The Backyard Grill

Reviews 3

AL

Allyson Brown

Good food, dont host a party here, EVER. I called a month in advance to inquire about reserving the private room. I was told there was no minimum. After confirming the date with family and friends, I called back just a few hours later to book. I was then told that there was a $250 minimum. I told the manager that I was just told a few hours prior that there was no minimum. He responded stating that he would try and find out who I spoke with, "and if thats what you were told then we will honor it." Called back 2 weeks later just to confirm, spoke with the general manager and he was able to confirm my reservation, the number of people expected, the queso bar I ordered, and that I wanted separate checks. I asked if there was a note about the minimum. He then seem kind of annoyed that I was asking to use the room with no minimum, even though thats exactly what HIS staff told me. He went on about how its new a rule & he cant do that because then its essentially a loss of money on their end. I understand, I managed a restaurant for over 5 years, but with that said, it is not the customers fault for your teams lack of communication, or your staff misinforming the customer. I would understand moreso if we werent even going to eat, but at this point I already had at least $60 worth of queso ordered, so if there is a miscommunication on your end, I shouldnt have to pay for it. At the end, he said he could honor me for $100 minimum. As I was proceeding to thank him, he hung up on me!!! I was more than ready to change the location of my party. However, it just wasnt practical 2 weeks away. Come the day of the party on Sun May 21st, my male waiter was very nice. But at some point he asked me about the checks and seemed a little taken back that I wanted them to be separate. Again, lack of communication between staff, this was discussed when I FIRST booked the room. He had a black female waitress helping him. She was beyond rude!! I heard her cocking an attitude with my uncle. She was presenting his food to him & stating what is was. I was standing right there and heard him say "Yes I ordered a ____ burger but I dont know if it came with ___" as she presented. He proceeded to glance around him just to make sure the food wasnt for someone else. She then turned to my grandmother and asked rudely "did you order_____?" She said yes, so the waitress turned back to my uncle and said "OKAY, then this is your burger!" I saw that with my own eyes. Later I was told that a friend of my asked what the difference was between the small and bowl margarita sizes, and that the female waitress rolled her eyes before explaining. That I didnt see, but its unsettling for my guest to tell me that. There were however, MULTIPLE complaints about her attitude and taking a while for drink refills. A few of my guests just ended up going to the bar for their own refills. My aunt and cousin received the check for their food BEFORE they even got the food. They had to box it to-go and didnt even get to enjoy their meal with us. Halfway through my party, staff was quick to tell me that they had another party at 4:30. Come 4:00, that other partys time magically jumped to 4:15. I dont believe for one second they had another party. We were out the door at 4:10. As we were picking up our gifts and belongings, the wait staff didnt seem to be in a super hurry to clean, as we were completely out of the way of the tables at this point. Im sure they just wanted us out so we didnt loiter too long and result for them more of a "loss of money" since their party rooms are money trees for them. One of my cousins actually called the store and bought me a gift card over the phone. I forgot to use it for the queso bar we ordered, so I sold it the next day. I dont plan on spending any money there after the horrible numerous encounters for this one event. In my thank you cards for the event, I had to apologize for the service they received. It was very embarrassing that I brought my family and friends out to be treated that way.

AM

Amy Morales

I am very surprised at all of the positive reviews I read here. Maybe my husband and I should wait until weve got toddlers to try this place again. Since weve lived in Jersey Village, we have tried Backyard Grill 4 times. Our first trip, the burgers were great. We joined the Backyard Brew Crew, and my husband finished a burger and got his photo on the wall. The service that night was terrible. We had 3 different servers, because we kept having to call someone new after being ignored for so long. The atmosphere was fun, and we figured wed try again for stellar service another night. No such luck. The 2nd and 3rd times were much worse. After being seated, we were seemingly ignored. My husband had to reach out to the nearest server to order drinks, and the same for our meals. Both times, we called the manager over and complained. We were given apologies, and promised it wouldnt happen again. The 3rd trip, the manager actually took over our servers responsibilities. We vowed to never return for food again. The fourth trip was for a weekend husband/wife outing. We planned on sitting in the bar area and having an appetizer while we dominated the Brew Crew card. ;) It was a Saturday night, and they have a full bar, so we thought we had made a good decision. WRONG. We found out after being seated that the entire restaurant (bar included) closes at 10pm. I understand that there is a sign on the door, be we didnt look and assumed that a bar on Saturday night would be open late enough to sit and have a few. We ended up taking off to Buffalo Wild Wings and had an epic time. Overall, the service has been absolutely horrible every time weve been. Many of the positive comments I see are about the childrens area and atmosphere. It does have an great kid area and a huge tree in the middle of the restaurant, which is cool. Weve talked to managers, but nothing has seemed to help our terrible luck at this place. We avoid it at all costs.

SU

Susan Cloud

Went to the Backyard Grill tonight with a group of 35 people at about 9 p.m. It took 20 minutes to put in a drink order. The drinks took quite awhile to come. I ordered a small Gold Margarita with salt was brought the large bowl Gold Margarita. The waiter exchanged the drink for a small one without salt. The food order was taken after the drinks came. We were seated about an hour before the food came. I ordered half Macho Nachos and a cup of tortilla soup. Once the Nachos came, we didnt see the wait staff until they brought the bill -- 30 minutes after we finished eating. The soup never showed up. No one checked on the tables to confirm that everyone had the food they had ordered. The bill included the large Margarita and the tortilla soup. When brought to the wait staffs attention, the bill was retrieved to be corrected. In the meantime, other people had their bills rung up. When my bill was brought back, it had the wrong price for the small Gold Margarita. The bill was corrected. The time from when we received the bill to when it was finally corrected was 25 minutes. In summary, it took an hour from the time we finished eating until we were checked out. I doubt if our group will return to the Backyard Grill, as it is easier and more efficient to go to Willies.

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