And just like that, The Tap Room in Patchogue has doubled in size.
Well, it wasn’t just like that for the owners, who had much work ahead of them when they set out last October to convert two apartments into restaurant space.
virtual tour below
We won’t bore you with the construction details; the story is The Tap Room’s much-anticipated opening of its second floor happened this past weekend.
The Tap Room’s owners, James Bonanno and David Johnson, got their certificate of occupancy from the village Friday, allowing them to open the space to the public.
“The usable space is actually bigger, because the second floor doesn’t have a kitchen,” Bonanno said. “The dining room on the second floor is bigger than the dining room on the first floor.”
Like the first floor, the second floor has its own bar, dining room and restrooms.
And, the craft beer lovers who make up the base of The Tap Room’s clientele needn’t worry they might get short shrift at the upstairs bar.
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Like on the first floor, there are 27 options on tap upstairs.
“It’s the same service, same menu, same everything,” Bonanno said.
There are also eight TV’s.
News in August 2015 that The Tap Room was expanding quickly became the most-shared greaterpatchogue.com post ever and remained as such for several months.
(It held the top spot until December.)
We’ve also previously reported that The Tap Room owners enlisted the help of its regulars to help fund a portion of the expansion project through what they called The Founders Club.
In exchange for financial contributions, Founders got their names engraved on plaques or bricks, as well as the option for private Founders’ parties with free food, drinks, and other incentives.
Bonanno said the expansion was necessary to keep up with demand.
“With the outdoor patio in the summer, we have a lot more space, but when the weather turns and we lose the use of the outdoors, our inside square footage on the first floor wasn’t that much,” he said. “The amount of space was just too small for the demand we were seeing.”
“Also, during the first five years we were open, we turned down about 95 percent of catering party inquiries, because we didn’t have the space,” he added. “So we plan to use the upstairs during the colder months for the general public, and also for private parties.”
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Note: For those who might be wondering, the upstairs was allowed to be open for bands during Alive After Five with special permits that required a fire official be on hand in case of fire.
photos below by Kenny Janosick
