West Reading Tavern

We met for happy hour on a Thursday. The food was great the service was very friendly. Highly recommend.

I was recommended here by the good folks at Gem on Penn (just down the street), and I was not disappointed. I was in the mood for a smaller hot snack, and the taverns French onion soup was an excellent match to their truffle fries. It was a pleasant atmosphere. A busy but not crowded bar was full of smiling faces, cozy conversations, and attentive and smiling service. The food was prompt, delicious, and a great choice for a rainy afternoon. I'll be back on hungrier days to try more of the menu

This restaurant has a lively atmosphere, but be prepared to overhear some politically charged and medically uninformed conversations between the owner and customers. I would advise against mentioning the name Fauci if you can help it. On a positive note, the staff are very skilled and provide excellent service.

We decided to sit outside on the patio since it was a lovely day, but when we got to our seats, the chairs were covered in cobwebs with spiders crawling on them (which is one of my daughter's biggest fears). We didn’t complain but instead shook them off and sat down. When the waitress came to take our order, we quickly decided what to eat because we were extremely tired and hungry. First of all, what’s listed on the menu doesn’t match what they actually serve you and charge you for. We ordered the “build your own burger” for $13.50, and while it says you can add toppings, we were told there would be an extra charge of $1 for bacon and $0.50 for mushrooms. I confirmed this with the waitress, and she enthusiastically responded with a "yes." We decided to order three of those burgers, with toppings including peppers, jalapeños, pickles, bacon, and mushrooms. I also asked to switch my bun to brioche for an additional $1.50, which I agreed to. As we waited (which felt like an eternity), a different waiter informed us that the chef wanted us to know there would be extra charges for pickles and jalapeños. I was taken aback and told her that’s not what the menu stated and that I had confirmed with my waitress. She shrugged and said, "Well, that's what he said." At that point, we were so hungry that we decided to let it go. When our food arrived, the presentation was very disappointing. The plates were dirty, and the portion sizes were clearly uneven. One plate (the most expensive one, by the way) had barely any fries, while others had a lot, and one was somewhere in between. We couldn't believe how little fries some of us had. When my burger finally came, it was on ciabatta bread instead of the brioche I ordered. I had to switch it for a regular bun. I mentioned the uneven portions and presentation to the waitress when she returned, and her reply was shockingly rude and sarcastic: "Did you count them?" As I was about to eat my burger, I noticed there were no peppers or pickles—another extra charge that wasn’t in the menu. I informed the waitress, and she said, "We don’t have peppers," but she hadn’t mentioned that earlier. They gave me two pickles, and I finally got to eat my burger. The waitress never brought napkins and would just pass our table without even looking at us. When we asked for the bill, I requested to speak with the manager. When the manager arrived and I began explaining our experience, the owner, Mark, interrupted with a scowl and an agitated demeanor. We recounted our various issues, and one of his responses was that he doesn’t use measurements in his kitchen and had never received complaints about fry portions. He even suggested that the fries were a "gift" because the quality of his burgers covered the cost. He insisted that no other places included fries with burgers (I’m not sure where he’s been). He even had the nerve to ask if we wanted more fries, and his tone was passive-aggressive, especially since we had already packed some of the food in boxes. In the end, instead of taking any criticism to heart, he just justified the numerous mistakes and the rude behavior of the waitress. He did, however, take one of the burgers off the bill.

It's alright, I suppose. The food isn't the best in town (mostly various shades of brown), but they do offer a great selection of beers. I also find it a bit noisy inside.