The guests staying at the inn told us we'd need reservations, but we figured they were exaggerating -- I mean how many people were really eating out in Boonsboro? Well, apparently a lot. I guess even when you are in a small town, if there is only one place to eat, it can get packed pretty easily. And packed it was. There was a twenty minute wait we arrived and the place was bustling. We went to the bar and grabbed a couple Manhattans as we waited. It was your typical pub-style restaurant with huge wooden bar, television, and lots of commotion.
We were happy when we were finally seated in one of the large wooden booths.
There wasn't much that I could choose from on the menu, but when there is only one restaurant in town, you become thankful that you can eat at all. We started with the hummus plate complete with crunchy veggies and pita bread. The roasted red pepper hummus wasn't very good as far as hummuses and the pita bread was meh as well.
There was a Garden Penne dish marked as vegan on the menu so Chris and I ordered that. It was made with gluten-free penne in a light chablis sauce with squash, zucchini, asparagus, and red pepper. It was a fine dish -- I was just thankful to find something with lots of veggies in it.
So while I wouldn't go out of my way to go to Dan's, it was a great option in a city with no others. The prices were average with the pasta only being $12 and the food was fine. The service, on the other hand, was slow and not that great, but it is a pub-style restaurant in the middle of nowhere. It was just nice to see that a dish was labeled vegan on the menu -- this is something you don't see very often in the country.
Dan's Restaurant and Tap House
3 South Main Street
Boonsboro, MD 21713
(301) 432-5224
You might not know this, but the Inn Boonsboro is owned by Nora Roberts and Dan's Restaurant and Tap House is owned by one of her sons (if I'm not mistaken), that would probably account for why you need a reservation. In fact Boonsboro is a pretty heavily supported Nora Roberts town; what with her husband's bookstore (Turn the Page) and the Inn it's where readers of NR/JD Robb go if they're hoping to catch a glimpse of the writer herself or pick up signed copies of the books.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, I knew that Nora and her husband owned the inn and bookstore, but I did not know that their son owned the tap house. Thanks for the info!
ReplyDeleteHe used to own the pizza place that had cardboard food too. Got tired of that so mom built him another restaurant. Nice enough people.
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