but it was seriously incredible. We were tempted to order more to go just so I could bring it home for my family to taste. I love Halloween. So eating those in the beautifully haunted hawthorne hotel just really tickled my fancy. I can not wait to go back! I am not even a pumpkin person! But this was seriously good.