Whiskey Bar Kitchen — Restaurant in Augusta

Being an Augusta native, born, raised and graduated. I’ve visited Whiskey Bar quite often for years, and literally have NEVER had an bad experience. Until today; I went into Whiskey Bar to order a “To-Go” burger, Whiskey Burger with Fries and Buffalo Dip, my usual minus the wings; so I was set; but after about 5 or so minutes I decided to have a cocktail while I waited for my food. The outside attendants told me I couldn’t order just a drink to my table outside, but I could order at the bar, which was fine. After ordering my drink, my food was brought out. Whiskey Burger, with Fries and Buffalo Dip. However, when I opened the box my fries were cold. Didn’t really find it that big of deal, because I was still there and “hey they’re just fries” so I asked for a manager Jessie Reynolds. I explained to Jessie the situation. To which I was responded to with blatant racism. Jessie went on to tell me several scenarios that my food had been sitting at the bar for over 15 minutes, that she was told from the waitress that my food was brought to me on time. That I could have left and thrown them in the air fryer and wasn’t satisfied. Which were all lies. I hadn’t even sat at the bar for 15 minutes, my drink that I ordered had literally just came, I also went and spoke with the waitress and asked had my food been sitting in the window, to she replied “yes it had been sitting there before I brought it to you”. I then went an got the “waitress” who brought my food and asked in from of Jessie, however, she did not want to hear what the waitress had to say, this back and forth on replacing the fries went on for several minutes, from ticket times, to rolling the cameras back to see when my food was actually brought out from that to I asked Jessie could she contact her boss or someone higher than her, so this issue of replacing my cold fries could be sorted out. Jessie walked away several times while speaking to her, I figured she was calling her boss, I finally went back to her, as she never came back to me, and asked did she contact her boss, she lied first and said yes I did, and when I asked well, what did he say, she replied, “no actually I didn’t , Im the one in charge tonight” and with a huff she stated “fine if you want fries I’ll just pay for them” but at this point my burger was cold, dip was cold and I still hadn’t touched my drink. To which everything was already paid for because it was a “ToGo Order” so finally, fed up I just asked for my money back, because the whole situation was ridiculous. Jessie refused to give me my money back after I explained I was completely unsatisfied with the service and treatment I had received. She stated that “just cause someone doesn’t like something doesn’t entitle them to their money back” again going back and forth with Jessie, I explained I had not left the business and if I had sat down as a dine-in customer, and was upset with my food something would have been done about it and or my money back, she replied “no, thats not true” overwhelmed and completely sadden from the situation and treatment. I explained to Jessie that this treatment was unfair and I would not be taking the food with me, I left the food at the bar and I just simply asked for the franchise owners name and phone number because they too are Augusta natives and Jessie replied “they work tomorrow” so as I left I asked one of the waitress what was the owners name she stated Morrisons. I have called several times to speak with Mr. Morrison and have left my name and number several times to which I have not received an reply. I haven’t been back to Whiskey Bar since this incident, and I actually really loved going there however I cant spend my hard earned money where Im not respected and receive treatment felt based off my skin color or appearance. Hopefully this review helps bring light to...

TL;DR: Whiskey Bar Kitchen is a bit of an upscale bar located in downtown Augusta. Food is great and there are lots of drink options. Only complaint is that the restaurant is fairly small so it feels crowded and wait times can be long.

Outside/Pre meal: The Whiskey Bar Kitchen is located in downtown Augusta, so it can be a bit difficult to find parking at times. There is no specific parking for the restaurant so you have to park on the street and walk to the restaurant. They do not take reservations, but you can join the waiting list via the Yelp app, which I did when I visited for dinner. Ended up waiting about 45 minutes on a Saturday evening. Checked in on the app at 5:45 and was sat around 6:30. It is easy to go up to the hostess and say that you checked in on Yelp and then you can check and see where you are in line on the app. Pretty useful!

Inside/decor: The restaurant is fairly small and can get quite loud when it is full. That would be my only complaint. At dinner it was sometimes difficult to hear each other talk, but when I visited for lunch it was not a big deal. The decor is well themed with a few neat Augusta souvenirs on the wall. The bar is very nice and has lots of whiskey on display. It looks a bit upscale, but then there are lots of TVs giving it less of a distinguished feel. Seems a bit out of place. There is only one way through the restaurant to the bathroom, so sometimes that main aisle can get crowded with people sitting at the bar and servers walking through.

Food: The food was excellent. The menu is a little small, with only apps, Asian food, and burgers. However, everything I have had was delicious. I've had the Tokyo Beef bowl and the Fried Pig Plate, both were very filling and cooked well. I also liked that both had some greens on the plate and it wasn't just meat and rice. People in my party had burgers, sweet potato fries, and waffle fries. No complaints about anything and the fries were very crispy. Burgers are large enough and come with enough toppings to justify the price.

Staff: I haven't had an issue with any staff in my two visits. The restaurant seemed well staffed with lots of servers walking around. There were also multiple people working the hostess station. The hostess were patient and explained to me how waiting for a table works both times I asked for a wait time estimate. I thought it was odd that they explained they really didn't know because it depends on people leaving instead of just giving a time estimate. I wonder if they've had to deal with some unruly...

Took my 14 year old daughter & 3 of her friends here for her birthday Saturday 2/24/24. We love the food here, so when she wanted her friends to try it as well, I was excited for all of us considering we didn’t get to eat here the weekend prior bc the wait was to long. We understand with a larger party we would probably have a longer wait. We decided to sit outside bc they had a table open immediately. We were at the table for 15ish minutes before I finally asked the host if we could get a waitress bc we were ready to order. When the waitress finally came went ahead & ordered our drinks & food. One of the girls ordered a salad & it came but we didn’t have any silverware, so she couldn’t eat the salad till or burgers came bc we couldn’t get anyone’s attention to bring us silverware. We got our food in a timely manner & the food was delicious. All of the girls loved what they got & they ate every single bite, which for teenage girls rarely happen. We did not see our waitress the entire time while we were eating. Luckily we didn’t need anything else or refills. We finally got the bill & it took another 15 minutes before the waitress came back to get payment. Again, I understand we were outside & she had inside customers as well so I didn’t complain about the wait. She brought my card back & I left a $10 even tip. So it was $78.43 & with a $10 tip it was $88.43, however I got a notification from my bank that the new balance was $92.43. I know it’s only a $3 difference, but i however did NOT leave a $13 tip, I only left a $10 tip. Imagine if the waitresses took an extra $3 from everyone?! Again I don’t care about the extra $3, what I do care about is your waitress adding extra money to her tips that wasn’t given to her. Of course y’all are closed on Sunday so I can’t call to speak to anyone, but I also wanted to let others know what’s going on there. While the food is delicious, we however will not be eating...