Tyler's Taproom in Apex
Tyler’s has some pretty good bar food. The chicken fingers with honey mustard is great with some beer, the fried pickles are surprisingly awesome, the fries are great if you love garlic, and their other appetizers are pretty good as well. They also make some pretty good burgers here. The only problem is, most of their other entrees aren’t all that good. Most recently I tried the ribs with the sweet and tangy barbecue sauce. The ribs weren’t cooked properly, so I needed a knife to cut them off the bone, and the ends were so hard they couldn’t even be cut. The fries with it were good, the beans had some delightful little bits of crunchy bacon in them, and the coleslaw was very soggy and flaccid. It may have helped a bit if they had the coleslaw in a separate dish instead of just throwing it under the ribs, but the core sauce was bland so it wouldn’t have helped much. I’ve been to the Tyler’s in both Durham and Apex many times, and for both of them I’d say the entrees aren’t cutting it. I’ve tried the french dip, the pear salad, the fish and chips, but I have to keep coming back to the burgers. They only seem to do the burgers and appetizers well.
The reason I keep coming back to Tyler’s is for the beer. They have a wonderful selection of beer, and you’ll never run out of things to try. It was at Tyler’s where I first tried the Kasteel Rouge, and began my love affair with Belgian Beer. They also have the Lindemans Frambois (raspberry lambic), Chimay, and Delirium, as well as many others I haven’t had a chance to try yet. They have beers from all over the world here, so even people who don’t like beer are sure to fine something they do like.
Tyler’s has a 20′s speakeasy vibe, with the woodwork, tin beer ads, and jazz music playing in the background. They have private rooms for parties and other group functions, which makes it an ideal place for after work gatherings. The Durham location has some excellent outdoor seating with a good view of the American Tobacco Campus. The Apex location has outdoor seating as well, but no good view of anything. I haven’t been able to visit the Carrboro location yet, and I hear they’re opening up a Tyler’s in Raleigh soon as well.
Tyler’s is at the southern end of the American Tobacco Campus in Durham, and at the Beaver Creek Commons (west, past the movie theater) in Apex. Their site is here: http://www.tylerstaproom.com/
