Tavern On 2

A small tavern in the middle 2nd street. We visited due to the appearance on Diners Dives and Drive in's. Our son turned 21 today so we shared his first legal beer.

The restaurant was clean, and staff very friendly. We tried multiple items from the menu and all but one was amazingly good.

Appetizers
Poutines - the restaurants claim to fame did not disappoint. Gravy was thick and flavorful and the pulled shirt rib was amazing.
Crispy Brussels sprouts - flavorful and perfectly seasoned without being overly cooked.
Mac and Cheese - we added jalapeños and it was delicious. Not to cheesy or overloaded with other ingredients. A perfect blend of flavor and consistency.
Wings - it looks like your typical wing sauce but has a sweetness to balance the hotness. Great balance.

Our meals were Brutal burger, Cavern burger, Short rib sandwich.

All were seasoned, flavorful and unique. Don't be afraid of the name...the Brutal burger may be the best burger I have ever had. Not spicy just for the name sake, but very balanced with the Aioli, avocados and sauce.

The only dish that was bland and flavorless was the chicken tacos. No flavor.

On a side note you MUST try the spicy chicken tortilla soup. It's consistency is like chili, a lot of chicken meat, and a dark orange spice combo really gives a unique experience for Tortilla Soups.

Get their short rib routine fries and Tavern burger! Came here 2 yrs ago with some pals for early dinner and chatted the night away over our meals. Finally was able to check this place out that was recommended by my old boss from 5-6 yrs ago!

I've been wanting to try this place for the longest time when I saw this reviewed on DDD (Diners Drive Thrus and Dives).
I came here with a couple of friends for a recent weekday lunch. We dined al fresco to people watch along 2nd Street.
One of my friends and I decided to share a couple of dishes. We went with the short rib poutine and the fried fish sandwich.
The poutine was good. The short rib was flavorful and tender. I haven't had a lot of poutine. This was good, but I'm sure there's much better out there which I'm determined to find! I may have to go to Canada to get the authentic poutine.
The fried fish sandwich was a disappointment. The fish was wafter then and there was more batter than fish. I didn't like it.
Service was friendly. Metered parking along 2nd street in the shore or free parking in the neighborhood off 2nd street.

I love the Belmont Shore area and Tavern On 2 is a lovely choice for a brunch with friends.

Most of our party ordered burgers, which looked delicious. I got the omelette with bacon and white cheddar cheese. The portion size was rather large.

We ended up ordering two orders of their sweet potato fries because it was so delicious with their lime and garlic additions. It came with a side of ketchup, but our table was all over the aioli dip.

Although parking can be kind of tricky in this area, it's worth it to dine here! There's also a small patio seating area, but it was a little cold the day we went.

Modern gastropub in a prime location on 2nd Street. Cuisine is an mashup of pub favorites, modernized southern classics, and tacos. Vegan options include a veggie burger, fries, side salad, and cauliflower tacos. Decent beer and cocktail selection. The interior is generic but non-offensive, with exposed brick and sheet metal details. Dim lighting, and annoyingly loud classic rock music playing. Not an ideal place to have a conversation. Apparently Guy Fieri ate here on his show and loved it. You get the idea.

Service was charismatic, but slow. It took about 10 minutes to get our drinks, then 15 minutes to get a single order of fries, then another 15 minutes to get our entrees. I went with the "Lean and Green" burger, which is vegan if you order it without cheese. It was edible, but not good. I enjoyed the savory tomato tapenade in lieu of ketchup, and the delicious house made pickles served alongside, but not much else. The house made mushroom patty was bone dry, crumbly, and flavorless. It didn't even really taste like mushrooms. The bun was cold, and the added avocado was so underripe that it fell off in a solid rock hard chunk upon biting into the burger. The fries were the best part of the meal-thin and perfectly crisp, with an aromatic truffle oil flavor.

$60 for two beers, two burgers, and fries. My boyfriend really enjoyed his regular meat burger, so perhaps the non-veggie options here are better. Regardless, the meal was still overpriced for what it was. I might give this place another try in the future, as the cauliflower tacos and cocktails looked much better than my sad burger.

Tavern on 2 is a family friendly gastro-pub in Belmont Shores. The restaurant is medium sized with a good sized patio and crowded dining room. Inside, there is a full bar without seating and tables running the walls with a communal high top in the center. There are four flat screened televisions with sports on, and it definitely has a sports bar feel.

No specialty cocktail menu, but they have lots of liquor options as well as an nicely sized beer and wine list. I had a 3 oz. pour of a French rose ($4), which was very good with classic dry berry flavors. I also had a 3 oz. pour of the Ritual Pinot Noir ($6) which was a smooth wine with lots of cherry notes. They have the typical 2x markup, and their wines are great quality (over 90 points for that Pinot).

My LOs had the grown-up Mac and Cheese with Bacon ($10+$1) and a kids burger with blue cheese in lieu of American ($6+$1). The Mac and Cheese was fantastic. A creamy white sauce with nutty Parmesan notes and lots of goop is mixed with rotelle pasta and chopped bacon and topped with toasted bread crumbs. All of the ingredients were very good quality, and it was delicious. The kids burger was also pretty impressive in that it is nicely sized, used nicely flavored meat and had a quality bun.

DM and I split a few dishes. We had:

Roasted Cauliflower ($9): the most disappointing of the bunch, but it was a-ok. A bowl had a LITTLE smear of chimichurri and a LITTLE smear of labne before it was topped with cauliflower and almonds. There were too many almonds and not enough chimichurri and labne. The sauces are where the flavor are, and they need more. That being said, the cauliflower was a nice nutty brown and was good.

Crispy Brussels Sprouts ($11): these little babies were outstanding. Either deep fried or roasted with a lot of oil at a very high temperature, the crispy, golden sprouts were topped with pickled mustard seeds, bits of excellent, lean bacon, and slices of green apple. With the apple cider vinaigrette, there were rich and tangy flavors over an earthy base. Absolutely awesome.

Chicken and Pear Salad ($16): arugula is tossed in an apple cider vinaigrette and topped with chopped chicken (a little dry), grilled onion (lovely and sweet), and fried goat cheese. Fried creamy deliciousness is more like it, and the cheese masked the dryness of the chicken. I loved the peppery and tangy greens with those sweet onions.

For dessert, we shared the Bread Pudding ($9). A bowl was lined with bread soaked in a cinnamon custard that was then bruleed on top and drizzled with maple syrup before being topped by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Honestly, skip the ice cream. It's fine, but the crunchy top with the cinnamon soaked bread and the maple notes are all you need.

The decaf coffee was fresh and hot - a nice paring with dessert. The service was friendly but a little disorganized and the food was slow coming out. We had lots of service early, a long wait for food, and then not so much service. Overall, we did have a great time. 3 star cauliflower with 5 star sprouts and a 4 star salad and dessert add up to a solid 4 star choice.

TIP: No reservations for dinner for less than 10 people, but seats were wide open at 6PM on a weeknight. Parking is generally available at the meters, which are only enforced until 7PM during the week.

This is a great restaurant in the heart of Belmont Shores near Nieto and 2nd Street

I went on Yelp and looked for braised short ribs and I stumbled on this great place.

The menu item that I got was short rib with french fires which is short ribs, hand cut fries, garlic confit, duck fat, and Wisconsin cheese curds.

The flavors were definitely on spot. The meat was not salty. It was extremely tender and the flavors are great. The entire dish was cooked to perfection.

I perused the menu a while for some vegetarian options.

They have mushroom taco, and a homemade mushroom patty with sun-dried tomato, pesto, tomato, and arugula.

Glad to see a local restaurant here in Belmont Heights and has both options for vegetarian and meat lovers.

I will be back with my vegetarian friends.

We came here because we were doing the trolley tour and wanted to eat first. This place was our second choice in this area but our first choice was packed and had a 30 minute wait list.

First thing we noticed was the hostess and our waitress were very nice and attentive. We ordered the short rib poutine -- holy crap was that freaking delicious!!!! Simply amazing!!! The short rib was tender, the taste was mouth watering and the gravy - I scraped off the bowl it was so good!

The salad we ordered was good but a little pricey. The tavern burger I ordered had pretty decent flavor but was a little soggy. I'm a burger snob so take that with a grain of salt. If you like the consistency of a fathers office burger you will like this.

Modelo was $4... I was happy.

My knock on this place and the reason it was our second choice was a lack luster menu. It seemed to not offer a lot in choice--- but really all you need is the short rib poutine!!!

Came here for a birthday dinner! I made reservations a couple days in advance. They call you the day of to confirm. I missed the call, but they mentioned that if they will hold my table for an additional 30 minutes if my party didn't show up at the expected time.

--PARKING-- Park on the street. Go practice your parallel parking! You can find it on 2nd street or in the neighborhoods nearby. Don't be discouraged from walking!

--SERVICE-- Super Awesome. The waiter kept coming back to check on us. They're attentive and super cool. I felt bad every time he came by and I'd tell him we're all good and don't need him yet.

Their cash register system was down. We gave them maybe 5 different cards and it would come up as an error. On top of that, the machine to copy cards was also broken. For the trouble, they deducted 10% from our entire order and gave us a round of beers (whoo!).

--FOOD-- Not the best. My friends and I got burgers, salads, and tacos. Everyone didn't care for it, really. I heard great things, so I was disappointed it wasn't as I expected.

Burgers: came with a pickle toothpicked on the top. It also came with a side of potato chips. The chips were a little bland, but I think they may have been made in-house.

Tacos: Only 2 medium sized tacos. I tried my friend's duck taco, and I thought they over killed it with ginger flavor. My friend also thought it was too salty.

Salad: This was my order. I got the chicken and pear ($16) and I actually really liked it! The plate is entirely arugula, though. So if you don't like that peppery taste, don't go for it. The pears and chicken are thinly sliced. The vinaigrette isn't overpowering, and it complimented the peppery arugula pretty well. It's topped off with a fried chevre which is fried goat cheese. I actually liked the cheese, although I was skeptical at first. It adds a different texture and bite to the meal.

--BEER-- Big selection! We tried different beers from fruity beers to IPAs. they even have a double IPA (DIPA). I'm not a beer person, so this was new to me. I love their fruity ones! I tried 2 different ones, and liked each of them. One of them was the rotating tap. There's also a wine list, too.

--OVERALL-- The redeeming factors were the service and beer. That is why they received 3 stars. I wish I could give them more, but the food was very subpar overall. Also, I was hoping it'd be a packed house, but it seemed relatively sparse. However, I did like the music.

Even though it's a gastropub, I think I may come back for that salad...

**Disclaimer** I accidentally pressed "Check In" twice on YELP. I'm not a regular haha

First time check in here. Stumbled in due to them being dog friendly. Walter, our server, greeted us appropriately and even brought a dog bowl for our fur baby..

The dining was exceptional and the food was up there with gastro pubs.

Had the garlic fries to start. Garlicky, fried crisp, and everything was right.

Wife ordered the Chile quilles. She didnt need to adjust the flavors with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Win there.

Myself had the Tavern Burger, medium temp. Flavor was fantastic, home style chips was crispy, pickel was even really good. Except burger came as well done.

Overall, service was great, food was tasty, pupper had a place to chill and relax.


2nd time here. Gaby the server was attentive and provided for what was needed.

Wake up fries could use was different taste experience. Went another level when dipped in there garlic aioli.

Had the brutal 2.0 burger this time around. Ummmm... Wow! LoVe the heat! The spice flavor, the burger patty cooked to preference, everything worked! Really digging this joint.