Royal Tavern, which shut down for the pandemic, has reopened

In March 2020, Royal Tavern shut down with the rest of the city’s bars and restaurants. But while most of them reopened, the Royal, in the city’s Bella Vista neighborhood, sat empty.

The neighborhood taproom, which opened in 2002, emerged from its 3½-year slumber last week. For owners Stephen Simons and David Frank — who own seven bars and restaurants (Triangle Tavern, Royal Izakaya, Cantina Los Caballitos, Cantina Dos Segundos, Royal Boucherie, and Khyber Pass Pub) — the slow process was a business decision.

“We prioritized the places with strong takeout potential and outdoor seating,” Simons said. With narrow sidewalks on this residential stretch of Passyunk Avenue near Christian Street, “we knew Royal wasn’t getting a streetery, either.”

The company does everything methodically, said Suzanne O’Brien, its chief executive officer. “It was important for us to hold onto as many people as we could.” The remaining Royal Tavern workers joined other Simons, Frank & Co. bars. The result: “We had to hire maybe only two new people,” O’Brien said.

Executive chef Nic Macri and sous chef Anna Wilson had been at Royal Boucherie, in Old City. General manager Sam Benson and assistant general manager Brian Martin-Scott tended bar five blocks away at Triangle Tavern, which does a huge takeout business, Benson said. (Martin-Scott also worked for a time at Fork in Old City in the interim.)

Besides new paint outside, customers probably won’t notice the only major change inside the dark, tin-ceilinged barroom: a new heating and ventilation system. “We really just touched up and knocked off the dust,” O’Brien said.

For some customers, this will be the first chance to see extensive changes made in late 2019, when the bar closed for about three months for a replacement of the sewer line. The maroon paint, for example, gave way to royal blue. The Royal had reopened only shortly before the pandemic.

Macri has extensive experience as a chef and butcher (he ran meat stands at Reading Terminal Market). He also knows that the Royal crowd enjoyed its vegan dishes such as crispy seitan wings and a vegan cheesesteak. He added radish tartare, which is marinated daikon, capers, mayo, and Worcestershire sauce. He has kept the signature burger (smoked Gouda, caramelized onion, chili mayo, bacon, and a pickled long hot, now available as a single or double), and added smoked beef round on a potato roll and a porchetta sandwich with tonnato mayo and pickled celery on ciabatta. Everything is priced in the teens, except for the half-chicken, served with a chopped salad and fries for $25.

Macri said the menu would expand.

From the bar list, which has 10 beers on tap (all regional to the East Coast), the early favorite has been a sloe gin negroni, Benson said. There are seven beers by bottle and can, and nine wines by the glass.

“I missed being at the Royal,” said Leslie Hoff of Philadelphia, sharing drinks, fries, and laughs with a friend at the 12-seat bar, where a muted TV played sports. During the shutdown, she said, she had frequented other places, including Triangle.

Steve Schaeffer, who lives outside of Boston and was visiting friends in the neighborhood, insisted that they stop for a burger. “Every bit as good as I’ve heard,” he said.

For now, the Royal Tavern is open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily (kitchen till 1 a.m.).