Backwoods Bar and Kitchen — Restaurant in Back Mountain

Why can’t there be a zero star run the other way rating. Robbery!!! I cannot rate this experience low enough. In the past two months I have been including tonight here three times. My family and I choose to spend my grandfathers 82nd bday here. Who drove from south nj to be here today. And I from Michigan. SERVICE: our server ,Anne, was rude dismissing my niece when she didn’t know exactly what she wanted. The rest of table ordered drinks. She brought out everyone’s but said they could not make a Shirley temple cause they didn’t have… grenadine? An never mentioned the specials proudly posted on there fb page. Brought back a “sprite” which was not ordered ..and it wasn’t even sprite at all instead a tonic water. My grandfather told her he didn’t care for his drink.. that it didn’t taste right to him. She replied to him it’s right the owner is behind the bar making it. Her poor attitude and lack of attention to our table shown when runners delivered our food trailing behind her like she was checking in and others got our drinks. Why couldn’t out waitress drop our plates? They had every other time we had been there? And we had ordered previously everything we did tonight An then waiting 47minutes for our dinner. We told her we been sitting for an hour waiting for food , she came back and said no we hadn’t it was only 47min.. …. Uhmm .. I just didn’t know what to say. It continued through service. FOOD: my shrimp app was flavorless over cooked underwhelming for the 12$ price tag for four shrimp and five pieces of zucchini; and backwoods chicken bites were chewy the sauce was dry sticky like it had been sitting or previously done. Everything was Chewy and/or burnt. Ribs dry inconsistent flavor and temperature. The whole tables mains were cold/room temp. My garlic toast was even burnt .. And the food lacked the style and seemless flavor of a chef, and instead screamed out for a mentor to help with the inexperience and poor judgement. When we brought to her attention our issue with the shrimp all she said will take it off the bill. But the food was below average throughout. The ribs were cold and dry, the linguine wasn’t hot either. And a place that charges what they do for drinks brings out canned beer .. with no glass. We waited for someone to come back to ask for a glass.. one of us actually went to the bar and got it ourselves. Reached back and grabbed it. Emerson (bus girl another server) had to get my niece another coke. Anne stopped asking if we wanted any other drinks bout twenty minutes after we got there. When we tried to address the ribs she said to us “I didn’t cook them” and asked if we wanted something else. Why another 47 min would be 930pm .. The issues were front and back of the house. She should not be serving or representative of any establishment that did at any point care about there customers or food. The previous times I had visited here .. everything was absolutely wonderful. I had previously had a shrimp appetizer and the ribs, recommended both. And it was the only restaurant I ever purchased paraphernalia from. I am from out of state and came to visit and planned for a trip to backwoods, and after waiting 47min for dinner and getting cold food I wanted to run out the back door.. in the end she removed the one rib meal, my charred shrimp and gave us 10% off the bill .. which was still nearly 180$. For what is charged, the ambiance, and the standard previously set forth: someone should be ashamed that the incredible menu and quality was neglected in exchange for ruby tuesdays flavor at a disagreeable price point. I’ve had better meals at Applebee’s. The only thing that was heated was us. If u work for ur money care about ur time or value experience.. I would go elsewhere. Backwoods was a Mecca for flavor and it’s very sad it went down hill so fast. I am no longer proud to where the shirts I purchased in support of eating local. And find it a bit trifling that the kitchen let that quality out the bar was so poorly executed and the service was lackluster to...

I wanted to love this place. We visited yesterday with 4 people in our party. We were greeted quickly and asked to be seated outside. Which was amazing. The view is beautiful and atmosphere is great outside. As soon as we sat down we were told they were serving a limited menu (small plates, salads and sandwiches) I’m assuming because of being short staffed but that’s my assumption. The waitress had to fill up our condiment and silverware container on the table since it was not done previously. No big deal. I was browsing the small plate section and asked the waitress what came with the shrimp kabobs. She told me it was 4 shrimp with no sides. $12 for 4 shrimp, no thanks. So I decided to go with the steak wedge salad. I ordered my steak well done, it came out still bloody. The waitress took my food, and the rest of my table went on eating. By the time my food came out everyone was done eating. Which is irritating. The guests that accompanied me said their food was delicious. Great. I finally dig into my food and then my mouth is all cut up upon first bite. The fork looked like it had been the in the garbage disposal. I told the waitress to feel the fork and to please throw it away as to not cut anyone else. She apologized. She then asked me if I wanted the manager and if I wanted them to do anything for my troubles. I said I was fine. But why ask me if I want them to do anything when they messed up. I honestly just wanted to eat and go at this point. A man came out and spoke to me and my party and apologized for the steak not being cooked all the way, and for the fork. He offered a round of drinks, but most of us had water. He then offered some desserts. My party and I accepted. The waitress brought out 2 slices. ( cheesecake and pb pie were delicious) My party and I were offended that we all had been inconvenienced at this point, and we had received 2 slices of dessert for 4 people! Maybe it’s just me. The waitress gave us our bill, and charged full price for my bill. I was very upset that there was no urgency to make it right. The dessert definitely did not make up for the poor experience. I wanted to love this place and have waited a while to visit. I hate to say but I will...

First time at Backwoods last night. It was a nice drive to get there. Upon walking in we were greeted by very friendly staff and seated immediately. The waitress was friendly and came over within 1-2mins of being seated. The drink menu was extensive and many great food choices which made it hard to pick from. We ordered the smoked wing appetizer with Thai chili sauce which was excellent, and perfectly prepared. Came with HOUSE MADE blue cheese and boy you could tell, best blue cheese I’ve had. Cocktails were made well, not watered down. Ribs with cornbread and coleslaw and the weekend special, mini beef Wellington were our meals. Ribs were dry rubbed and came with a side of sauce (again house made and you could tell by how tasty it was) which is how I prefer them (no everyone agrees so be aware). The ribs were perfectly tender and REAL smoked just like the wings. The cornbread was spot on. Now be aware that the coleslaw is vinegar based which is super hard to find around here but was excellent (not everyone will like it). The beef Wellington was amazing, and being such a hard dish to pull off, the chef should be proud.

The staff is extremely attentive. We were checked on frequently but not to the point where it was annoying. If any of the staff saw a dirty glass or plate it was quickly removed from our table, not just by our waitress. The staff was dressed nicely and looked professional. The owner was on-site checking on everything.

A very pleasant experience that proved backwoods to be a hidden gem. We will be back! Keep up the high standards, it shows in the food coming out of...