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    Boulder Tap House

    3.5 (133 reviews)
    Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm

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    BOULDER TAP HOUSE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Happy hour specials
    Good for kids

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    Exterior building signage.
    Dan T.

    We ventured into Boulder Tap House for a later dinner this past Sunday. Boulder Tap House appears to be a midwest chain with 11 locations throughout Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. It's amazing how many restaurants are closed on Sunday in Ames... Not much of a demand for Sunday dine-in business in a college town I guess...? Lol Fortunately Boulder Tap House is open from at least 1100 AM until 1000 PM every day of the week. Boulder Tap House sits just off of the Southeast corner of South Duff and East Lincoln Way. It has a large parking lot and it's easy to access. We were greeted right away when we walked in and shown to a booth. Seating is a mix of low and high top tables and chairs, booths, and standard stool seating around the bar. There are TONS of TVs around the dining room and bar; most of which had football games running on them. Our server was named Zach. He stopped by shortly after we were seated, introduced himself and dropped off menus etc., and took our drink orders (Pepsi products). He was back shortly with the first round of drinks and to take our food order. We ordered: 1x Unsweetened ice tea 1x Cherry Pepsi 1x Cheddar house made Boulder cheese cubes 1x Medium (12) order of wings with their honey BBQ sauce. Blue cheese on the side 1x Side salad with ranch dressing 1x Swicy burger and fries Zach was attentive and personable and provided good service the entire meal. He made sure to check on us several times and kept our drink glasses topped off. I HIGHLY recommend the cheese cubes! Choose cheddar, white cheddar, or pepper jack cheese. Served with Burger Co. sauce. The Burger Co. sauce reminded me of a spicy ranch. These things are HUGE. Each will take you at least two bites. They were hot and fresh right out of the fryer. I cut mine in half with a fork to make them more bite size... And to avoid 3rd degree burns from the molten cheese! Lol The wings were sauced well and cooked perfectly! Very good! The swicy burger is where I'm torn. I see other reviews of this burger and everyone really seems to like it. It tasted okay... But I feel like it's trying too hard. Here's how it's described on the menu: "A little bit of sweet and a little bit of spice. A 6oz Angus burger patty topped with ghost pepper jack cheese, fried jalapeños, spicy peach sauce, butter leaf lettuce, tomato and pickles. Served on a toasted bun." First of all there was no tomato or pickles on mine... I didn't request them to be held so I'm not sure what happened there. There was a piece of lettuce...it was entirely covered up by the patty. I didn't even know it was on there until I bit into it. I was okay with this. The beef didn't taste fresh to me. I grew up in a small rural Iowa town of 500 where my dad was the city maintenance man. His boss (the mayor) also ran the local meat locker... It tasted like an overcooked frozen patty. Though I believe Boulder Tap House advertises fresh ground chuck...never frozen...at a lot of their locations. I'm not sure how it's distributed to the Ames location. In any case the taste of the beef was overshadowed by the topping to the point it became a texture v. the focus of the sandwich. All of the burgers listed using the 6 oz Angus patty are advertised the same way. Very heavy on the specialty toppings... The regular burger on the menu is advertised as a 8 oz burger patty (not specifically Angus). Same with the Smashburger (two 4 oz patties). Maybe the patties on these two items are different quality? I took a small piece of the burger itself and it wasn't great. It had the taste you come to expect with frozen patties. It was just meh. It lacked the flavor of fresh beef. I expected better for a $16 burger and fry combo. I kind of felt like the last burger I got at a Chili's was better meat. Now the fries though... Lightly battered and then fried! Served hot. On the thinner side... But these were exceptionally good...! I'd probably avoid the burgers on any future trips to a Boulder Tap House. But that's just me! If you like the novelty of topping and don't care about the quality of the beef. You do you! And I could be wrong about the patty...that's just how it tasted to me. I would go back. However next time I'd stick to the appetizers, wings, or one of the other sandwiches! Our meal overall was good. Payment is done with your server at the table. Everything was reasonably priced. Zach was terrific!

    Teriyaki Bowl with Chicken
    Sairuh M.

    For starters, the hostess who greeted us was nice and had a smile. That's always a plus when you first walk into somewhere you haven't tried yet. She also didn't give us an attitude when we asked for a booth. She was very nice about it. Our waiter was attentive and patient. He was also quite knowledgeable (thankfully) and when he wasn't sure about something, he would go ask instead of just say "I don't know". It was quite loud inside, but it's a sports themed restaurant with massive TVs and projectors all over, so it's to be expected. The booths are decently tall, so it gave the illusion of more privacy, which was nice. It was kept very clean inside and all of the staff were pretty on top of everything. Bathrooms weee also quite clean. Our food was amazing! Full of flavor with fresh ingredients. Large portion sizes with a decently low price. They don't over charge for drinks either. The kids meal Mac n cheese was just a basic Mac n cheese, but it works lol.

    Swicy Burger
    Emily S.

    Tried boulder tap house on a Friday night and had a nice time. There were many large groups waiting to be seated but the wait time for two people was fairly short. They also had plenty of seating at the bar to accommodate people. While waiting for a table I was able to witness how hard the staff works at this place! Everyone was running around to make sure the customers needs were met. They were so friendly despite a busy and likely stressful shift. The food was also good. I enjoyed a build your own burger but swapped the beef for grilled chicken. My spouse had a swicy burger. Both items were very tasty and worth the wait. I will definitely stop here again when I'm in Ames!

    swicy burger,  sorry I didn't get the goodies. partial order of fries. excellent burger!
    Kris S.

    Went on a Saturday with my mom. I had the swicy burger, it was so good. mom had the BYO Burger and enjoyed it. we got one side of fries to share. it was perfect. luca was our server. it was a full house. he started a little slow, but did a great job. restrooms were clean. they do add a 3% charge to credit cards. it's eye level on the front door, so you know if you paid attention to your surroundings.

    Sue D.

    Great service and good food. A bit of a wait on a Friday night but not too bad due to lots of seating.

    Craveabowls
    Rose P.

    This place was sweet!! We visited from out of town for game day. So many beers, sours, and ciders on tap. The staff helped us pick ones we'd like, and even gave us samples. The game day deals were awesome. The cheese curds were amazing, and the sauce was a perfect pairing. The place looked cool and the atmosphere was lively. I hope to be back again!

    JoAnn R.

    Great place for wings! Husband is a major critic of restaurants and pretty much finds everything wrong with a place and its food. Not here! The wings were legit tasty hot and just the right flavor and spice. Good portion size and meaty. I had a burger and tater tot's. Burger was meh, kinda bland and not hot but we were there at 10:00 at night so that might be why. But the tater tot's were killer good! Homemade and not frozen, could totally tell. Or just amazing real good ones? Whichever great crisp texture on the outside and soft on the inside, hot and tasty with an Italian spice flavoring. So good and crave worthy. This was our second visit. Lots of TVs for sports watching. The place struggles with room, and room away from the doors in my opinion so I was cold the whole time,this time and last, but great place to go while in Ames.

    White cheddar wontons

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    6 years ago

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    4 years ago

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    Brian R.

    Thank you so much for the great review! We hope to see you back!

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    3 years ago

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    Brian R.

    We appreciate your kind review, Rich!

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    3 years ago

    This restaurant gets a five star review on the cheese curds alone ! Service was awesome.

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    Brian R.

    Thank you so much, James for the detailed review!

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    We look forward to seeing you again soon and thank you for the rating!

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    We're sorry we weren't for you!

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    3 years ago

    Good food and ok sports bar. Service tends to be on the slow side.

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    Page 2 of 4

    Ask the Community - Boulder Tap House

    Is there parking?

    yes, we offer free parking for guests at Boulder Tap House in Ames - hope to see you soon!

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    Boulder Tap House - sportsbars - Updated June 2026

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