Sometimes a Friday night dictates hitting a beer bar for an after-work microbrew paired up with some great pub fare. That’s exactly what you will find at Tavern in the Square located in Burlington, Mass.
The restaurant took over a former office building in the New England Executive Office Park on Burlington Mall Road (across from Sears at the Burlington Mall). There are eight locations in Massachusetts and this one is the largest. This Tavern in the Squarehas a large area for outdoor seating complete with heat lamps and umbrellas, massive flat screen TVs that line the bar area and more than 50 beers on tap. What more could we ask for?
We were seated at a high top in the busy bar area and were quickly greeted by our friendly servers Maria G. and Alex D., who started us off with a Green Flash IPA and Blackberry Pear Cider. They recommended we get started with a sampling of the Mongolian barbecue wings, a delicious combination of crispy garlic, ginger and soy wings served with a side of kimchi and caramelized pineapple sauce. We also sampled the jalapeno mac & cheese bites, four fried pieces of broken noodles in a cheddar cheese sauce (that was a bit dry) topped with fresh jalapenos for an extra kick that we loved and fresh corn.
Moving right along, our servers suggested we try one of their pizzas, which included asparagus and ricotta, buffalo chicken, margherita or our favorite, meatball made with house made meatballs topped with crushed tomatoes, basil, whipped ricotta and mozzarella.
Since it is a tavern, there is a good sampling of sandwiches and burgers (think fish sandwiches, grilled chicken served on a multigrain roll and burgers topped with Guinness cheese served with crispy onion rings). There is also a nice selection of entrees, including turkey tips, fish and chips, beer can chicken, cedar plank roasted salmon and blackened chicken pasta.
We loved the shiitake udon noodle bowl filled with broccoli, edamame, chicken, shiitake mushrooms and soft super thick udon noodles tossed in a spicy garlic, ginger soy sauce. The short rib shepherd’s pie was a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs bowl of rich Guinness braised short ribs and root vegetables topped with a potato crust.
If you can save room for dessert, we recommend the ice cream profiterole sundae, a cream puff stuffed with vanilla bean gelato rolled in crushed toffee and then topped with hot fudge and whipped cream. Trust us, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Tavern in the Square is located at 1 New England Executive Park, Burlington, Mass. For more information, call (781) 272-9000 or visit them online at www.taverninthesquare.com.
