City Tavern

UCLABrewN84

California

4/5  rDev +13%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$$

I visited City Tavern recently since I was in the area and have been meaning to check it out for a while now. Parking can be kind of tricky since there is no dedicated lot. Inside it's a modern looking spot with lots of brick and wood. There are some tables available and bar seating. I sat at the bar and ordered a bunch of tasters. The bartender was very friendly and answered my questions even though it was quite busy. The quality of the beers was good for all my tasters. The selection is good with about 15 taps and around the same number of bottles and cans for sale. They do tasters, pints, and a mini growler option for sharing. Prices can be quite high on some of the beers but they had stuff I haven't seen anywhere else so I was willing to pay for them. Definitely a cool little spot and I will be back for sure in the future.

03-17-2013 23:34:51 | More by UCLABrewN84

drewone

California

3.08/5  rDev -13%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 2 | $$$$

A would describe it as a restaurant with a bar. Dark inside, basic cool design. Fair size outdoor area with high tables, a few booths (with own taps) and a bar. General atmosphere for a Friday night was not really a beer crowd so much, definitely Culver City - not a complaint though).

Decent rotating tap list - you can do tasters of any of the draft offerings (major bonus here in my book). I believe they only serve California beer. Sampled selections from craftsman, Iron Fist, Full Boar, Eagle Rock and Bear Republic (the reason I stopped by - as part of LA beer week they were having a different BA beer on each night - had Tartare this night). Really glad they have the tasters as I didn't care for a few things that I tried - would be bummed to have a whole glass - this along with the decent tap list are the best things about this place.

Even thought the tasters were reasonably priced, the glass of Tartare was $14, over $15 with tax + tip on top of that - yikes, totally didn't even check the cost, came as a bit of surprise - had to check the menu - seems out of line. Other offerings prices were a little on the high end also.

Service was not bad but also seemed a little off - I also suspected that the bartender filled my glass half full from a mistaken pour, than topped it off from the tap - I looked up a little too late to feel confident enough to call her on it - If I would have know what they were charging I would have. I don't think that the staff is necessarily beer educated.

This was my second time here (after almost a year). Unfortunately I found the quality of food to have gone down quite a bit from my first visit - I would like to hope that they were just having an of night. Service also had gone down.

09-26-2012 04:48:32 | More by drewone