I generally don't expect anything special from a sports bar like this and man was I pleasantly surprised! It has a pretty classic sports bar feel to it, large and open space with sports games on everywhere. The waitress was very kind and recommended the steak tacos which seemed a little strange for what seemed like a burger place but I went with it and they were so good! The tacos had a really awesome seasoning on them and came with a large portion of chips and pico de gallo. This is a great place to come and have a bear, eat some good food, and watch a game with friends!! read more

Boulder Tap House - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Great stop for a nice burger and a beer. The burger was just right and don't get me started on the sauce , awesome, a nice list of beers to go along with it ave the service was great too. read more

Boulder Tap House - Brown Sugar & Smoked Cheddar Burger - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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The atmosphere was what I expected of a sports bar and the server was nice. Our appetizers came out after our food, so I would suggest some changes so that doesn't happen. I no longer really wanted the appetizers after the food arrived. The cheese curds were not curds, but blocks of cheese. I'd prefer a smaller curd to the large size of the blocks. We also had the totchos. I was a bit confused by these. They felt like hash browns that they tried to hand form into tater tots but failed. The toppings were also just sort of meh. My burger was really good and my husband enjoyed his as well, but neither were anything to write home about. Sweet potato fries were on point, but would have liked a special dipping sauce for them like an aioli of some sort of even some flavored ranch. The beer selection was plentiful and the drink selections sounded good. My sangria that was advertised as having mixed fruit only had 3 crushed maraschino cherries in it, not mixed fruit you would typically find in a sangria so was a bit of a miss. I'll probably give it another shot in the future, but won't be my first choice for sure of places to return. read more

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Really Good beer (50 on tap), really good tatcho's, really good wings...what's not to like. Friendly bartenders and lots of TVs for watching basketball. If you stop in, tell Adam hello and let him pick your beer - you won't be disappointed. read more

Boulder Tap House - One of their many craft beers - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

We keep trying, really. But every time we do, we say we won't come back. Not somewhere to go for good bartenders. Not somewhere to go for good food. No smiles. No interaction. Lots of activity and the when your drink goes empty they don't even notice. Hate to leave this review at a local but come on Boulder, you can do better. The wings are not crispy. The pico is dry and old and not red and flavorless. The guacamole is brown and flavorless. the chicken lettuce wraps are dry. The best part was the butter lettuce wrapped around a carrot and dipped in ranch. Second runner up was fried wonton but it is average because of the grease. If you want to watch a game on the tv though, that you could do but the conversation would be limited because it is so loud. 4/4 thumbs down. read more

Boulder Tap House - 4/4 thumbs down.... - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

The service was very fast and we were seated very quickly. I loved all the sides selection and food was good. Burger was a little overdone but was still good. Definitely recommend read more

Boulder Tap House - Cheeseburger with fries pickles - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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

I'll keep this short and concise. Good beer, good food, good ambiance - floats by boat. Service was good, pacing could be a bit faster and attentiveness could be a little better. Overall, solid local joint. Burgers were on point. read more

Boulder Tap House - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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I've been here on numerous different occasions so I'll review them within a larger scope. Waitstaff and service has never been an issue for me. They're always attentive and frequently visit the table to make sure we're good to go. As for the food, the salt and vinegar sweet potato fries might be the best damn thing on the menu. They are more addicting than cocaine and much healthier for you too. All of the burgers are pretty great and the lettuce wraps are extremely good as well. Overall the place is pretty solid and deserves 4 stars all the way. Stop by if you like your burgers juicy, wings hot, and your beer cold. Also the music selection at this place absolutely slaps. read more

Boulder Tap House - Flaming Hot burger - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

I've had problems twice with this place charging my card way more than my bill initially was. Thankfully they did fix the issues however I'm just not willing to return as it seems to be an on going issue. I will say though that if you must go here the avocado fries are actually good and sometime their drink specials are okay read more

Although, it was a customizable burger, the patty was overcooked, the bun was dry and dense, and the slices of onion were too big. read more

Boulder Tap House - Build Your Own Burger - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Some of the best wings in Ames! This place doesn't have a bad item on the menu. They have some deals in the evenings, so waiting it out may be a good bet. Highly recommend the blueberry beer and fries. read more

Stopped in for lunch right when they opened at 11, it was not too busy yet as one other time I stopped at 630 on a Saturday and was told 40 min wait. I wanted to try the cheese balls to see what all the rave was about. They were good, square but good. they were breaded like a thin grilled cheese square. I also wanted to try the wings as I didn't see a review on them. I went with 18 of the boneless not knowing how big they were. It was too much for me to eat and I would recommend 12 for most people. I loved the spicy garlic sauce and I would not recommend the boulder sauce. I should have stuck with my normal buffalo and spicy garlic. The boulder sauce had a sweet bbq base that I didn't like. Lots of TV's and Music videos must be the thing for Boulder. I was ok with it, it brought be back to my HS and college days... read more

Boulder Tap House - I want wings! - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

This is quite a confusing place in terms of pricing. My quesadilla was $10- ok whatever. However, my friends did the build your own burger and it ended up being $14+ for A BURGER, this doesn't even include a side. But then their boozy iced teas (the blueberry is delicious) was $6 and it was massive! And my tap beer was $5.75 and way smaller, so pricing consistently is off. I highly enjoyed the spicy chicken quesadilla. Great flavor. The place and new and nice, however, the lighting is super bright and just doesn't really feel right for a sports bar type of place. I think they have tons of potential if they work out some of these issues because the food was great! read more

Boulder Tap House - Spicy chicken quesadilla - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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Recommended!!!! Food, friendly staffs and atmosphere totally the it thing for me! I'm from Houston Texas this place is very comfortable environment to hang out eat their good tasting food while drinking with ur friends and watching the games!!!! Definitely always come back folks! read more

Boulder Tap House - Awesome Cheese squares! - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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Solid, but could easily be a 4-5 star place. I got a custom sandwich. Chicken breast with pepper jack cheese, avocado, and mushrooms. It was great and the chicken was moist and flavorful! My brother got the jalapeño popper burger which he loved as well. His side of jalapeño fries were really good too!! Especially the ones with a lot of seasoning. We ordered the chicken lettuce wrap appetizers but by the time our food got there...it still wasn't out. They competed them from our ticket, but when we did get them 10 seconds later...they were cold and the chicken in them was dry. Dry chicken on the kitchen...temp on the waiter because clearly she forgot about them. Overall I'd go back because our main food was delicious...improvements to service needs to be addressed, though. read more

This place is your classic beer, meat and cheese combo restaurant. To start off you get to choose from an expansive list of beers and ciders on tap. There are several burger choices with an option to even make your own. The wings looked a little expensive for how much you get so I went with the jalapeño popper burger and thought it was delicious. There was a lot of stuffed cheese and jalapeños in the middle to provide a moderate heat with satisfying cheese taste. Fries were cooked to perfection. The only thing that seemed off is that there looked to be an over staffing problem for a Tuesday night. They are still a new place with a lot of potential and I would start by expanding the menu. This place isn't near the top in Ames but it's worth a shot if you want mouthwatering burgers! read more

We've been here countless times, and generally it's pretty consistent, quality food, and quality staff. Our most reason visit was pretty similar to every other time we've visited. My brown sugar burger was excellent, perfect sweet and saltiness. Surprisingly, the avocado fries my significant other insisted on were pretty good as well, only complaint was they could have used more seasoning in/on the breading. Our waitress was pretty good as well, she seemed overwhelmed with a relatively small number of tables, leading to a bit of a wait on drinks and taking our order. Overall, it's Boulder has turned into a safe option when we're looking for a meal in Ames. Only place I'd say there's room for improvement is some seasoning and fix the shaky fall tables! read more

First time visiting. Came because of the different variety of menu items. Tried 2 appetizers and 2 entrees. All were excellent. For appetizers the chicken lettuce wraps and house chips were both very tasty and a nice change from the usual. I had a chicken sandwich with the crispy jalapeños- which added a perfect crunch (just wish the jalapeños were spicy). Sweet potato fries as the side were good but could have been crisper. Definitely will come back. read more

Have been here many times since the opened and have not been disappointed however they went through a change not long ago. The portions are a lot smaller, quality went down and prices went up. Very disappointing and recommend not going unless they change back. Asked the waiter and they said after the change they lost over half their wait staff. read more

Food is great, drink selection is way above average. Service is usually good. However the Covid protocols are not the best when they are busy. At lunch today (a Friday) the whole booth area was packed. There was NO social distancing. One booth even had 2 people in chairs at the end of it, extending way into the aisle. The hostess was going to seat us in that area. I asked if we could be at the high top tables where only one other table was occupied and we could safely social distance. At first she said no. 2 of us stood and waited for the rest of our party, thinking that we would need to leave. Then somehow she appeared with the menus and said we could sit there. Other than that, the Covid precautions were good with masks and sanitizing tables. read more

this would be a hard 0 Stars for our LARGE and LOCAL family. I ordered the fish tacos and it was mostly lettuce and fish sticks. Also apparently it's protocol to take our IDs and walk away from the table for 10-15 min. I could go on but this place isn't worth anymore of my time. Y'all are TERRIBLE. read more

Enjoy the beer selection. The wings are 7/10, we order them crispy and they're good! The burgers are Spicy Avocado Burger! read more

Boulder Tap House - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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

This place has been around for awhile but we had never patronized it before, figuring it was just another sports bar. But thanks to the pandemic we have been getting tired of repeating ourselves with takeout orders and thought we'd try something new. Now I'm sorry it took us this long to make it here. My wife and I just finished our meal and we both thought it was excellent. We both had burgers: My wife had the spinach and artichoke burger (substituting a turkey burger for $1 extra), and she really enjoyed it. She also thought her side dish (the tap house potatoes, basically home-made potato chips) were first rate, and well worth the 69 cent upgrade charge. I had the french onion burger and thought it was superb; great onion taste and lots of fried onions both inside the bun and on top of it as well. I ordered my burger medium-rare and that was exactly how it was cooked. I had regular old fries as a side and thought they were quite tasty. Both our portions were very good sized, big enough so that we both got a leftover meal out of our respective orders. In fact, my portion of fries was big enough that I only ate a third of them and divided the remainder of the portion into two parts. Service was also excellent. The young woman I spoke to on the phone when placing the order was very pleasant and efficient, our order was ready exactly on time, and was 100 percent accurate. The restaurant also seems quite willing to go to reasonable lengths to accommodate the needs of take-out customers. Recommendation: join the online loyalty club before you go and you can get an email offering you a free appetizer. My one regret was that this is only good with dine-in orders, and we're not doing dine-in these quarantine days. Too bad; I would have liked to try their onion rings. But since I had lots of onions on my burger, this wasn't a huge disappointment. Bottom line: as I said above, I'm sorry it took so long to make it here. We won't wait very long, however, before making a return visit. Highly recommended. read more

I had the chicken tacos and the chicken was so chewy I could not eat it. I also want to clarify that they are not enforcing social distancing at all and will seat you directly next to another party even though there is plenty of room within the restaurant. Do not come here if you are looking for a safe place to eat out. read more

NEVER AGAIN. I will never again go there. I'll start by saying the best item on the menu is gone (Boulder Nachos) We were sat next to a large, loud group when we could have been seated in a more open area. There was no room in between their chairs and our table. This gave the server even more of an excuse not to come to our table. The stuffed burger was RAW. Yes. Raw hamburger. For desert, another customer stood there - talking to the large group - with her ass cheeks on our table. Oh, and the TVs were set to an off-shoot of MTV. This place has gone downhill fast. I have lots more to add, but I'm not going to pile on. read more

Great food and service. I got the tequila lime chicken tacos and chips and pico. I wasn't really into the chips and pico, which is weird for me because I love Mexican inspired foods. Other than that, I had a great time here. Make sure to get the avocado fries as an appetizer. Yum! read more

First visit to a restaurant for a sit-down meal since March. Decided to give it a shot after moving in our youngest to the dorm. Tables spaced out plenty. Tons of TVs - would be great for a game watch sometime. We all had burgers. They were great. Other meals looked good and the portion was big. I was pleasantly surprised and will go back. read more

A little on the priced list with few specials. But never disappointed in food or beer choices and quality. Great food house chips. Avocado fries, cheese curds, lettuce wraps, quesadillas are my top 5 apps. House teas great cocktail. Beer great local options. Waitresses can be mediocre or excellent. Change tv for the sports you want! read more

Boulder Tap House - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Mediocre food this is your place. Food was bland and took more than 20 minutes to get on a non busy night. Server was nice and friendly. I would recommend this place for beers as they have a good selection but I would avoid the food unless you like unseasoned overcooked meat. read more

Boulder Tap House - Boulder Tap Beer Selection - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

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Tap House is the place to be in Ames for really good food! I have been coming here for over a year with my boyfriend almost every time I am visiting Iowa State and am never disappointed. They have an awesome atmosphere and menu with great variety (which i love) that is sure to please even some super picky eaters. The food is always delicious from apps to main courses, I have tried several main entrees and the cheese curds are a true addiction. I dream of these cheese curds, they are phenomenal!! On top of fantastic food, the staff is always friendly when you walk in the door and super accommodating even though this place is ALWAYS busy. PLEASE NOTE: If you are coming here for the first time do not expect to just be sat immediately or come in a rush, because this place is very popular to visitors and locals so be cautious of waits and be patient. The wait is worth it! read more

Food leaves something to be desired. I went with one of the burgers which was fairly standard, they have an interesting selection but the high price point makes it difficult to justify their average quality. Would have rated three stars but the service staff were excellent. Our bartender informed us about a margarita special that they were running so, naturally, we went with it. They were wonderfully made. Our waitress apologized for our food taking a while and was happy to replace my soup with fries when I was dissatisfied with it. read more

Went once during their opening week. Very clean, staff was attentive and service was not slow - especially considering that they were quite busy. Atmosphere is pleasant. The food, well . . . My burger, fries, and side order were all much too hot and swimming in grease. My soda was flat. I brought this to the waiter's attention and he replaced it with another flat soda. Thinking that any new place can struggle their opening week I waited 3 months before returning with high hopes. It was a replay of my first visit. Everything about my 2nd visit was pleasant except the food. My burger - which I ordered done "medium" - was burned crisp on one side and dripped grease when I picked it up. Fries were limp with grease. The soda was not flat this time, but that was the only improvement. I concluded that it didn't matter how nice the place seems if the food sucks, and I won't return. read more

First visit to the Ames location of Boulder Tap House. Have been to Mason City location previously. First impression is it is nice and clean and all new. Lots of tv's...large bar...abd mostly open seating area. I ordered the Steak Fajita Wrap. The food is good, and my server (Rean) was great. This is where the positive ends. It was very busy and due to being very open, quite noisy. So not a place that would be really good for a business lunch meeting. Also, they were out of iced tea. Seriously, of any beverage to be out of. Run to a store and buy some tea bags...its not rocket science!! Finally, the music was barely able to be heard over the crowd noise, but it is the same pipes in crap that is at mason city, and 4 out of the 5 big screen tv's had the music vids on instead of sports...and about a third of the other tv's had music vids playing as well. I like the food, and I appreciate the service from the server I had. However, I will not recommend the place to anyone or return again until they get rid of the music vids! read more

Wow, an absolutely AMAZING addition to Ames. We had the cheese curds (half pepper jack, half cheddar) and they were great, and very unique! At $10, they did not skimp out on how many you got but since they're so large I definitely will only be getting them with a large group. That's the only recommendation I have -- maybe have a half order option for some of the larger apps. My boyfriend got the carnitas tacos and I got the steak tacos. Both were AMAZING. The steak was perfectly cooked and you could actually bite it instead of pulling half of your taco out trying to chomp your way through a tough piece of steak. The carnitas too were moist and flavorful. Awesome rice, beans, guacamole, and pico. These are easily some of the best tacos I've had. We ended the night with a strawberry shake and it was fantastic. Everything was A++. You definitely pay a little more here than at other places, but at least for our meal it was 100% worth it. The staff was kind, attentive, and was doing a great job training new hires and maintaining quality service. Everything on the menu looks amazing, I will 100% be back again and again. read more

Cheese curds and service were awesome! Huge $4 long islands on Tuesday! 50 beers on tap that are always changing! Lots of tvs to watch the game. New favorite spot! read more

Boulder Tap House - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

Great Place for Burgers, Beer, and Wings! Boulder Tap House has great customer service. As soon as we walked in,we were greeted at the door and quickly shown to our table. We ordered buffalo wings as an appetizer and they are hands down the best I ever had! My husband ordered a stout and I ordered a cider that we were both pleased with. The waitress was very patient with helping us make a decision and gave us a few tasters. Next we ordered the Jalapeno & Spicy Avocado Burger. Both were delicious. Our sides were cajun fries and wantons, my husband loved them. As we left we we were thanked for coming in and treated kindly. read more

Servers were OK but not great and and it took a long time to get our food. The first lemonade received was almost entirely Ice. When the food did come out it had errors. The food flavor was good but he food was not hot, probably sat it the kitchen too long before the servers brought it out. read more

Boulder Tap House - Lemonade (which is mostly Ice) gets only one free refill! I would not suggest ordering. - Sports Bars Near Me - Ames, Iowa

I like the food at Boulder, but I think their price is a bit high, especially for their appetizers! Burgers are good and they have great selection of beers, I just don't frequent there because price and the service is a bit slow. Good place to watch the game. read more