Tasty, Value For Money American Cuisine
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 9
Spent about SGD $30 per person.
Located directly below the MRT tracks and alongside a stretch of eating places and bars, Southwest Tavern is an American themed restaurant that serves well-prepared and tasty Cowboy grub.
Ambience is rather laid back and casual, with only a hint of cowboy and western themed decor in Southwest Tavern. Otherwise, furniture is comfortable and functional. Southwest Tavern has an open concept bar, and the restaurant is cooled by well placed fans, as well as natural breeze. On humid days though, the place can get quite stuffy. They also have a pool / snooker table to while away the time.
Staff at Southwest Tavern are friendly and efficient, and will address you by name when you settle the bill. Good. However, peak periods are a stretch for them, and you'll probably have to wait awhile to catch their attention. I noticed that even if you choose the outdoor corner seating, staff will come by at regular intervals to see if you need anything... Thumbs up for that!
Be prepared to wait for food at Southwest Tavern, as most dishes are made to order, and will take around 10 - 20 minutes to prepare. Portions are generous, American sized servings, and sharing is recommended for small eaters. Prices are inexpensive, Southwest Tavern has among one of the most affordable menus for an American themed restaurant.
The food at Southwest Tavern tastes excellent in general. Pick 1 main, either beef, chicken, pork, lamb, fish, hot dogs or burgers and it comes with your choice of 2 side dishes. Southwest Tavern also has a good range of beers and drinks, as well as pretty tasty appetisers. They offer a Death Wing Challenge; anyone who finishes 6 suicide wings and 1 beer using their bare hands within 15 minutes will get their photo on the hall of fame, a bottle of the hot death sauce, and the meal will be on the house.
There is a wide selection of drinks here. The Mocha is decent, not particularly outstanding. Their version of the Singapore Sling is a little on the sweeter side, with a lesser amount of alcohol and more fruit juice in this classic cocktail.
The Ace High Sirloin Steak With Cow Pie Mashed Potato And Corny Corn has a perfectly grilled beef sirloin steak, with nice char markings. The meat is juicy and tender within, and the portion is thick and quite large, at 350g (before cooking). However, I felt the mashed potato could be a little smoother in texture, as it's more on the thick and slightly lumpy side. The corn on the cob was also nicely grilled and fresh.
The Grilled US Corn-Fed Pork Chops With Sloppy Slaw And Bull's Horn Wedges has 2 thick slabs of pork chops, one of which is on the bone, that has been well cooked through. It was very good and still moist within, but I felt that the meat could have been rested for a few minutes more, as the juice ran out when I cut into it. The coleslaw was fresh and the sauce was light, while the potato wedges was nicely fried till crisp on the outside, and lightly seasoned with herbs.
Low and slow cooking is the preferred method for cooking pork ribs, because this causes the meat to still be tender and juicy, but come clean off the bone. Also, any sauce used for basting has time for the flavour to penetrate the meat, making each mouthful more tasty, plus, the fat melts clean away. This was nothing like that. The BBQ Pork Ribs With Bang Stix Fries And Tumbleweed Salad has ribs which the meat is cooked through and juicy, but is very difficult to get off the bone, even with a knife. This makes for troublesome and messy eating. Furthermore, the fat still remains on the pork in chunks, and the tangy and sweet barbecue sauce, while tasty, wasn't able to flavour the meat underneath. Skip this. Fortunately, the salad was light and fresh, and the fries / chips were thick cut.
Grilling seems to be the specialty here, and the chef is very skilled at it. The Grilled Chicken Steak With Badlands Grilled Potato And Sloppy Slaw features a thick and juicy slab of chicken steak, grilled to savoury perfection. The marinade has infused the chicken meat with good flavour. The potatoes were well grilled, with a nice char and a slight crisp bite to the skin.
The Jalapeno Poppers features large, juicy and slighty spicy fresh jalapenos, stuffed with several different types of cheese. The exterior has a crisp and well battered crust that isn't oily, while the cheese within just oozes out when bit. Good stuff.
The Buffalo Wings Hot Sauce are made with defrosted, frozen chicken wings. But the hot sauce is good, some slight heat without being unpleasant, and the meat is well cooked and juicy.
(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 8
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 8
Service: 8
Value for Money: 9
Spent about SGD $30 per person.
.....
Located directly below the MRT tracks and alongside a stretch of eating places and bars, Southwest Tavern is an American themed restaurant that serves well-prepared and tasty Cowboy grub.
Ambience is rather laid back and casual, with only a hint of cowboy and western themed decor in Southwest Tavern. Otherwise, furniture is comfortable and functional. Southwest Tavern has an open concept bar, and the restaurant is cooled by well placed fans, as well as natural breeze. On humid days though, the place can get quite stuffy. They also have a pool / snooker table to while away the time.
Staff at Southwest Tavern are friendly and efficient, and will address you by name when you settle the bill. Good. However, peak periods are a stretch for them, and you'll probably have to wait awhile to catch their attention. I noticed that even if you choose the outdoor corner seating, staff will come by at regular intervals to see if you need anything... Thumbs up for that!
Be prepared to wait for food at Southwest Tavern, as most dishes are made to order, and will take around 10 - 20 minutes to prepare. Portions are generous, American sized servings, and sharing is recommended for small eaters. Prices are inexpensive, Southwest Tavern has among one of the most affordable menus for an American themed restaurant.
The food at Southwest Tavern tastes excellent in general. Pick 1 main, either beef, chicken, pork, lamb, fish, hot dogs or burgers and it comes with your choice of 2 side dishes. Southwest Tavern also has a good range of beers and drinks, as well as pretty tasty appetisers. They offer a Death Wing Challenge; anyone who finishes 6 suicide wings and 1 beer using their bare hands within 15 minutes will get their photo on the hall of fame, a bottle of the hot death sauce, and the meal will be on the house.
.....
There is a wide selection of drinks here. The Mocha is decent, not particularly outstanding. Their version of the Singapore Sling is a little on the sweeter side, with a lesser amount of alcohol and more fruit juice in this classic cocktail.
 |
| Mocha |
 |
| Singapore Sling |
The Ace High Sirloin Steak With Cow Pie Mashed Potato And Corny Corn has a perfectly grilled beef sirloin steak, with nice char markings. The meat is juicy and tender within, and the portion is thick and quite large, at 350g (before cooking). However, I felt the mashed potato could be a little smoother in texture, as it's more on the thick and slightly lumpy side. The corn on the cob was also nicely grilled and fresh.
 |
| Ace High Sirloin Steak With Cow Pie Mashed Potato And Corny Corn 01 |
 |
| Ace High Sirloin Steak With Cow Pie Mashed Potato And Corny Corn 02 |
The Grilled US Corn-Fed Pork Chops With Sloppy Slaw And Bull's Horn Wedges has 2 thick slabs of pork chops, one of which is on the bone, that has been well cooked through. It was very good and still moist within, but I felt that the meat could have been rested for a few minutes more, as the juice ran out when I cut into it. The coleslaw was fresh and the sauce was light, while the potato wedges was nicely fried till crisp on the outside, and lightly seasoned with herbs.
 |
| Grilled US Corn-Fed Pork Chops With Sloppy Slaw And Bull's Horn Wedges 01 |
 |
| Grilled US Corn-Fed Pork Chops With Sloppy Slaw And Bull's Horn Wedges 02 |
 |
| Grilled US Corn-Fed Pork Chops With Sloppy Slaw And Bull's Horn Wedges 03 |
Low and slow cooking is the preferred method for cooking pork ribs, because this causes the meat to still be tender and juicy, but come clean off the bone. Also, any sauce used for basting has time for the flavour to penetrate the meat, making each mouthful more tasty, plus, the fat melts clean away. This was nothing like that. The BBQ Pork Ribs With Bang Stix Fries And Tumbleweed Salad has ribs which the meat is cooked through and juicy, but is very difficult to get off the bone, even with a knife. This makes for troublesome and messy eating. Furthermore, the fat still remains on the pork in chunks, and the tangy and sweet barbecue sauce, while tasty, wasn't able to flavour the meat underneath. Skip this. Fortunately, the salad was light and fresh, and the fries / chips were thick cut.
 |
| BBQ Pork Ribs With Bang Stix Fries And Tumbleweed Salad 01 |
 |
| BBQ Pork Ribs With Bang Stix Fries And Tumbleweed Salad 02 |
Grilling seems to be the specialty here, and the chef is very skilled at it. The Grilled Chicken Steak With Badlands Grilled Potato And Sloppy Slaw features a thick and juicy slab of chicken steak, grilled to savoury perfection. The marinade has infused the chicken meat with good flavour. The potatoes were well grilled, with a nice char and a slight crisp bite to the skin.
 |
| Grilled Chicken Steak With Badlands Grilled Potato And Sloppy Slaw 01 |
 |
| Grilled Chicken Steak With Badlands Grilled Potato And Sloppy Slaw 02 |
The Jalapeno Poppers features large, juicy and slighty spicy fresh jalapenos, stuffed with several different types of cheese. The exterior has a crisp and well battered crust that isn't oily, while the cheese within just oozes out when bit. Good stuff.
 |
| Jalapeno Poppers 01 |
 |
| Jalapeno Poppers 02 |
 |
| Jalapeno Poppers 03 |
The Buffalo Wings Hot Sauce are made with defrosted, frozen chicken wings. But the hot sauce is good, some slight heat without being unpleasant, and the meat is well cooked and juicy.
 |
| Buffalo Wings Hot Sauce |
.....
CONVERSATION