The Root Cellar B-L — Restaurant in Batesburg-Leesville

Where do I begin? We had high hopes for this restaurant. It was busy as it could be upon entering. There was no hostess to take anyone’s name and you had to sit down otherwise you would be blocking the door. When the waitress was able to break away from serving, she was taking people’s names out of order because she wasn’t sure who was there first. First tip, if you are going to cheap out on not hiring a hostess, maybe you should have a sign in sheet for people. Next, the girl who sat us… I believe her name was Auburn or Aubrey. When I asked if she was going to seat the family that was in front of us first, she let me know real quick and fast like, “I can’t sit 7 people at a booth!” At this point, I didn’t know that she was taking us to a booth, since we were a party of two. Just very rude and disrespectful the way she spoke to me. Like I’m doing you a favor attitude!

Our waitress was Katelyn, if I heard her correctly, since it was very loud in the restaurant. She was awesome and you really have a Gem there! She took our order, let us know how spot on the cook was about preparing the meat, just overall very friendly and informative!

Now, after waiting about 45 mins for our appetizers to come out, which was no fault of our waitress… hmmm left little to be desired! Come on guys, salad out of bag and frozen fried okra. Then the entrees, let’s just leave it at that.

Tip 2… if you are going to try to accommodate your in house patrons: Get more servers! Get rid of the Doordash!

Tip 3… raise the quality of food for those prices!

Tip 4… you must learn how to walk, before you learn how to run!

Maybe we caught them on a bad night, but I know we will not...

$7 for a kid’s chicken tenders. I expected a normal portion for a kid’s meal. This was pitiful. They need to add a disclaimer that this meal is intended for five and under. When you consider that there’s several restaurants in town that are a dollar more for an adult chicken finger meal and what an adult portion looks like….this is a major rip off. The child’s portion should be half of the adult portion, especially at $7. Do not order off of the kid’s meal for your child unless they are five and under. Worse than that, everyone’s food was cold except for mine. I ordered fish and chips and mine was made last and their food was sitting on the bar when I arrived and waited for our order to be finished. There is no way their food was made minutes before mine because it was ice cold like it had been sitting for at least ten minutes before I picked up. I had forgotten why we don’t go to Root Cellar (Haven’t been in a year) and now I remember why....

This was my fourth visit to The Root Cella, on our initial visit I had the fish and chips which was outstanding. On subsequent visits the quality of the fish has ranged from substandard to marginal. This past visit the fish was okay but I ordered some coleslaw that was very strange. The coleslaw had a very weird taste and I inquired as to what it was, the waiter asked the chef and he said it was mayonnaise with coleslaw seasoning. I really don't know what flavor they were going for but it was off-putting, so I did not eat it. My wife had the shrimp which was okay, but she did not like her fried okra. The biggest issue is the inconsistency with this place. The wait staff has always been very friendly and the interior is nice but it was very cold this last time. I would really like to give the place a better score but I just can't and it's...