Village Tavern — Restaurant in Birmingham

My family and I ate here today, 4/23/21, and I am very disappointed. As soon as we walked in the door we were ignored by the 2 females standing at the hostess station while they carried on a conversation. They eventually acknowledged us by asking how many in our party, and one girl grabbed silverware rolls and simply said, "follow me". That should have been a sign of things to come.

We ordered the calamari appetizer and it was smothered in a sauce that reminded me of orange chicken from panda express. It's literally identical in flavor. The sauce was overwhelming, and the calamari was underwhelming. The fried jalapenos mixed in were nice.

The gumbo was very good, but I was surprised by the $12 "market price" for a gumbo that really only had sausage in it. I was unable to find a single shrimp or piece of crawfish tail, but there were a couple meaty pieces that looked like shredded white meat chicken. Again, the gumbo was still great... just a bit overpriced in my opinion.

We also didn't receive any type of bread when we were seated, which is a bit strange for most restaurants, but we'd never been here so my wife asked about it and our server told us they do but she would need to go check if they had any. Between 5 and 10 minutes later she came back to our table with our calamari starter and told us they don't have bread but they're gonna make some and it'll be about 10 minutes. Strange, but it is what it is.

My oldest son had a cowboy burger that he enjoyed, but his fries were literally cold in the middle. My youngest son had macaroni and fries, and his macaroni had a large burnt/dried chunk of noodles. My wife and I both had prime rib, she ordered hers medium and I took mine rare... this was really what stopped the show for me. My prime rib was rare, and as dry as my boot. I couldn't understand it. My wife's came overcooked. My broccoli was crunchy and tasted like it had possibly been blanched for a few seconds and that's it. My wife's asparagus was the same way, but she enjoyed it. We both got mashed potatoes, and they were great.

I have to go more in depth with the meat, because it really did blow my mind. I am going to include pictures so you can actually see how dry it was. I literally lifted the meat to take a picture of the plate under it, and it was practically dry, aside from a little meat juice and 2 drips of au jus sauce. The meat itself was very chewy and had a thick rubbery husk around it... maybe from being microwaved? I'm not 100% sure, but it was definitely not tender and it was super dry. It had no seasoning or flavor other than just a mild beefy flavor. It was essentially just a piece of cold, dry meat. The au jus sauce was very good, and made the meat tolerable, but when you're paying over $30 for a 16oz cut of beef, you expect a bit more quality in my personal experience. I also requested the creamy horseradish sauce, and the girl asked my wife if she'd like one too, which she declined, and the girl said she'd be right back with it... but never returned. Not a HUGE issue, but combined with everything else... yeah, it definitely fit the theme.

We ordered the creme brulee for dessert, and everyone really enjoyed it.

Our server, Karen, was super friendly and probably one of the only redeeming things about this visit.

When we left no one said a word, the hostesses just continued their conversation the same as when we came in.

I really don't like giving negative reviews, and I never get buyers remorse for food, but I really wish we didn't spend the $150 that we did today. This was the first time in recent memory that I've needed a 'go box' because I didn't even want to finish my meal.

It was just bad.

Also, something I noticed when attaching these pictures, that I took immediately upon receiving the plates in anticipation of having a great meal to leave a great review of, that I didn't notice when I was at the restaurant... it looks like there's a fingerprint right in the middle of my prime rib. Not an issue, but it really does fit with everything else...

My wife and I just left your restaurant in Birmingham, AL. It has been quite some time since I've been that disappointed with a meal. First let me say, the food was fantastic. Very tasty, with large portions. But as good as the food was, the service was multiple times as bad. It started at the front desk with the two hosts debating where to seat us, finally deciding on table 80, (even though both hosts agreed that he was busy with multiple tables, including a party of what appeared to be 10 or so next to us). We ordered drinks, which took a very long time to get. No offer of water or anything else to go with it. We asked for a paper menu, which the server brought us 1 menu to share. When we finally got our drinks, the server apologized saying "I'm very busy with multiple tables, hope you understand". No, not actually, but ok. When he finally came back, after passing our table many times, we asked to get an appetizer. We ordered dinner also, but said that we were going to be hanging out for a while so he could bring the appetizer, and then dinner later. He said fine. We were nearly finished with our drinks, when someone from the kitchen showed up with our dinners. We were surprised and asked where was our appetizer? The server, from a distance, said, "Oh sorry, I will get that appetizer order put in right away." So, now we have very little left in our drinks, dinners which will sit under hot lamps if we send it back, and no appetizer. A while later, our server brings back our appetizer, sits it on the table, and walks away, no side plates, no explanation, no nothing. After eating about 1/3 of our dinners, my wife and I decide that we've had enough. No one is coming to check on us to see what we need, nor did anyone ask even once, how the food was. We finally got his attention and said, we will take boxes and a check. He came back with the boxes, and a check, and said, we will take care of that appetizer for you, so there will be no charge for that. When I looked at the check, it was the check, on a separate ticket, for the appetizer, printed 10-15 minutes after our dinner order. My wife began packing up the boxes. We had nothing for the sauces, no take out silverware, no napkins, nothing, just the boxes. So, once again, when we finally got his attention, I explained that he gave us the wrong check, and my wife asked for all of the items he should have offered in the first place, including a plastic bag to carry the "to go" food. So, overall, a very, very disappointing dinner experience. We are visiting from FLA, and staying in the area, and debated between your restaurant and several others. We were so looking forward to it based upon your reviews. We were so disappointed by it, and will be adding our review as well. I left a tip but only because I didn't want others, who may be sharing in the tip (chefs, cooks, or others staff), to bare the brunt of a server who started with excuses (I'm too busy to provide you the service that you deserve), and continued it throughout the entire experience. I do hope that you don't treat your other customers this way. We will not be visiting your restaurant again, at least...

Me and my girlfriend had dinner here on Saturday 5/13. Really pleasant dining environment. And staff was friendly. Sat at a high top table by the bar area. Bartender gave great recommendations on food and drinks. Once our order was placed we waited around, just so our food could come out and incorrect. Honest mistake. But my meal arrived and had to wait an additional 15 minutes for my girlfriends to arrive, which was inconvenient. Steak was cold when I finally could eat with both meals present. Both meals were really good by the way. We also had great desert recommendations from the bar tender. Witch was great as well. Also our original order came out after we finish dessert which we told the Waiter that we had already eaten dinner, which they return the meals back to the kitchen. Finally, it was time to pay our bill. As the bartender gave me my tab, I gave her my card. The process to pay for our bill took over 15 to 20 minutes. At this point I was a little concerned. Once the bartender came back with my bill, they explained to me that they made an error and charged me twice for our meal, which then I checked my bank statements. I had not only been charged double for our meal, but also an additional meal. At a value of $218… at this point I was a little perturbed and asked to speak with the manager. It took an additional 15 to 20 minutes for the manager to finally arrive with our concerns. Todd Dunn aimlessly, found our table and finally discussed my concerns with being charged $360.84 extra. Todd explain to me that what’s done is done and there’s nothing that could be done except for being highly inconvenienced and at the mercy of my bank to refund the charges. We are not a seeking free meal or handout, but in this case, this would’ve really helped resolve this issue in my customer satisfaction. But simply Todd told us “sorry”. Unacceptable. I understand people make errors in mistakes happen but to be charged $360 with a simple “sorry”is quite unacceptable and in my opinion ridiculous. Todd...