My spouse and I dined at The Tavern at Nemacolin Woodlands for
lunch on a Sunday afternoon in mid-August 2018. The Tavern is open from 11:00
am until 12:00 midnight daily; however, the bar stay open until 2:00 am on
weekends. We did not make a reservation to dine at the Tavern; we arrived as
walk-in guests.
The Tavern is located on the original Nemacolin property
(near The Lodge and Chateau accommodations) at the end of the Heritage Court shops,
adjacent to the (outdoor) Paradise Pool. Guests from the Chateau Lafayette can
reach The Tavern via interior connecting hallways; whereas guests from Falling
Rock must use the hotel shuttle or personal vehicle. Because of the terrain of
the resort, guests walking from their rooms must either descend stairs or use an
elevator to reach the restaurant from the shopping arcade.
The Tavern has an English pub feel, with dark wood that
creates a clubby atmosphere. The venue is divided into two sides, one of which
hosts a bar, a few dining tables, and a Top Golf Swing Suite. (Supposedly there
are four suites on property: two at the Tavern, one in the Falling Rock locker
room, and one in the arcade near PJs, where users can enjoy comfortable lounge
seating [and at the Tavern venue, food and beverage service].) We dined in the
opposite half of the Tavern, which offers two bars, individual tables, and a
back room area with a small stage and rows of chairs that appears to be used as
an entertainment venue. (This may have been, or might still be, the site of
Diamond Lil’s cabaret.)
The Tavern serves American gastropub cuisine. We ordered two
starters: the deviled eggs and the nachos (which had some fancy pork/pig-sounding
title that nearly hid the fact of what they actually were). The deviled eggs
arrived five halves on a plate (which made us wonder what happened to the sixth
half), and the pepper jack cheese sauce on the nachos was completely cold. (When
we informed our server, he said he would remove the charge from our bill).
Next, we ordered two sandwiches, the Reuben and the burger, each served with
house-made potato chips that were presented nicely in a small dipping/frying
baskets. For dessert, we shared a “whoopee pie”, two cake-like cookies
bracketing some sweet icing and unusually plated/accented by candied carrots.
The food was marginal, and service was incredibly slow; in fact, it seemed that
the restaurant was not properly staffed, perhaps because it was mid-August and seasonal
staff had already departed. (However, we did notice that a managerial member of
the staff whom we had met a few nights prior at the welcome cocktail party and
who was dining near us received more attentive service than we did.)
Lunch at The Tavern was our least favorite dining experience
of our three-day visit to Nemacolin Woodlands.
