Taps Brewhouse
4680 Queen St
Food: 8/10
Space: 10/10
Price: 7/10
Total: 25/30
Restaurants come and go on Queen Street, but bars last forever. And the most reliable is Taps Brewhouse, a microbrewery pub with an emphasis on live shows, seasonal beers and a wide summer patio.
Whenever friends from out of town come to visit, and they don’t want to eat somewhere touristy, I tend to defer to Taps. Vegan options? Check. Unique beer? Check. Nice space? Check. It’s the ol’ reliable of downtown Niagara Falls, offering something (of quality) for everyone.
Summertime is quixotic for Falls residents; parts of the city are so busy you couldn’t pay me to visit. But Queen Street remains its struggling self. So It’s refreshing to have at least one spot in the “authentic downtown” that is consistently bustling in the summertime, with a loud patio adjacent to a large stage that frequently draws curious passersby with loud music. The vibe (and crowd) skew middle-aged rock, so take that as you will.
The interior is industrial chic, with spacious ceilings and seating all around the brew tanks. Taps gets a 10/10 for space mostly due to ample seating, the well-used patio, frequent live performances and innovative use of the space—like when they erected a giant translucent plastic snow globe in their parking lot during a pandemic winter, so they could create a fully heated patio. We low-key wish they brought that back every year.
To be a fair critic, we should point out that the food is simply “good”—you won’t find anything outstanding here. I wouldn’t order takeout, either; the reason to visit is to enjoy the space and the draught beer. At face value, $18 for a burger is a bit much.
And the beer? We’ve enjoyed every one we’ve had, despite the roster being generally inferior to Counterparty Brewing, the latter of which emphasizes innovation and bold flavours.
In short: Taps plays it safe. That makes it a reliable mainstay, pleasing many locals with remarkably consistent quality. Honestly, in a city where small businesses are lucky to last three years, playing it safe—and thriving—is not bad at all.
