The Elbow Room Brookfield — Restaurant in Brookfield

Hey there, I am writing a review for my girlfriend and I's experience tonight at the Elbow Room. We are regulars of the Elbow Room every few weeks and tonight we went to try out the fish fry. I got a smashburger as I usually do but my girlfriend tried the baked cod. Our waitress let us know that the kitchen was backed up which is totally fine and understandable, it's a Friday night and it was busy, that wasn't the issue.

Our table next to us which was a group of 2 as well, was brought food (smashburger and baked cod) and let the food runner know that is not their food, after setting the food down.

Right after that happened, our waitress came to us to let us know our food will be right out. Our food just came out after they ran the smashburger and baked cod back in side. It makes me wonder did they just serve us the food they already set down on another table? I just didn't think it was common practice to still serve that food then.

The smashburger was amazing and always is, but the baked cod was very cold, like ice cold. My girlfriend asked for melted butter and the waitress in training said she will bring some out, but she brought out butter in gold packets that are mean't for Rye bread, not melted butter. No worries I understand that happens but not sure why baked cod is served without butter, but with tartar sauce.

What really didn't sit right was when our server asked how everything was, I let her know I loved the smashburger, but my girlfriend's baked cod was extremely cold when it came out, and had no butter on it at all, even though the menu says marinated in butter.

The waitress continues to say "Would you like to close out?" Basically zero care in regards to us letting her know the cod was extremely cold and wasn't good. I thought that the server could of handled this situation better, especially after letting her know that the cod was cold and the smashburger was wonderful.

My girlfriend and I will still continue to come here for the smashburgers, but I believe the baked cod needs some work as well as the waitress' we had when we let her know our situation about the baked cod. I am leaving this review so that the manager is aware since she had no regard to bring the manager over or even speak to the manager, she just wanted to close out even though it wasn't busy when we left,(9:08pm)

I don't see a name on our receipt but our check number was #201.

Thanks again for...

Loved the old Elbow Room. But now that I have had 3 experiences here I can say I am unimpressed and won't go back. The vibe is good. Employees were friendly. The first time my husband and I stopped before the grand opening and my Riverwest Stein was flat and not cold. Told the bartender we worked down the street and were regulars at the old CC's and he never asked a question or acted like he cared. Second time - went to buy a gift card and took 15+ minutes (bar was empty) and when I asked for a receipt they could not print one. Didn't know how to do it! Today I took my employee in for lunch. She orders a Aperol Spritz and realizes it's not good after she tastes it. The server says, "I thought it might be bad." DAH - they used an old bottle of Prosecco that was flat. Are you kidding me? Trying to sneak a bad drink to the customer? They knew it when they poured it. Prosecco had no bubbles. She brought another drink. We tried the wings - came out luke warm and soggy/fatty skin. Had to ask and wait for ranch. When the wings came out for the appetizer so did her Smashburger. We asked about the lettuce wraps - that came out 10+ minutes later. The lettuce wraps were made with dry chicken, a few strips of cucumber, onions and on the side peanut sauce and a hot sauce. No flavor - no Asian sauce. Tasteless. When we were finishing two employees were sniffing the 1/2 gallon of milk and discussing if it was sour? Yikes - this is probably not something to do at the bar. It's too bad because the Brookfield Village has been dying for an awesome lunch spot - unfortunately...

I sincerely hope to change this review in the future since I don’t enjoy leaving this review on a local business so i pray the feedback is welcomed. My wife and I ordered two salads tonight. We ordered the same salads with different protein and while they’re both the same salads, the ingredients were different as well as the tray/bowls were different, and unfortunately both proteins were well overcooked. For nine extra dollars my wife added steak, which was essentially the toughness of beef jerky while my mahi was also very dry. Both dishes took about 45 - 1 hour, I understand the kitchen is small so that didn’t factor into my review, but I think it’s important for people to know since we were trying to race a rain storm coming. I understand the server was busy but we had a handful of errors that some of which we commented on and others we just let go since we felt bad continuing to correct her. The outside area was big and beautiful and we understand the size of the kitchen is a factor however it was very hard to justify gourmet prices for dive bar quality and service time. It did not feel as if the kitchen can support the menu variety. The burgers looked delicious and the fries were very good, maybe it was off and off night or maybe salads aren’t their specialty. We will be back to give it another try and I am cheering that they redeem themselves and I will happily delete or update...