Yard House — Restaurant in Boston

My visit to this restaurant last night was an absolute nightmare. The server carrying my friend and I’s cocktails stumbled the tray and spilled my friend’s expresso martini all over my dress. I had splurged on the dress from an expensive designer earlier that day which made this even more upsetting. The dress is white with blue flowers on it, hence the blotches of dark brown showed up pretty prominently on it. The woman who delivered our drinks seemed really embarrassed and mentioned the restaurant had “tons of tide sticks in a back room” that she could grab me. Luckily my friend had a tide stick in her purse, which I used to fight some of the stains before it ran out. Our waiter came over and apologized for the incident, explaining that the restaurant would take the expresso martini off the bill and make a new one right away. That made my friend happy because she didn’t have to pay for her drink, whereas I was left drenched in the one the waiter spilled on me and still needed to pay for mine. I waited for the tide stick from the server for 20 minutes but she never brought it. I finally went up to the front desk and asked two employees if I could have one of the tide sticks the server promised me. One of the woman was actually very kind and took a tide stick out of her own purse to give to me because clearly the restaurant did not have a stock supply of them. A woman, who I later found out was the manager, came over to ask where exactly on my dress the stains were. I pointed several of them out to her, only for her to say they weren’t that bad and completely dismiss my grievances. The restaurant has dark lighting, so obviously it’s hard to see things in there. Then she finally started seeing them, and I had to explain to her that the dress was extremely sticky on the inside too because of the drink. Never once did she apologize or acknowledge the wrongdoing of her server. Everyone makes mistakes, but it felt belittling having the manager speak to me as if my concerns were dramatic and I was in the wrong for her server spilling a dark brown drink all over my dress. I shouldn’t have had to spend the entire dinner in the bathroom blotting my dress to get the stains out. And that wasn’t my only disappointment, as I came back to the table to find my entree looked more like the size of an appetizer. I got the steak bowl, which came on a plate and had a tiny portion of rice under 8 cubes of steak and some veggies. I was really hoping dinner would make up for some of the debacle, but I ended up getting a sandwich from another restaurant 30 minutes later because I was still hungry. Before we left I asked the manager if I would be able to get a $20 credit to cover the cost of dry cleaning my dress. The manager was very rude and said the restaurant “couldn’t just randomly hand out money for no reason”. There was certainly a reason, but the manager refused to see my perspective. She said the only thing I could do was bring the receipt for the dry cleaning to the restaurant in person and then they might reimburse me. I explained that I live 3 hours away and couldn’t bring it in person, and asked if there was an email address I could send it to. She said in person was the only way and my only other option was to call the corporate office for the restaurant so it would be their funds being used. I wish I could give 0 stars...

Over the last year I have eaten repeatedly at Yard House because they are open when I got out of work. Each time I tried a different item hoping to find something they could prepare well. Wings, Tuna Stack, Vampire tacos, nachos, plates like Jambalaya. And of course last night’s travesty, the Nashville Hot Chicken. With French fries that were soooo old. You’re supposed to make those to order. They’re fries. They take 3 minutes.

I have worked in all positions of food service in 22 restaurants over 30 years. I can not fathom how a franchise that size, with that kind of investing, can possibly put out food, this bad, this consistently. Over cooked, greasy, completely lacking flavor, and just generally thrown together. And you can see it when they plate it. And you can taste it. I pray that I will never be so tired or hungry that I have to waste 1 more dime in here. Because every dollar I ever spent on food here was a waste.

I’ve never had a server here just be friendly for no reason. Never introduce themselves, ask how I am, and generally just don’t ever want to have to actually serve me. The bartender who put in my order to go instantly forgot about me after I paid. And tipped. I asked about my to go order, after at least 25 minutes, he says,”oh they found it.” Which means that it was just sitting in the back or they accidentally gave it to someone else. And when I opened it to check it that’s what it looked like. I wish I would have taken a picture. Change your damn fryer oil.

They were no utensils, ketchup, or napkins in the bag either. When I asked the person at the bar for some they made some low level effort to try to find some, only for me to get frustrated and go to ask for the manager at the front. How surprised I was not when the man who came to to the front desk was that low level energy person who couldn’t even be personable while getting me the most basic items to go with my order. He said their to gos don’t automatically come with those items and I RESPECT THAT, BUT then you should let people know there isn’t any when you hand them the bag. I went over the entirety of my disappointment in that moment telling him that the GC I was using that night had been a gift from my boss because I had won a competition. A server competition. He wanted to reimburse me, but I didn’t see the point. I cried while I choked down what I could of the food in the train station. And went to...

Yard House is the perfect place to go to after work, right smack dab in the middle of Fenway, delicious food and tasty drinks. A wonderful spot to unwind, catch up with friends, or pop in for some good food while sightseeing in the city.

My post-work vent session meal is always:

POKE NACHOS What a tasty appetizer! Crispy wontons as the "nachos", marinated raw ahi tuna diced into bite-sized pieces, fresh avocado, sliced serrano peppers, white truffle sauce, sweet soy ginger sauce, sriracha aïoli, green onion, cilantro, nori flakes and sesame seeds. The ahi is buttery when you bite into it and seasoned well in sauce and spices. A great mix and combo of fresh ingredients for a modern twist on nachos. Delicious!

PARMESAN TRUFFLE FRIES I freaking love these truffle fries. They're made with white truffle oil, parmesan, thyme AND parsley. Every fry is fried to gold, crispy perfection and when you bite into it, the middle is fluffy, soft potato-ey inside like a mashed potato, but fluffier. I gobble these fries up everytime oh my gosh, finger licking good.

BBQ CHICKEN SALAD This salad is quite literally one of the best salads ever. It starts off with a base of mixed greens then you have the juicy, grilled chicken, the freshly sliced avocado, pasilla, charred corn, sprinkles of cheddar and monterey jack, some slithers of tortilla strips, diced tomatoes, pinto beans, cilantro and topped with fried onions. You can opt out of the fried onions if that's not your thing, but they're totally mine! Think of thin, but crunchy onion rings which is exactly what's on this bad boy. Oh and it's dressed in this really tasty chipotle ranch. I usually get the dressing on the side because I like to control how much dressing I have on my salad, just a personal preference. Now, get a little of everything into one bite and I'm telling ya just an explosion of flavors and textures in your mouth. UGHHHH it's sooo delicious. I could literally eat this everyday. Love it!

I love Yard House because you can come here for literally any occassion and the food is on point every freaking time. You want a huge pretzel? They got it! A freaking enormous 32oz beef in a single glass? Yeah they got you! The service is always fast and friendly. They handle small gatherings well as long as huge ones. They're awesome....