Old Town Grille — Restaurant in Childersburg

I just ate here today. Was on my own doing some errands in the area. Though I live just in the next town over and have traveled through Childersburg a lot on Hwy 280, I never knew this restaurant existed as it is sort of hidden behind a few other buildings next to the highway. I only noticed it for the first time today when I stopped to check out the antique mall next to it. It looked very inviting. Later, coming out of the mall, the smell of that grilled food coming from the restaurant drew me over and I made up my mind to each lunch there instead of fast food, and I was ready for some great food judging by how it smelled. The food was not a problem for me. The burger was tasty. The waitress was sweet. My problem was the welcome and then when I left. When I entered the restaurant, having not ever been there before, I took a cautious look around at the inside from the door. I saw there was no waiting, though there were several customers there, but a big sign is there saying "Please wait to be seated." No one was at the podium behind the sign. I came on in and stopped to wait. Across from there is a service bar, and two girls who work there (neither of them being the waitress who served me later) were standing behind it, backs to the wall with their arms crossed and staring at me like I was some oddball. No smiles at all or other emotions at all, just awkward staring. After a few moments of awkward silence, one of them finally called out "Are you getting take out?" I said "No, I'll be eating here." She shook her head with slight irritation, came around the corner from back there, got a bit closer (I guess she didn't hear me from back there near the noisy kitchen) and asked again "Are you getting take out?" I said again "No, I am eating in." She rolled her eyes, shook her head as she turned and snatched up a menu then walked away. I assumed she was seating me, so I followed. Halfway to the table she was taking me to, she finally glanced back to say "This way." I sat down in bewilderment as she disappeared, and I tell you that I have never felt so awkward. I felt like I'd done something wrong by coming in and waiting to be seated.

At the end of the meal, I went to check, and same girl came to the register. Never made eye contact with me. Asked me "How was it" without looking at me, no emotion at all in her expression. I answered he that the food was good. She slapped the ticket down for me to sign, took it back when I was done, still never making any contact but muttered have a nice day.

This is really awkward especially for a first time customer. When someone comes in the door to your place of business and you know there is a sign there with "Please wait to be seated," it should be fairly obvious that the person is going to stop and wait, and you need to come up to them with a menu, greet them and then maybe ask "Dining in with us?" if you need to make sure. This is such a shame because the food was not bad, though I did wait twenty minutes for my burger and fries, and the restaurant was only half filled with customers at the time. I wanted to recommend my family come check it out, but that experience when I first arrived was just weird and left a bad taste in my mouth (again, no fault on my food whatsoever). First impressions are everything, so the way you treat a customer when they first walk in the door is really important as it really sets the tone for the rest of...

7/12/2016. I have eaten in the resturaunt many times over a 2 year period & I always order the same thing. I have never had a bad experience while dinning in. However, their take out service & quality of the food is very poor. My order was wrong again tonite. I don't know why I have ordered pick up again after 4 failed attempts. I called to talk to the manager to explain wats going on when we order pick up. The girl that answered the phone was very sweet and was listening to me very politley. She asked me to hold and I assumed she passed my call to a manager. I got very detailed and was asking for answers assuming I was speaking to a, manager. I was asked to hold again and was told to speak to the girl who placed, my order. So, she answered and I asked her who I was speaking to before her and I realized I was not talking with a manager or owner. I asked to speak to a manager because this is an issue for them, not a waitress, hostess or someone whom you place your order with. She told me there was NO boss there!!! How can a restaurant run correctly without a boss manager or owner on site? I read in another comment where a customer had bad service and the owners reply was if it happened again to please ask to speak to a owner because there is always one there .. Not tonite for us. I'm mad, frustrated, and...

Not sure what happened to my first review but will try again. We have eaten here on and off for the last 4-5 years, it had always been good until the last two times. Time before last my husband ordered the spaghetti and sauce and it was served lukewarm. I had to leave the table and hunt down a waitress to get this addressed. Their addressing was to take it to the kitchen and throw it in a microwave. I would think considering half their menu is Italian that they would keep menu items hot and ready to be served, meaning not throwing it in a microwave. That was just not acceptable, he could have ate that at home if he wanted reheated food.

The second visit this past weekend it ended up being my steak dinner. The waitress failed to look at my baked potato and notice it was rotten(it was very obvious) in the middle before serving it. I had to send it back and it took so long to get another my steak was almost cold. I also ordered a coke that tasted awful. I think that will be our last visit for a while. On a positive note we ordered the bread sticks with cheese and they were very good, just a bit greasy. The steaks have always had a good taste and always been very good. Not sure what is going on with them or if we were just extremely unlucky the last two visits. Sure hope they get it figured out and...