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American Tap Room, Now Only in Reston - from the Owners of Austin Grill and Marvelous Market


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Last night we headed out to Lebanese Taverna to use a Groupon coupon only to find it closed due to a water main break across the street. We quickly regrouped and headed to the new Cava Grille - same problem. At this point we should have cut our losses and headed home instead I let my wife convince to head to American Tap Room. I had been to the bar for drinks but have avoided eating there to date.

We arrived close to 7 pm and the place was hopping both bar and restaurant. We got a table right away and seated near the window looking out on Woodmont Ave.

Wife ordered the Tap Room Steak Salad. I did not try but it looked like a decent sized salad and the steak was cooked to the requested medium rare - large enough that she brought the leftovers home for lunch today. I decided to go with the crab cake. It was actually not as bad as I expected - decent size with little filler but underseasoned. It was served with some type of vegetable medley and red pepper cream sauce, which was just plain awful. I think the vegetables were frozen birds eye that you heat up in the microwave.

Kids had the mini burger sliders and buttered noodles, which they said were good.

Total for four people with 2 glasses of wine - $80.

Service was friendly and attentive. Our server commented that they have the "best Turkey Burger in the area", I was not willing to take him up on his challenge.

Too many other options in Bethesda to return here any time soon.

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New Clarendon location set to open up late August or early September in the former Sette Bello space: American Tap Room - Clarendon

Great space, and right across from the Clarendon Metro, too.

I have been watching them build out that space over the past few months. They put a lot of work into it and it looks like they have spent a lot of money. That is a big space, so I wish them luck in trying to fill it. Looking at their website for the other two locations, I am having trouble figuring how they plan to distinguish themselves from the other bars/restaurants in Clarendon. As the experience of the Mad Rose Tavern teaches, just investing a lot of money and locating in Clarendon is not always enough to guarantee success.

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The one thing that they are doing better than Sette Bello is the signage. I was driving down Wilson Boulevard today and you could see the restaurant, and all the red awnings, from blocks away. Sette Bello likely never got much foot traffic as it just looked like another part of that office building.

I don't like ATR, but it will do well there.

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The outside fire pits are roaring in Clarendon and there are lots of kitchen types and folks dressed like servers milling about. One volunteered that they are shooting for an August 30 opening. My question whether this was a soft opening was greeted with silence. I guess they do not like prying. :mellow: More likely, they just did not hear me. Still some ladders and boxes visible on the inside.

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I went with my parents last night and had an enjoyable meal. Wasn't spectacular, but a solid good and I would return. It was a good choice for my parents. My mom likes a wide variety of flavors but my dad's tastes run more limited. Their day had started off with movers packing up the house and saying goodbye to NY after 7 decades. My dad with a cheeseburger and pronounced it good. My mom really liked her lobster mac-n-cheese and thought the garlic green beans that came with it were a sharp, bright taste to cut through the richness of the cheese. I had a lobster roll. It was very, very lightly dressed (a good thing in my book) and a generous roll. I thought the bun was too dry and, while toasted, it had obviously sat because it was cold when it arrived. The "fries" that came with the roll were a nice twist - thickly sliced potato that had been fried. The slices had a great crispy edge with soft middles and were served with a sharp salsa that I skipped since it would have overshadowed the lobster. A good deal for $16. The place was pretty full and loud enough to make conversation difficult. The service was a little overly friendly and the manager was making the rounds to make sure that there were no opening kinks that still needed to be worked out.

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Needed to find a last minute place for an early dinner with six adults (including two picky eaters) and a two year old near Rockville Town Center. For some reason, Asian was out of the question. So we end up at the American Tap Room. I wasn't expecting much and the food proved to be exactly what I thought it would be- solidly mediocre. The lone bright spots being the grilled Caesar, which was surprisingly tastey with a nice smokey and pleasant dressing, and the Moorenko's vanilla ice cream. Service was friendly and attentive but clumsy. They have on their cocktail menu something called "flash chilled iced tea", which is a Tea Forte brand tisane in a gimmicky pitcher contraption. No price listed on the menu. In fairness, we didn't ask the price but when ordering were told "no sharing no refills" and ended up with two of them. They charged $8 each. :huh:

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They have on their cocktail menu something called "flash chilled iced tea", which is a Tea Forte brand tisane in a gimmicky pitcher contraption. No price listed on the menu. In fairness, we didn't ask the price but when ordering were told "no sharing no refills" and ended up with two of them. They charged $8 each. :huh:

This may not be illegal, but it's immoral and unethical. I'm sorry you got hit with it.

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Needed to find a last minute place for an early dinner with six adults (including two picky eaters) and a two year old near Rockville Town Center. For some reason, Asian was out of the question.

Next time you're faced with this at RTC go to Oro Pomodoro instead.

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My team went to the Bethesda location for our holiday luncheon, and while my burger was OK, I felt sorry for the servers, who are obviously forced to upsell things to the customers (one of my team had to insist she didn't want the salad dressing the server was pushing), and at one point I noticed all the servers would present a tray to their table and try to sell some sort of offer where you bought glasses and got discounts or something.

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And "American Tap Room" is owned by the same company that owns Austin Grill.

I'm a little disturbed to see from their website that they also own Marvelous Market.

One thing I forgot to mention is that my husband was very surprised that the AG they went to was virtually deserted when they arrived at noon.

ETA: It looks like it's not the same "Tap Room." The only location of the American Tap Room seems to be Reston.

Now, there are five locations of American Tap Room, one having recently opened in Richmond.

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On 7/22/2011 at 2:29 PM, dcs said:

I have been watching them build out that space over the past few months. They put a lot of work into it and it looks like they have spent a lot of money. That is a big space, so I wish them luck in trying to fill it. Looking at their website for the other two locations, I am having trouble figuring how they plan to distinguish themselves from the other bars/restaurants in Clarendon. As the experience of the Mad Rose Tavern teaches, just investing a lot of money and locating in Clarendon is not always enough to guarantee success.

American Tap Room Permit Renewed Amid Sale Rumors

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On ā€Ž12ā€Ž/ā€Ž12ā€Ž/ā€Ž2016 at 5:59 PM, cheezepowder said:

Robert Dyer says the location in Rockville Town Square appears to have closed.

That is confirmed by Bethesda Magazine:Ā  American Tap Room Closes in Rockville, by Andrew Metcalf, 2016.12.12

Also closed in Richmond.

American Tap Room at Willow Lawn is closed; Hattie Mae's Southern Cuisine opening in space, by Karri Peifer, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Feb 14, 2017.

New restaurant to replace shuttered American Tap Room , Henrico Citizen, which sports the following quote:

Quote

Thompson Hospitality operated American Tap Room restaurants at six other locations in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., but the companyā€™s website now shows only two locations for the brand, one in Reston and one in Bethesda, Md.

Ā 

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