The Barnyard — Restaurant in Branchville

Went to a local event and this restaurant was less than a mile from it, so my family of 7 looked forward to some burgers and appetizers. First, we walked in and one of the girls there said hi and brought us over some menus. After sitting there for 15 minutes without any service, we noticed one table go up to the counter to place an order. We assumed it was for take out, but noticed them sit back down at the table. Two other tables then got up and followed after. When we got up to get on line, everyone agreed no one knew there were no waitresses and no one takes your order. It would have been nice to have been informed of this when entering, or have a sign on the table. You also have to pay for your food and tip after ordering. This will prove to be a problem later on. After sitting down, my son needed to make a minor change to his plate so we got up and stood at the register. 5 times the girl who took our order at the register walked passed us, seeing us stand at the register and not once acknowledged us. Yes, she was working serving drinks to the tables and making shakes, but not once did she even say she would be right with us. Finally my patience wore thin after waiting for 10 minutes and I had to interrupt her to take care of the fix. After waiting 25 additional minutes, another girl brings out our meals. 7 people at our table and it took 4 trips back and forth to get all our food, some people getting their fries on the first trip and burger on the 3rd or 4th trip, and there were good waits between trips. During the last trip, we asked to add cheese fries and the girl acknowledged the order. Finally eating, the food was total disappointment. How is half your menu options are burgers but you have no clue how to cook them. Everyone's burger was a well done, crunchy hockey puck. In hind sight, it's very telling of their cooking abilities when they don't even ask how you want your burger cooked, ie. well done, medium, etc. My brother-in-law and I went for the "Filthy animal" for $15. Burger was dry, pulled pork had barely any BBQ sauce, and Cole slaw was non-existent, and this was not a one off mistake since it was on both plates. Nephew got chicken tenders that were cold, daughter got a chicken sandwich that was over-cooked and burnt, the list goes on. Halfway thru our meal we realized we didn't get the cheese fries we added, but instead of complaining we just let it go since we hadn't paid for them yet. This place had only 4 tables occupied the whole time we were there, they are hiring but were far from short staffed for the amount of customers they had. No one came to ask if we needed refills until the owner/manager came out of nowhere and asked us, but by that time our table was done eating. The prices they charge for what you get is overpriced. $12-$15 for a thin burger and no fries included. These are not chef level burgers. Side order of fries range from $4-$5 and the portions are ridiculously small. These were not worth $20 meals. And in the end we were extremely aggravated that we tipped so high from the beginning because it was not worth the service we got. The irony is this restaurant had a food truck at the event we were at and we had heard 2 customers complain about their food earlier in the day, but we ignored it knowing that food trucks have limitations. Should've listened and stayed away. Family of 4 will not get away will less than $100 for burgers, fries, drinks and 1 appetizer. And these are far from gourmet. Not...

I don't know what these folks do the rest of the year, but when you're the restaurant in a baseball stadium, I'm thinking 4 busy months (which is really two, since the team travels half the time) and 8 pretty slow months. Therefore, I'd think when you have that captive audience for a baseball game, you really want to shine so some of those folks actually think about coming back during the slow months. If that was their goal, they failed. Until last year, this was the Double S Smokehouse, so I have the ability to compare them to a previous owner doing pretty much the exact same thing. Double S used to have a "Family Menu" from which you could order a huge platter of mixed foods for the whole family to share. This was a great idea for a stadium restaurant, but The Barnyard has canned this concept. They did have something on the menu called "Shareable Starters" which at first glance I thought might be the same thing but was really quite the opposite. For example, I ordered the wings and got six tiny wings - for $13. Overall, the food was okay, but not great. It was definitely overpriced, which you expect at any stadium, but not if you're thinking of getting customers back during the offseason. The real problem was the service. While the staff was nice enough, it took over 40 minutes for them to get our meals, and even then it came out piecemeal, so two people would get their food, you'd see the server bring food to another table, and maybe another, and then they'd bring two more people their food, and then another table, etc., etc. When I said something about the way we were getting our food, I was told "we're busy tonight". Again, if you're running a restaurant in a baseball stadium, you should anticipate you're going to be "busy" when there's a baseball game, and plan appropriately. Bottom line, I thought Double S was a nice pre-game stop for a family meal to start a fun night. The Barnyard is not, and for future games we'll stop somewhere else first, you should...

We loved going to the barnyard when it was in the center of Branchville and then it moved to the stadium and became a 20 minute ride for us. They do have really good burgers and we do go back there but when there are games and the stadium is busy, People like us, the regular customers that did business with the barnyard before they moved to the stadium no longer get service. You can’t justorder online for takeout because they focus only on the dining room and the baseball crowd. This was really frustrating to us when we drove to the restaurant during a game Because he kept saying on my ordering was not available and we were told just keep trying online and eventually it will become available. I do understand that it’s busy because there’s a game but customers who are not at the game who are loyal customers and go all the time regardless should be able to still order and their order should be placed in line with those sitting in the dining room like most restaurants. If you’re not going to process online ordering at certain times, you shouldn’t have online ordering. Again it was really disheartening for regular customer to not be needed during baseball season but needed other times. Like I do understand it’s a business and you’re trying to make money but then do away with online ordering and make it first come first serve. I bet you after baseball season business won’t be the same without those online customers that you’re putting aside for...