Stopped in at Tavern on the Square today for a late lunch following a doctor's appointment. I'd usually go to Hop Cat for a nice plate and a couple of beers, but decided to check this place out since I haven't been in before.
Walking in, the place was dead, as can be expected for a Friday at two-something in the afternoon. There were two other tables, both with two people, one women, one men. Seat yourself said the sign, so I did.
A waiter saw me and brought both a drink and food menu. Both were small, half-page, double-sided affairs. He was quite proud of their beer list, but I was not so enthused, seeing it mostly listed just a few types of beers mostly what I would consider favored by the ladies...wheaty fruity things. I ordered a pint of two-hearted and he left me to go over the food menu. Th flatware and napkins were in a pint glass on the table which also featured salt and pepper shakers and a marketing slick tri-fold. There were smallish TVs sprinkled sparingly about, with the sound off, so I could occasionally look over and see some sport being played but not really tell who or where or what was going on.
I saw that they started happy hour specials at 2pm, including reduced cost small plates, drafts and wells, but decided to go with the classic Friday fish and chips with a small salad. I was underwhelmed by their choices of salad, a couple looked good, the carnivore with Gorgonzola and balsamic and the chicken Cesar, but was appalled that the chef's chopped salad was only offered with ranch dressing. ...I know a lot of people like ranch dressing, but I just never saw the appeal. I went with the Cesar.
The salad came fast, and was very good. The lettuce was somewhat erratically chopped, with most pieces tiny but a few twirl-around-your-fork large. The chicken was the star. Temperature hot while seasoned well and mildly spicy, not overcooked or dry or processed all to hell like I'd expect. Tomatoes, cheese, and dressing were fine. The only fault with the salad was the croutons. They were stale and really didn't add anything to the salad other than they are 'supposed' to be there. This could easily have been a great salad.
The fish came when I was about half-way through the salad, and considering the volume of business, this wasn't a big surprise. I ordered a Founder's Centennial IPA to accompany my entree and pounded down the rest of my Bells.
I received three pieces of fish, battered, with fries, slaw, and sauce cups. The fish were interestingly varied in size, with a very large piece, a sort of 'normal' sized piece, and a small fish stick sized piece. I ate a couple of fries first, and they were fine...probably from a bag of frozen with a definite fishy-oil taste that was fine considering the protein they were served with, but probably less than desirable with the Reuben or turkey club.
The fish was nice. Light, white fish with a crispy batter that reminded me of Long John Silvers, but not in a bad way. The remoulade or whatever sauce was standing in for Mr. Tartar was fine, and did the job adequately, possibly with a little more zest than the old standard. The slaw had the defining characteristic of being made with red bell peppers, which made the whole mix taste very strongly of red peppers in addition to coloring it all pink. While I don't dislike red peppers, I do very much like a nice classic cabbage cole slaw, so was a little disappointed...but I ate it, eventually picking around the peppers once I became bored with them muscling all over the poor cabbage.
All in all it was a fast, nice friday fry with a couple local Michigan beers. After tip the bill was $30, which I didn't think was too terrible...I guess it was a good thing that I was there during happy hour. Service was a pleasant happy medium, not hiding in the back and not annoyingly attentive.
