Thursday, December 28, 2017

Tapped

Even though it's not "A Pizza Story" anymore, I was excited to get the chance to try out the next version of the restaurant a couple of times during the holiday season.

Tapped Signage
Yet, I am still a little bitter, not just because they replaced one of my favorite small pizza joints, but because they are one of the first to offer up the self-service taps in St. Louis.

I had visited my first self-serve taps at a wine bar in Ames, Iowa and was blown away by the awesome concept. I wondered why there wasn't such a thing in St. Louis! I had visions of opening up my very own wine bar with this unique twist! I emailed the STLWinegirl and she explained to me that Missouri law did not allow customers to serve themselves. So sad. Dreams crushed.

Then, a few months later, sure enough, Tapped opened up with the very same concept and when I asked STLWinegirl again, she said the laws had changed. (Or someone's wheels got greased suddenly.)

So now I'm out of my favorite pizza and my million-dollar making idea.

Our friends invited us to a holiday get-together held at Tapped, and since we recently moved to the city, just south of Maplewood, it was a very short drive! And while they do not take reservations after 6pm on the weekends, they will hold the table just as easily at 5:45pm with "Reserved" signs.

With all the taps on the wall, this is not your typical sit down restaurant. There are a lot of people wandering about to get their own beer or wine, and this worked out great with our large party that took up two large tables so we could mingle between them.

When you're ready to order food, you just walk up to the "food ordering station". While there are no fancy pizza flavors like "eggplant"....yes I LOVE eggplant...the pizza is actually good!

Margherita Pizza
We tried the Honey Roasted Almonds (perfect snack with beer!) and the Tapped Wings as well! The wings had only a small amount of heat, but were definitely well-covered in a "sweet spicy bourbon glaze" sauce and very messy. (Plenty of wet-naps were available!)

Honey Roasted Almonds and Tapped Wings
The best part is that the beer taps are organized by style so Patience was happy going to the left for her stouts, while I stayed more towards the right for the lighter beers. It's pretty easy to hold up the white disc (a bracelet worn on your wrist) to the "Tapped" sign for the tap you wish to draw from.

Wine lovers, your area is in the far corner. I haven't looked to see what types of wines or the quality that they offered, so I'll have to check back.

Just watch out for the water dispenser...the ice comes out very fast and the water will spill if you don't hold the glass just right.

P.S. We went back a second time already to introduce more people to it. It IS a fun way to hang out!

Resources:

Tapped = https://www.tappedstl.com