Taps Makes Me Wanna Laugh

And not in a good way.

Taps Fish House & Brewery

101 E Imperial Hwy

Brea, CA 92821

(714) 257-0101

This was the first restaurant The Husband and I tried during OC Restaurant Week. Our reservation was at 8:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night. We arrived at the restaurant about 30 minutes early and the hostess told us that it would be closer to 8:30 p.m. before she could seat us. We were o.k. with that since we were early. Although I would not have mind being seated earlier. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the restaurant was pretty busy given it being a weekday and also with the current economy in such a rut.

Anyhoo...Taps reminds me of BJ's meets Cheesecake Factory meets Chris Ruth's all combined into one. The first two being my least favorite picks. Why do I say all three restaurants? Well...let's take a step back and analyze this a bit. I say BJ's because Taps is a brewery was a vast beer selection but I don't drink beer so I don't really care how many types of beer are at this restaurant. BJ's Restaurant is known for the casual hang-out with quite a selection of beer. Why does Taps remind me of Cheesecake Factory? Well...in my original post here, I went through the trouble of explaining why I do not like Cheesecake Factory. Taps portions are HUGE!!! And the food..well...it's mediocre. Sad. So much food but not so tasty. The ambiance of Taps is a bit like Chris Ruth's in that the dining restaurant is dark. Too dark for this type of food. Makes me wonder what they are trying to hide. Maybe they do not want me to really examine my dinner.

Generally, I am a person who enters a restaurant wanting to like the place. Whether it's a hole in the wall or some five star name, I just really want to enjoy my time. It's that simple. I want to enjoy the experience and my food. So it is sad when my tastebuds, my mind and heart do not like a place. Unfortunately, I do not like TAPS but I must elaborate. It was not only the food but also the customer service that perturbed me.

So back to the beginning, we were seated at close to 8:30 p.m., maybe a little earlier. The waitress brought the menus to us and I asked her about the OC Restaurant Week menu. The minute I mentioned OC Restaurant Week to the waitress, I was under the impression she was not happy that we were ordering from that menu and it was just from her vibe. Maybe I was thinking too much into it. However, the menu was $ 20 a person so it was not like it was the cheapest menu. At $ 20 a person times 2 people plus drinks, the bill would have come to easily $ 50 to $ 60. I don't know what she would be unhappy about. So after a few minutes, she came back and took our order. For the starter, I ordered a Caesar salad and the husband got New England Clam Chowder. Unfortunately, I did not think my starter was worthy of a picture and I did not bother to take the Husband's clam chowder. Out of the two, the chowder was definitely 100% better than the salad.

For my entree - I ordered 1/2 Roasted Chicken. Here is the before picture. Looks pretty appealing doesn't it? (Well, don't mind the crappy photo. Not enough lighting will do that to a photo. Oh well.)

Here is the after picture. Does it look like I touched my food? Really...I did...I promise. It's just that it was HALF A CHICKEN! I think I ate about 1/4 of the half of a chicken. What does that make it? Hmm...I think 1/8. I think they should have used baby carrots as those are sweeter than the ones they have in the pictures. The carrots were a bit on the bland side. The chiken was o.k. It was roasted chicken...how can you go wrong with chicken? It was just not very memorable. Oh - so here is the killer. I asked for a box for my food because...frankly, I could not finish my food. The waitress looked at me like she couldn't believe I was boxing my food. She even stated, "You want this togo?!" I said, "yes," but I was thinking..um...well..even if I didn't really like it that much...should I have thrown away the whole dish since I only ate 25% of my plate??

The husband ordered Fish and Chips. It was one of those days where he could not eat meat. The Husband does not follow religion, except, every once in a blue moon, he decides to follow lent. Strange. I never understand that. Then again, sometimes I eat vegetarian because my parents tell me I should on a given day under the astrological calendar. I never get that either yet I follow it once in awhile. Go figures. Anyhoo....picture taken by the Husband with the flash on. (Much better than my no flash pictures but I really do not like using flash in these dark restaurants. I have yet to master my comfort level with photographing my food in restaurants.) He had leftovers that he took home and ate the next night. I believe he also ate my leftovers the night after that. :P

For our desserts - I ordered Chocolate Souffle. It is chocolate. Enough said. The husband ordered Fresh Fruit Sorbet - I think he rathered enjoyed his dessert. I would have to say the only time I felt our waitress was happy was when we were close to finishing our dinner and she came to ask us if there was anything else we wanted. Great service huh? Then the check came. And she messed up the bill. I want to say that it was accidental but given everything that preceded the bill - I hate to say it but I think it was intentional. BUT...I will give her the benefit of the doubt and consider it accidental. Aside from the OC Restaurant Week menu which goes for $ 20, Taps also has an in-house menu that has three items (starter, entree and dessert) that goes for $ 24.95. The difference? Taps in-house menu has a few more selections than that of OC Restaurant Week. She charged us the $ 24.95 menu. Did she think that we were not going to look at our bill? Of course, when confronted, she simply said she made a mistake and re-ran our bill.

Unfortunately - the damage has been done and I will not return to Taps. A combination of mediocre food and bad customer service has left a sour taste in my mouth.