50/50 Taphouse - Winchester, VA
Summary
50/50 Taphouse in downtown Winchester, VA proudly sports 50 Burgers and 50 Beers. It is a spacious industrial restaurant with a sports bar feel. They have pool tables and weekly events. The service is also quite good. The beer selection is quite impressive but the food quality left me wanting.
Food Overall
Service
Atmosphere
Location
Value for Money
Overall
What I Ordered
Jalapeño Poppers
$8
The jalapeño poppers are composed of a very large mild jalapeno pepper cut in half and topped with cheese and chorizo. They are served with sour cream dipping sauce. In theory these sound amazing. But I was a bit disappointed. The peppers themselves are not spicy at all and were quite bland, the cheese was alright but also a bit bland, and there was not nearly enough chorizo. There was only a hint of chorizo. The poppers are good in concept but execution was lacking.
Bayou Burger
$13
The Bayou Burger is a standard bun and burger patty, topped with remoulade, pimento, onion, tomato, and pickle. The pickles provided some acid to cut through the fattiness of the burger, which I think was a good choice. However the burger itself and toppings were quite bland. This burger was not spicy at all. It tasted like a normal OK burger to me. The tater tots were alright but not very crispy. This was served with a deli pickle on the side.
Grilled Cheese Burger
$16
The grilled cheese burger is a burger patty, bacon and Dijon mayo between to grilled cheese sandwiches. This was my favorite of the three burgers we tried. However It was still lacking. The burger overall tasted like an extra cheesy normal burger. It was fairly bland and could have benefited from a side of tomato soup or a good sauce/slaw to add acidity to break up the fattiness of the dish. This came with tots and a pickle as well.
Pepperoni Pizza Burger
$13
The pepperoni pizza burger consists of a burger patty and bun topped with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. It tastes like eating a slice of cheap pizza at the same time as a plain burger. The sauce was quite bland and tasted like a plain store-bought tomato sauce. The cheese was good. Again, the result is OK. We tried the fries as the side for this meal. I would not recommend the fries; the tots are better! The fries are soggy, greasy, and unimpressive. This also came with a pickle.
Beer Flight
$9
The flight of beer includes four samples of your choice of any beer on tap. The samples were a generous size and presented nicely with a guide sheet. Overall, I enjoyed all of the beers I tried and the selection is quite impressive. What I tried: Aslin Gose w/ Blackberries and Raspberries, Downeast Strawberry Cider, AleWerks Tavern Brown Ale, and D9 Brown Sugar Brown Cow.
Overall Food
50/50 Taphouse presents a very large selection of beers and burgers. The portions are generous and the beers are great. Unfortunately, the burgers left me wanting. They all tasted the same, like a bland normal hamburger. It appears the wide selection of topping offerings needed to sustain their 50 burgers has made the focus quantity not quality.
Service
Attentiveness
The waiter checked back throughout the meal at a good interval and refilled waters regularly. He brought out our food and drinks relatively quickly.
Character
The waiter was very friendly and helpful. He was also happy to offer suggestions when asked.
Accuracy
Everything we ordered was brough out accurately and promptly.
Overall Service
The service at 50/50 Taphouse is very good. The staff are friendly and efficient.
Atmosphere
Size
50/50 Taphouse is a relatively large restaurant. It has a lot of bar seating as well as approximately 30 tables. There is also an entertainment section with pool tables and a stage for events.
Who Goes Here?
Groups of friends having a drink and watching a game on TV or playing pool. Families grabbing a quick dinner.
Ambience
50/50 Taphouse is large and open with an industrial style. It is not very cozy or inviting and it is lit a lot brighter lighting than most sports bars. They may benefit from dimmer lighting if they are going for the sports bar look. They do have a good selection of entertainment from TVs, to billiards, to weekly trivia night. It is very busy and fairly loud. The overall atmosphere does not make you want to settle in for a long time but it is a very bright and lively place to stop for a beer and round of pool.
Cleanliness
The overall restaurant appeared to be clean and the tables were cleared quickly. The bathrooms were very clean.
Overall Atmosphere
50/50 Taphouse is a spacious industrial, sports bar. They offer games like billiards and weekly events. It is not very comfortable but it is a good place to play a round of pool and get a drink with friends.
Location
50/50 Taphouse is located in Winchester, VA adjacent to the historic downtown walking mall. It is a very safe charming area with many shops and restaurants. There are several inexpensive parking garages to park in.
Looking for American food?
Value for money
50/50 Taphouse has generous portions of food for their price. The food is not that impressive but it is not bad either. I think that you get a good amount of decent food for your money.
Overall
50/50 Taphouse is a spacious sports bar in downtown Winchester, VA. They have 50 burgers and 50 beers on the menu. Their food is nothing special but decent bar food. The drink selection is great. They also offer games such as billiards and events like weekly trivia. It is a good place to go if you want to grab a drink and play a game with friends.
