Groveland Tap – St. Paul, MN

A group of librarians gets together on a semi-regular basis to have a small happy hour every once in a while here in the twin cities. Gerd and I made it to a couple since we moved to the area, and we’ve sort of been on hiatus for a while. But one finally got arranged at the Groveland Tap, which features cheap tacos on Thursday nights, so I was in.

The organizer decided being sick was a good enough excuse to bail on us all, but a handful of us still managed to find our way into the place after work. I ordered a Jack and something-or-other and was kindly informed they only had beer and wine. Bummer. Not a good start. Then I overheard the bartender tell one of the patrons that happy hour ended at 5:30. It was 5:35 when I got there. Double bummer.

As it turns out, the taco special ran all night, so I was safe there. Had some lively conversation while people filed in to watch the basketball game. Apparently this is some sort of big time period for basketball or something. Ha Ha. I’m such a sports tard. Just don’t care. So I ordered a taco (to kind of size it up) and a Strongbow. You can get beef or chicken, soft or hard shell. One of the other librarians yelled out “Beef! Hard!” and then realized what she said loudly in public. To many people’s surprise, I kept the comments to myself (until later during dinner and I couldn’t hold back any more). The taco that came out was pretty sizeable. I was kind of impressed actually. Lots of chicken on this thing and a bowl of sour cream and a bowl of salsa. The meat was especially good, better than a lot of the Mexican food I’ve had in the twin cities, in fact. Ha ha.

I ended up eating three of these things, and should have gotten a fourth, but I had to bail out to go see a show (which I ended up missing the band I wanted to see, so it was a complete bust anyway). But I was pleasantly full after eating three. And EnyaFace! got some deep fried cheese curds, which ruled as well. I should probably pay her for them, since I ate waaaay more than my share of them. Hard to pass up fried grease wrapped around cheesy goodness. We had some hilarious library-related conversations as well, which always makes me think of Gerd. She loved a good happy hour with awesome people.

I’d go here again for happy hour, but it’s a tad far to drive across town to get there just AFTER happy hour ends. Oh well, I still might anyway.

Top 5 things about Groveland Tap
1. Super good tacos for a bar
2. Pretty cheap
3. Normal regular people inside
4. Cheese curds
5. Nice atmosphere and room to move around in there

Bottom 5 things
1. Gerd couldn’t hang with our librarian friends
2. No hard liquor
3. Happy hour ends at 5:30
4. Ultra-super attentive waitress (seriously)
5.It’s about an hour from where I work

www.grovelandtap.com