Tiedhouse

Hasta Luego Tiedhouse…

Recently my roommate and I, after a softball game in the Art Museum neighborhood decided to try out the Tiedhouse for some food and drink. He had been there before, but this was my first time. I was not let down.
Overall, the food was good, the beer selection was great, but I have a few issues. First, it is hard to find from the outside unless you’ve been there before. It is set back a bit from the street, and the signage is very subtle. It’s not in a place where you’d expect to find a bar like this, attached to an upscale condominium. This is perhaps a cause of my only real complaint: there was only a handful of people inside. It was certainly not a lively place, and we were there at seven on a Saturday night.
The service was terrific, as would be expected with a sparse crowd. The bartender was great, proving his knowledge in both beer and sports. No complaints whatsoever about the staff. We sat at the bar, talked sports and watched the World Baseball Classic on one of their big flat screen televisions.
An interesting tidbit with regard to the name: in colonial times (and still today in the UK), a tied house was a public house that was required to buy at least some of its beer from a particular brewery, unlike free houses. Indeed, this pub is «tied» to the General Lafayette Inn & Brewery, although they have a wide selection of beers from elsewhere. This is in my opinion their greatest strength; besides having a full bar, they sport a wide selection of great craft beers. I tried a pair of General Lafayette brews: the Sunset Red Ale (a smooth amber ale) and Chocolate Thunder (a nice porter), and both were terrific.
To conclude, the tied house is a great place to go for some decent food and a great beer, but you may be left wanting with regard to ambiance and company.

Good selection of beer. Easy to find parking and just a minute or so north of the walnut/​chestnut street mess. Nice and dim just how i like it. Attractive young dark haired bartenders/​waitresses. Different artists’ work on the walls each month. They seem to have it all.

I’ve come here twice, both times due to the tasty beer. Those I have gone with have tried the food with mixed results (burger was good, meat ball tapas were good, eggplant and chicken sandwich disappointing). I like the Lafayette beer selection and I’m glad I don’t have to go all the way out to wherever the original location is to drink it. On a weekday night the place is usually not crowded, with attentive bar and waistaff.
The bathrooms are far away, you have to walk through the apartment building’s long entry way and by a piano and conference rooms to get there… it’s a little unsettling.

I went here with a group of friends on Saturday for dinner. They were accommodating of our large group and service was prompt. The servers definitely know their beer. It had a couple tv’s and dart boards.
The beer was pretty good, the chocolate porter was especially loved by our crowd. They have many different styles on tap, even some from other breweries (like Ommegang). So there is definitely something for everyone.
The food wasn’t great. The wings were bland, which sucks because they are so many calories. The burgers were standard, they were a bit undercooked (which I would rather have than overcooked). Fries were nothing special, but at least they were not previously frozen. One of my friends tried the duck confit dish, which was pretty good as well.
We’ll definitely be back to try it again after they’ve had some time to tweak their menu.