Pat's Tap is a little like that person all your friends know and talk about when you're around, and then turn to you and go, "OH MY GOD, you have to meet So-and-So, you are going to LOVE her!" Then, when you finally meet this person, you're like, "Girl.... you're cute but you're not quite worth the damn hypefest." Everything was solid- great service, low-key atmosphere. Tried the cold ramen (which turned out to be a pretty basic noodle salad), the fig/arugala/apple grilled cheese sandwich (solid, except the bread was toasted so hard it cut the top of my mouth repeatedly), and the fish tacos (which were meh). Their latte was weaksauce, but their non-alcoholic cocktails (of which they have three) looked dynamite. But holy bejeezus, the other reviewers aren't lying when they say it's loud. Like, a DIN. Bad acoustics. It's not that there's anything wrong with this place, or that there were any egregious mistakes/faux pas- I just wasn't blown away by anything to the point of having Pat's Tap on my short list of places to eat in the Cities. read more

Rob greeted me at n 5 seconds was so happy to meet all of my needs also I love mike pats tap is where it's at!!

Wow! I hate to say it, because I was so excited to eat at Pat's Tap, but it was close to the worst dining experience I have had to date. I hate to rip on locally owned establishments, but Pat's Tap was bad! Last night, Thursday around 7:30, I ate at Pat's Tap for the first time with my boyfriend. We were super excited to eat there because it is only a few blocks away from his apt. When we got there, it was somewhat unclear as to where the hostess was and how we could get our names on the list. When we found her, we were told it would be a 30 min wait (no problem), The noise level in Pat's Tap was incredibly loud. There seemed to be no escape from the cacophony of sounds from every side. There was really no place for us to wait or stand since all of the places at the bar were occupied and there were no tables or chair for us to wait in. Pat's Tap is, regrettably, a very small venue, however, I have seen places that have less space and have done more with it. We finally scored two seats at the bar, which seemed to be the only place where I could actually hear my boyfriend. We considered eating at the bar, but since the bar is split into two levels with an annoying raised bar in between the levels, there really is no place to put a large plate of food, unless you want to be constantly reaching over the bar to eat. We instead opted for the first available seating; a long high top that housed four other groups. The bar was quiet in comparison to the rest of the dining experience, which was so loud! What with the number of voices and no visible way to soak up sound within the establishment (i.e carpet, curtains, etc), and the competing music made this a incredibly loud environment to eat in. I would compare the noise level to a biker bar. When our server came by, she was very nice, however nothing over the top. We ordered, me being so hungry that I ordered three small plates, a cup of the tomato bisque, the goat cheese fritters, and the potato skins. My boyfriend ordered the chicken Haddash (?) sandwich with fries. Pat's Tap brings out complimentary homemade Cheese-itz to their tables. The homemade cheese-itz were stale and somewhat moist (not pleasant). The Tomato Bisque tasted like tomato sauce from a can heated up. The potato skins were literally a potato cut in half with cheese, bacon, scallions, and sour cream (nothing skin-ish about them). The only thing that I actually enjoyed was the goat cheese fried balls with honey and onion. I thought that was quite tasty, but not enough to make me go back to this establishment. My boyfriend's chicken sandwich was incredibly spicy, which he liked, but the chicken had been charred to the point of where it was literally burned and it was a dominating flavor. The fries that came with his sandwich were so salty that I had to finish my entire beer just to quench my thirst after a handful of them. We were incredibly dissatisfied with Pat's Tap. After having read the reviews we expected so much more. I am sorry to say that it fell utterly and completely flat for us. At least our waitress was kind. That is about the only thing I can say. If you still want to give Pat's Tap a try, go for it. I think to grab a beer with several friends it would be an alright environment, but for anything else, I would suggest you go elsewhere. read more

After a Friday morning/afternoon spent at Lake Calhoun, Pats Tap came up for our burger/curd exploration. Parking... there is no lot that I found, parking will be on the street in front, or residential around the place. We stroll in, and ask for outdoor seating. Told it's a 20 minute wait, despite there being 3 open tables, and another 2 that need to be busted. In utter amazement, I look at the woman and back to the employee and say "ok, indoors I guess." We get seated in a nearly empty inside, save for 3 tables. But, another 6 that need to be busted (I am not exaggerating, the entire row of tables we're in on the back wall, not one was busted, nor were the two behind us). I've said this before, and I'll say it again, if you ever have "that" feeling when you go to a place like "hmmm, maybe I shouldn't be here" you probably shouldn't. The table next to us, two older gals - no I won't disclose an age guess to risk an ass whoopin at the next Yelp event - waited with credit cards in hand to pay for drinks for the entire 11 minutes it took us to get our server to come by. I say drinks because I could hear them saying that they're going somewhere else to get food because of the service was non existent. Finally, after we get our order placed, they finally have a server come by and apologize for the wait and send them on their way. I should have taken that sign... I opt for the bison burger with fries, the woman goes for a bacon burger with a fried egg with fries, and we of course go for the cheese curds to fulfill our weekly burger/curd mission. Curds come out soon enough.. minus small app plates of course. They're not bad at all. The "smoky ketchup" that comes with them is essentially ketchup and a dab of salsa. Not good, not bad, it's just kind of there with the curds. The curds themselves aren't the worst I've ever had, but, they're not a top 5 or top 10 either. Then we wait. And while we wait, a solid 9 minutes goes by (figured I should start keeping track after our ridiculous wait to start) between the time we're done with an empty dish and two empty water glasses to the time anyone swings by to grab our dish or refill our water dish. Ironically enough, the gal who refills our water says "on a hot day like this, need to stay hydrated." Keep this in mind. Burgers come out 15 minutes after the curds are done. They're delivered and of course that's that. I get up and go get ketchup from the bar area because why would a runner/server ask if we need anything? Upon returning, sample a fry and find out... they're barely warm. Great. Just fucking great actually. I'd tell someone, but, we didn't see our server the rest of the meal (keep this in mind too). Bison burger.. Glacier Wildfire blue cheese, garlic aioli, arugula. I had one bite of blue cheese taste, and that was it. Burger itself was ok. The sauce was barely a notice with the bison. Arugula added absolute nothing but a sight of green. And after two bites, I was eating nothing but a straight bison burger. And my water glass sat empty the entire meal. Not even ice chunks to chew on. The woman's burger came out with the wrong cheese (swiss instead of cheddar as requested). But, overall, an ok burger by her admission. Nothing great, nothing bad - save for the cheese. Like me, her fries were luke warm at the start and cold by the end. And then we sat there. And sat there. And sat there some more. I did notice the hipster couple down the row had great service by our server. Made me wonder if I needed to start talking about a love of PBR and hatred of main stream everything in order to get some god damn service. So, we sat there more. By this time, we're at the edge of getting up to go to the bar and request a check when finally the server arrives. I didn't even request a check, just handed my card and told to run it. I don't even care, I don't want to wait another 20 minutes, I just want to get the fuck out and get on with my day. At my utter amazement... two burgers/fries and a bowl of curds somehow cost $46. Ashley snatches the check and a menu, and instantly goes through it wondering how the hell. It adds up. $2 for fries subbed, the fried egg was another $2 and our burgers were both $15+. Congrats Pats, you now take the cake for being the most overpriced place I've ever been to for burgers and curds. In closing, suck it Pat's Tap. You are the most overrated, overpriced, and under whelming place I've been to yet on my burger/curds mission. In addition, your service is paltry and I regret ever having stepped foot into your establishment. On the bright side, I did scout a visit to Hola Arepa across the street. read more

Pat's Tap - Curds - Pubs Near Me - Minneapolis, Minnesota

See all

This is a 5 star review. (skip to paragraph 3) I had to leave off a star because of the noise. Yes, I know its a bar, but its a bar with little or no treatment for sound. It was so loud in there (a Sunday Evening) that we could barely understand the waitress. Now for the fun stuff. They have great beer. Lots of it (over a dozen types). And, they know how to serve it properly. Lift Bridge Farm Girl & Fulton's Imperial Stout seemed nice. And they were. We confined ourselves to small plates as we were not very hungry (right). Pretzels - Nice dark color and texture. Served with a clean tasting dijon mustard. Only one pretzels per serving. So we got two :) Cheese curds - wow! You simply have to try these if you love curds. Pork belly skewer - Nice rub. A bit fatty for me, but delicious taste. Potato skins. They have more potato and less cheese than your average bear. Served with sour cream and chives. We tacked on a couple a couple plates at the end because there were no dessert items listed on the menu. Only after we royally pigged out did we find out about dessert. [sigh] OK I guess we just have to go back. read more

Wonderful place we stopped in for lunch while out of town. Food was excellent along with the environment.

I've gone here twice, once on a Friday night and once on a Wed night. Oddly, Wed night was much more crowded. My group had a 2 hour wait, so we bellied up to the bar to eat... after parking a block over in -35 wind chill weather. I had the Turkey burger, which was really quite good. I ordered the Fries with the burger, and they were really quite bad. SUPER salty. A friend had the homemade chips, and they more or less tasted like Styrofoam. I'd like to add that the service was really quite good as well. The rating for this place gets dinged for the prices that are getting charged; $12 for a burger. 6$ for a beer. $50+10$ tip for dinner and a drink with my girlfriend? This isn't Sushi, and I had to sit at a bar. For my money, I would head over to Common Roots... similar menus for less money and they have a parking lot. Or, if you really want more of a pub experience for the same money but better food and beers, the Bulldog is a good venue. read more

Unimpressed and disappointed. Pat's Tap is overpriced and tries way too hard. Service was awkward and unreliable, three different waitresses each appeared once. Food was hit or miss, I wouldn't classify it as a "gastro pub" though. Burgers were good but could have used a little extra spice. Other options are misleading and overpriced: $9 salad was only lettuce and a piece of toast, $8 cheese curds were good but at $1/curd not worth it. The free skee ball and beer selection were the only redeeming qualities. Far lacking compared to other gastro pubs in the area, your money would be much better spent at Victory 44, Eli's, or Buster's on 28th. Try those for good food! read more

I really wanted to like this place a lot more than I did .. because after a really fun yelp elite party I was excited to come back. Well, I finally did with some people from work, and I wasn't really that impressed at the end of the day. Pros: -The interior is pretty sweet, and the patio area is big enough to accommodate a good number of people. -25 cent skee-ball. Can't beat that. -Our waitress was sweet but overworked -Drinks are decent size for $5 -check in with your yelp app and get a drink deal! score! -cheese curds. yum. Cons: -street parking might be a little hard to find due to location -the food is really overpriced & pretentious. Yes the ingredients used are fresh and I get that, but $7 (or was it $8?) for potato skins? Plus, their definition of a potato skin was just a single baked potato smothered in sour cream, cut in half. $7 for a baked potato? Really? -Service was slow, at first. I sat down and waited for my party, and it took a good 5 minutes for someone to come over to me and bring water. Then it took awhile for the waitress to make her way over. However, once we got our drinks we didn't have to wait too long for refills. I think the waitress was covering the entire inside crowd, which at one point was too much for her alone. -No ice in the water. Bleh. After being semi-disappointed upon leaving the establishment, I don't know if I'll be back. Maybe if I moved to the neighborhood because it does seem like a cool hang out place, but I have those in my neighborhood, too. read more

Simply put, Pat's Tap is the best gastro pub in Minneapolis. I admit that if you are not a person of discerning taste, you many not agree. For example, if you are unable to appreciate the fact that the local beers on tap at Pat's Tap include Fulton and Harriett Brewing rather than simply Summit EPA like every other bar, you may not be able to appreciate their beer savvy or local pride. Speaking of beer, where else can you only get tap beer or cans of beer? No bottles. Brilliant! Sure there's PBR for the young hipsters who haven't developed their palette yet, but we need them around for ambiance. More importantly there's Surly. What self respecting Minnesotan doesn't love Surly? Then there's the issue of games. By now you've all heard about the free skee-ball. I agree that's rad on a number of levels, but what about their pool table? I'm not talking about some jaggy, crooked, beer-soaked thing with ripped felt. I mean a flat, solid, pool table strategically located so you can actually shoot from any angle without poking you butt into someone's face. Hell, I'd give them 5 stars just for the placement of the table alone. As for the food, it's right up their with the best of the best of gastro cuisine: burgers stuffed with bacon, bangers and mash, great local cheeses. I'm getting hungry. I'd better get over there. read more

Pat had been playing hard to get. Since opening, friends and I have tried to hit up Pat's Tap in the evening, only to be turned away because of really long wait times. Hearing that they were also open for brunch, a friend and I decided to try our luck on a Sunday at around 1 pm. While we were able to get a table and be seated right away, our dining experience went down quickly from there. Our brunch was absolutely, beyond a doubt, one hundred percent run of the mill. I ordered the eggs benedict. The hashbrowns were delicious--crispy on the outside, almost creamy on the inside. But the portion was pretty small. The eggs were completely hard on the inside and the hollandaise sauce was fairly bland. The menu promised eggs benedict, hashbrowns, and toast. When I asked the waitress if there was toast coming, she explained that the toast referred to the toasted English muffins under the eggs benedict. That seems a bit like false advertising to me. Though the restaurant was not that busy, the service was pretty slow, the waitress pretty grouchy and snobbish. She only became attentive near the end of the meal when she stopped by repeatedly to try to take away my plate; obviously she was ready for us to leave. At that point, I was ready to leave too. read more

Pats tap is the best restaurant/bar in the neighborhood. Great spot for a game and solid service as well.

I finally decided to check out Pat's since I just moved to their neighborhood. Service was a little slow but quite friendly, so they were easily forgiven. I stupidly ordered a salad when everyone else ordered a burger according to everyone at my table it was one of the best burgers they've ever had. I guess I'll just have to go back. I did, thankfully, order the goat cheese fritters which were amazing. I highly suggest! There was a kid there, but for a Saturday afternoon it was mostly adults which was nice. Not that I'm against kids. There's fun things to do here such as pool, darts and skee ball, so it's nice to have some adult time. I'll definitely be back. read more

From the fine people who brought you Barbette, Red Stag, BLB, et al - comes Pat's Tap. Think GASTROPUB - not neighborhood dive bar. Cocktails are solid. Beer and wine lists are varied and extensive enough without being overwhelmingly ridiculous. As expected, Surly and Bells breweries are represented, but all I care about is Guinness on tap. Food prices are above expected regular bar food levels, but this is no regular bar food. It's becoming trite, but it's true. Locally sourced fresh ingredients expertly handled = fricken awesome delicious food. Only, that shit don't come cheap. The charcuterie plate is one of my new favorites in the twin cities. Made in house, reportedly the meat selections will vary with the seasons and the whims of the meat master. This past platter included rabbit liver mousse, beef heart and liver terrine, pork summer sausage wrapped in bacon, chicken liver pate, lamb terrine with dried cherries, mortedella, and 2 others that I'm forgetting. You don't want this. There's only so much to go around and I'm getting high on my own supply. Chicken terrine buffalo wings was an interesting deconstruction of the ubiquitous bar staple. A pressed chicken sausage served chilled in a ranch/blu cheese and hot sauce dressing with slaw on top. It captured the flavors of the wings without the hassle of the bones. Some pork cracklings were provided on the side to crumble over the terrine and add a little contrasting crunch to the mix. You can never fail with pork rinds. Yum. Burgers are finely crafted and in the $15 range. I'd pay that price for these burgers any day of the week. I had the duck burger. Reportedly whole duck - included yummy unctuous livers - ground for my pleasure - cooked to ordered temperature and served with a wasabi asian slaw (cabbage and bean spouts) atop. Juicy, ducky, crisp bright slaw and the wasabi was well metered, just a hint of flavor without overpowering the whole package. Friend had the cheeseburger. I have no clue where they got this huge heirloom tomato from! Giant (approximately 4-5 inch diameter) SLAB of ripe green heirloom tomato was gently cured in salt to reduce the moisture and intensify flavors before the salt was removed. Juicy 75-25 burger flat topped to perfect temp. Gorgeous slab of cheese (wish I could remember what variety) flat topped with the burger while it cooks so that it produced a tile of cheese with a richly caramelized rind. That rind provided an additional depth of flavor and structural integrity that restrained the cheese until your teeth gave it an oozy release. Lightly cured fresh green heirloom tomato slab sat on top of it all. Beauty in every bite. Only 2 of the 4 Skee-Ball lanes worked, but they were FREE! It seems so easy and yet I suck so bad. A single pool table remains and was sporadically played by patrons throughout the night. For you, Pat's Tap is worth at least a visit - but that's all you get - ONE visit. It just opened and it was crowded enough already dammit. Nothing comes between me and my charcuterie plate. read more

If Pee Wee Herman ever decided to open a bar aimed at middle aged adults who have never grown up but still love to drink and eat good food, he would have opened up Pat's Tap. They have Skee Ball. Yes. That's right. Skee Ball. As noted before it is quite loud there. But that's normal for this area. The food is good. The beer is cold. Did I mention they have Skee Ball? read more

I'm adding 16 years to my age here... Soooo loud. Food is good, but hard to sit thru a meal with the volume. Acoustic tiles? Carpet? Anything? But the skee ball thing is fun. read more

First time there we had was fresh pasta of the day (light, lemony and fantastic), cheese curds (okay, not as salty as the State Fair kind) and the bacon burger (not enough bacon). Second time we had the goat cheese fritters (these are crack), the *black rice burger * was amazing, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside (If Fitger's wild rice burger and B'Wiched's Beet burger ever met, they would produce this.) The special that night was fish tacos, (3) which was perfectly seared, not fishy at all and actually just a little too much food. There isn't much of a wait during the weeknights, but we've driven by there on the weekends and it looked really crowded. They have a really nice selection of odd cordials, liqueurs and bitters for the bartenders to play with. I appreciate the well-stocked bar. read more

Love this place. Started off with a great cocktail- wish I could remember the name. Then ordered the fish tacos. They were delicious- not sure they needed the double taco. Everyone at my table loved what they ordered. Fries were tasty! Played skeeball after which was great. So i am a fan not because the food is great but the whole package is awesome. Even the outdoor seating adds to it. read more

I want to love this place more, but every time I go I am not all that impressed. I will start with the positives. Definitely come here to play skeeball or pool (only 1 table). The bar is full of local liquids. Their beer, wine and drink selection is endless. The location is amazing is prime, but that leads me to say there are just better choices for food so close. Which leads me to the disappointments of Pat's. Parking around there is a mess. There isn't a parking lot, so try to find a street spot on the residential side. The service is "meh". Translation- the staff I've had are there to get a check and don't seem to smile or enjoy their job. Lastly, the food does not impress. One must eat are the happy hour cheese curds with their ketchup! I wish I could make a meal out of that, but want more. The pork belly was horrible and I really was looking forward to it with friends. The menu may potentially change and I could try again... read more

Would give them 100 stars if I could. My friends got married today and we stopped there for a quick drink before our dinner reservations (it was a very small wedding). We were all quite dressed up and the waitress asked us what we were celebrating, when she found out it was a wedding she brought the manager over with a complimentary bottle of champagne. They were so friendly and honestly it was such a nice gesture. It's a really good bar, but the staff is just great!!! read more

Stopped in for happy hour here with an old friend. Had a pint, some mussels and some cheese curds. All on special and all delicious. Wait staff was attentive and knew that we were there for happy hour. Even stopped by for last call on happy hour. Loved it and the patio. Should have taken pictures of the curds/spicy ketchup and mussels. Get the mussels!! Will be back many more times!! Also, 3 Sheeps brewing had a tap takeover going on and the head brewer was sharing samples and was also fantastic to talk to. Pat's is the best!! read more

My boyfriend has lived in this neighborhood for a long time (almost 15 years) and was excited when the old place was gutted and renovated. Since then we've tried this bar four times as it's in walking distance from our home and each time has been a fail on some level. First, let me start with the menu. It's extremely pretentious for a neighborhood bar. Over priced and not that impressive. When looking for bar food you're left with a pretzel and cheese curds basically and the cheeseburger is hit and miss. Certainly nothing special given what else is available in the area in the way of cheeseburgers. You can get a awesome burger at the Country bar for $5 on Wednesdays. You should go there. I digress... I've ordered grilled cheese twice, how can one screw up grilled cheese, right? The first time was fine, it was the least offensive thing on the menu. The second time I was horrified to find corn and worcestershire between the cheese that there was no mention of on the menu and the only explanation we got from our server was "oh yeah, they change it from time to time." Hey, thanks for updating your menu. I never eat corn. No, and never did I expect it on the grilled cheese given it said nothing about it on the menu. Eww. No. Just no. Whoever the chef is, that person has watched way too many cooking shows and is trying much too hard to be innovative. Just make a grilled cheese and get over yourself. At one point we had a zucchini appetizer of some sort that we liked the first time and the next time we came back and ordered it again they had changed it but again, didn't change the description on the menu and the portion was much smaller. It was edible I guess but a serious let down given we were expecting what we had before, was the same price and we got less. Again, "they change it from time to time" was the excuse we got. Very hit and miss food. You never really know what you're going to get apparently. We don't even bother with the menu anymore. Next: We don't like sitting at the tables as the chairs are very uncomfortable and you're up against your neighboring tables and in high traffic pretty much anywhere you sit so we try to sit at the bar that by the way only seats about 12 people which is a total piss off because the last time we saw open seats the bar tender informed us that he was saving them. So we sat elsewhere and watched for over 30 minutes before two people finally came back from playing games. I don't now what bars you've been to but that's totally jacked. Take your drinks, go play your games or sit at the bar. You don't get it both ways. Especially for that long and at a bar that is so small. We'd have stayed longer, drank more and spent more money had the bar tender not been so worried about people who weren't even sitting at the bar. Total douche-bag. This was our last try. It would have been worth the cheap cab ride to go Uptown, had more options and likely a better experience all around. Too bad. We're really pissed that this place we can walk to totally sucks ass. P.S. The one time time we tried the ski-ball, all but one of the machines worked and some other pissed off patron warned us before we even bothered putting money in the machine. After reading all of this and you still go there that's your fault. I warned you. read more

See all

Pat's Tap was an unexpected surprise. The atmosphere, skeeball, food & service were all great. The seating is a bit limited, so I'd suggest coming early or be prepared to wait. We arrived a little after 6p on Saturday & got the other end of a high top. It wasn't strange sharing a table since it's pretty loud, so don't let that throw you off if that's the table you get offered. All 4 lanes of skeeball were available so after we ordered beers we played a few games. They have a change machine so no need to fret if you didn't bring quarters. We started with the cheese curds which were awesome. I didn't care for the dipping sauce as they are perfect on their own. Both of my parents ordered the fish tacos which we learned were new to the menu. I went with the cheeseburger & a side salad. I tried a few bites of the tacos & would definitely recommend them. My cheeseburger was huge & hit the spot. However, for $3 I found the salad to be a waste as it was literally just lettuce. Pat's Tap is worth checking out - especially now that the weather is getting nicer. The patio looked like it had about the same amount of tables as inside. read more

Pass. Our server was more interested in "kissing"her boyfriend through the window & playing pool. You probably will get better service at the gas station across the street. read more

"I'm going to Pat's Tap tonight," my co-worker excitedly told me. "But it's supposed to be crazy so I'm going to wait until later tonight just so I don't have to wait around." I'd heard the stories of Pat's Tap opening, but hadn't really followed up or asked any of the hard questions. So I gathered up my mother and we visited a couple Fridays ago for a mid-afternoon happy hour. There was no wait and we were seated immediately. The waitstaff were friendly but seemed decidedly busy and maybe a bit distracted - not altogether unexpected in a brand new restaurant everyone wants to go to. It seemed like I had a rotating cast of servers which made asking for my check (which ended up being billed incorrectly), an awkward experience. So we got the buffalo chicken terrine (yummy and approachable), the gougeres (piping hot and a solid value), the Manchego and mushroom flat bread (nice, but not something I would rave about), and the stuffed potato skins (a bargain at $5 for how much was on these). Overall food: solid. Certainly not ground-breaking, but it's a bar and skee ball joint, people! Anything a cut above a well-done burger and crinkle-cut fries that have been sitting in a freezer for five months is probably going to be enough to keep me happy while drinking nice craft session beers. The beer list is nice. I wouldn't say there's really anything that couldn't be found elsewhere, but it's a nicely rounded line up with an emphasis on the local and more esoteric possibilities. My husband and I also tried out the brunch. I should preface it by saying that my ambivalent relationship with brunch probably colored my view of this meal more than anything since I felt like I had eaten a really substantial amount of food when I was done (and to be fair, eating a hamburger made out of bacon probably had at least something to do with this). Not a bad option, but I think I could be content just going to Pat's Tap for happy hour going forward. I see there's a lot of hate on Pat's Tap out here on Yelp. I guess I'm a bit puzzled why - because you showed up at 8PM on a Friday and didn't get seated immediately? Because you're eating a meal at a bar and it isn't Piccolo? I say embrace Pat's for it's neighborhood feel and easy, simple food. And bring quarters for skee ball. read more

Pat's tap was my FIRST Minnesotan stop. It was a busy spot and the locals are definitely very kind. They treated us well. Sports bar type of place. Very casual and fun. I LOVED the cheese curds. GOD, must you torture me with SUCH SIN?? They are like the BETTER version of mozzerella cheese sticks. AMAZING. I'm GLAD I live IN Los Angeles and NOT Minneapolis cause I'd be one HAPPY FAT KID if I did. LOL. I didn't LOVE the burger I ordered at Pat's tap. It just didn't have the oomph that burgers need. The beef needed to be a bit more seasoned, it was bland and the toppings did nothing for it. I REALLY wanted it to be good, but it just didn't impress me. I did like the skee ball, it was fun and entertaining, but yes, they are old machines and like other yelpers said, they were broken. But all in all, I had a great time. :) read more

Having lived across from Pat's Tap on Nicollet for a year, I feel pretty qualified to review Pat's Tap. Here's my take: Food: Delicious. It was hard to move beyond the made-from-scratch turkey burger with whipped feta and house-made potato chips. Mmm. I also looove the vegetable curry and rotating brunch omelette/scramble specials. Really good deep-fried pickle spears too! Very rarely, the quality is inconsistent. I've had absolutely lemongrassily perfect veggie curry one month, and soupy drowning-in-sauce with undercooked vegetables the next (they did fix that for me when it happened, though). That may have just been growing pains, because overall the food is pretty solid. FYI: their breakfast sausage links are the same as the bangers in the bangers and mash. Pretty good, but not outstanding. Drinks: I am not a huge drinker, so the lack of cheap taps is just fine with me. They have a wide selection of canned beers and fun cocktails on the menu. I love a smooth pint of Murphy's to go with my turkey burger. Service: The waitstaff all look trendy but are unremarkable in terms of customer service. There are a few standouts (I'm looking at you, water guy!). They can be very accommodating when you have special requests (can I get some goat cheese in these eggs? And pass the Cholula!). Service will be slower when it's busy, and the packed dining area is hard for servers to navigate. Atmosphere: This is my biggest piece of advice for you, readers of Yelp!: know your priorities before you decide to stop in. Sometimes it is PACKED and there is a line; I find it hard to predict when that will be. At night, it will be loud (the music, the conversation, the skee-ball, everything). Lots of dark polished wood, fancy poodle wallpaper, and sparse lighting make the inside dining area seem more intimate. I really appreciate not having multiple big TV screens of sportsball in my face. When it's warm, the patio is wonderful. Price: This is not a dive bar. If you want cheap bar food, go somewhere else. The prices seem a smidge high, but I always leave Pat's full and satisfied. Reading the other reviews, I think some people's take on Pat's Tap was affected by all the hype-- in both a positive and negative way. Pat's is a step above the average neighborhood bar that attracts a lot of young people with mustaches and skinny jeans. The skee-ball is 25 cents with little to no wait. Sometimes it gets busy because it is popular and good. And that is all OK! read more

I would have given Pat's tap four stars, maybe even five, however we had an unfortunate run-in with the hostess/ manager. She was very rude and crass and she told my friend that she "hoped we'd get cancer and die," and that we were ass holes to bring 11 people in on a Friday night. As I had called ahead, I had prepared the group there may be a significant wait, and we were extremely patient and willing to wait it out. The bar has plenty of standing room and wonderful cocktails... we even order a few appetizers at the bar so we were fine. I am not sure what caused her to be so angry, is this part of their schtick? Luckily my friend kept this to herself so the rest of us could enjoy the rest of the evening. Once seated, the food was great, we enjoyed the muscles and frittes, fried pickles, cheese curds (white cheese-delish!) The burgers were fantastic. The server, Christopher, took great care of us, and we stayed almost all night playing skee ball, pool and enjoying the libations. I would recommend the seasonal margarita, although a little chunky, it was strong and had fresh fruit. I am sure the manager/hostess was having a bad night, I'd recommend owership move her to the back of the house as she clearly can't handle interfacing with the customers. read more

I wanted to like this place so badly. Great location, great windows & patio. In general, I feel like the foundation is there for a great spot. Service is a disaster. I've been here three times (purely based on circumstance, not choice) and each visit has been at least a 30 minute wait for our food once ordered. The restaurant was not busy at all. One visit alone was 50 minutes, and there were three other tables that were seated in the entire restaurant. The food is just ok. On par with Applebee's. Don't expect much. read more

I kind of like the atmosphere here. It is a pretty cool place with a good vibe. And the skee-ball is great. But for some reason I cannot manage to like the food. It is not bad food. It is cooked with more attention than your average pub food for sure. Yet is not better than you average pub food. Take the lamb meatballs: great idea and presentation, reasonably tasty mint and cilantro sauce, and less than average meatballs. They are all filler and not much lamb. Other things I tried. The fish taco: not doing great on the fish. The slaw is good, but the fish is just OK. Bangers and Mash: above average. Chips: good (definitely don't sub for fries, totally not worth it). Cheese plate: disappointing. On the other hand, beer list is pretty awesome. Anyway, nice play to spend time with friends, but food not that gastro. read more

I was excited to try Pat's Tap for Yelp Drinks, so Leah G and I took advantage of the deals and went there on Wednesday for some drinks and apps. The interior is adorable, and I am in love with their wall paper. I also was in love with my waitress, who was sweet and very understanding. However, based on the food and drinks, I found Pat's Tap a little meh. It's obviously popular-I was there with Leah G at 6:30 and the place was absolutely packed, so maybe I just didn't order right? We ordered the French Belle, and I'm not sure if I was expecting something else but it was basically a bourbon with no real hint of the St. Germain. Oh well, I drank the whole thing, but if you're expecting something with St. Germain and peach bitters and are expecting sweet, this isn't the drink for you. The apps we ordered were kind of underwhelming, too. The buffalo chicken terrine tasted (to me) like a $9 order of buffalo chicken wings. Well, like 5 bites of them. I know that's the point, but after I ordered it I regretted it. The goat cheese fritters were tasty, but they were $7 and they came with three small golf-ball sized fritters. A little overpriced, I thought. I want to come by here and try their burgers-something I wish I would have done instead of. They looked delicious. All in all-I didn't have a great experience here, but it's close to my place, and I love their tap selection,so next time, I'll get a beer & a burger. read more

Our planned pit stop at Pat's Tap for a quick drink, turned into the main event. Walking into Pat's was happiness stimulation overload. Neon lights, huge draft menu, hipster music, and skee-ball! I was walking in zigzags, not because of the PBRs (hey...when in the Midwest!) but because I couldn't decide which fun direction to go first! Things only got better when I looked at the menu. Visiting from out-of-state, these Minnesotans sure do like their deep fried items! The group shared cheese curds, fried pickles, and frites. All had a perfect crisp with house made dips. I am not really one to consume pork, but couldn't resist the pork belly skewers...delish! Reason #8529437 I heart Minnesota! read more

Aside from their desserts, this place rocks! Open atmosphere, good music, great service and FUN skee-ball! The feeling of pulling the skee-ball lever back is worth the 25 cents alone! Great people/dog watching. Many people on the patio had their dogs with and it's just awesome. Don't bring your cat, though. Food was excellent. Don't call me a sissy, but their fish taco portion was so big I couldn't even finish it. Have you EVER had so much fish tacos that YOU couldn't finish? Huh? Great beer selection and sustainable food/cooking philosophy. HOWEVER, do NOT order dessert. The carrot cake looked disgusting, and my wife said it was just a large brick of cream cheese. The chocolate torte thing looked like they just grabbed it from the fridge and plopped it on a plate. Unappealing and the flavor was just blah. I know, it's a "bar." We were stupid to order dessert and expect to fall over in delight. We'll be back! read more

See all

Pat's Tap is more than just an palindrome....it's a great place for good food, good beer and skeeball. It can get a bit loud for conversation when it's busy. They could definitely use some sound dampening to separate the different portions of the area from each other. But, it is a wonderful place to hang out, especially when the patio is open. Try out the cheese burgers with the fried cheese...yum! I also like the Bloody Mary Burger...and the Bloody Mary's. It's not at all obvious, but Pat's Tap was also one of the first businesses in the neighborhood to install solar. Extra points to them for taking a risk to do what is right for all of us. read more

Pat's is the newest child in the Kim Bartmann family of Mpls restaurants. The deal is: neighborhood bar/food joint with good juke box, pool and skee ball. My experience started out a bit rocky - it was 80 degrees on October 3rd so yeah of course I wanted to sit outside. They have a sizable patio out front (right on the street - 35th/Nicollet) but it appeared they had already pulled in most of the tables for the season. The tables that were left were occupied but I had to ask just in case anyone was close to finishing up.... After a bit of attitude from the host (hey, it never hurts to ask so excuse me), we ended up at a table inside. Service - our server was socially awkward which translates to a little surly and snippy. After a big ordeal of figuring out what beers on the menu they actually did have available (which I still wasn't clear on), we gave up and settled for a coke and water. We split the small plate of potato skins and a burger with greens. The food was really super good so that was a definite plus! I don't eat a lot of red meat these days but a burger seemed like a good idea and it was - good quality meat, amazing cheese and the tomato was one of the best slices of tomato I've ever had! Price - I don't know how this happened but somehow with a coke, a water, two potato skins, a cheeseburger and some lettuce we ended up spending $23 before tip. $3 upcharge for greens on the side instead of chips.... I guess ya gotta pay to be 'healthy' In all seriousness though, I'd rather pay more for a high quality burger so I get it. I realize that the Kim Bartmann restaurants are going to try their hardest to serve food made from local, organic, sustainable suppliers/ingredients. Fine by me. Aesthetic - not enough bike parking. Patio as I mentioned before seems promising. Inside is cozy, good lighting, kinda kitschy but not annoyingly so - overall cute. Summary - Food was outstanding but a little overpriced for the neighborhood. Service was questionable. I'm going with a 4star based on that cheeseburger alone coupled with the fact that I think it's a got potential to be a good hang when they get the kinks worked out. read more

I went to Pat's (who is apparently a woman by the way to clear up any ambiguity issues) the other night for dinner and drinks with some friends. I was pleasantly surprised. The space was deceivingly large and the decor simple. They have a large outdoor patio that was packed on a cool Fall evening. And it sits conveniently in south Minny at 35th and Nicollet. They have a decent sized menu full of interesting dishes, and an above average beer list and cocktail offerings. For starters my friend and I ordered the Rebel's Yell cocktail. This might just be the best bourbon drink I've ever had. Bourbon sour with Sriracha honey and mint. Unbelievably good. For food we began safely with the fried pickles and the goat cheese fritters. Both wonderful. For my main course I had the shakshuka, which was my first experience. It was unblievable. The eggs paired perfectly with the red pepper/tomato sauce and the large grain cous cous really rounds off the texture. Whatever spice (heat) existed was complimented nicely by the cilantro. The portion size was huge, but of course, I ate all of it. I was stuffed. We all left happy, full, and bent on returning if only for the Rebel's Yell cocktail and try their breakfast. The service was as awesome as the food. Although, if I had a complaint, it it would be the noise level. It wasn't so much the din of the crowd as it was the volume of the music. We found ourselves yelling at each other. And, yes, there is a fair amount of hipster patronage. So you will see an abundance of mustaches, dark rimmed glasses, cardigans and pints of PBR. This is easy to overlook because Pat's is worth it. Oh, and its the first time I've seen SKEE-BALL outside of Chuck E. Cheese or a county fair. Cue nostalgia now... read more

Nice outdoor seating in summer. The place is packed. Food looks good and there's a large selection of beer. Nice ambiance!

Things I love about Pat's Tap: Skee-ball. Cheese Curds Their Cheese It's Free Skee-ball Grain Belt Premium Pork Belly Skewers and, of course, 3 lanes of Skee-ball. Skee-ball, a distant cousin twice removed from Bowling, is a game everyone can play. However, I can't play as well these days because I'm a lot taller than I was when I was the reigning skee-ball champ at Chuck-E-Cheese, back in the day. Bending over throws off my whole swing. But I love to stop in for a beer and some munchies and play a couple of games just to recapture my former glory. And the lanes have been restored to their former glory as well, which is super cool. I just wish they were spitting tickets out at me for every ball I made in. Man, I loved all the useless crap I would 'buy' with my tangle of tickets. Anyways, Pat's is a great addition to the neighborhood and is crowded every time we have stopped in. Which does make it a little loud, but the service is always spot on - and friendly. The pork belly skewers are delicious...and those cheez-it things are amazing (read: addictive). One day I'll move past the appetizers, but I can't sit still that long with the skee-ball calling my name. read more

Holy hipsters batman! Pat's Tab is a swanky place for your inner hipster to get out. Or get underground, I suppose. Yes, you come for the skee ball but what will bring you back are the amazing appetizers and great beer list. I have been very thoroughly surprised by whatever I've eaten here. It's very fresh and the servers are attentive. It's a great happy hour spot. It would be a 5 star review, but it's a little off the beaten path in South Mpls and well, hipsters. read more

I love coming here! This is the ideal neighborhood bar without being a hole in the wall. I love HIW bars but this is chill with an awesome patio. Always friendly staff. Great beer selection. Best of all, old school ski ball machines!! read more