Commercial Taphouse & Grill

I came here the other evening for a happy hour and it was perfect! I was catching up with a friend and it wasn’t too busy and we were able to snag an end table which was great for conversations. They had a great happy hour list with tons of beers and ciders. We both grabbed some beers and ordered some of the appetizers off the happy hour menu. We got the bacon cheese fries (cause HELLO!) and then we got an order of the salt and pepper mushrooms which are these deep fried mushrooms that come with two different types of sauces — both delicious! For being happy hour items they were huge! We ended up taking some home with us.
Great place for a happy hour, will defiantly be back!

Sitting at the bar, the only thing I smell is a port-​a-​potty and I have to fight the urge to gag as I enjoy my drink. The bartender is stand off-​ish at best, but what you can expect from your typical stuck up Richmond hipster bar. To top it off they don’t have Jack Daniels, but to be perfectly honest I’m not even surprised. The only good thing was the music but not enough to make me want to come back.

I love this place. We usually stop by for happy hour and a snack on a regular basis. Tonight, a Friday, we decided to have dinner, too, and I have to reiterate what a great overall place this is.
The staff here is outstanding! They are all really knowledgeable about the beer and you can tell that they want you to like it too!
The food is always consistently great. We had the oyster lettuce wraps with kimchi. WOW, I love that the oyster are so fresh and crispy and the kimchi is perfect. I want MORE!
We followed this with the Viet Dip sandwich. The parts work together perfectly. Soft roll that soaks up a umami filled dipping sauce that is sweet and spicy and salty and Ahhhh good with the beefy filling. Accompanied by the cabbage salad which is SOOOoOoo… Good.
As I’ve stated previously, Richmond is a great place to live if you love food (and beverages too!)

Commercial Taphouse has an exceptionally well curated tap with about 20 – 25 taps and is constantly changing. A rotating local draft is always on tap for cheap and is always worth checking out to see what’s brewing in Virginia. Generally these drafts are hard to come by in the bottle and are priced to move so it’s always worth a look.
The staff are extremely knowledgeable and passionate about all things beer. If you don’t know what you want they can help you out and if you want to geek out about the complexities and subtleties of a beer they’re happy to oblige as well.
The Taphouse is a smaller restaurant and is well suited to small groups and the large bar that runs the length of the dining room is a great addition.
The food is superb and like the beer menu well curated. It has your typical wings and burgers but the rest of the food leans Asian with Bahn Mi and the occasional and always excellent Ramen Fried Chicken sandwich which is ALWAYS worth buying.
The Taphouse is always busy but usually not crowded and now that the folks from Mekong are involved with it it has only gotten better with an updated décor, TVs and improved ambiance. If you haven’t been to the Taphouse in a few years now is a great time to stop by and see what you’ve been missing.

Commercial Taphouse is a great place for fans of craft beers and interesting asian fusion meal options. As for a meal with family, not quite as much.
Was looking through the options for local brewpubs (my dad is a big fan of them) and happened upon this place as an option. The reviews were solid so we decided to give it a try. Going inside, It definitely has a bar feel to it, so much so that I would classify it more as a bar with food options than a brewpub. Our server (who was also one of the bartenders) was very nice and answered our questions about menu options very well. My parents ordered classic burgers and I opted for the shrimp po’ boy, and all were excellent and flavorful. The draft selections were amazing, and the fact that they had a prosecco on draft was an unusual (but awesome) departure from the norm. There weren’t any dessert options, though our meals were quite filling so no worries there.
The noise level was a bit unfortunate. If you’re looking for a good place to get to know someone, this isn’t it. One loud customer spoils it for everyone else in a place with no divisions in a place. The lack of easy parking (we had to park three blocks away on this trip) and lack of a noteworthy or distinctive interior are minor annoyances as well.
In summary, this place is a great place to grab drinks with friends and have some asian fusion food (or a burger). So long as you’re taking an Über and are more in the mood to drink than talk, anyway.
Overall: 3.5 stars
— — — — — –
Pros:
— Food is excellent and reasonable affordable.
— Great beer selection as well as a prosecco on draft (very cool!)
— Service is great and surprisingly quick even at busy times.
Cons:
— There is no real unique ambiance to speak of here, the taphouse interior looks very much like everywhere else.
— There aren’t any separations between booths or the bar, so when there’s a loud customer (and there will be), being able to hear your conversation is a challenge.
— Parking is very difficult, and this place has no designated spots. Good luck finding one on the street!
— No dessert options, though this isn’t really that much of a drawback.

This place used to be a favorite dive bar of mine. It had great beer and decent food and excellent ambiance. After An Bui of Mekong purchased the space it has only gotten better.
They have 20 taps of high quality and varied beer, as well as a cider and prosecco. They also have a great bottle list which is generally unknown and underappreciated. Their food is generally Asian fusion bar food. Some of my favorites include the salt and pepper tempura fried mushrooms, the pork lettuce wraps, the breakfast banh mi, the pork shoulder sandwich, and on Wednesday nights the ramen fried chicken sandwich. The pork pot stickers are a little average, but not terrible. They also have a burger called the Noah’s Ark, which I’ve only seen the picture for. It looks like a burger, cheese, bacon, and egg, and a fried chicken breast. Some day…
The service at Commercial is also always knowledgeable and friendly. April and Dave have especially been great.
I highly recommend this place for great beer and solid, unique, and creative bar food.

Food is fantastic and the beer menu would be impressive for a bar triple its size. Awesome friendly staff to top it off.

Good food, great beer selection… Cool peops & atmosphere… oh yeah, great brew selection… Definitely worth a visit! Great burger!

Not much to say about this place. This place is good. Came here on a Monday for some drinks with friends. They have decent prices and a different selection of beers that are cool to try.
They did run out of fireball, which made me a little sad, after we ordered about 12 shots of it. I feel like bars should never run out of any type of alcohol, but hey, that’s just the alcoholic side of me.
My friend got their $ 5 burger with a side of kimchi and he seemed to really like it.

1. All ratings are for beer.
2. FOOD is at the very least a trip to the PUKE bin.
3. I will be calling the Virginia Department of Health Restaurant INSPECTION.
4. DO NOT EAT HERE. I am not a chef or have any culinary arts background but I cook often. The wings were not only frozen (yes I’m aware a lot of places serve frozen food) but they were old AND SMELLED and tasted like it. The smell was disgusting and I tried to still give it a shot. BOY WAS I WRONG. I then watched the Asian-​blonde girl behind the grill WIPE THE SWEAT off her forehead (with her PALM (not the back of her hand or wrist) and proceed to grab a fist-​full of salt (WITH THE SAME HAND!!!) and throw it on the fries! By that point had almost barfed… except we hadn’t eaten anything all day. We were famished. We ordered burgers, mine had SLAW. SLAW WAS OLD, DRY, and RANCID. I took 3 bites of burger and couldn’t anymore. I was on SURVIVAL «fear is not a factor» MODE and couldn’t do it anymore. SERVER NOTICED all of our food was barely touched and didn’t even offer to ask if everything was ok. Manager sat on her phone at the bar. $ 51 later, still hungry and SICK. I had never, ever, had such a bad experience and it wasn’t until after we left that I wish we would have spoken with the manager and gotten our money back. You live and learn, I guess. DO NOT EAT HERE.
PS (bottled beer tastes like bad wine, our server was unable to adequately describe flavor. That’s what it tastes like).

Commercial Taphouse is reborn and man is it a positive change.
The beer selection is excellent and with the backing of the folks who brought us Mekong, it’s going to continue to change and feature brews that are hard or impossible to get elsewhere.
The food is DRAMATICALLY upgraded. The Phở dip is my favorite, but I’ve tried a bunch of things and have yet to be disappointed. The idea of pub food/​vietnamese fusion is a good one and executed very well by the kitchen at Commercial Taphouse.
All in all, one of the best new/​old parts of Robinson street.

Great food. Great service and beer list.
As soon as the regulars from the stewardship of the former owner s stop coming in this place will be world class. Especially the schmuck in the Canada hockey jersey.
Loud and dumb is no way to go through life son.

Excellent selection of beer from local breweries and others. Service was great! Not too loud. Was easy to find. Space was small but definitely worth the visit.

I live nearby and loved/​frequented CTH for the staff, the divey/​pubby atmophere, no TVs, great music, the pineapple-​brie-​chicken sandwich, the fries I’m not supposed to eat. Whenever we wanted a drink, we’d stop by — it’s a block away! Plus we’d often run into regulars.
The food: we tried two items (salad and something else that was obviously not memorable) — both were sweet. I’m not a fan of sweet — it’s probably why I don’t go to Mekong.
The beer: I don’t drink it and my friends don’t care for the Belgian-​heavy menu
The wine: They don’t stock it and didn’t indicate they ever would (UPDATE DEC 2014: we asked what kinds of wine they have — The answer was «Prosecco and Cider»)
The TVs aren’t horrible because they don’t turn on the volume but the new lights sure are — it’s crazy bright. We check in through the front window occasionally but rarely see more than a dozen people.
So we keep walking to Cask…

Go check out the «new» Commercial. Thuy Bui is serving up great food! (The Burger w/​fried egg & Asian slaw is one of the best you will find in all of RVA). The updated tap system is pouring delicious beer. So fresh and so clean clean. Go support these fantastic folks. Great staff!

I like this place. My fiancé and I used to come quite often when we lived a couple blocks down on Floyd. We’re not within stumbling distance anymore, but I this is one of my go-​tos when I have a friend coming through town who I want to just grab a drink and catch up with. Their Sunday night jams are good too.

I wish it was possible to give no stars. To start, a friend and I went in for a late dinner (around 930). We each got a cheese burger and a quesadilla to share as an appetizer. I ordered mine medium while she ordered her’s well done. Now I love my burgers undercooked and very pink but when I cut into this cheese burger, the outside was JUST cooked enough and the whole entire inside was practically still raw. My friend’s burger was cooked more on the medium rare side and we both could not finish the VERY small burger.
Water needed to be asked for numerous amount of times and our waitress simply «forgot» to put in our appetizer order so she needed to be reminded of that aswell. That was a hard task to do since she was more preoccupied with picking the playlist behind the bar. I believe I saw her back more that I did her face.
After the quesadilla reminder, we then witnessed the cook (who mind you, just finished mopping the bathroom) throw together our appetizer with no gloves on. After that, we got a free show as we watched him change his outfit in the same spot that he had just finished cooking in.
All in all, I do not understand all these positive reviews for the simple fact that I can’t imagine how you could get anyone’s attention to serve you. Being a «dive» bar does not give you the right to be unsanitary and have waitresses that treat you like you are inconveniencing them.

Anyone who has been out drinking with me before knows that my favorite kind of bar is a Dive Bar with a great beer selection. Well that is exactly what Commercial Taphouse is, and because of that it gets 5 stars.
I went here for one reason and that was beer. I had tried to go to another Richmond «beer» place but it was loaded with people so I went to find another place. This came up on Unilocal and I am glad it did. There were only a few people in the bar so my sister and I grabbed a seat at the corner of a bar. The bartender was quick to see what we would like to drink and even offered a few samples so we could see what we liked. They had one beer in a «beer machine» or cask that was hand pumped. I thought it was the coolest thing and ended up getting a couple of them because it tasted great.
With all the different choices, a bartender who obviously wanted to help you pick the best beer, and the «divey» atmosphere give this place a solid 5 ratting by me. If I lived in Richmond I would be here all the time.

This is our #1 go to for delicious craft beers in the city. The selection is great, the staff feels like a friend you’ve had for years, and the atmosphere is a Richmond signature.
The food has been the same for quite some time but don’t let that deter you. The wings are some of the best we’ve ever had and the onion rings hit the spot when you’ve had the perfect amount to drink.
Put down the cocktails and come to this place for some delicious beer! I warn you, if you want miller lite, bud light, etc., this place is not for you!

Please do yourself a favor before heading out to the Taphouse. Understand that this is NOT the place to go if you’re looking for a nice sit-​down, pub-​style meal. It’s just not. So please stop trying and then complaining when it doesn’t happen.
When you think, «Taphouse!» to yourself the thoughts that follow should be strictly beer related.
That said, the place has a good beer list. It’s one of those ever-​changing lists that feature everything from light to dark, local to imported. The servers all know their beer and can tell you anything you want to know, just ask. And I don’t mean the servers know the difference between PBR and Guinness. I mean the staff KNOWS beer.
The bar is on Robinson. We all know where in the city that is and based on that we can all assume a fair amount of younger crowds on the weekends. If you can’t manage to be around other people or hipsters for an evening, then maybe this part of the city just isn’t for you in general. It just is what it is in that department, folks. This is a popular place that serves beer in a college town.
If you’re looking for a fancy place, or a place where the waitstaff will hold your hand and make you feel special all night; this is not the place. But if you want a solid dive-​bar, dark corners, loud music, I’m not here for a romantic evening — I’m here to drink kind of night, then by all means go down there and hunt for parking. You won’t be disappointed.
Give Taphouse a break. It’s a bar. It’s a standard, no frills, no fancy pants nonsense good ‘ol drinking establishment and nothing more. And really, they get extra points for not trying as hard to be something they’re not like half a dozen other places in RVA.