Dark Horse Tavern

We went out for my best friends Birthday and sadly it set a tone for the night.
The drinks were slow, and so was the waitress.
There were times where we waited 15 – 20 minutes for drinks.
The food was terrible and we waited 40 minutes for the food to come out and the waitress forgot the 5 salads we ordered.
The place had potential but the food was not even good. Steak tips were dry and just awful.
Not a place we would go back to.

Been here several times for dinner, always on a weeknight. The wait staff has always been pleasant and personable.
Walking in may seem a little confusing but I like that the layout is not typical of most, if not any other places you walk into. You basically walk into an outer room and walk down to the entrance to the bar where there are more tables inside that area.
Food has always been good. Their fried pickles are fantastic. It’s nice to try a different beer everytime we come in as well. It’s a fun casual spot to hang out and enjoy time with friends.

Really deserves a negative star rating. The pickles are delicious. They must be from the cannery next-​door LOL. Food is disappointing.

Went here a few months ago. Had a fantastic meal and the pumpkin martinis were outstanding. Going back soon!
Update:
Went again a few weeks ago and had a bad experience with the service. Miscommunication should not be the customers’ issue. Will not be going back. It’s really too bad because we enjoyed our initial experience and thought the owner was very nice. The food was good too. Can’t be interrogated by the «manager» and her attitude was insulting and very unprofessional. Apparently the owner was not there so there was no one else to discuss the problem with. Unfortunate.

This place is great! The staff is super friendly, and even gave me a tour of the place. They had live music (we visited Saturday Night) at the bar and a band in the music venue side. We didn’t eat anything but the food looked great, the chef came out several times and was talking to the tables. IMPRESSIVE! I suggest coming here if you are in the area.

Went to this local tavern for the first time tonight. As far as atmosphere goes… This place has charm. In an old factory and the outside of the restaurant and the inside are completely different. Typical pub menu burgers. Sandwiches and a few entrees … We ordered an appetizer and our meals… 20 minutes later our meals arrived… Never saw the appetizer… And they weren’t busy so there really wasn’t any excuse for that but the steak tips were tender and the burger my friend had was good so… Not sure I’d go back but it’s close by so maybe

I love this gem. If you haven’t been here, I highly suggest you check it out. My family of 5 had lunch here today, so I had the opportunity to sample several items in the menu… Firstly, my meal; clam chowder in a bread bowl and a portobello mushroom burger. The clam chowder was amazing. A perfect consistency to slowly seep into the bead, and my mouth is watering just thinking about it again. The portobello burger was exactly that. A huge portobello cap, topped with bleu cheese and marinated grilled red peppers. Sooo good and served with a more than generous serving of hand sliced French fries. My husband had a Reuben that tasted just as good as it looked. Served on a gorgeous marbled rye with house made thousand island dressing. I had to fight him for just one delicious bite! Another grand slam was the classic pub burger. Straight forward, perfectly seasoned and perfectly cooked. I really appreciate a chef who can grill a perfect medium rare burger. Delicious! Although they do have a children’s menu, my other two kids had adult sized appetizers, which worked out perfectly. The Nachos were fantastic, crisp, not mushy and served with homemade salsa. And the chicken quesadilla was out of this world, with marinated chicken and green peppers, and a tasty blend of cheese.
It should also be said that the selection of local craft beers is fantastic and they actually have their own brewery right nest door!
Overall, a fantastic experience. The staff is very friendly and accommodating, and the food speaks for itself.
Also, on side note they have a live acoustic show every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The pub is also connected to an amazing live music venue, the Cannery, that rivals venues in Boston. Growing up in the live music scene of Worcester, I was absolutely amazed at the quality of lights, sound, and artists the first time I went there. Again, a true gem!

The staff was just as great as the food! My son and I we’re very happy campers. I had the Rubin with a nice Alagash beer from Maine. He got the nachos. He’s a very picky eater but they put a huge smile on his face. We are looking forward to going back to our new hang.

Love this place! Was visiting area for Valentine’s weekend. Was looking for place to grab a drink with some entertainment after dinner with my girlfriend. I decided to try this place based on overall reviews from here. When you drive thru the area and pull into the parking lot it isn’t the greatest but figured we would give it a shot. When you walk in the door it immediately has that inviting warm tavern feel. We wanted to sit at the bar when a patron moved over to free up a seat. Both the male and female bartenders were great and very outgoing. The band that was supposed to play canceled due to the snow storm but a 2-​piece band replaced them and were fun with great music. Everyone in the bar was polite, outgoing and very social… felt like we were welcomed and a regular. At one point lady came over and said hi, said welcome and thanked us for coming out in the storm… she later came back and gave my girlfriend a small heart shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day… turned out to be the owner. she was very nice and was nice to see, as she went patron to patron to say hello. The food we saw looked and smelled great. we had a great time and if this place was near my home I would go lot, had a great time and loved the warmth and atmosphere. will definitely again when in the area :)

Did our usual Saturday night search for a new and different place to eat near home. Where has this place been hiding? Great atmosphere. Quaint pub with good selection of beer on tap. I had the pumpkin cisco! The food was abundant and good. Can’t go wrong with the fish and chips. Live music was getting ready to set up although we did not stay to hear. Definitely will go back again.

With a stellar selection of brews on tap, sorry no bud light on tap here folks, great food, & amazing atmosphere I started becoming a regular at this establishment. Southbridge gets a bad wrap, but this place shows what this town can offer as far as good food, service, and ambiance. I highly recommend this place! They also offer live music Thurs, Fri, & Sat. With the music venue, The Cannery, right next door in the same building, offering live bands Fri & Sat how can you go wrong? You can’t!

I think I’m almost unreasonably fond of Dark Horse. I am literally obsessed with their chicken tenders with spicy chili sauce. I sometimes catch myself at work having wasted 5−10minutes daydreaming about them.
The service here has never been anything less than great in my experience. Over the past year, their menu has changed somewhat, and every new option I’ve tried has been significantly better than expected, even when my expectations have been fairly high.
I’d very highly recommend the place, and I take all my friends who visit from out of town.

Been meaning to go here so glad I did .ate outside food and service was great! I will be going back

Great food, great service, great beer selection! The atmosphere is welcoming and cozy, and the food was delicious! Was a little off the beaten path and hard to find, specially at night, but it was well worth it.

I met a few friends there after they recommend the Dark Horse Tavern. The beer selection was great, but that’s where the positives end. We placed an order and was instructed that the order would not be submitted for 10 min to the kitchen.
This confused me a bit.
The food arrived an hour and a half after placing it. My order consisted of 3 hamburgers and a Turkey Club. The hamburgers where over cooked and the French fries were under cooked and covered in grease.
When trying to pay for the bill the server informed us our tab got added to the table next to us. 20 min later the matter was finally sorted.
The interior was ok other than the fact our table was 10 feet from the door and with the cold night it felt like we where outside by the end of our visit.
I would not recommend this place unless they get a decent manager, more cooks, and a competent waitstaff.

Well, I have mixed feelings on this place. I saw that a friend «liked» their page on Facebook and was intrigued that there was a brewery in little old Southbridge so I went to check it out. Well, their Facebook isn’t updated hardly ever, there isn’t a website, and there isn’t a whole lot of information about it online except for some Unilocal reviews saying it’s pretty sketchy but the food is good. Husband and I decided to check it out.
Yep. Pretty sketchy, but I already expected that… Husband still wanted to turn around and didn’t want to waste his time trying it out once he saw the building. Parking is weird since the sign for the building was past the building itself and when it’s dark you can’t see that far down the road, but I’m glad we saw the sign after all since parking in the front of the building looked like a bad idea. Got around to the back of the building where you park… there seems to be a couple entrances and none of them are labeled, not even for the restaurant. Couldn’t find a sign, but then we saw the folding chalk board with specials on it. Walked in and there’s nobody there. Doesn’t look like a restaurant, just a sign pointing to where bathrooms are and a couple of oddly-​placed booths by the front door, and down the hall there’s a pool table. We stood there for a good 5 minutes calling out to anyone to see if we were in the right place. It was almost 7:30 PM on a Thursday night and there wasn’t a soul in sight. Started walking around and found the entrance to the bar with the typical big TV’s playing sports and the news. Not impressed. Tried finding a waitress. couldn’t find one! Bartender was busy with a few people, so husband just sat down at a table and hoped that was okay. Finally a waitress came out, we explained we’ve never been there before and was wondering if we found the right place… she laughed and said yes, then brought us menus.
Spinach and artichoke dip was amazing. Really, it was addictive, and it was a giant bowl which was extremely filling. For dinner I ordered the guacamole burger, and husband ordered the St. James pasta dish. He said the pasta was great, portion was big, everything yummy. My burger was fine, but the guacamole was flavorless and very watered down somehow, I even tried it on its own and it didn’t taste like much of anything. Fries were good, nice and crunchy, not too greasy. Price was reasonable, waitress was nice, we didn’t wait very long for anything. So, food and drinks were fine (except the guac) but it was such a pain to find ANY information about the place and an even bigger pain in finding the place that it was just really odd. If you’re looking for a «nice» place to go then I wouldn’t bother with this place, but then again there aren’t a whole lot of «nice» places to go in Southbridge except for a very small handful, so I guess there’s a lot worse options out there. If you want to get drinks with friends and eat exceptionally yummy appetizers and chat for a long time while getting dinner, then this would probably be a good place to check out.

Dark Horse Tavern as some others have previously mentioned is in a shady/​sketchy part of town and can be a little difficult to spot.
The Dark Horse Tavern have excellent service, it’s superb, but they could do with a little change in their menu. I think someone else may have already mentioned this, but they have a few items on the menu that strike me as a little odd or off. Anyways, I had their fried Haddock which was really quite tasty, which was served with a side of fries, coleslaw, and tartar sauce. Also, according to my parents the beer they serve here is pretty good, some of which are brewed at the there.
I think I’ll give this place another go, I know this eatery is a relatively new and growing business so maybe they’re just testing/​trying out new dishes/​menus (maybe?).

This is a great place that you don’t want to miss. A little more upscale then your corner bar with delicious food and plenty of tasty hand crafted brews to choose from. I especially love it that they have live entertainment most Thur, Fri and Sat. When the weather is nice they have a really nice pattio for outside seating. Inside you will also find a free pool table and dartboard set up. Loads of free parking space. The owners and staff are super friendly. If I could say anything on the downside to keep it from a five star it would be that there is not much in the line of vegetarian choices, the wifi never seems to be working right and for planning you will find that most of the time they will not post on their web or FB site of upcoming entertainment until that very evening if you are lucky. This establishment is highly welcomed in a place like Southbridge !

This is a great find in a town that can use more like it. Southbridge has lots of nice places, and this is one of the better ones. The food is very good, standard pub fare, and they have lots of local craft brews and the standard Irish, and UK stuff. You will like this place, and it is worth the search. It will take a little looking!
Enjoy the visit!

Dark Horse Tavern is a great place to be for an «on the upper-​scale» end of a casual dining and drinking experience. We had a great meal with the owners of the three-​floor 12 Crane complex, which also features a fine dining restaurant upstairs, a state-​of-​the-​art concert hall, and gorgeous apartments.
Dear Husband and I love the design and décor of the whole place. The Dark Horse atmosphere is cozy, and you definitely feel like you’re in a pub in Ireland.
The food and beer are great, too. We had a tasting of all of the beers, from the lightest to the richest in flavor: Blueberry Ale, SOB (Southbridge Ordinary Bitter), Honest Town Pale Ale, Hefe Weizen, Padraig’s Irish Red, and the Coffee Stout. I found myself sipping the SOB more than the others, but I’ll say that there was something about the Coffee Stout that got me, and I’m not a stout drinker.
For appetizers, we all split bruschetta, LARGE potato skins, and Celtic Nachos. All great, but the potato skins were my favorite. My dinner entrée was the lamb shank with mashed potatoes and carrots. Can I just «SO GOOD?» The meat just fell off the bone. It was so darn tasty. I highly recommend it. Dear Husband ordered and enjoyed the baked haddock with creamy leek sauce and rice. The other couple chose fish ‘n’ chips and corned beef and cabbage, which we’ll have to try next time we’re there.
For years, Southbridge had a reputation of being home to dive bars, while Sturbridge could boast all the fine dining establishments. Well, Sturbridge can still hold onto that, but Southbridge’s dining and entertainment scene is on an upswing, especially with the addition of the 12 Crane complex, which is a model of sustainable design and technology. I highly recommend this place and the Dark Horse Tavern; it’s not just a place for the 20-​somethings. It’s a great place for adults of all ages.