Taphouse Grill (Downtown Seattle)

8/13/2008 2:28:36 AM, wednesday, august 13, 2008 [ Updated wednesday, august 13, 2008 ]
I’m lucky enough to call this my local neighborhood bar. It’s not cheap and the ambiance is more like a big chain restaurant than a local bar, but the selection here is unparalleled. Unlike the Yard House, which props up its number of beers on taps with domestic macro-swill, pretty much everything on the Tap House menu is a legit beer. The Tap House has a great mix of Pacific NW regional selection, domestic microbrews, and European powerhouse beers. The food is average at best there are plenty of better places to eat within walking distance of the Tap House. But if you’re looking for beer selection in downtown Seattle, your search ends here.

6/28/2008 4:34:15 AM, saturday, june 28, 2008
How you can give this place a selection rating of anything less than 15 is dumbfounding. I have a theory, though. The last three ratebeerians to give Seattle’s Taphouse Grille less than a 15 selection rating, Enniskillen, fakepurseninja and sodoslew are all from Washington. So, their opinion is skewed by the region. You put this place anywhere else in the country and there is no argument. 15 out of 15. Maybe even 16 out of 15. You boys are spoiled. Enniskillen suggests no real rarities like Uber Tavern. Perhaps somewhat true. And to the local who’s had all of what the Pacific Northwest has to offer, which is obscure to most of us, those beers may not seem as cool and rare to you. I went to Uber Tavern and quite frankly, I’ll take Taphouse Grill’s 160 mostly awesome taps over Uber Tavern’s 17 mostly rare taps any day. THG is upscale, has a cool upstairs entry with video monitors of their menu and music which sets the mood before you descend the stairs toward the best tap selection of beers you’ve ever seen. The selections change frequently, so you’ll never see the same 160 beers twice. They have one macro, Bud Light, as well as Guiness and Sam Adams for the unadventurous. Pretty much everything else is worthy and thoughtfully selected. Conveniently located next to my hotel, the Sheraton. Highly recommended can’t miss downtown Seattle destination.

5/30/2008 11:03:31 AM, friday, may 30, 2008
A big place with a good selection, but no real rarities that you would see at Uber Tavern. Most of the beers are fairly common, and that’s if that actually have it on tap. If they don’t have it they will gladly give you an alternate beer of their choice because you the consumer don’t know what you want. There is also a good chance they will bring you the wrong beer altogether (given that they did take it back and bring the correct one). The waitress said HOTD Adam was horrible, and she said the same thing about Stone Russian Imperial Stout. Maybe it was just a bad experience, but either way I have no plans to go back. I didn’t eat, but the food looked good. I thought the decor was attempting to be very upscale but came off to me as trying too hard.

1/16/2008 1:21:28 PM, wednesday, january 16, 2008
This place has something for everyone. Plenty of mainstream drinks plus a handfull of assorted local specials/seasonals that really round out the experience. The wait staff are not well versed in what they are serving (do not take pairing suggestions from them) but are very friendly and quick to offer up samples. Atmosphere is great big loud open seating atmosphere that. Food is very reasonably priced, pretty good value for what it is - most items were under $12 per plate, pletny of nice meals for $8-10. Definetly recomended.

1/5/2008 8:52:14 AM, saturday, january 05, 2008 [ Updated sunday, january 06, 2008 ]
I checked out the Tap House downtown after reading other reviews that spoke so highly. One reviewer liked it better than Uber, which I love, so now I had to check it out. The ambience was pretty slick, and I liked the wavy copper back bar. Visually it was pretty impressive. I also enjoyed the sushi. The bartenders were attentive & nice, but I was looking for more info about the beers. They didn’t know styles very well and had a hard time answering the question: what are your 5 hoppiest beers? One thing that should be clear before you go is how insane the prices are. I ordered a DFH 90 Minute IPA. It was $9 for 12oz. At least it came in a nice tulip glass, but ouch. The other thing was that while they have 160 taps, most are common mainstream micros, plus probably 10 or more of them that were Bud, Miller, Coors, Michelob, Kllians, etc. A ton of basic ambers, creams, blonds, and pales. And why waste a tap on Heineken? Not sure what taps some of the other reviewers were looking at (maybe those beers are their style) but to me, I’ve seen way more interesting line ups with way less taps (Brouwers, Uber, Dog & Pony). To the bar’s credit, I’ve been to about 6 such places (+100 taps), and of the lot, Tap House did the 2nd best job finding a few interesting beers. Henry’s Tavern in Portland has them by a hair. My advice, go here for special occasions but bring your wallet full.

12/25/2007 10:12:32 PM, tuesday, december 25, 2007
The Taphouse has everything you’d like to see at Uber... only its located downtown?!?! Found in the basement of the Pacific Place Shopping Centre, Taphouse is accessible via street level on 6th Avenue between Pike and Pine Streets. 160 taps of local and American micro and expensive import beers. Its got more of a sports-atmosphere than Brouwers and nothing is terribly rare but the opportunity to have Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock, Snoqualmiw Porter, DFH 90-Minute, Diamond Knot Industrial IPA, Deschutes Obsinan Stout, Corsendonk, BR Hop Rod Rye, Lagunitas IPA, Alaskan and/or Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stouts... North Coast Old Rasputin, Great Divide Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial and 30+ other worthy beers on DRAUGHT... Geez, I wouldn’t like to be an investor in Uber or Duck Island right now... The Seattle Downtown is getting to be a mighty interesting place. Gotta love it!

9/22/2007 11:09:50 PM, saturday, september 22, 2007 [ Updated tuesday, august 05, 2008 ]
Wonderful place. Great selection, great service. Many free tasters, and a few free glasses as well. The food was great as well. Somewhat pricey, but one has to pay for quality.Attentive, friendly and knowledgeable bartender, however I was there mid week in the afternoon.

8/20/2007 11:24:38 AM, monday, august 20, 2007 [ Updated thursday, september 27, 2007 ]
Oakes recommended this place, and lucky for me it was two blocks from my Hotel. For starters, they did an excellent job with the interior. Cool contemporary modern japanese interior design, with high ceilings and soft lighting. The chairs at the bar and the tables are comfortable. The taps are neatly displayed on a curved satin gold metallic wall. Just how many taps? 160 baby! The selection is a nice broad representation of styles and countries, with plenty of local and regional beers to choose from (see the beer list on line). I drank here three times, and there was always a diverse crowd, which was a mix of locals and tourists covering all ages. The menu is also very diverse (see website again). We ordered the Sushi sampler, which was not bad, but not mind blowing either. Since the sushi is prepared in the kitchen not visible to customers, I have to wonder if it is made to order or prepped in bulk. They also offer a sampler, in which you can choose any four beers on tap. I think they need to do a better job of listing prices and categories for beer. Overall, this is still a great place. You would be stupid not to stop in if you are in town, especially if you are limited on time. It’s a nice one stop place to sample many beers from the area, and it has a great atmosphere and interesting food to boot. My wife loved it)