The Trapp Door Gastropub

The Trapp Door GastropubThe Trapp Door Gastropub
The Trapp Door GastropubThe Trapp Door Gastropub
Bar, Eatery, Beer-to-go

4226 Chestnut St
Emmaus, Pennsylvania, 18049-1016
United States

(610) 965-5225 | map
thetrappdoorgastropub.com
PLACE STATS
Average:
4.23
Reviews:
15
Ratings:
25
pDev:
9.46%
View: Place Reviews
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by ShaneThePain:
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Reviewed by ShaneThePain from Pennsylvania

3.65/5  rDev -13.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3
Just hit the new Trapp Door with ZigZag to check the place out since it reopened from the former Tap and Table. Looks are basically the same as before with some minor changes. Previous reviews have described the place well, so no need to rehash.

Things I like and things I don't.

Pros:

Good selection, some gems on draft
Happy hour drafts are half price although I couldn't find it printed anywhere. But, the bill don't lie...
Atmosphere of the place is still cool

Cons:

Like T & T before it, without happy hour, the beers are just too overpriced. $7 for a bottle of Gaffel Kolsch? 12oz drafts all $7 to $9? No.
Zigzag's food was good, my cuban was ok at best, and again, pricey.

I really want to like this place, and I do for the most part. But it's a drive from Bethlehem and with cheaper/similar options much closer, I wouldn't go too far out of my way to get here. But, if you're in the area, it's definitely worth checking out.
Jun 09, 2011
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.15 by Jmoss123 from Pennsylvania

Feb 08, 2024
 
Rated: 4.79 by Stofko1992 from Pennsylvania

Oct 08, 2016
 
Rated: 4.25 by bshiban from Pennsylvania

Sep 11, 2016
 
Rated: 3.48 by TTripp725 from Pennsylvania

Feb 23, 2016
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Rated by JimPottNY from Pennsylvania

4.6/5  rDev +8.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.75 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4
Great little place.
Oct 21, 2015
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Rated by allentownpaguy from Pennsylvania

3.25/5  rDev -23.2%
Good beer selection. Beer snobs beyond what I am willing to tolerate.
Dec 05, 2014
 
 
Rated: 4.25 by jbaker67 from Pennsylvania

Nov 09, 2014
 
Rated: 4.25 by anteater from Oregon

Oct 14, 2014
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Reviewed by jzeilinger from Pennsylvania

4.25/5  rDev +0.5%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.25
Located just outside of Emmaus. The beer menu is always solid along with the bottle selection. Food has always been great but a little "pricey". It's a small establishment, there can be a wait depending on what day and time you get there, but well worth effort of going there. Recommended.
Sep 23, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by yourefragile from District of Columbia

May 15, 2014
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Reviewed by jmdrpi from Pennsylvania

4.29/5  rDev +1.4%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4.75 | food: 4.5
ate dinner and drank beers here early on a Saturday night with some friends.

the atmosphere/theme of the place is nice - a little rustic, but they've jammed a lot of tables into the small space they have, so with every seat in the place filled, it felt quite crowded. My chair was backed up against the person at the table behind us.

the beer selection was excellent. nice that they had 3 cask beers, I guess with limited number of taps they can keep the beer moving. although the tap list was on the short side for a good beer bar, their bottle list was extensive. Draft prices were high ($7 for a pint of average 5%abv regional craft beer), but most of the bottle prices were ridiculous. Other beer bars in the suburbs have much better pricing. these were prices I'd expect in center city Philly, not Emmaus.

service was good but not great. our waitress seemed to give a bit of an attitude when we weren't ready to order, and throughout dinner our beers went empty for awhile before she came back to ask about a next round.

food was excellent - great gastro pub fare - everyone at our table was impressed with the food -whether it was soup, appetizer, meat/cheese plate, burgers, or entrees. the fries were awesome. Food prices were reasonable.

I would certainly recommend on the food alone, and will probably go back but just stick to the draft/cask beer. The downside is definitely the crowdedness and the pricing on beer.
Jan 13, 2014
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Reviewed by beerjerk666 from Florida

4.32/5  rDev +2.1%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.25 | selection: 4.5
Stopped in with a couple of local BA's one night for a draft only release from Victory. The place was packed, duh it was a Friday night!
Extensive tap and bottle/can list. More than enough to choose from; broken down my country and by style.
Didn't have anything to eat, but the menu did have some tasty sounding food! With it being named a gastropub you know it's not going to be cheap, but usually the food is fresh and tasty.
Nov 25, 2013
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Reviewed by Neorebel from New Jersey

4.54/5  rDev +7.3%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.25 | food: 4.75
The Trapp Door in Emmaus is a foodie & beergeek haven in the N.E. PA area. I really like the rustic charm of the interior, and the place is very clean as well. They've got 6 taps and 3 casks. On tap, I had the local North Ramp Stout, from Kutztown PA, and The Brasserie de la Senne/Weyerbacher/Monks: Manneken Penn. This was incredible, as the latter is a special only for Philly beer week. Other than that I had Young's Dbl Chocolate Stout on cask, which was very smooth, and a few harder to find selections from the 100+ bottle list. The food's top notch, and as a seafood lover, a real treat. I had the mussels and salmon mousse. I felt the pricing was fair for what I was served. And by the way, the servers are very knowledgeable, friendly, and outgoing. Ultimately, the cozy atmosphere, gourmet food, bottle selection, and quality of what they choose for the taps makes this one of the best spots in the area.
Jun 23, 2013
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Reviewed by podes from Pennsylvania

4.59/5  rDev +8.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.75 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4
Love this bar. Great gourmet bar food. Incredible selection of beers. Any type of beer you want to try, they have, including casks and rotating taps. The bartenders are extremely knowledgable, which may be one of the best things about the bar. Excellent place.
Jun 08, 2013
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Reviewed by slander from New York

4.45/5  rDev +5.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5
Revisited again. It’s been a while and what with me living in central PA exile of uncoolness, I’m due. Came in from I-78 via 100 (which I will never do again), as opposed to my usual down 29 run. Ed is late for my last minute time change, but still should have anticipated my (bad) behaviors. So, can I just cut and paste my Tap & Table review? Well, not quite...

A-frame room with spinny fans from the rafters above, and wood panel lowers beneath yellow & red painted walls; they may very well have always been that way, but it having being dim as shit, who knew? (The place looks good, now that I can see it). Same skate key shaped ruffled foldy & unlevel pressed tin sheet topped bar, seating a dozen and a half or so on backed chairs. A row of 6 nondescript tap handles lies sunken below the bar center, and 3 handpumps on the back of the bar. And guess what? (I said “Guess what?”) They’re all live. Bottle cooler doublewide sits right alongside to the rear, with a horizontal board above listing specials. Another larger horizontal board sits to the right on the back wall listing tap & cask selections.

The previous owners absconded with the chandelier so they decided to fly right and put in lighting with candle looking accents, as opposed to the candle lit deal that was there. The hop lined chandeliers are pleasantly aesthetic; A single large one over the bar, and a row of 3 smaller ones over the adjacent seating. Velvety curtained windows front & side with real candlings, and shelves displaying bottled empties on 3 walls, along with light framed art. Spots on the tap boards, and wall mounted fatty candles. They’ve periodically dimmed the lights a little more so each time; try doing that with candles (Ok, you can blow some of them out, but it is a certain pain in the ass).

They got rid of the farmhouse table, and by that I mean, the thieving ex-owners lifted it when they took the chandelier; stolen on a closed Monday, who does that? So there are now single tables in 2 rows of 5, adjacent to the bar, a few hightops up front, and 1 to the rear. Also, some light bar counter under the draft board behind me.

Tonight’s tap list is a mix of craft regional (Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager, Southampton Burton IPA), craft regional to someone else (Founders Backwoods Bastard, Dark Horse Tres Blueberry Stout), and import (HaandBryggeriet Norwegian Wood, Brauerei Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus). And the aforementioned 3 handpumps (Victory Hop Wallop, Stoudts APA & Scarlet Lady ESB). Always solid selections, but the price point seems unreasonably high at $6-$9 drafts, and none of them served in pint glasses. I drank the Dark Horse Tres, ‘cause I very much so do like. And then I had another. And wound down with a cask Stoudts Scarlet lady ESB. The beer is always clean & fresh but I maintain they’re still a bit too heavy handed with the glass washing detergent as it is (The nose knows).

+ a bottle list of 112 broken out by beer style within 'country styles' (Belgian, German, English, American), and then Italian & unique/specialty selections down on the end. Roughly 2/5 of them are listed as being Belgian style, another 2/5 are Euro (Italian and English or German style), and the remainder are a mix of American style (mostly IPA’s) and random unique/specialty. Some of ‘em are pricey, although my benchmarking Orval runs a well in the range $9.

And I’m going to need din, seriously. They’ve got a selection of meats & cheeses for $5 each, so I started with a pair of each, meats; Calabrese (Italy) & a dry aged sausage (NY), and cheeses; Cave aged cheddar (VT) & Piave Vecchio (Italy); served with smoked honey with blueberries, blood orange compote, mustard dollops, and toast points. Mix & match delicious. And then the toss up entree; with the Jail Island salmon losing out to free range duck pot pie (peas, carrots, celery in a potato puff), which was quite good. Ed started with the tomato bisque soup and then the crab beer battered mac & cheese. He dug on his foodings; this is not always the case with Ed.

Service was very good, they all know their game (haven’t we done this before?) And I liked the tunes, now replaced by 2 guys in the corner playing acoustic & harp, good stuff. I like this place. Similar to what it was (I always forget that the bathroom door is going to slam loudly until it does so), but notably changed, and everyone seems happy to have gotten out from under the thumb of evil owners. Good drink.
Jun 27, 2012
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Reviewed by TheSupremeAJ from Pennsylvania

4.88/5  rDev +15.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 5 | service: 5 | selection: 5
This place has the best craft beer happy hour- 4-6pm T-Fr is half off all drafts (including hand pump.) They do a lot of cool community stuff and are actively involved with Listen Live Music. They always have nice beer dinners and events. The beer selection involes a few casks, several drafts, and a long list of bottled beers. They're spirits and wine selection cater to those friends who are not Beer Advocates, and the cocktails are quite artistic. My wife and I love to pop in for a snack and some happy hour when I can get home from work early.
May 16, 2012
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Reviewed by 500Homeruns from Pennsylvania

4.63/5  rDev +9.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5
My wife and I love to stop by The Trapp Door because it is not too far from home. The beer selection is very good and the food is great.

I think the biggest positive for The Trapp Door is the service. I am pretty sure this has to do with the fact that most of the people who are waiting on you are part owners of the establishment. They obviously have an interest in you leaving happy and wanting you to come back again.

There is nothing more frustrating than going to a place that specializes in craft beer and having a server who knows nothing about beer. This happened to me when it was run by the previous owner, but it is certainly not an issue now that it is The Trapp Door. It doesn't matter if you sit at the bar or at a table, they know what they are talking about.
May 03, 2012
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Reviewed by stakem from Pennsylvania

4.33/5  rDev +2.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
I swung by the Trapp Door saturday morning after a visit to Shangys. They were open for brunch 11-3 and I couldn't pass on the eggs benedict paired with a glass of flying dog pearl necklace oyster stout.

The layout is quaint and comfortable. I could see this place getting crowded fairly easily during peak hours. Bottles of beer that were shared on site decorate the shelving all along the walls. At the time of my visit there were 6 draft lines flowing with the likes of DFH-Palo Santo, BrewDog-Dogma, Mikkeller- Ris a la m'ale, Flying Dog Pearl Necklace and Troegs- Mad Elf. There were 3 beer engines available, 1 was empty the others contained North Coast Red Seal and Cricket Hill Paymasters Porter. The bottle selection covered a nice spread with a few rare gems. Certainly you could find a new offering or two with a couple old standbys also available.

Service was outstanding which I guess is expected since I was the lone customer for about a half hour until a couple arrived. Perhaps the most noteable experience was the friendly attitude of the barkeep. We got talking about beer for the better part of an hour. I felt like I could have nerded out and wasted the entire day talking beer there. When the people working the place are as passionate about beer as you are, it speaks volumes. If you are in the area, you gotta stop. I know I'll be making it a point to swing by anytime im in the area.
Dec 12, 2011
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Reviewed by MsRif from Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -5.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4.5 | selection: 3.5
Visited the Trapp Door after having dinner and brew at The Farmhouse. As soon as we pulled into the lot it was obvious that the place was packed, but we were lucky enough to snag two bar seats. The bartender was very attentive despite the large crowd, and the patrons were all friendly. It was a little loud but for the size of the crowd, it wasn't too bad. We mostly stopped in for a one-time Mikkeller brew, so we didn't try the food, but the selection and quality seemed decent from what I saw.

We got a few more samplers and overall I was pleased with the quality. The selection could have been better, but they did have some rare items, and their bottle selection was decent. This place is definitely worth a visit if you are in the area, but check out The Farmhouse first. The experience at The Farmhouse is far more unique and outstanding. Still, The Trapp Door is not to be missed...a good establishment overall.
Nov 20, 2011
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Reviewed by Rifugium from North Dakota

3.78/5  rDev -10.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4
An interesting little place, good for people in an area that seems to be deficient of good beer bars. The place is pretty small, yet roomy enough to where I wouldn't exactly call it "intimate." Bar seats maybe 20 people, and there are tables and chairs to accommodate a crowd of, hmm, probably less than 100. Simple decor, pseudo-farmhouse/country atmosphere, with a contemporary twist. Beaten copper on the bar, and an open, rafter-revealing ceiling. The crowd seemed a bit on the upscale side--not extremely, but no jogging pants or wifebeaters to be seen anyway--hence probably the slightly pricey food and drink. Not overly noisy or annoying, and that's partially in thanks to the lack of TVs, which is usually a plus.

I didn't sample the food, but the menu looked interesting, if not too out of the ordinary. Beer selection was decent, with some diverse yet overall tame selections on tap and cask, and a decent selection in bottles. Nothing too rare, but I did see a few uncommon items, like a couple bottles of the retired Squall IPA. Again, a little on the pricey side.

Of the three bars/pubs I visited in the area, this one was about the middle of the road, with the Farmhouse being my definite favorite, and the Tavern on Liberty being nearly intolerable.
Nov 20, 2011
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Reviewed by Leftie78 from New York

4.63/5  rDev +9.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5
I've been to both The Trapp Door and its predecessor The Tap and Table multiple times apiece now, and can easily say that The Trapp Door accomplishes what the old restaurant SHOULD have been in the first place.

Tap and Table had a larger bottled menu for certain, but what wasn't immediately obvious is that you could have gone down that menu and picked out multiple beers only to be told that they didn't have them in stock. With the current layout, they trimmed some of the fat and maintained the favorites while also offering the freedom to explore some lesser known brews. As always, the draft and cask selections are terrific and vary weekly. They revamped the food menu as well, while keeping some old stand-bys. The musical entertainment selection is usually excellent and fits the venue well.

As other reviewers have noted, the restaurant in its current form was bought and largely renovated by none other than the staff at the Tap and Table. Their brew knowledge and determination to provide a quality experience is unrivaled. They are some of the friendliest and most passionate restaurant staff I've ever had the privilege of acquainting myself with.

Also, someone had the bright idea to finally install air conditioning and electric lighting fixtures ... Thank the Maker!
Jun 15, 2011
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Reviewed by gloriousglo2 from Pennsylvania

4/5  rDev -5.4%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 4
Went on Tuesday with the wife. They cleaned up the place, got rid of 95% of the crap on the walls, set up more smaller tables instead of the large table down the middle, and had a decent band there on a weeknight. Nice tap/cask selection. They dramatically cut down on the bottled beer selection, which I guess I get that from an economic viewpoint, but what was left looked good. Our food was delicious. AC was inoperative I think, especially for an unusually hot and muggy day here in eastern PA in late May. Overall, they seem to be off to a good start, and can build from there. Will definately go back.
Jun 02, 2011
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Reviewed by Knapp85 from Pennsylvania

4.38/5  rDev +3.5%
vibe: 4.75 | quality: 4 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5
The Trappe Door is a revised version of the old Tap & Table. When Tap & Table closed several of the employees there took the place into their own hands and worked on re-opening within a month later. The grand opening was on May 26th 2011, but for people who followed closely knew that they had a soft opening a week prior.

I had stopped in the first night of the soft opening just to see how it differed from the old place. I pulled up a seat at the bar and ordered my first round. The beer selection is roughly the same with just a few brews that didn't make the list. This of course is just the starting point for them and there will be plenty more to come in the future I'm sure. The Cask and Draft selection is just as good if not better than what Tap & Table offered. I'm very much looking forward to see what will be on the draft list the next time I go in. There is enough beer on the menu for just about any type of beer lover out there. There are great selections of IPA's and good selections of Belgian, and other brews from just about anywhere.

The food menu looks to be roughly the same, but with a few minimal changes. There are Apps, Meat & Cheese plates and large plates available as a main course. Don't forget the dessert menu, the Creme Brulee was great!

The service is damn good, a very helpful and knowledgable crew of people working there. Always serving with a smile.

The look and feel of the place is a bit more casual now, there's less candle light now and a bit more electricity. There is also a bit more AC now too. The decor hasn't changed much, The bar is still lined with pressed copper and the walls are still a nice looking red color. I still enjoy the place to the fullest. The best thing about it is that the employees took over and are giving this 110% effort for success. Not to mention there should be quite a few regulars from Tap & Table that should be happy to see the place back on it's feet, I know I am!

Overall it's a great place, well worth the time to check it out when in the area.
Jun 02, 2011
The Trapp Door Gastropub in Emmaus, PA
Place rating: 4.23 out of 5 with 25 ratings