Bottom of the barrel customer service. Paid 35 dollars to "reserve" a table that's in the middle of a hot, noisy room just to wait over an HOUR for an Italian soda, and a cocktail. I shouldn't have expected much, as it is a game hall, and it's a very very casual atmosphere, but if you call yourself a bar and cafe, you immediately set the standard for hospitality. If you are coming here with no expectations and are just looking for an elevated "board game night" experience, sure. You can dress however you'd like, anyone of any age is welcome, so I get why the concept is good. The servers are incompetent, and when I asked why my drinks were taking so long, they looked as baffled as I did. When I asked the bar manager for a refund, they were SHOCKED that I even asked, as if it was rude. They said because I already drank it, the best they could do is take a discount off (thank you for taking two dollars off a THIRTY dollar tab. really speaks volumes on customer service values!) I work as a server/bartender as well, and I can assure you I would be kissing some feet on if drinks took even longer than 15 minutes. Don't be in hospitality if you can't handle it. And if your establishment can't handle the volume, serve soft drinks instead. Problem solved. Overall poor experience and far too expensive, not worth it if you're planning on spending any money at all. Just stay at home, trust me.
Mark D.
Emerald Tavern is a dream come true for board game enthusiasts! They've got a huge library of games, delicious food, and even special themed menus (their Lord of the Rings anniversary menu was fantastic!). Definitely reserve a table, which includes games rentals. Keep an eye on their social media for cool events like tournaments and themed game nights. A must-visit for playful fun and tasty treats!
Amanda Caldwell
3 stars for how they run their menu. Example: they charge you for ANY kind of milk in your Chai tea or hot chocolate. If I don't pick a milk do I just get a cup of syrup? Insanity. Many weird charges like this. It's poorly written menu just charge the full price instead of pretending something is a good price and adding more and more costs to it.I know a business needs to make money but this is grossly disappointing. Love the atmosphere and the staff are great but it's frustrating.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bavarian Pretzels
Michael B.
PROS: ----------------- (1) Complete experience. You can bring your own games, rent their games, or buy their games, and order from a broad menu of drinks and food (not just a few food items offered as an afterthought). They also host game nights for certain games. (2) Game rental is aggressively priced. $5 for one game, or $10 for a day pass for unlimited games. (3) Can reserve tables or rooms. (4) Consistently friendly and helpful staff. (5) Some vegan options. (6) Made to look like a German tavern, nice atmosphere. CONS: -------------------- (1) Finding the vegan items is a chore because: ....(a) They don't use icons or other easily identifiable words or marking to easily find the vegan items, and ...(b) They don't repeat all the vegan items in their own dedicated group where they could be easily found. (2) Many vegetarians wouldn't want their vegetables or black bean burgers cooked on the same part of the grill that meat is cooked on, because they find meat disgusting. Does ET use a separate grill, or at least a separate section of the grill and separate utensils for the veg*n foods? Who knows, because the menu doesn't say. (3) Parts of the menu are broken. For example, it's impossible to order a Bruschetta with an extra baguette and no cheese, because the system lets you choose EITHER an extra baguette, or no cheese, but not both. Once you opt to pay an extra $2.50 for an extra baguette, you can't deselect the cheese option. (4) You can order packaged water or tap water, but not filtered water. That suggests that they don't have a filter, which would mean that they're not using filtered water for cooking. (5) SMALLEST default tip on the checkout is 18%. Smallest default should be 15%, which has been the standard for decades. Yes, it's possible to enter a custom tip, but that's not the point, the DEFAULT is too high. For that matter, it would be great if ET went in the direction of places like Bouldin Creek Café and Mr. Natural, and just did away with tipping by raising their prices to be able to pay their staff a living wage.
Victoria Sellers
The food was delicious, the drinks were fun and imaginative, there were a ton of options for board and card games, and the man in charge of the games, Chris, was a delight. He was passionate and knowledgeable, with tons of suggestions for novice game players.
The staff has been great but the rules at this place is awful. If you have a large group 5+ be prepared to pay a lot of money to reserve a table. You can’t grab a spare chair for a table because that is against their rules. Even standing around a table is against their rules. You can’t put two tables together either. The back room has plenty of space with no one there but can’t sit there unless you play warhammer. The food is incredibly pricey as well. Up until recently I was a regular but no longer.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
Rodney Foster
Ac was not adequate on the bar side of the venue but it's a super cool and unique place to hang out.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Stefanie Shackleton
Great place but the food has taken a downturn in taste and quality the last several months. Not sure what happened. But the service and atmosphere are still great and we haven't stopped going - we just don't eat here anymore.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
Wes Girdler
I'm Wes [redacted], and The Emerald Tavern is my favorite spot in town.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips
Josh Jess
What a fantastic place to meet friends for great food, fabulous drinks, and a wonderful selection of games.
I've been coming to ET for years now! It has been consistently packed with people playing boardgames. The atmosphere is great for those who love the hobby.
The food here is amazing!!! I didn't realize before entering that people primarily go here to just chill and play card games but it was cool to see everyone having fun while enjoying delicious Irish foods!!!
Aaron E.
Not a great place for groups more than 4 unless you want to pay $55+ for a table. There will be two people sitting at 6 person tables while there are plenty of 4 person tables free. You can't merge tables, or bring a chair over to seat a fifth. Hell you'll even get told you can't stand around a table if there's not enough seating. It's completely asinine. I'm a regular visiting once or twice a week and this has been an issue for a while now. I sent an email to management and they won't even reply back. In addition everything is just so expensive there. I get a small markup because the type of venue but way to expensive. The games are often double (or more) the price elsewhere too. It shouldn't be more than a 25% up charge compared to the market price. So all in all, I do not recommend this place for any groups of 5 or more at all.
nlf 1
ET no longer caters to gaming groups larger than 4. The war games room is now for Warhammer 40k only, two chairs per table. You have to reserve tables now, at a steep price. We originally went to ET because it didn't require reservations or charge for tables. Our group of 6 to 8 were there twice a week, we all had dinner, multiple drinks, and usually dessert. Prices for food and drinks recently rose about $2. Even iced tea is $4 a glass, and no free refills. We have basically been kicked out because we can't afford to pay for reservations on top of the expensive food and drinks, and they have made themselves unavailable to a group our size based on limiting the tables. We will no longer be going to ET to play, and I will not be buying my games and supplies there anymore.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 4
Nemo Robles
This place is a great spot to play board games with friends. I used to enjoy all their food entrees but lately their food options have started to not taste as good and the quality has diminished. Overall still a great spot for hanging out with friends and playing board games.
Bottom of the barrel customer service. Paid 35 dollars to "reserve" a table that's in the middle of a hot, noisy room just to wait over an HOUR for an Italian soda, and a cocktail. I shouldn't have expected much, as it is a game hall, and it's a very very casual atmosphere, but if you call yourself a bar and cafe, you immediately set the standard for hospitality. If you are coming here with no expectations and are just looking for an elevated "board game night" experience, sure. You can dress however you'd like, anyone of any age is welcome, so I get why the concept is good. The servers are incompetent, and when I asked why my drinks were taking so long, they looked as baffled as I did. When I asked the bar manager for a refund, they were SHOCKED that I even asked, as if it was rude. They said because I already drank it, the best they could do is take a discount off (thank you for taking two dollars off a THIRTY dollar tab. really speaks volumes on customer service values!) I work as a server/bartender as well, and I can assure you I would be kissing some feet on if drinks took even longer than 15 minutes. Don't be in hospitality if you can't handle it. And if your establishment can't handle the volume, serve soft drinks instead. Problem solved. Overall poor experience and far too expensive, not worth it if you're planning on spending any money at all. Just stay at home, trust me.
Emerald Tavern is a dream come true for board game enthusiasts! They've got a huge library of games, delicious food, and even special themed menus (their Lord of the Rings anniversary menu was fantastic!). Definitely reserve a table, which includes games rentals. Keep an eye on their social media for cool events like tournaments and themed game nights. A must-visit for playful fun and tasty treats!
3 stars for how they run their menu. Example: they charge you for ANY kind of milk in your Chai tea or hot chocolate. If I don't pick a milk do I just get a cup of syrup? Insanity. Many weird charges like this. It's poorly written menu just charge the full price instead of pretending something is a good price and adding more and more costs to it.I know a business needs to make money but this is grossly disappointing. Love the atmosphere and the staff are great but it's frustrating.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Bavarian Pretzels
PROS: ----------------- (1) Complete experience. You can bring your own games, rent their games, or buy their games, and order from a broad menu of drinks and food (not just a few food items offered as an afterthought). They also host game nights for certain games. (2) Game rental is aggressively priced. $5 for one game, or $10 for a day pass for unlimited games. (3) Can reserve tables or rooms. (4) Consistently friendly and helpful staff. (5) Some vegan options. (6) Made to look like a German tavern, nice atmosphere. CONS: -------------------- (1) Finding the vegan items is a chore because: ....(a) They don't use icons or other easily identifiable words or marking to easily find the vegan items, and ...(b) They don't repeat all the vegan items in their own dedicated group where they could be easily found. (2) Many vegetarians wouldn't want their vegetables or black bean burgers cooked on the same part of the grill that meat is cooked on, because they find meat disgusting. Does ET use a separate grill, or at least a separate section of the grill and separate utensils for the veg*n foods? Who knows, because the menu doesn't say. (3) Parts of the menu are broken. For example, it's impossible to order a Bruschetta with an extra baguette and no cheese, because the system lets you choose EITHER an extra baguette, or no cheese, but not both. Once you opt to pay an extra $2.50 for an extra baguette, you can't deselect the cheese option. (4) You can order packaged water or tap water, but not filtered water. That suggests that they don't have a filter, which would mean that they're not using filtered water for cooking. (5) SMALLEST default tip on the checkout is 18%. Smallest default should be 15%, which has been the standard for decades. Yes, it's possible to enter a custom tip, but that's not the point, the DEFAULT is too high. For that matter, it would be great if ET went in the direction of places like Bouldin Creek Café and Mr. Natural, and just did away with tipping by raising their prices to be able to pay their staff a living wage.
The food was delicious, the drinks were fun and imaginative, there were a ton of options for board and card games, and the man in charge of the games, Chris, was a delight. He was passionate and knowledgeable, with tons of suggestions for novice game players.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Aioli Fries, Bavarian Pretzels
The staff has been great but the rules at this place is awful. If you have a large group 5+ be prepared to pay a lot of money to reserve a table. You can’t grab a spare chair for a table because that is against their rules. Even standing around a table is against their rules. You can’t put two tables together either. The back room has plenty of space with no one there but can’t sit there unless you play warhammer. The food is incredibly pricey as well. Up until recently I was a regular but no longer.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 1
Ac was not adequate on the bar side of the venue but it's a super cool and unique place to hang out.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Great place but the food has taken a downturn in taste and quality the last several months. Not sure what happened. But the service and atmosphere are still great and we haven't stopped going - we just don't eat here anymore.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 4
I'm Wes [redacted], and The Emerald Tavern is my favorite spot in town.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Chips
What a fantastic place to meet friends for great food, fabulous drinks, and a wonderful selection of games.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Irish Nachos, Aioli Fries
Restaurantji Recommends
I've been coming to ET for years now! It has been consistently packed with people playing boardgames. The atmosphere is great for those who love the hobby.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Irish Nachos, Burger, Tavern Burger
The food here is amazing!!! I didn't realize before entering that people primarily go here to just chill and play card games but it was cool to see everyone having fun while enjoying delicious Irish foods!!!
Not a great place for groups more than 4 unless you want to pay $55+ for a table. There will be two people sitting at 6 person tables while there are plenty of 4 person tables free. You can't merge tables, or bring a chair over to seat a fifth. Hell you'll even get told you can't stand around a table if there's not enough seating. It's completely asinine. I'm a regular visiting once or twice a week and this has been an issue for a while now. I sent an email to management and they won't even reply back. In addition everything is just so expensive there. I get a small markup because the type of venue but way to expensive. The games are often double (or more) the price elsewhere too. It shouldn't be more than a 25% up charge compared to the market price. So all in all, I do not recommend this place for any groups of 5 or more at all.
ET no longer caters to gaming groups larger than 4. The war games room is now for Warhammer 40k only, two chairs per table. You have to reserve tables now, at a steep price. We originally went to ET because it didn't require reservations or charge for tables. Our group of 6 to 8 were there twice a week, we all had dinner, multiple drinks, and usually dessert. Prices for food and drinks recently rose about $2. Even iced tea is $4 a glass, and no free refills. We have basically been kicked out because we can't afford to pay for reservations on top of the expensive food and drinks, and they have made themselves unavailable to a group our size based on limiting the tables. We will no longer be going to ET to play, and I will not be buying my games and supplies there anymore.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 2
Service: 4
This place is a great spot to play board games with friends. I used to enjoy all their food entrees but lately their food options have started to not taste as good and the quality has diminished. Overall still a great spot for hanging out with friends and playing board games.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 2
Service: 5