Old City Hall — Restaurant in Bay City

Honestly if 0 stars were a choice, that is what they deserve. It was my husband's, mine, and our best friend's first time there, and we will NEVER go back. Where to begin? Seating - we walked in straight to the hostess and she asked what we needed. We said a table for 4 please. She looked around as if she didn't know what to do and said okay hold on, I have to get a table done up. She walked away from us and for a good ten minutes got our cups and silverware set up. Once she came back, she didn't really tell us of we should follow her, so we waited and then just kinda started to follow. Food - it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing. I ordered a ceaser salad with chicken. I could honestly get a ceaser salad from Wal-Mart that tastes amazing and is cheaper. The rest of my table said their food was good, just wished the portions were bigger. Staff - could be a heck of a lot better. Our waitress didn't even seem to really care about anything. My one friend ordered a Blue Moon which was on their menu, and she responds with Oberon. He looked at her confused and said I would like a Blue Moon please. She said yeah....sorry....we don't have that, but we have Oberon. He responded again and said your menu says you have Blue Moon though. She said yeah I know but like, it takes hours to remake a chalkboard menu so like we just left it there. Oh....okay. Manager, we shall get to him in a second. Atmosphere - deplorable and the reason we will never spend a dime there again. There was a very large table of, technically adults but they sure as heck didn't act like it, who were very drunk and obnoxious. I watched 3 tables get up and leave IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR APPETIZERS because of that table. It got so bad that my husband, who is usually a very patient person went to the manager and said this is ruining everyone else's expierence. Manager said I'm sorry, and I have "tried" to tell them to be quiet but it isn't really working and I can't do anything. I'll take half of your bill off though because of the experience. Cool but not what we wanted. Our waitress then came back and said yeah um sorry but like they are our regulars. They are a little drunk today but if we say anything, they will get mad at us. That just proves that they are okay with ruining everyone else's meal and time for their rude and obnoxious frequent goers. Then when she realized that our bill was cut in half, she said awe that was nice, I wasn't even going to ask or say anything, but that was nice. There was a table next to these people who were celebrating a college graduation, and they get up to leave and one of the drunken girls literally start to fight with some of the older people walking out. It was so bad that someone else took her home while she yelled, I wasn't even fighting. The father of the graduation table went and talked to the table talking about how he has honestly never heard such disgusting language all at once before and that an important night has turned into an unfortunate night. They then yelled at the man, and told him he needed to leave, just get out. At that point my husband walked out to avoid any conflict. After they both left they made fun of the gentleman saying they were spending more than the $400 that he was and they didn't care if their f bombs bounced off the walls and into his hearing aids. As I was getting ready to leave, I heard them begin talking about my husband. Wow. I will never recommend this place to anyone either. Go to Tavern101 down the...

I guess I should explain that I'm a culinary graduate who lived and studied in Traverse City where I worked & ate at some of the best restaurants. Easy to say that when it came to dining out, I was spoiled.

I recently moved back down to the area and have been trying to find a good local restaurant.

Ill give it to OCH, the atmosphere & decor is nice but that is about it.

Every item I have ordered has been a disappointment. The description on the menu is not accurate to what is presented in front of me.

For example, I have ordered : Roasted Pork Bahn Mi

A Vietnamese sandwich layered with roasted pork, mayonnaise, spicy slaw and fresh cilantro on a warm crusty baguette.

What I really got was a large baguette, with deli meat and a slaw that was desperately lacking dressing and flavor. I had to use a fork and knife to saw through the tough bread and cut it into small bites to even eat it.

A couple months prior, they had a spicy cajun seafood pasta on the menu. What I got was a pasta dish that was so overwhelmed with lemon zest that I could not taste anything else. And there was not one ounce of spice.

I have also ordered the Soba Salad. Again, the description is wonderful, noodles, spicy slaw, peanuts & grilled shrimp but what I got was a small (not worth the $14 I was charged for it), cold salad lacking spice & flavor.

What I am most upset about is a recent situation that took place here.

We had a group of ladies celebrating a birthday & enjoying the half off wine night. Until we all got our bills, which is when we were told that the half off wine is only allowed in the bar! (which we could not sit at due to the lack of open tables).

So, when we spoke to the hostess at the beginning and said that there was going to be a party of 10 there was nothing mentioned about the "special" only applying to half the restaurant. There was also nothing said from our server who took the drink orders. In my opinion, and its only my opinion...when you have a special....it should apply to your whole restaurant, not half!!!

I feel that this is such a poor lack of proper training, good hospitality & little respect for your customers.

When I asked to speak with a manager about it, I was informed that there was no manager in and was told I could speak with one of the servers. Who then pretty much brushed off what I said and walked away.

After this, I'm done. This restaurant is a wannabe fine dining establishment that caters to the elite group in the Bay City area that wants to spend their money on overpriced...

Ouch.

Place smells like a cold turkey sandwich in an unkept litter box. There's a lengthy wait after ordering to get food during non-busy hours. I don't want to imagine when it's busy. The waiter we had was surprisingly horrible.

Ordered something with two deviations from the listing on the menu and an additional sauce. Come to find out 45 minutes later that they don't have any of the additional sauce, but they're certainly not short on the stuff that I'd asked them to leave out. Easy enough to just pick it off, didn't say anything. It's just a waste to add it when it isn't wanted. The waiter suggested some other sauces they do have stocked, so I went with one of those suggestions and nibbled on my fries in the meantime... Ran out of fries. Burger got cold. I should've eaten it right away. It was probably really good. Two reminders and 30 minutes later, I finally got the backup sauce. Burger ruined, though. I ate the cooked outer rim and avoided the cold meat mush in the middle. All the while, the refill rate on water is roughly once every 25 minutes. No apologies for the wait, no "here's a little something on the house for your trouble." I don't like receiving handouts, but there wasn't even a "hey, you want that reheated or replaced?"

Maybe the waiter was having a terrible day. Maybe the folks in the back ignored details (or were also having a bad day). Never know. Still, a 40-minute task becoming a 100-minute endeavor with less than half of the quality paid for? It's a good thing for the waiter that someone else in my party took the check this time around, because I would not have left a tip.

Like I said, maybe the stars were aligning on everyone having a bad day. I didn't fuss or make it worse for them, but that didn't stop them from both burning time and coming up extremely short on quality. While I won't be closed off to trying this place again, it's not going to be my decision that...