Black Bear

Chubby's in Thurmont and B'z BBQ in Paeonia Springs. Good local BBQ.

Thx. Have to say that perhaps we have different definitions of "local" as mapquest shows the trip from my home in Arlington to Thurmont to be 63 miles/1hr & 20 minutes; to Paeonia Springs is 35 miles/50 minutes. Rocklands and RH&B are both 5 minutes and we occasionally breakdown and get takeout from time to time. I mentioned Famous Daves only because someone else did earlier and I've eaten at the one near Potomac Mills a few times when down that way. If the stars align and I'm by either of your suggestions, I'll give it a try.

Part of the charm of of someplace like Beans BBQ & the Shenandoah Valley is how different it is from the DC area. We like both, but it's a great change of pace and people. YMMV of course.....

Beyond the mostly mediocre at best local BBQ places - Rocklands, Red, Hot and Blue, Famous Daves, I ran into a better than that place out in the Shenandoah Valley. We spend a fair amount of time out there as I'm a pretty serious fisherman. Next to Murrays Fly Shop in Edinburg, VA ( http://www.murraysflyshop.com/ ) is a place that only does take out, and currently only does so on Saturday mornings. It's called Beans BBQ and has a facebook website:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BEANS-BARBECUE/168499416571

price is right, pretty decent vinegar based BBQ sauce, but most importantly the meat, specifically the ribs, are nicely smoked with a very visible pinkish smoke ring on the outer area of the meat. Anyway, its probably 2hrs one way which is a long way to drive for any meal, but if you are out there, worth a stop if you like BBQ. Lots of photos on the above website.

One other mention is that many organizations raise money by selling BBQ chicken on Saturday mornings along the road in the small towns. Consistently is a non-tomato based vinegar BBQ sauce and usually also pretty decent - mostly $3.50 a half chix. Here's a link to the local newspaper which lists "doin's" if you click on the calendar weekend days....

http://www.nvdaily.com/calendar/

and this Saturday's events:

http://www.nvdaily.com/calendar/2011/06/25/

Had a Bells Two Hearted Ale someplace recently with dinner and still like it a lot. Certainly better than the Hopslam I bought this year for a significant premium. Had a glass of Green Flash IPA at the lost dog Friday (spent the day in the Westover library as it had heat and wireless internet and we had no power at home). Really like that beer as well.

Don't know for sure, but there's a reason that places like the Lost Dog and Westover Market can sell hundreds of different beers and I assume that means not everyone likes the same thing. Bell's Two Hearted Ale is certainly top tier for me.

There was press in the post about Hopslam:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/beer/beer-2.html

That should fuel the fire. Just bought a six pack from Westover Grocery for $25 (I was down to pick up my dry cleaning across the street). Figured I'd see what all the fuss was about. Not bad, but $4+ a bottle? I don't think so. Rather prefer the Green Flash IPA on tap at the Lost Dog across the road, or for that matter the Northern Lights IPA made by Star Hill locally down near Charlottesville, VA. But for you Hop Heads on the trail of a source, there ya go.

I'd like everyone here to know that I went the extra mile (literally) this morning, bypassing Starbucks, and going to Arax Cafe for my morning brew ($1.75, 16-ounce cup). Taxes bring the coffee up to $1.90, but unlike Starbucks, you still get change back from two dollars.

There's no line here, ever, and this morning I had to wait an extra 30 seconds for my Half-and-Half. Why? Because the owner called over to her young child to run and get a fresh carton out of the refrigerator.

I mentioned my Starbucks story to the owner, and she thanked me, adding that "we need all the help we can get."

If you're anywhere near the East Falls Church Metro station, please consider going to Arax Cafe for your coffee. This is a high-profit item, and for a business like this, twenty extra cups a day can make a huge difference. That child who got my Half-and-Half? Hopefully, he's going to be going to college one day.

I love this restaurant, and want it to survive.

Cheers,

Rocks.

P.S. I'd like to add that in the Virginia Dining Guide, I have this listed as one of the best restaurants in North Arlington.

Pretty sure the folks that own/run Arax also own/run the dry cleaning/tailor shop next door. Always had good luck with the tailor and dry cleaning, so probably both businesses are worth your support. FWIW.

It appears that the focus on finding restaurants with changing tables in the bathroom suggests that folks get it, but just in case you think this is the first time this issue has gotten any attention here at DR, I'll post this link:

http://donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=8340&st=0&p=102246entry102246

The second to last post has some good advice....

I must say that in general I agree. Most high priced wines I drink are not my cup of tea. I don't think they offer drinking enjoyment, but more the enjoyment of saying how much you paid for the bottle. Hell, I'll be generous and exempt Red Burgundy frm this critique {I don't want to get into religious argument, though I rarely find one remotely worth the often stupid high prices they command}.

Your average $150 Super Tuscan or Napa Cab or Bordeaux is so full of oak and alcohol and extract that there is no wine pleasure to be found. There are few Barolo or Barbaresco I find worth more than $50 or $60 a bottle wholesale {GIacomo Conterno definitely excepted} and can find really ytummy examples for $30 a bottle wholesale and south that offer incredible bang for the buck.

Just last week some customers brought in a heavily oaked, overripe XXXXXXX and were ooohing and ahhhing over it. I would rather have had the same varietal, fermented in concrete and aged in stainless which I am pouring by the glass of around $30 a bottle in the restaurant. Their wine retails for over $60 a bottle and would run around $80-100 on my list.

In this other related thread here:

http://donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=15608

there are these two observations:

"...Another example from one of Brochet’s unique tastings involved 57 French wine gurus asked to evaluate two red wines. The crafty evaluator, however, poured the same average rated Bordeaux into two different bottles. The first was an expensive Grand Cru bottle and the second one had previously been the lair of a cheap table wine. The one mostly highly rated by the experts? Of course, the pedestrian red poured from the more expensive bottle. And remember, these were experts. The mind is a terrible thing to trick.

A common secret is that some bars substitute mid-range liquors for the leading brands when they pour mixed drinks. Almost nobody is the wiser because most cocktail sipping patrons simply cannot tell the difference. As long at the brand name is called out upon ordering, the satisfaction is achieved, even if the drink delivered to the table is not what was requested. It’s a bit embarrassing, but we all are susceptible to such chicanery...."

Looking at your website, it's pretty obvious that food sourcing is important to you (the locavore movement being my favorite food trend) so I'd assume the "chicanery" above is unlikely. But if we agree no names/non-attribution, is this a common problem in the industry? I ask because beyond a few special occasions, we seldom order a bottle of wine when eating out - just a glass for my wife, maybe a beer for me. If she orders ______ merlot by the glass, much chance the bartender/owner makes a swap to save money?

Regarding the second observation about swapping out liquors, I've swapped Patron for Cuervo Gold, Grand Marnier for Triple Sec, and at least for me I like the Margarita made with the latter better than the former. On rare occasion I go straight up, Patron and Grand Marnier. A bottle of Talisker lasts me a year most of the time, so the premium over a bottle of say Dewars is maybe $30-40 a year? On the other hand, we probably go thru a bottle of wine a week, more or less. If we make the price jump from $10 to $30 a bottle, that could easily add $1000 to my bottom line.

Great list. I would just add the following, only for duck.

Chinese Duck - Peking Gourmet Inn

I guess I'd agree and disagree. We've found almost all of their food is great, but especially the duck. One thing however, is that I'd make reservations. One year we went Christmas Eve with a group and at 8pm the place was truly mobbed. It's almost always busy - a table for two is sometime doable, but with a big group and no reservation you may wait forever.

My favorite is the Talisker, but also stock Macallan. A related nice gift might be something like this:

http://www.orvis.com/store/product.aspx?pf_id=9Y44

The Holy Grail is generally thought to be Longmorn 16yr which is available at Pearson's for $80. Never had it, but it's on my list.

Decided not to try and start a new thread, but was amused by this piece in the NYT today:

"Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?"

I'm a little more guilty of this with Single Malt Scotch and Single Barrel Bourbon, but a bottle lasts a long time at my house. We buy Milton Park Shiraz by the case, but enjoy most wines.

Sadden, but not surprised. Quarterdeck used to get a lot of lunch business from Ft Myer pre 911 as there used to be a gate along the fence and no security at the main gate down by Iwo Jima. They closed the walk thru gate, and the security at the main gate adds 10 minutes or more to your lunch now. You'd still see a few retired military now contractors working at one of the beltway bandits, but to be honest haven't seen a lot of that the past year or two. They had a decent hamburger, or what we thought was a decent hamburger, before Rays came along and spoiled everyone.

Hadn't thought in a long time about that Vietnamese seafood restaurant that was shaped like a boat located near where VA Square is now. They did have good crabs and fun outside dining. Really miss Little Viet Garden, but what can you say. Saw in today's post where Springfield Mall may go belly up and the article made mention of how 7 Corners used to be an indoor mall. We used to eat at that mall fairly often at the Italian restaurant there, the old guy that owned it was somehow related to Pete Sampras and had a photo of him up on the wall. That was back in the day when there were two Italian Stores (two brothers - Michael and Bobby) before they closed that store for the mall redevelopment. We almost put that Home Depot that went in there into Clarendon in the old Sears space. At least it might have blocked the Cheesecake Factory from coming in......

Was back again, this time had a basic cheeseburger. I won't repeat my original assessment, only say this time around it'd be pretty much the same. Great selection of beers, looked pretty busy, the burger was on a scale of 1-10, maybe a 6 or 7. Rays Hellburger is a 9-10, the burger place over by the Italian Store maybe a solid 7, Best Buns burgers (also in Ballston) comparable or a step better. About the same as Teds or RBB. Just trying to give some reference points. Understand they're new, but usually the things that improve as the staff settles in is the service, food sometimes, but not as much. It should do well and I'll go again. FWIW.

Stopped in at lunch for a pizza and beer. Haven't been to the Alexandria location, so can't compare or comment there. It shares some real similarities with Fireworks Pizza down at the Courthouse metro - a amazing number of beers, with at least 30 drafts, less apparent outside dining. Pizza I had was good, but not quite as good as Fireworks and not nearly as good as Orzo. Staff was friendly, look forward based upon some of the posting above to trying some of the other food offerings. In many ways I see them as more of a competitor to Rock Bottom Brewery (more meeting place and/or beer hall than upper end pizza restaurant). RBB has a loyal following in the serious beer drinking, party people set and their Wednesday happy hour attracts large crowds. I think the bartender at Rustico said the Happy hour there is $2 off the beers which doesn't compare well with the $1.50 pints at RBB happy hour. I'll be interesting to see how it develops and shakes out. I'll be back.

Yes, and unfortunately, I found out Pupatella is closed on Mondays also.

This left me with Pie-Tanza, and you know what? While it's not as good as Pupatella or Orso (sorry, it just isn't), it really is a pretty good pizza. "Pie-tanza was our Orso before there was Orso," my young dining companion said, quite accurately. Gold, Silver, Bronze ... the order is clear in North Arlington, but on Monday nights, Pie-Tanza gets the Gold.

Cheers,

Rocks.

Agreed. However, the din and chaos at Pie-Tanza from all the kids can be deafening. Like the Italian Store as well. Saw you in early with a review at Fireworks Pizza in Courthouse, but nothing substantive yet. Had a good meal and experience there last week, tried the pizza yet? Finally on the all pizza all the time channel, Rustico has now delayed their opening in Ballston until October (or so says the hostess at the Alexandria location....)

Seems as if there is a push for more and better pizza (# of new and very good restaurants opening recently or about to open). Had a create your own sausage and pepperoni pizza and a pale ale. Both were great, nice space, good parking on the street. Hard to judge the wait staff as I was in early and mostly they were watching the world cup with me, so hard to see how they'd respond if the restaurant was full at night. I will be back.

Got a flier in the mail, so decided on Friday to stop in and try a sandwich for lunch. Nice enough space; parking can be an issue as it is with most of Clarendon. The coffee bar and breakfast looked pretty interesting, the lunch menu less so. I decided to try the ham and cheese - simple enough, should be fast to prepare and hard to screw up. There were maybe half dozen people in line, a few folks standing around waiting for their order. The coffee drinks came out fairly fast for those folks, the food again less so. I waited at least 20 minutes before starting to ask questions. Two women sitting at bar stools ahead of me also complained - their food came out for here, they wanted to go. They didn't have lids for the soup, the women ended up getting some sort of freebie to placate them. Another ten minutes. Aside - perhaps the 6 folks taking orders up front could redistribute and help out the 2 Hispanic folks making food as it wasn't going well. Two folks up front spend 15 minutes counting the change in the tip jar - wish the GAO was the compulsive....

Anyway, my ham/chesse panini finally came out. It was tiny and black (on the outside). I guess I could have asked for my money back, but I certainly wasn't going to run that obstacle course again in hopes of a better result. I had already wasted 30+ minutes and was hungry, so I just wolfed it down. I know its early, but they've got a lot of work to do. My guess is I might try the breakfast and coffee, but unless that is a huge improvement, you can do better at the Silver Diner across the street or the Cosi/Corner Bakery/Starbuck du jour.

We used to eat at Faccia Luna a couple times a month, but then Clarendon exploded and the wait got unmanageable. Had a 18 year old vegetarian visiting to look at GW undergraduate and she decided on a drive down the corridor that it looked like fun. She liked her pasta, but really liked the white pizza I got. It was as I remembered - excellent.

Favorites, well....

Faccia Luna - but the parking and wait still are a problem.

Lost Dog - great neighborhood pizza.

The Cart that is often parked across from the Ballston metro has amazing pizza for a cart

Cafe Piazzolla in Rosslyn - very good pizza

Pie Tanza - only eat in. It's so thin that it is inevitably cold by the time you get to the car, let alone home.

Decent and better than the chains for takeout - Two Chefs on Wilson.

Missing Gepettos in Georgetown as well.

Long distance - Brothers Pizza in the Maurertown(Shenandoah Valley). Excellent pizza. Ciro's a close second.

1) I personally answer the phones all day and return messages as fast as I can. We use the phones as well as OpenTable to book all of our reservations. If you aren't able to get through to me live, just leave a message. I don't find it any more frustrating for you than if you called a friend, family member or co-worker. Leave a clear message and wait for a call back...and honestly, figuring out how to use OpenTable is a lot easier than figuring out how to multi-quote the responses from Escoffier above IMHO.

To get into the weeds, I called, got the voicemail, assuming it a fluke and the wrong time of day, didn't leave a message. Went to the website, spent more time than I wanted messing around with it and open tables before deciding not to sign up and add my 30th and 31st set of ID/passwords to the ever growing list needed these days to do what used to be so simple. I decided to stop by the restaurant in the rain on Friday maybe 4:45pm only to find the door locked and the two folks I briefly saw inside disappear. I walked across the street to the CVS and stood inside and called the restaurant again, only to get voicemail, left a message and #. Couple minutes later, Sade? returned my call (how can Jazz make your ears bleed and you have someone named Sade working there, but I digress), she offered up 5:30 or 9:30pm. I told her I had to check with my wife and would get back to her. After getting thru to my wife, I called back and got, yes you guessed it, the voicemail and left another message. Maybe 30 minutes later, Susan? called me back and made our reservation. Nowhere in there did you answer the phone, or return one of my calls, unless of course you use Sade or Susan as a pseudonym. If that is simpler, well we'll have to agree to disagree.

As for the skills needed to multi-quote, just because I don't post here every time I eat at a restaurant (which is actually fairly often), doesn't mean I don't post more frequently elsewhere. As offered up front, I eat to live, not live to eat. I know it's difficult to believe, but food isn't the center of the universe for most folks - its just one of many pleasurable things. As for the true foodies, my sense is that they are a pretty flighty bunch, all over you when you open, off to the next great best place 18 months later when the buzz and business moves down the street to the new place that just opened up. Then its just the folks in the neighborhood looking for a good meal.

2) I was working last night and didn't find the music to be inappropriate at all. Just because we don't play jazz (which often makes my ears bleed), it certainly doesn't make our music selection that of a sports bar. We have intended for Eventide to have an inviting, un-stuffy dining room--the music is part of that mission. We do keep it pretty low in volume so it doesn't interfere with your meal, though.

I like this much more candid and appropriate quote from you: "ETA: Music to me, is such an integral part of daily life. Since it is so subjective, I would never in a million years, think I can find the right choice of genre that would satisfy everyone in the restaurant. So...I play music that I like and I think is appropriate." Hey, I go it, its your restaurant, I just assumed that if you're going to post in a thread about your restaurant on a website, you were looking for all feedback, not just those folks boot licking for free drinks at the bar, or a better table when they come in. Be sure to post the results on the death metal experiment.....

3) Our website is always being updated so I can't understand why you were thrown off by the menu when you arrived. Our menu changes frequently, so we want it short, clear and concise. I'd rather offer 15 items that we can do well consistently than 40 items that are done half-assed.

I agree. The menu comments were just there for other folks looking for useful info before deciding to go. My advice, make sure you check the menu in advance.

4) The steak is a dry aged sirloin. It has a great chew to it that we adore. Sorry that you didn't like it.

Next time I'm in Rays, I'll be sure to ask them which steak has the best "chew". In an attempt to be sufficiently specific, but not overly graphic, I'd say the chew was similar to a word that rhymes with chew.....

5) Our servers are smart people. They somehow always tend to agree with the people that are going to leave them a tip at the end of their meal.

Well I guess that could have been the case, but he seemed so sincere...'course, false flattery works the same metric as paying pseudo celebrities appearance money to drop by and talk the place up, or paying the agency to sprinkle a few models along the bar on Friday night to create good buzz, or posting false flattery on a BB for the owner in hopes of scoring free drinks at the bar, comp'ing a meal, or a better table next time your in.

6) Escoffier is dead on right. We serve bar-type food in the bar (out of the separate kitchen located on the first floor) and we run the dining room menu out of the 2nd floor kitchen, which also plays host to serving the food to the roof. Since we don't want people's food getting cold on the way up to the roof, we've simply taken temperature out of the equation and made the roof menu all chilled and room temperature items.

OK.

Thanks for your opinions just the same.

I doubt it.

I must confess that I did not understand your point when you first posted this vaguely ominous reference back in December. As I am much too tired to attempt any research at this point, can you please save me some time and connect the dots for me. TIA.

The link is to a document listing current meals tax delinquencies in Arlington, Va for 2009. T & V is 12th on the list allegedly owing Arlington County almost $28K. I believe the inference is that they were willing to cut corners and in this case, may be in a legal jam with the County. Restaurant business can be brutal in the best of times, worst in a difficult economy. That all said, it was an odd concept to me - name suggests it's all about beer and wine (Tap & Vine), but the food and ambiance was pretty much geared to kids. It always appeared to me that Vero owners being somewhat successful there and having zero parking, decided to take a chance figuring they could maybe make a go of it and get extra Vero parking in the bargain. Think it turned out to be some pretty expensive parking......

Edited to Add one of my favorite posts at DRs:

http://www.donrockwell.com/index.php?showtopic=8340&view=findpost&p=102246

Hmmm. Could that be unfamiliarity with Open Table? I've been using Open Table (used it on Friday to make reservations for two at Eventide as a matter of fact) and have never had a problem. You may not get the time you want, but that's not because of Open Table. Secondly, I feel the same way about voicemail as you, but (check the Open Table sentence), I've never called Eventide. I'll try that sometime to see if I have the same results (BTW, sometimes, if you push 0 (zero) you bypass voicemail and go to a person).

I understand why the restaurant might like open table, but object to its use on any number of levels. First, its just another layer of BS to have to work thru that is unneeded - another ID and password, yet another system to learn, ect. Second, it disadvantages those who aren't internet enabled or savvy (I'm not, but know many that are). Third, its no improvement over the classic game of calling multiple restaurants and making multiple reservations. Yes, if you fail to show four times, they block that ID from using Open Table, but I feel certain that with minimal effort I could skirt that feature with multiple IDs and email addresses which are simple enough to create. On the phone at least there is the possibility that the person working the phone might remember the voice and decline to offer yet another reservation to the clown who is always tying up tables at multiple restaurants. Finally, it appears you can cancel 30 minutes before your reservation and its not counted against you as a no show. That's weak, just encourages multiple reservations. Why not one cancellation every 6 months, or they're treated as no shows?

Actually, it's Sirius/XM. I'm not sure who selected Channel 45 (Classic Vinyl), but it was a trifle loud on Friday night but then, we were the only two initially in the dining room. Once the room started to fill, the music seemed to disappear.

First, we were there last night, not Friday night, But IAE I'd opine "Classic Vinyl" is better for the bar than the dining room. Better Pandora and Jazz, than Sirius and Bruce.

Hmm, we had duck, hanger steak, there was fish, a couple of really good salads. I understand how sometimes you just don't really know what you want to eat, but that menu is reasonably extensive. I doubt that any other restaurant would have more of a selection (YMMV, I really haven't checked every menu around).

The Pork was stuffed with Cabbage. FCS, St Patrick's Day is Wednesday, I'll get my cabbage with corned beef - can get it most everywhere, cheaper, and that's about all the cabbage I want for the year. I already opined on the steak, unless the menu changed from Friday to Saturday.

I think you'll find bar food things on the bar menu (surprise!). Not many people are going to eat a three course meal at a bar. Most people seem to want things that are simple to eat (finger-foods, anyone?) at a bar. The second floor is the "serious" dining room. Somehow bar-food here would be a bit out of place. While french fries are great finger food, I don't really consider them "serious" food even though others might (Brasserie Beck comes to mind), And finally, the roof top terrace has no quick way to bring food from the kitchen so the menu there is more food that can be eaten at room temperature.

I got the explanation and party line from the waiter last night. We just disagree. Have to say that in a discussion about the restaurant, unsolicited our waiter said the three menus were sometimes confusing. I assumed that his comments were an indication that we weren't the first to question it. So as I said, I intended my comments for the owner who posts in this thread. Feel free to respond, but at this point I posted and clarified, that's pretty much it for me. Enjoy.

I write from two disadvantages - one, I eat to live, not live to eat. Second and related to number one, I found this website looking for alternatives to the basic Wash Post and Washingtonian restaurant reviews, so I tend to use it for gathering information when I need it, rather than participating as regular. Just the facts up front, so that you can choose to move on, nothing here of interest for the diehard foodie or Donrockwellian. However, since the owner of Eventide appears to check on posts here, figure I'd post what I view as some constructive feedback on our meal in the main dining room last night. We chose to dine at Eventide based upon word of mouth, the reviews here, as well as the usual suspects - Open Table, Yelp and Chowhound.

The Good - Service was excellent; Decor was different, but very nice; wife's risotto was excellent, scallops as appetizer were also excellent.

I won't use "The Bad", but rather say those things IMO didn't work for us - First, getting a reservation. First real encounter with Open Table and I didn't like it. Second, called the restaurant a couple times, always got voicemail, leave a message (whether open or not). It reminded me of calling business de jour and being in voicemail hell/jail - press one for customer service, press two for hours and directions, press three if you'd like rant about never getting a live person to answer the phone. I'm pressing three. Second, while the noise level was fine, the background music was too loud and inappropriate (except for instance a sports bar). Got to hear too much Bruce Springsteen and since I repeatedly heard announcers, it had to be the radio. Maybe there's one sound system and the music is appropriate for the bar downstairs, but didn't work for me in the main dining room. Third, I'm good with a limited menu that changes regularly, but will make sure our next trip there we spend more time reviewing the menu in advance to make sure there are more than a couple choices we'd like to eat. Related to that, having separate menus - one for the first floor bar, a another for the second floor dining room, and a third for the rooftop (as explained by our waiter) is confusing and seems like overkill. Finally, I ordered the steak. Plating & presentation - check. Warm plate is always a issue with my wife. I ordered the steak medium rare and it was; flavor was decent and portion size was as expected. However, it wasn't very tender. To his credit, the waiter asked, I opined, he said he'd pass along the the chef. Not bad per se, but just given the rave reviews, not what I expected. FWIW.

Then, IMHO, it's also important to post that the restaurant has brown paper tableclothes, crayons and little bowls of goldfish right on the table, plus plenty of highchairs in the entry area. I think that alone attracts parents with young kids... big red flag that says "your little ones are welcome here".

Many restaurants that serve steamed crabs have brown paper on the table, doesn't mean its done to encourage kids. As for gold fish, don't remember seeing them on the table (bar yes), but lots of bars have goldfish (or pretzels, or peanuts) sitting out. Crayons? Certainly saw some, but they weren't on my table, they were available if you asked for them. High chairs? Never seen a restaurant without high chairs, a few bars maybe - not sure that means anything.

I guess my take is that in this economy, most restaurants are happy to have any paying customer come thru the door, especially new restaurants. So, I guess I'd divide the dining world into those restaurants targeting kids (Chucky Cheese), those that are "kid friendly" (have a playground for instance, or Sponge Bob Squarepants on the TV rather than the Football game or the news), and those that either just allow or actively discourage kids (proper attire, high cost, ect).

In summary, its called the Tap and Vine, not the Tap and Whine. There are no Disney characters painted on the walls, no Sponge Bob Square Pants or Miley Cyrus on the TV. At least last time I was in there, I wasn't offered my beer in a sippy cup. Does it discourage kids, no. Is it targeting kids, IMNSHO no. Does it encourage kids, maybe. 10 out of 12 tables with kids starts to look like (and sound like) Chucky Cheese. Not hatin', just sayin'.

You missed Taquiera, in my opinion the biggest star in that category!!

True. I just hit a few of the obvious ones. As you note, there are many others. Some restaurants targets kids (Chucky Cheese?)and others are traditionally kid friendly (Diners, Fast food with playgrounds, the mall food court). Not sure if its the demographics, or a cultural change, but the current generation of parents seem to have no qualms about taking the brood to pretty much any restaurant (or bar). There's some good and bad in that, but IMHO its certainly important information to post in reviewing a restaurant that as my last trip to Tap and Vine indicates, 10 of the 12 tables had sub teenage kids. If your dining requirements include relative quiet, prompt service, and a general lack of bedlam, maybe this isn't the place for you - or you need to time your visit to minimize it. FWIW.

Nice addition to the neighborhood. Had the Mac and Cheese with bacon and mushrooms (wonderful), with ham and mushrooms (alright, but who'd have thunk there'd be much difference), and the BBQ sandwich (barely edible). The rest of the stuff. Parking is pretty decent, interior same, beer selection as noted above outstanding, Calamari (should be better for that price). Couple final notes, like many of similarly situated restaurants in North Arlington (Pie Tanza, Joes Pizza, Lost dog to a certain extent) its can be overrun with kids. If so, the noise level can be deafening, the demands on the wait staff excessive, and the floor resembles that in a Frathouse. Just a heads, so you know what to expect.