The Cracked Pillar Pub — Restaurant in Bridgewater

We were looking forward to trying this place for my husband’s birthday lunch as it had decent reviews. However once there, that became puzzling. Waitress was young and inexperienced but most of us were former servers or restaurant owners so that was easy to overlook. A few of us noticed a note on the menu that said something like “if it appears busy then no special food requests” and “if you have a tab open then you must stay seated at the bar”, which we found strange and a little intimidating. But the real shocker was when my sister asked if she could sample a beer that they had on tap before ordering a glass, the waitress told her there was a .65 cent charge for what turned out to be a shot glass of beer. (She ordered a glass of it despite this). Our party of 8 ordered appetizers, drinks and food, but a friend had brought a birthday cake for my husband. We were all from out of town, having met in Bridgewater so she asked the server for 8 dessert plates. We had asked upon being seated if we could bring in the covered, small cake and were told yes, but when our friend asked for the dessert plates the server said she would have to go ask the manager!? and she disappeared up the stairs to the 2nd floor. As we waited we all sat dumbfounded (our bill was well over $50 per couple at this point). Server returned and said she could get us the plates. To say that we were feeling awkward and a little uncomfortable at this point was putting it lightly. I’d like to add that we were there mid afternoon on a Sunday and when we were seated there was only one other 2-top in the dining room and a couple of people at the bar. We had the cake and left as soon as we were all finished despite the fact that we would have liked to sit longer and order coffee or tea so we could visit with each other. The vibe was very heavy and the wait staff seemed pretty tense or afraid of being reprimanded by management. I have never worked at a restaurant where I would have to ask for permission to bring plates to a table, but the server explained that she was not sure if it was allowed. Poor kid. And charging a patron for a beer sample? C’mon, owners. Finally, the food was average bar food at best and frankly we expected a little better quality than what we were served. It’s too bad because the building is appealing from the outside and it could be a...

The food is just... bad. The macaroni and cheese is just shredded cheese on pasta. I hate to say it, but boxed Kraft dinner would be a huge upgrade. The burgers were just boxed frozen burgers that weren’t even cooked through properly. The buns were pretty good, I’ll give them that. Still, save yourself some money and get a Lean Cuisine to microwave at home.

edit 7/21/19: response follows Since the kind people of this restaurant have taken the opportunity to descend from their cracked tower to converse with the masses, I will take the opportunity to edit my review.

Macaroni and cheese is not generally just shredded cheese on plain pasta. I’m talking someone taking dry pasta and grating cheese directly onto it and sending that out to a guest. It is typically a mixture of blended cheeses and seasonings folded into a béchamel sauce that is then mixed with the pasta and baked in an oven. Since this seems to be a foreign concept for these fine chefs, I am including a simple recipe so future diners may hopefully not have the same experience that I did.

Directions:

1. cook pasta according to package directions and drain 2)in a saucepan, melt 2tbs butter over medium heat. Stir in just enough flour to make a roux (YouTube this if this step is too difficult) 2)slowly add 3 cups of milk to the roux, stirring constantly. A whisk is helpful for this step. You want to avoid clumps- clumps are bad. 4)stir in cheese (2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan) and cook until mixture is thick and all cheese is melted. 5)add pasta to cheese sauce, pour pasta mix into a large baking dish and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Add a mixture of butter/breadcrumbs/paprika to the top if you’re feeling fancy.

While the above might be slightly above the expertise of the chefs, I can’t imagine that making a homemade hamburger is above anyone’s skill level. At the very least, cook your frozen premade patties all the way through. No one is fooled by the “homemade” label- they have the compression marks from the factory still...

We had a group of 8 people and sat outside for a late lunch. The waitress was friendly and took our order fairly promptly. However, when bringing our food she spilled my wife’s meal on the outside cement floor. Everyone else got their meal. The waitress promised that they would bring her another meal. Of course, everyone else in our party began eating. About 15 min later she brought out another burger. This burger was cooked rare and was not edible for my wife. Again, we sent this burger back. By this time most everyone in our party had finished eating. Obviously, she was hungry after watching everyone else eat and wanted her food. By the time she got her food, it was at least 35-40 minutes after everyone else had eaten. What a ridiculous situation! One would think that at a minimum the Cracked Pillar would offer to take her meal charge off our ticket to compensate us for this fiasco. Instead when I questioned our waitress about it, she started arguing with me about it. Stating, “well she ate her food!” Seriously, did she expect her not to eat it?? What a seriously ridiculous statement! If she would have consulted her manager and just taken the charge off (only $10), she would have received at tip from an 8 top and made a customer for life. If her manager would not let her take off the meal at a minimum they could have offered something else as compensation for terrible service. If the manager would not let them take off her meal charge, this place has a lot bigger problems. Obviously, this place has issues and we’ll certainly never be back. A 1 is...