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For our latest roulette we went to Tryon City Tavern. It’s both divey and delicious: a perfect combo. Typically, we require four Rouletters to rate a place. This week we had a last-minute illness leaving us with three. Accordingly, this is a bit of a roulette-ette. All three were veteran Rouletters, so let’s hop in!
We kicked it off with the TAVERN PRETZELS. Your croupier believes that the Tryon pretzels with pepperjack beer cheese are the best pub pretzels in the Roc. And maybe anywhere. These are perfectly cooked pretzels – firm outside and a soft doughy center – served warm and buttery. But, the pepperjack beer cheese? Holy hell. We want to dip everything in it. We want it as a side to every meal. If this weren’t a tavern, these pretzels would have the shrimp toast award and they are the highest rated dish of the night. ⭐️4.9⭐️
We followed these up with the CHICKEN TENDERS: tossed in Korean Sweet & Sticky with a side of Blue Cheese. Note, the menu doesn’t invite you to toss the chicken fingers in sauce, but you totally can and should. I have no idea how they manage to make these crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside even after tossing them in sauce, but they nail it every time. It’s just such a really nice quality breading and fry – there is so much care put into the food at Tryon. Their Korean Sweet & Sticky sauce hits the balance of sweet and spicy perfectly. Was the blue cheese necessary? Probably not, but we are in the Roc, so I always order it and use it. They have a nice blue cheese at Tryon too – not goopy out of a jar with weirdly big chunks of cheese. Overall, just a really lovely chicken tender. ⭐️4.5⭐️
The lowest rated dish of the night was the PIZZA LOGS. They had a nice fry for a crisp bite. Unfortunately, some of the ends were just very slightly burnt. These are flavorful pizza logs that could use a bit more cheese. The sauce was terrific: herby, full, and not at all runny. You could get a terrific dip due to the thoughtful texture. ⭐️4.0⭐️
The BAJA BURGER: guacamole, pepperjack queso, lettuce, salsa, lime crema was delicious. Tryon is known for its burgers among Roc foodies. If you’re in the know, you’re willing to travel for these perfect patties. These are nicely thick, correctly seasoned, juicy, and cooked perfectly to your desired temperature. This one had a nice mix of textures with the toppings while the spice and tang balanced out the rich burger. The fresh and flavorful guacamole was the star of this dish but that roll was an honorable mention: is there anything better than a burger on a knot roll? Rouletters also mentioned their favorite Tryon burgers for you to try out when you visit: the Late Riser and the Hometown. ⭐️4.6⭐️
The GARLIC PARM FRIES were crisp, well-seasoned, and had plenty of parm. They were, of course, fried perfectly (look, I know that is a repetitive note here, but it’s not easy to fry everything this well). Importantly, the garlic parm topping doesn’t make the fries soggy. Our one note would be to maybe have a bit more garlic next time. If you say it’s garlic, we want to be hit in the face with garlic. ⭐️4.4⭐️
Tryon had CHURROS on the dessert menu, so we shrugged and said “why not? They really nailed that guac earlier.” Boy, are we glad we did. They were crisp on the outside but tender on the inside: another perfect fry. There was a lovely dulce cream inside and they perfectly coated these doughy delights with cinnamon and sugar. The caramel sauce was an ideal pairing. It wasn’t overly sweet and it balanced the savory cinnamon and fried dough nicely. Who the hell expects a churro in a tavern to knock their socks off? Not us. This one gets the Golden Shrimp Toast Award! ⭐️4.8⭐️
For the drinks, Tryon has what you’d expect at a tavern: a nice set of beers on tap and a full bar to get any kind of basic cocktail you might want. They even have some higher end tequila and stuff if you like something fancy to sip. We were glad to see a variety of beer types on tap and not just IPAs and Sours. There were two lager selections, which is nice plus a Rohrbach Vanilla Porter that was popular at our table. On a cold and rainy day a porter goes down nicely. This one isn’t overly vanilla-y, and it definitely has a rich malty flavor that goes down smooth. To balance some of the fried foods we also tried a light vodka soda with lime. It was balanced well and refreshing. All that being said, there is nothing truly “stand out” here. No signature cocktail or super extensive tap list: just a good solid neighborhood tavern. Honestly, do you want anything else from your local? ⭐️4.3⭐️
Turning to the service, we sat at the high top tables near the bar, so it was counter service. It’s a divey bar and was busy with a ton of food orders coming out and just one person working behind the bar. Their kitchen is always hoppin! One of the things they strive to do at Tryon is bring all of the food out at the same time. I get it: typically, a bunch of people come to a bar and want all the food at once. This is normal tavern behavior – I just don’t love it. It usually means some stuff is piping hot and other stuff is a bit less so. A good example is the film that formed on the tavern pretzel cheese sauce. We also can’t eat everything all at the same time. In an ideal world, you’d get an option: “Do you want this all at the same time or are you starting with the pretzels and pizza logs?” I know that’s probably not super practical, but hey, it would elevate the service to the level of the food. Overall, we were able to get drinks when we needed them, the food came out fast, and they cleared our plates. We were happy. ⭐️4.3⭐️
We love Tryon and last night was just as we would have expected based on many past visits- great food with interesting and friendly folks: it’s a neighborhood spot that many regulars enjoy. The parking is plentiful in the plaza but we note a slight ding for gendered bathrooms. We dig the high tops in the bar area where the action is, but they also have back tables for a quieter experience with table service. Pro tip: Definitely go for their taco night if you dig good texmex! They post Taco Tuesday specials every week.
Ultimately, don’t expect a fancy pub feel here: there’s a certain dinginess overall that is inherent to tavern-type dive bars – and to be honest, we appreciate its vibe. Importantly, the food here punches above its class and we love it. You go into a dive bar and you expect a good spread of greasy fried foods and greasy burgers. Tryon has fried foods but they aren’t greasy and those burgers? They hold their own against the best burgers in the Roc. ⭐️4.5⭐️