Secret Six Tavern

This place appears to be closed now. It now is called something else.
When I did eat here, I found my portion size to be very adequate and fair for the price, I couldn’t really complain. At least now there’s still Private Quinn’s, which IMO still has the best fish ‘n chips in town. No kidding.
One of the better parts of eating here was that you could eat outside when the weather permitted it to. Plus, it overlooked the confluence and the train station, so you could sit outside and watch the trains all day if you wanted to. The location was terrific. Couldn’t ask for a better spot.
I have not tried to new place yet, but judging by the looks of the new menu, it’s not going to be a quick sell to me anytime soon.

It’s about expectations. The local beers were good, the bartender friendly, and, in off-​season, it’s all very relaxed. Great location, fine view on the patio, interesting indoor spring in the main tavern.
Stick with the burger, which was great, or the steak, and you should be pleased. It’s a pub, not haute cuisine.
Oh, and this town closes early, so better get there by 7 to enjoy it.

I think that the majority of reviewers are spot on: the food is fine, although not stellar. We had a variety of sandwiches, and nobody raved or complained about anything. The setting is casual but nice – outside on the deck is great. Our server was a total sweetie, but she had way too many tables to keep up with consistently.

The Secret Six Tavern is your standard resort area tavern. You could easily be sitting in Edgartown, MA, Nantucket, MA Newport RI, or Camden ME in one of these ubiquitous type taverns with a tenuous historic tie that dot this type of resort town.
The menu is predictable (sweet potato fries, Fish and Chips, Veggie Sandwich) with a decent beer selection. Depending upon the time of the year service will range from excellent (our experience since there was only one other table in service) to awful at the height of the season. Prices are reasonable and with properly lowered expectations you should not be too disappointed.

Heard that the food was nothing special but the view was great, however, our experience was the opposite.
We sat outside on the deck that overlooked the street and train station — Interesting, but not beautiful. Tried the special fish and chips and the steak and cheese sandwich — both we’re served hot and flavorful. Fish was fresh cod with an incredibly flavorful batter, best I’ve ever had, and came with standard fries and slaw. Steak and cheese was your typical cheesesteak with a few extras — steak, cheese, onions, peppers, and a your choice of lettuce, tomato, mayo — a good hot sandwich and fries.
Server was friendly and did a good job taking care of 10 tables! (Poor girl) the kitchen was slower.

Terrible. It was the only place open on a Tuesday, so we took our chances. The menu sounded ok, and for the $ 16-​$ 25/​entrée prices, we expected it would be good. There was only one server working outside and one bartender/​manager/​host/​server working inside. The poor outside server (ours) was totally overwhelmed. So instead of being «overstaffed» and giving good service to 3 – 4 tables, all 10 – 12 of her tables got terrible service. She brought the wrong entrée for me (the shrimp Alfredo when I ordered the shrimp scampi) and I really could have made something 100x better at home. I didn’t want to wait the time it would have taken for her to bring me the correct meal, so I suffered through about 5 bites and then just gave up. All of the pasta dishes we ordered were your standard grocery store penne pasta with some veggies and sauce from a can. Meh to say the least. My boyfriend got the surf n turf… leather steak and less than par crab cake. Beer wasn’t super cold, and outside on a hot and humid day, it got luke warm very quickly.
Might be ok for lunch or if you’re only looking for a sandwich or something basic, but don’t go here for dinner. SO not worth the fairly expensive tab.

Dining choices in Harpers Ferry on the whole are limited. Many places are completely closed Monday, Tuesday, and sometimes Wednesday. The Secret Six is open weekdays and at the latest hour in Harpers Ferry — 8 pm.
Even though my girlfriend and I arrived exactly at 8 pm and the kitchen had closed, the very accommodating waitress still served us food. As for the food itself, it wasn’t anything gourmet, but after a day of traveling it really hit the spot. We both had the burger and it comes with fries, started with the chips and salsa appetizer, and even had beer to drink. Before tip, the entire bill was only $ 38, which was really great for just two people.
We sat on out on the patio which has an excellent view of the historic Harpers Ferry train station, Potomac River, and Maryland Heights. This is a great spot to come if you just want a nice cold drink after a day of activities.
It seems like they have a bit of a staff problem because only one waitress was working when we got there. Eventually another guy showed up but this one girl was doing all of the work for 6 – 10 tables. Even though she was the only one working, all of our food was delivered on time and she was extremely pleasant to deal with.
Four stars for the great view, reliable service, dependable food, and friendly staff. Would definitely go here again.

If you are starving, don’t come here. Slow as molasses service. But the staff were very friendly and our cheesesteak was yummy. Good selection of local beers and very nice outdoor patio overlooking the railroad station makes it worth the stop.

Food menu was lacking but everyone was really nice! Great spot to sit and enjoy a good beer!

Service is VERY SLOW– took us over 5 minutes to be seated (even though 3 servers passed us and didn’t not make eye contact!). Finally seated and another 15 minutes before our order was taken (I had to get up and ask two waiters to take our order). Food was ok-​nothing great.
Alot of families with kids– saw many mom’s asking about where their waitress/​food was as well.
Like alot of the places to eat in HF-​this is unfortunately a tourist trap -(thus no need to improve customer service– folks will eat here b/​c of the proximity to the town). I would recommend driving out of town on 340– a ton a quick places to eat (yes-​fast food!) but only 5 – 10 minute drive and you will get more for your money.
We wont be back.

I visited Harper’s Ferry on July 4 and OMG was it hot. My original plan was to climb Maryland Heights but it was way too hot for such an ambitious undertaking so I spent my day instead hiking the tow path for a bit and then reacquainting myself with this little town/​historical park. After several hours in the heat climbing HF’s numerous hills I decided it was time for some lunch (beer!) and asked a local shopkeeper to recommend someplace. Secret Six Tavern was her recommendation and luckily for me I was already halfway up the hill I needed to climb to get there.
Most of the other eatery places in HF appear to be sandwich shops or ice cream parlors. The Secret Six Tavern (named after the six local men who secretly backed John Brown’s plot to raid the armory at HF) is an old brick building that sits on a hill that overlooks the train station and the hills across the canal. If weather permits, definitely do sit outside on the deck. The view is one of the best reasons for eating here. They do not have an especially large beer selection but many of them are local microbrews. I don’t remember what I ordered but it was fine, exactly what I wanted at that time. For lunch, I ordered the «southwestern shrimp» salad and it was… inexplicable. There wasn’t really anything southwest about it other than the tortilla strips they scattered on it. The shrimp were steamed in Old Bay (!) and sat on top of shredded cheddar cheese, some tomatoes, corn, beans, and iceberg lettuce. The waitress brought me some balsamic vinaigrette to go along with it, which made no sense at all. Conceptually this salad was a mess. But I ate every bit of it and scraped the plate clean. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it worked but everything on it was fresh, the shrimp were large and perfectly cooked, and I was really really hungry.
So, in short, next time I find myself in Harper’s Ferry I will certainly consider stopping by here again for a beer on the deck and to see what else they have on the menu. If nothing else, it might be interesting.

Friendly service from beautiful girls with some sorta skirt chasing thug as the manager.
Prices OK.
Food mediocre, nothing fabulous, but not bad either, beer and soft drinks at the bar was OK.
The whole lower town of Harpers Ferry is a pathetic tourist trap.

Probably the best full service restaurant in the town, which I suppose is faint praise since the competition is limited to say the least. However, I had a shrimp salad and found it to be as good as almost any I have had elsewhere. Service was prompt and prices are reasonable, especially for an isolated tourist area. I’m sure I’ll be back to Harper’s Ferry for the September 2012 celebrations and will definitely return to the Secret Six.

Tourist trap? Maybe. But what do you expect from a town that is essentially a giant open-​air museum? Harper’s Ferry is one of those places you need to see as an American to not suck as an American™. It’s like, old, and historical, and a lot of important things happened there; you won’t care about any of that once you see the natural beauty of the place.
Problem is, that natural beauty is trapped at the end of a single street that goes down a great big freakin hill, and you’ll have to walk up it at some point. Don’t pass out before you reach the top — stop and grab a bite and a beer at the Secret Six Tavern! Fries: pub-​worthy. Chili: just fine. Grilled cheese: really hit the spot! Price: fair enough for the touristy location and the glorious view. Staff: mighty friendly! They’ve even googled the history of the historical Secret Six and printed it up for your learning pleasure. They’ve got a couple-​few local brews on tap, but if you’ve learned anything about the Mountain State Brewery, you’ll avoid that sock-​water like the plague and get a Red Hook instead.

Hubby and I went here when we took a quick weekend trip to Harpers Ferry and Sheperdstown. We were hungry and thought we’d stop in for a bite. We stood by the door and it took a while before someone finally acknowleged us and about another 5 minutes to get a table on the patio, though there was probably a quarter of the tables available. Whatever. The menu is sort of boring. Hubby ordered the mushroom burger and I got the Fish and Chips special. They cooked his burger well and he described it as «gross, dry and overcooked». My fish was less than average… it was so oily and bland. We also ordered the cheese fries for an appetizer — it was okay only nothing special. The hubby also didn’t appreciate the «up and down» look when we went to pay the bill. We’re not coming back.

I really liked this place. Went when it wasn’t busy and got a table outside on the deck. Great view of the mountains and part of the town from there. The service was extremely friendly and the burger my friend and I had were great. Apparently there’s a WV law that it can’t be cooked any less than medium well, but they were still big and juicy. The fries were good and not overly salted. The only complaints I would have is you’re basically in the kitchen to use the bathroom and the pickles were less than stellar. Overall a great place to hang out, eat, and enjoy the company and view.

I went to the Secret Six twice — once for a few beers, and once for lunch (and a couple beers!). My rating reflects my overall experience, not necessarily the cheese steak and fries I had for lunch.
Regarding the cheese steak and fries — fine but nothing special. The sandwich was on a fresh hoagy roll, but the amount of steak/​peppers/​onions was just adequate (meaning a little more would have been appreciated). The fries were crisp, but not remarkable.
The beer selection is limited, but probably the best you’ll find in Harpers Ferry.
The reason for my somewhat generous rating is the staff and the other local patrons. They made me feel welcome and part of their community. I like that.

Part tourist trap, part reprieve after a couple hours of hiking in the nearby mountains, this place has it all. The saving grace for this place is its view from the patio because the service inside is pretty abysmal. My friend and I dutifully waited by the «please wait to be seated» sign for a good five minutes without any hint of acknowledgment, so I started up toward the bar to ask about getting a table. I was told someone would be with us shortly, though that took another ten minutes to sit down.
Sure the menu may offer things that aren’t in sandwich or fried form, but I don’t know if I want some Appalachian town bringing me a salmon fillet. My friend ordered the cheesesteak and I got the bacon cheeseburger. Both came out looking nice enough, though prices were definitely leaning towards closer to what DC would charge rather than what somewhere in West Virginia should charge. The burger was cooked well enough (not burnt to a hockey puck), but if that’s the only nice thing I can say about this place… hmmm. There are other options just down the street from this place, but I can’t imagine they’re much different.

Absolutely gorgeous views and nice outside seating right by the train tracks, we stopped in here after a good hike around Harpers Ferry. It was very dark inside, especially after the brightness of outdoors, but nice and cool. There are several old black and white prints and a vintage musket decorating the walls as well as a large fireplace. The bathrooms were tucked away in back near some storage, they were only for one person, so if it’s crowded you would have a wait. They were in need of some redecorating, but were clean.
The menu was short and sweet featuring a few salads, sandwiches and pasta dishes. I had the BLT ($ 9.99) which came with some baked chips and pickle. It wasn’t too bad. The burgers and salads ordered in my group seemed to please them.
The waitstaff seemed to be a litter flustered at first when it came to organizing tables for our group of 12. I even heard one gal mutter under her breath about it, which I found kind of unprofessional. Service was a tad bit slow. All in all, the place wasn’t entirely memorable, but filled its purpose.

Service was slow… and forgetful. I ordered the Grecian pasta (which was pasta, spinach, feta, red onions and olives with a LOT of dried oregano). It was supposed to have chicken on it — and «the kitchen forgot».
To say it was child friendly is a joke. Perhaps for older children or if you don’t want to worry about your kids making a mess. There were two high chairs in the place, and no changing areas in the restrooms. We had a tough time with our 11 month old.