Full Tilt Tavern — Restaurant in Bloomington

tl;dr: Food was ok, service was good but slow, staff was nice but not given the support they need to be efficient.

Now for the novel: It was incredibly loud in the bar. The building wasn't setup to properly handle sound. I could barely talk to my server, and although there were certainly people in the bar, there were also open seats and tables around, so it wasn't fully packed. I can't imagine what it would have been like if there had been more people.

The bartenders did ask for my order right away. The slowness was in regard to checking in on me to see how the food was and for refilling my drink. It was obvious they were swamped with drink orders, and at one point they didn't have the glasswear they needed. Plus, I overheard an issue when they found one of their mixes wasn't prepared correctly, so they had to scramble to fix it.

Additionally, dirty glasses were piling up where the waitstaff were leaving them on the bar, and then they would just stand at the bar waiting for their drinks to be made. At one point, there were several waitresses just standing and talking while the bartenders ran around to get what they needed. I felt this wasn't an efficient setup and that the waitstaff may have been able to do something to help. There was one barback who was doing everything he could, but it was obvious he had too much to do for one person.

As for the food, I ordered the Donut Burger. It was fine, but there wasn't really anything special about it. Since there were two full donuts for the the top and bottom of the burger, it was too big to eat with my hands, so I essentially had to deconstruct it and eat each piece separately. Plus, it said it came with a spicy raspberry sauce, but I didn't taste raspberry at all. Regardless, there wasn't the level of flavor I was expecting for a nearly $17 burger, and I ended up regretting having ordered it. Also, no ketchup or other condiments were offered for the fries, and the bartenders were too busy to even try and stop them to ask. Had they stopped to ask how the meal was, I would've been able to request ketchup at that point. Lastly, I ordered their Cherry Old Fashioned. I really like Old Fashioneds, and I was looking forward this one. They warned me that this one would be 'very sweet', but it was no sweeter than any other Old Fashioned I've had before. In fact, there was no stronger cherry flavor at all, and they didn't add any garnishments like cherries or orange peel. If you order a Cherry Old Fashioned, you expect to see and taste cherries in your drink, especially for an $11 drink.

All in all, I might go back and order something else to give them another chance, but I was unimpressed with this experience. However, the food and drinks certainly weren't bad, and everything was clean and...

Update- I reached out to them and I came back today. Overall, the service was way better by a lot ! The food just as expected, hit it out of the park again! As expected, my husband loved the build your own burger. We had the truffle fries and sweet potato fries, and they are amazing. The burgers are mouthwatering and so savory. We played some games and it was a lot of fun! The only concern I had this time was when I went to the bathroom a worker was spiking and blew smoke in my face. I notified management and they said they would follow up. They also followed up with the waiter we had issues with before so hopefully the service will stay great like today! It was a very fun and welcoming environment. We will 100% be back ! Review moved from 3 to 5 stars!

Prior review-I came here with a friend group and I was pretty excited to give this place a try. It has one of the best food menus. It has a very large variety and even a build your own burger/sandwich option. I am so saddened by the bad service we received. When we were seated, we were given one less menu so we had to ask for a menu. Next, two of our drinks for our kids were never brought to the table although I mentioned the drinks were needed multiple times. She finally brought them at the end with the bill. My little sister’s pasta dish was supposed to come with bread when I mention this to the server, she said no it doesn’t. I then picked up and showed her the kids menu where it says it comes with bread and she said oh. No apology for basically calling me a liar… she eventually brought the bread tho. We were brought two pasta dishes, and a salad along with our other food and given zero forks. I had to ask for forks. My friend ordered a beer and it tasted sour and very skunk like. She gave it to the server and then asked for a different beer that comes bottled so it wouldn’t be rotten tasting. It took so long for the beer to come that at that point we had already had our food. I think our server forgot about it. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt in case they are new, but the service was just not good at all. The food was really good though. I wanted to come back based on the food alone. I wanted to bring my husband here for the fun build your own sandwich but due to the service I don’t really wanna come back. Picture below is my food and my other sister’s food. She loved her build her own sandwich and I tried it and it was really good. I got the wings, honey barbecue bone in and they were also very good. I recommend ordering the food to go as a...

My husband and I frequent Full Tilt because we love pinball and live nearby. So it was only appropriate that I throw my husband's 40th birthday party here!

I was working with Kierstyn, the owner's daughter/events manager, in planning the event. She did a great job of working with me up until the event, which she wasn't even present for. Our server, Althea (sp?), did a great job of making sure our 60+ guests were well taken care of and the food was replenished all evening. We all had a great time, but the food was severely lacking.

When I asked my guests how the food was, I could tell they were reluctant to say anything positive. They said the wings were good, but that was about it. They said the mac and cheese was extremely bland and the pulled pork had rock hard, burnt buns, and barely included any pulled pork in each slider. My husband and I confirmed this. This was extremely embarrassing and upsetting, considering how much money I had spent on the food.

I ordered 3 types of wings, 2 banquet size orders of their bacon mac and cheese ($260), 2 banquet size orders of pulled pork sliders ($300), 2 pizzas, and a veggie tray. I also ordered additional wings and pizzas throughout the evening. So, in total, I spent well over $1,000 for just food - not including tax and gratuity. I spent even more with drinks and our 60+ guests were also paying for their own cocktails and playing games.

When I provided Kierstyn with the feedback, I hoped she would do the right thing and provide me with some sort of refund, gift card, ANYTHING to help compensate for the unpleasant experience we had with the pulled pork sliders and mac and cheese that I spent $560 +taxes & tip on. She did not and said she would simply pass along the feedback. How very sad and disappointing.

I spent 15 years of my life in the food and beverage service industry, and ironically, 5.5 years were spent at this very building when it was Major's Sports Cafe. I can tell you that I, nor any of my management, would ever think this level of service, food quality, or customer experience would ever be acceptable. I think this just shows how hard it is to find high standards these days.

I can't say that I won't be back, but I will say I will never be throwing a planned event here ever again. I would also recommend others to go elsewhere if they want to have a...