Story Tavern — Restaurant in Burbank

Sadly, one of the worst dining experiences I have had in quite a while. I ordered the fried chicken sandwich. It was not edible. There was almost no actual chicken, the breading was thick and chewy and the first place in the sandwich I tried to bite I couldn't even bite through. I sent it back and asked for the spicy grilled chicken instead. This was edible, but far from good. There was little to no spice. I ended up having to pull the sandwich apart to remove a big chunk of fat/skin that I couldn't bite through. The server never even bothered to ask if the replacement sandwich was okay. Another person in our group ordered the fried chicken sandwich as well. When he went to send his back, the server actually argued with him about if the sandwich was okay or not. Went here because of the solid reviews, evidently people are getting different food/service than we received. Definitely will not be back.

Just to follow up on the points raised in Story's response. It is correct we did not make reservations, but the place was almost empty. There was one person at the bar, a family of four, and a group of about 6 people. In addition, there was no complaint about the slowness of the service so this seems irrelevant anyways. Being short-staffed shouldn't cause the food to be inedible.

I don't think any restaurant charges for food that is sent back for lack of quality after a single bite, so I don't view that as a big win for them. No one asked for an exception to the large party tip for us. I left almost a 20% tip even when the food was horrible and the service was substandard, so I don't feel any great injustice was done by not getting the standard tip rate. Had this standard rate been applied, I likely would have sent the second dish back too as it was also very poor quality. Keep in mind the first sandwich, which comes with no sides, was $17 and the second, also no sides, was $15. It isn't as if the prices are reflective of a low quality sandwich.

For those that have made it this far, I encourage you to read the reviews on Yelp as well as there are more there. You'll quickly see this is not just one person griping, my observations are quite common among people that visit...

This was my first time coming here, and I've heard nothing but good things, however I feel today might've been an off-day for them. There were two big issues that stood out to me.

First, while we were waiting for our food, the waiter was yelling at the large party next to us because some people wanted to wait on ordering and he was being very loud and kinda harsh about not wanting to have to run back to the kitchen every 20 minutes for their food.

The other incident was when I ordered. I ordered something straight off of the menu with no substitutions. When the server brought the food out, he was mentioning how he brought a version without one of the items on it. I told him I ordered the version straight off of the menu with no substitutions and he took it back. Meanwhile, the rest of the party was eating, and I was waiting for my food. He finally came back and gave me the food saying he confirmed with the waiter that's what I ordered and that I requested said item removed from the food. He was a little aggressive about it and seemed very annoyed.

Anyways, no big deal. I agreed to eat it because I've worked in customer service before. I took a bite and immediately had the item the server said was not on it in my mouth. Basically, there was no communication between the server and the waiter and it caused a lot of confusion between everyone and it seemed the waiter's and server's tensions were high throughout all of this despite the restaurant being near empty.

It was no big deal, and I understand having an off day, however yelling at customers, not checking the food when you bring it to a table, and telling a guest that they are incorrect about what they ordered is pretty rude, especially when your restaurant isn't having a rush.

Anyways, I'm a little bummed this was my experience here because it seemed like such a cool place. I hope they adjust what...

Discovered Story Tavern, or I should say the Rumpus Room this past Monday night while out for a walk. The main tavern closes early for a pub, 9:30pm but it's Burbank. The Rumpus Room stays open until 10:30 and has a full bar. It's the game room annex to Story Tavern. What a find! Monday night's are quiet. I found some guys playing darts. 2 guys playing ping pong like their lives depended on it. I sat at the bar and ordered a pint of Guinness. Brian the bartender is a Hell of a nice guy. He noticed I was having trouble picking up my pint (bum shoulder & 3 fingers) and asked if I'd like a straw. First bartender EVER that considerate and cool. At last call he asked if I wanted another pint on my tab, I did. A while later I got my new pint with a fresh straw, "You want a third? I haven't cashed out yet." Three is my limit on Guinness when I'm walking. So I had one. This is a fun place. Brian is cool. Excellent conversation. Alex another employee is also great! The guys in the main tavern were really friendly and polite. It's Saturday. I'm going back tonight. Rumor has it there's live Irish music on Saturday night. Im taking my oldest daughter. We're going to...