TAVO Restaurant & Tavern

I always have a great experience when I dine here. The ambience is wonderful, and the prices are very reasonable. It’s a ritzy environment, with family pricing. Great food.

Today was the first time I visited the restaurant for lunch. The staff made me feel like I was coming there for years. Everything there is made to order. The pork chop lunch special for $ 8.95 was excellent. If you’re in downtown Greensboro for lunch it’s definitely a spot I would recommend.

This was the first time trying the food here, and there was something to like, but even more not to like. We used Dining Dash to deliver the order, and they did their usual great job. We ordered the Prime Rib (only available on Sunday) for $ 17.95 which comes with a side salad, Fried Catfish (pricey at $ 15.95) with fresh Green Beans, and a side order of Grilled Asparagus ($ 3).
The Prime Rib was very good, and perfectly cooked at medium rare. The only off note was the lack of the Au Jus, which was specifically selected as an option on the order — there was less than a teaspoon with the meat — not a meal breaker, but a bit of a irritant. The side salad was very spare, a small amount of chopped Romaine and a single cherry tomato.
The Cat Fish was not something I’d order again, there was a taste in the coating that I’d didn’t care for, a spice perhaps, and even with 2 large pieces, this is a little over-​priced. The Grilled Asparagus and the fresh Green Beans average in preparation, and needed seasoning.
Probably would order the Prime Rib on another Sunday, but none of the rest of this order.

I wish I could give it no stars… I came here with 6 people and all six of us had problems with the items we order. It seemed as if they ran out of everything… The manager was of no real assistance… our waitress was very nice however the whole experience was a hot mess… I will never come back here again!!!

Good food spoiled by poor management. This place is a joke. Will not be in business next week. Friendly staff but clueless. Ordered a bottle of wine and they were out. Ordered a different type white wine and bartender brought an entirely different bottle didn’t even ask if it was ok. No beer except Budweiser and couple other popular ones. So bad that it was fun!

I wish I could give less than one star. The food and service here was so hilariously bad that I felt like I was in the middle of a reality show. The steak was about a half an inch thick and cooked so poorly it was almost comical. I felt like I was at Steak n’ Shake. The bar service was ridiculous. My four year old nephew would make a better dirty martini. If you’re in the mood for some comedy and are willing to pay for it, by all means, eat here. No, you know what, scratch that. Just don’t eat here. Ever.

I took my entire team for a work dinner here while we all visited Greensboro for meetings, 17 of us in all. The meal went so poorly, it became a team unifying joke, which gave us entertainment for the rest of the night and the next day. In short:
The restaurant is rather beautiful with high ceilings and nice décor.
The staff were all very friendly.
They only gave us 1 server to take of our entire group of 17, who we soon learned was VERY new to the restaurant. Anyone in the restaurant business knows this would be a huge mistake, both the 1 server (no matter their tenure) and certainly a new one.
First round of drinks and a few bottles of wine took almost an hour to arrive… I’m not kidding.
Appetizers ordered were of low quality. They were similar to the type of appetizers you would get in a low end bar, or a truck stop along an interstate highway.
Main course entrees were both tiny, poor quality, and cooked wrong. I ordered the filet, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smaller filet, or a thinner filet. A colleague ordered shrimp scampi, and was brought 3 pieces of shrimp served on pasta right out of the box. I could go one about the ribeye, the salads, etc., but I’ll give them a break. I will say though, that they need to hire a new cook. I don’t think a single steak was cooked properly.
We spoke to the Manager. He then took the server aside (who did the best she could and was very nice) and berated her. This was horrible, as these didn’t appear to be her issues. This act upset most of my team very much.
They did bring us two bottles of wine to apologize for our experience, but rather than stay there, we collectively decided to just pay and leave. I left a very nice tip to the server, hoping she wises up and leaves that Manager.
To summarize — it’s pretty safe to say this place won’t be open long. As long as it is, I recommend people to spend their money elsewhere. Hopefully, a good restaurant will soon occupy that nice space.

Saw good reviews on Unilocal and decided to give it a try. We had 10 people at 6 PM on a Friday.
The restaurant was empty. That should have been our first clue. There were just a handful of bottles behind the bar. That should have been the second.
Throughout the course of our meal, we discovered that Tavo was out of the following:
Bourbon
All whiskey
3 types of wine on the (short) wine list
Paper towels for the restrooms
Two identical steak orders came out cooked completely differently. (One medium rare, as ordered. The other medium rare order was EXTREMELY overcooked.)
The shrimp in my gumbo pasta were good. But the cubed chunks of chicken could have come from a can. The Alfredo sauce was heavy, and separating.
Our waitress was very nice and apologetic, but seemed to be dealing with an apathetic kitchen and bar staff.
Our drink orders came out staggered. One mojito order came out 15 minutes after the other drinks… And keep in mind, the restaurant was practically empty.
One strange part of the night came when the ambient music abruptly changed to church hymns. Also, the lights kept flickering as if the power was about to go out.
If you’re thinking about giving Tavo a try, you should probably go somewhere else.

The prime rib may have been the worst I’ve ever had! I would not recommend this entrée.

I think Toya may be a little bias based on her review. Is she an owner or employee? I would give this place more like a 3 star but by no means is it a 5 star restairant. That wpukd be Print Bisto or Green Valley. The décor heee doesn’t really go with the theme. looks more like an Asian or Japanese. Food is American food with a twist just like they advertise. Staff to me seemed lost and confused at least my waiter. He was all over the place and not in a good way. It was a Saturday night but wasn’t that busy. Service I though was terrible, we waited about 40 minutes to get our dinner… never seen or heard from a manager. Food was good actually very good maybe just a little over priced in my opinion. Will i go back… that is still to be decided.

I AM SO MAD MY REVIEW MAY NOT BE AN EXACT ORDER, BUT ITS CLOSE ENOUGH. I AM SORRY, I TRIED. I NEVER WRITE REVIEWS. THIS IS ACTUALLY A FIRST REVIEW FOR ME.
This was my first experience. Sigh… I had seen a past review somewhere about a printer issue and demised it thinking ok this might be a good place, the menu looked great. I had reservations for 7:30 about a week in advance. It took nearly 30 minutes for the party of 8 to be seated. Once seated it took forever for just water, and even longer for drinks. Out of the party of 8, 3 people ordered sodas, 1 person ordered a mixed drink and the rest ordered beer (4 beers) how hard is it to pop the top and make a drink? Apparently really hard. It took nearly 25 minutes to receive drinks. Want a refill of water or a soda… forget it you have to ask NUMEROUS times for a refill. 3 people at the table ordered a blue moon and a orange. The orange was about ¹⁄₁₆ of a slice. Then we went to order refills for the beers, they were sold out… really? Sold out on a Saturday night at 8pm?
After waiting nearly an hour and a half the manger popped over the table so only half the table could hear that the printers in the kitchen were not working. Really, it took you that long to realize they weren’t working? Well the message had to be passed down the table from the people who heard the manager. He literally said something about the printer issue and moved along.
Our waitress said the food was about to come out, 30 minutes later the first plate finally arrived. It literally took almost 25 minutes from the time the first plate arrived to the last and the manager brought out the last plate. REMIND YOU, WE ASKED FOR A MANGER 3 TIMES BY THIS POINT.
Continue on… my meal came with a salad. After finishing my salad the plate sat in front of me for nearly an hour. May I remind you the restaurant was not full by any means! We ordered drinks, waited and waited, ordered drinks again waited and waited. The food FINALLY came before even a beer that was previously ordered We had the salad plate from over an hour ago, 2 bread baskets, numerous empty beer bottles, empty drink glasses and people asking for refills over and over. Someone actually had a bottle of water in the purse who refilled all the water glasses on the table.
Once we finally got a manger he only wanted to give us 50% off our bill. We asked for the whole thing the be comped, he finally agreed. We talked to a table next to us who apparently had a reservation 30 minutes prior to us, a party of around the same size. After an hour of ordering APPETIZERS the waitress finally came out to say they were sold out of the appetizers they had ordered. Well apparently 4 – 5 of the items they had ordered with their dinner were also sold out, only to find out about an hour after placing their order.
I have been to numerous restaurants, over the years with much larger and even smaller parities with no where near ¼ of the issues. I had really high hopes with the place but i was so disappointed. My medium steak was was over cooked, the baked potato was still raw, literally the whole potato was raw… not even sure how they cut it to put the butter and sour cream. Of my 3 pieces of shrimp only 1 was slightly warm. Most of the people said he mac and cheese was amazing, the last person to get their fi said the fish was hot and amazing. Most people said the friend chicken was good, but cold. Of course we all waiting for ALL food to arrive at the table. I had a steak that was dry so was hot happy with my meal. After the manager coming to our table the waitress NEVER came back over to our table… EVER.
We all finally got up and left, We will never go back to this and I was really hoping for the best.
FIRST AND LAST VISIT!!!

The menu could use a bit of work. Though the staff is a gem.
It’s obvious Tavo is here to please with management within a wink’s distance and attentive waitresses.
The ambiance could use a bit of work. Is there any reason the band needs to be so loud that they drown out dinner conversation? The band suggested we plug our ears, but this is not a solution.

Since the opening of Tavo, I have been on numerous occasions and love going! As much as I want to explore the whole menu, I’m in LOVE with buttermilk fried chicken and the cornbread is awesome! My boyfriend’s personal fave is the spicy buttermilk chicken with the signature sauce added. Their head bartender, Angela, is AMAZING and if you don’t even know what kind of drink you want, she simply asks what kinds of drinks you like and she can customize something just for YOU! Definitely worth a visit!

The ambience is amazing! The food is spectacular and service was perfect! The Spicy Buttermilk Chicken and Mac n cheese is to die for! My husband had jambalaya and that was also wonderful. We were so happy to have found an upscale eatery with very treasonable prices, that we are going back the next night with the rest of the family. Going to try a steak this time and can’t wait for those cornbread muffins! Bradford made it a point to welcome us and make sure all was as expected. You don’t always find that in other restaurants and not ever as sincerely as Brad!

Tavo is my favorite restaurant downtown. I love the location and the food is absolutely amazing. I’ve never had a bad meal. The cocktails are great. The service is great and every server I’ve had has been very polite, professional and attentive. The best way to describe the atmosphere of the restaurant itself is sexy, with the artwork and the columns. I love the large booths. The cornbread muffins and molten lava cake are the best I’ve ever eaten. I highly recommend eating here. You won’t be disappointed.

It is not closed because I just went this weekend. The décor is beautiful and if you reserve one of the large booths then its perfect for a date. The staff was very friendly and on top of everything. The meals and Martinis were resonably priced. I had the chicken stuffed with spinach and cheese and my date had the Cajun Fried Chicked. We had a really nice experience dining here and will go back very soon.

Though the restaurant’s décor is absolutely beautiful, and I would probably go back some day (I mean it’s Greensboro, not THAT many options in these parts) — I was not impressed.
First off, to get to the restaurant is a little odd. It is directly beside a youngster nightclub, and there is usually a line dragging down the sidewalk for it. There is no clear entrance to Tavo, but since we are so darn smart we figured it out!
Once you finally realize how to enter, there is a window at the front. It truly has a nightclub feel/​look to it. There were 3 hosts, and not one of them smiled nor offered any extra information about the place. The young lady boringly sat us at a huge booth, which was very comfy!
The drinks were ok — the first round was very good actually, but they changed bartenders and it was downhill from there. The food was pretty good. I got the shrimp with collards and baked mac & cheese. The collards were extremely good, but everything was served at room temperature. (not hot at all)
We visited Tavo on a Saturday night around 10pm or so. There was only one other table of patrons, and this seemed so weird since it has such a «Saturday night» feel to it. They definitely have some improving to do, but the atmosphere is worth the visit.

Let’s see… everyone was real friendly.
Bartender didn’t know how to make a Manhattan. «Smashed potatoes» were watery, and either pre-​frozen or partially made from dried potato flakes or something, but they sure as he! were not made from fresh potatoes (and if they were, then the recipe needs to be destroyed for all eternity). The collard greens were unbelievably salty to the point of being inedible.
As far as the restaurant itself, there’s no unifying theme, on the menu or in the décor. It almost feels like a group of investors decided to start a restaurant without knowing why they wanted to. I realize that not every dining concept needs a theme or a hook, but Tavo is lacking in passion for what they’re doing, and that’s likely to be terminal. This could have been food from a Waffle House and I wouldn’t have blinked, but at these prices, in downtown Greensboro, there’s no excuse. There are too many other options, and too many other talented people in kitchens nearby to stop at Tavo again.

Update: a year and a half later… Forget everything I said.
I’ve dined here a few times. Had fried chicken, mac n cheese, greens, etc, etc. Everything tastes great, no doubt. They also give a basket of corn bread before your meal. I don’t like corn bread but when i’m at Tavo that’s all i want. They are the best i’ve ever had. It’s tricky though because sometimes they add a fee for more corn bread (which if it takes place of a bread basket why charge for more?) and sometimes they give you more upon request for free. I haven’t been back since they charged us for extra corn bread.
The service is always good… i think it’d because every time i’ve been in there it’s never busy.
They did have a living social deal the other day so i bought one… because overall it’s good food, a nice building, and a friendly staff.

THE CHICKEN IS FIRE!!!
translation– their chicken wings are extremely good.
The mac and cheese is awesome too. Great place for lunch or dinner.