Abbey Road Tavern & Grill — Restaurant in Cary

This had to be the worst Abbey Road Grill experience ever. I doubt if we go back again because of it & we were regular customers.

It started with waiting longer than what is normal (10 mins) for our waitress to acknowledge & take our drink order, we decided then to place our food order since we thought she wouldn't be back. 😬 our hunch was good.

The set up: this was after 1pm, still some lunch ppl but not busy it was Saturday. Normally the bar is full of patrons there was only one guy.

Food took about 20 mins to get to us, my husband ordered medium tenders, he got hot, which was significant & went thru his iced tea rapidly, no refills were coming, our gal was too busy covering tables on the other side of the restaurant, then she got tasked to serve tables outside, again, busy. I ended up going to the bar and asking for a glass of water. Waitress saw me there, didn't acknowledge it. Bartender was very nice.

People started coming in and they were told to seat themselves, which is normal, except the tables were dirty, a few couples waited at the bar so someone could clean up. On it went, we saw our server again when she plopped the bill down, rushed off,, never asked how things were, she was checked out. Whew.

All this to say, we've been Saturday lunch regulars at ARG for YEARS. I know there is a staffing shortage, it was evident on this Day; we've been slowly coming back out since the pandemic, & after getting fully vax'd, this was our first visit back to Abbey Road since lock-downs last yr. I noted that we hadn't seen any of the regular staff we remember so that tells alot. In the time/over an hour we were there, we got to look at an unbussed table with a $5 bill left as a tip, sit uncleaned, we left and it was still not bussed.

Meal was so-so, not like the norm, it was sad to see how far this place has fallen. Hope they can find more staff & get back to what it was, a great neighborhood spot with good food and drinks & great service. Sadly they have fallen. I'd give a zero star but they make you...

EDIT AFTER OWNER RESPONSE Re: owner response - your manager confirmed the menu did not include a credit card disclosure and that no signage was posted on the August night we visited. The itemized receipt did not include fee disclosure, only the final receipt. The waitress argued with us about the fries as a side order, wanted to charge us and only brought the fries with no charge after we insisted. Other customers have complained about the credit card fee. After the pandemic, when many businesses went cashless and folks now carry less cash as a result, it seems discriminatory to penalize credit card customers when payment processing is a cost of doing business. Your practice of passing on your fees seems to irritate many customers based on reviews here. There are a lot of new restaurants in Cary these days, recommend you evaluate your process, portion size and quality to stay competitive*

3% Credit Card Fee added to the bill. We insisted the manager remove it since this fee is not disclosed anywhere on the menu or door signage. Payment processing is a cost of doing business, many establishments are cashless these days and it only irritates your customers to be nickel and dimed with passing on your fees on top of 20-30% food price increases. Fish and Chips meal - fish was old, tasteless and rubbery. Meal served with 3 hushpuppies on the side, no sign of fries. Had to argue with the waitress that the "chips" in "Fish and Chips" means French Fries - she finally brought some at no charge. Burger prices have gone way up while portions have gone down. Best part of the meal was the cold beer. I've had better (and cheaper) burgers at Five Guys. We...

Arrived around dinner time (not late). Ugh. We won't be going back, ever. My girlfriend and I planned on enjoying one of these "famous" burgers after she had a long day of working. She was dressed very professionally and I'll be honest - looked amazing. It wasn't 30 seconds after sitting down at the bar that she was immediately approached and gawked at by the locals (with me sitting next to her!!!). It was terrible, and they just kept saying rude and inappropriate things to her. The wait staff and bartenders obviously don't care that their locals are running off new business because they let it continue. Eventually we ordered a drink and a burger - I ordered mine Medium-Rare, but it came out well-done. Terrible. I asked the bartender if she put it in as MR, and she did, and offered to make another but by that time we just wanted to escape. She did take $3 off my bill though without asking.... yay?

The whole time we were there two things happened:

1. Locals approached my girlfriend and kept saying inappropriate things, or staring her down across the room the whole time. Or, they were yelling F-bombs across the bar.
2. Locals looked at me like, "you don't belong here, why are you here".

And they wonder why they keep declining and business is going to crap????

We had our 1 drink, ate our meals, and were out of there as quickly as possible. Don't go here if you're female and expect to escape the local riff-raff.

I recommended Woody's Sports Tavern as a good alternative to this place. Good burgers, and the staff there doesn't let the locals accost your...