The Tavern Co.

621-623 Smithdown Road, Liverpool, L15.
Tel: 0151 734 5555

March 2001

After hearing positive comments from a number of different sources, I decided to visit The Tavern Co. for myself. Business must be good for this combined bar and Tex-Mex restaurant, as they have also established themselves in the city centre, in the fashionable Queen's Square complex no less, with their second restaurant.

The Tavern Co. has obviously had a number of good reviews, as the appropriate newspaper clippings are displayed by the door for all to see. It goes without saying that I didn't bother reading them. We entered, and found ourselves in a small bar area, dimly lit and sparsely populated, the air chokingly thick with cigarette smoke. We made our way to the dining area, where we received a prompt and courteous greeting from a very pleasant gentleman, who was taken aback when we requested a non-smoking table. This was because there are no designated non-smoking tables.

The menu at The Tavern Co., is a combination of American and Mexican. Comfort foods feature strongly - deluxe burgers, fajitas, burritos, and so on. With a little persuasion the staff, who I am keen to praise for their polite service, handed over a wine list. I'm pleased to say that it is a list put together with some thought, and also with consideration for the patron's wallet. There's a degree of vintage hedging, but otherwise it is very informative. Most impressive is the very reasonable mark-up, taking the prices to just £3-5 above retail. This is really excellent value for restaurant wine, and my compliments to the management for taking this path. Top white choice would have to be the Errazuriz Wild Ferment Chardonnay, although I didn't peruse the whites in great detail. Top New World reds would be the Rosemount GSM and Rosemount Traditional, both offered in the 1996 vintage, and priced at £18.95 (usual retail about £15). From the Old World I was pleased to see the Marques de Riscal Rioja Reserva, although in hedged vintages 1994/1995, also very reasonably priced. I plumped for something Australian. The bottle was opened at the bar, rather than the correct procedure of at the tableside. The glasses were piddling 125ml affairs, and the bottle was tentatively deposited on the table with no offer of a taste to assess for faults. It was only at this point that I could see I had been given the '97, rather than the advertised '96. I looked around, and saw the rest of the clientele supping bottled lagers - the staff are obviously not used to serving wine. With some good choices on their list, that's a real shame.

Rosemount Traditional (McLaren Vale, SA) 1997: Colour difficult to assess in a dark restaurant. Nose dominated by spicy American oak, with lots of plummy fruit. The palate has a big texture, is packed with fruit, has correct acidity, but most of all peppery, spicy, American oak dominating the finish. Big, mouth-puckering tannins. After a few hours the oak really settled and it started to drink quite well. Needs at least another 3-5 years in bottle. (March 2001)

For our starters we selected buffalo wings and stuffed jalapenos, and they arrived just minutes later. The former were small chicken wings in a sweet combination of honey and soy sauce. They were quite pleasant, although one or two were a little dry, and the sauce was quite tasty, with a spicy, peppery twist. The stuffed jalapenos were very good, with a pleasantly crispy coating, spicy jalapeno and a rich cheese filling. Moving onto our main courses, we had selected a deluxe burger and an 8oz sirloin steak. The deluxe burger had a good, meaty texture, and was served in fresh ciabatta. It was very good, and had plainly been made in-house. I had doubts about ordering the sirloin steak, as I thought the comfort-style foods would probably be the way to go in this establishment. Nevertheless, I had to try it. I was unimpressed, as it was overdone and dried out. Both our dishes came with 'Texan fries', although there had been other options. These were thick cut chunks of potato, deep-fried. I found they had a crumbling, oily inner, with a dark, leathery skin. Quite unappealing. As a side order we requested some onion rings, huge slices of Spanish onion deep-fried in a beer-batter. These really were awful, with a very oily consistency to the inner part of the batter that rendered them inedible, and they were promptly sent back. To their credit, the staff showed great concern, and the manager apologised, took keen interest in our opinion, and removed the item from the bill. Puddings were better, with both pecan pie and 'Alabama soft rock', a thick chocolate mousse on a biscuit base, being well received. Finishing off we had coffee, and amusingly each cup was served with a small plastic carton of UHT milk, similar to that you might get in an NHS canteen. By this point all I could do was chuckle in mild disbelief. Is fresh milk too much to ask for?

The Tavern Co. has a good ambience, and I really did enjoy myself on this visit. The food has its faults, but it's worth bearing in mind that this establishment is very much 'cheap and cheerful' rather than a fine dining experience. The puddings were very pleasing. My compliments go to the staff, who are polite and helpful, and also to the management for such an amazingly low mark-up on the wine list, which contains a few gems.

Prices: about £16 per head for three courses and coffee, not including wine or beer. Keenly priced wine list with fair mark-up. (8/3/01)