The Tavern of Independence
 Cleveland, Ohio        Date of Visit  02/26/17            http://tavernofindy.com

Left our first outing as fancy people and a really beautiful performance of The King & I at the State Theater looking for something to enjoy for dinner. A new place had recently opened in Independence and people seemed to think highly of it, Et cetera, Et cetera, Et cetera. Good enough.

The Tavern has a clearly bar feel. Our server was much nicer than I would have expected and outside of a couple glaring flubs was on her game. The first flub was maybe hers; maybe the menu’s which stated every entrée comes with a salad.
 

We ordered one sandwich (no salad) and two entrees (two salads) and got 1. The other flub, which was much more significant, was recommending the entrees in the first place. Hopefully a beer and burger options would have gone down differently. Anyways, we started with wings; menu might be off again here by describing them as “Ginormous” wings when they are Average at best. What we did right was order the Tasmanian flavor…sweet and spicy together. Delivered exactly what was promised. For me, easily the best thing on the table. The salad looked fine and was reportedly fine with a nice thick dressing, but again there was just one.
 

The House Braised O-H-I-O Pulled Pork sandwich with cheddar, pickled onions, slaw, and BBQ Sauce came on a Brioche bun and was the best of our three dinners, not on its own merit but compared to the actual entrees…well, it was the clear winner. My mom liked the slaw, which I felt was buoyed in the sandwich by the other ingredients and added creamy crunch something to the pork, onions, and sauce. Alone in a dish...literally nothing but cabbage and thin mayo. No salt, no vinegar tang, no sweet, no bite. Nothing.

Then came the Old School Chicken Pot Pie, menu says, with savory vegetables, natural creamy chicken gravy and a flaky pastry top. Looked promising. Goop with a big chunk of puff on top. I had hoped the Old School referred to something like your grandma’s kitchen. They must literally be referring to an elementary school cafeteria in the rationing days of World Wars. Good thing the menu said chicken gravy instead of chicken…technically not a lie when it turns out there is none in the actual dish. Well, played. Where they pushed too far was in the “Let’s see if they’ll eat it when we don’t heat it.” That was going all in on seven/deuce off and running into pocket rockets. Thanks for you chips, nice to meet ya.
 

How could it get worse? To be fair, I’m a moron, I ordered fish in a bar. How did I get lured by the everything is really good/can’t go wrong fantasy again!?! IPA Battered Grouper (everything people who think they hate fish was on display in this disastrously battered and fried) with creamy slaw (wet cabbage), fries (tried to help but were infected by the foul fishy oil oozing from the garbage…ooops I meant grouper, and homemade tartar sauce. Actually the tartar sauce was unique, had a bit of kick and might have been a nice accompaniment if there were a filet that didn’t reek of ammonia and despondency. I might be talked into a burger should I end up there again for some reason but I think I’ll remain Independent of the Tavern.