Tun Tavern

January 28, 2008
(Visited 05/2007): Tun Tavern is attached to the Sheraton hotel near the new Convention Center and the Walk. There is a lot across the street that is free with validation. The establishment is pretty big with a blue and orange color palette. The theme is more or less colonial. Supposedly the original Tun Tavern is where Ben Franklin uttered his now-famous beer quote. As an homage to that, the menu explains the history of the Tun. The front section is devoted to seating, and the bar is nestled in the rear, with viewable brewing equipment. The beer selection is pretty standard. They have 6 beers on draft with one seasonal. They range from Light to Stout with nothing really unique. The seasonal on my visit was an ESB and was probably the best of the bunch. A sampler of 5 beers is available for $6, and overpriced ($18!) growlers are available. Service is good. Both times I visited the bar was much busier than the restaurant but the staff kept up. The beers were served a little too cold overall but the bartenders were attentive and knew the beer pretty well, as did my lunch server. I had a good old-fashioned burger on my visit and it was very good. Overall I would visit this place again if I go to Atlantic City but only because it is the only brewpub in town. If I just wanted a beer I would choose Firewaters over this in a heartbeat.

November 28, 2007 [ Updated March 9, 2008 ]
Not sure I can speak badly enough about this place but here goes. Walked in with two other RBerians and took a seat at the bar which was probably about 70% full and a mostly empty restaraunt area around five o’clock on a Saturday. Waited for at least ten to fifteen minutes for any of the three bartenders to even acknowldge us with any sort of greeting or ask us if we wanted anything. The young female bartenders were all to busy being chatted up by what looked like the male manager who must have been in his late twenties/ early thirties who felt it was more important to score points with young girls then actually run the brewpub. I opted for the sampler of five four ounce beers. Going by their standard of measurments of what passes for four ounces then my junk must be about a foot and a half long. The sampler was placed down with no sort of explaination of what beer was what. They had about six beers on tap that night so it really was a guessing game. Not like it really mattered because there wasn’t a single beer in the lot worth ordering again. Overall it was the worst service I have ever had hands down and the beer was horrible to slightly below average depending upon which mystery beer you are talking about. You have a better chance of seeing JFK asking for a second senic tour of Dallas then you do of seeing me in this shit hole again.

October 9, 2007
Just off the Atlantic City Express highway and by the Convention Center, this is a pub whose business vary a lot depending on what’s going on in the neighborhood. At 9pm on a friday night of October, it was very calm inside and we had meals of various qualities. The sauce for Catherine’s raviolis was quite overdone on the oil which was disappointing since they costed 22$! An expensive place indeed, but I guess this goes with Atlantic City. It’s another place I’m glad I’ve been to, but won’t likely ever go back. There’s not much reason to hit that part of New Jersey twice for a Canadian. I must say the regular beers did bore me a fair bit considering their reputation, but the Freedom ale BW is a big fat malty example of the style that should please many. Rather poor experience with the service as the 10-15 employees on the spot dealt with only 20-25 patrons while being occupied with chatting more than serving all while making mistakes on our bill.

May 22, 2007
Its a notable micro brew that for some reason is in the middle of Atlantic City in a interesting area. There’s not a lot that’s really special about the environment other than its a bar that was founded by a former marine

April 12, 2007
Nice place to stop for a few beers and food on a afternoon trip to the shore. i would prefer this over any of the cainos. service was friendly and fast.

April 7, 2007
Had dinner and a couple of beers before a Buddy Guy show. Very nice modern place. The burgers were very good. None of the top rated beers were available so I had a couple of others. The beer is fresh and tasty. The one drawback is it is very noisy. Worth a try when in AC. Much more reasonable than eating in one of the casinos.

November 9, 2006 [ Updated November 29, 2007 ]
Went for dinner and to sample a couple beers of course...the food was very good...service was quite friendly, and the food was delivered quite timely..of the couple beers tried, I was impressed...the pumpkin brew was a surprise...diddn’t know it would be that tasty...would defiantly recommend this establishment...

July 4, 2006
stopped on my way home from the shore. Gorgeous modern facility, very contemporary looking. ceilings are about 40 feet high or so by the bar. the brewery is about a floor up encased in glass. Beer was a bit above average for a brewpub, my main complaint being the aroma of the beers not shining through...but that can be an equipment issue. Bartenders...well I can tell you for sure that they weren’t hired for their passion or knowledge about beer. Both were young women, very nice to look at, looked more like upscale escorts (if an escort can be considered upscale) than brewpub bartenders. Nice though, and gave me a couple of free samples after only ordering a 5 beer sampler for 6 bucks. Was there though at 1 PM on July 4 and it was completely empty. Overall, nice place, would recommend to someone if they are already in the area. Didn’t order food but the menu and the food that I did see looked pretty good. will go back next time I am in AC.

January 15, 2006
Didn’t drink and didn’t eat. So why am I rating? Because I tried to, but all the beer lines were down except one and the Bartender was so apologetic it really made me feel for her and my gut says if that bartender is working it would be a great place to have a few beers.

June 12, 2005
Stoped by here after spending the day at the shore. Easy to get to - right on the way to the Atlantic City Expressway. I found this to be an average place with average quality beers. Service wasn’t the best but the food came out really fast.