Mecklenburg Gardens Restaurant — Restaurant in Cincinnati

A five star location and historical building, one star service and management equals a 2 star experience.

Tried to go yesterday for trivia, which was posted online as a 'Last Call Trivia' night starting at 8PM. When we arrived at 7:10, we asked where trivia was going to take place and if we could get a meal beforehand. The host did not know where trivia was going to be, but sat us promptly in the dining room.

This is where the real problems started. It looked like there was only one server for the entire dining room on a Wednesday night. She was busy with 2 large parties, and we were unable to get our food order placed until 7:45 or 7:50. At this point, our other trivia friends had showed up. Since there was no clarity where trivia would be, they sat at our table in the dining room. At one point, our new arrival tried to order something and the server just walked away mid-order. It was clear she was in the weeds and not set up for success by management.

Apparently the confusion over what room the trivia came from was because there was a private event booked until 8PM in the beer hall (normal trivia room). Those people were unceremoniously shepherded out and trivia players were allowed to come in after - no time for clean up. The private party's hot plates were still set up. It was a weird experience to say the least.

To cap it off? Trivia started 30 minute ertised and wasn't a Last Call Trivia night as had been advertised - which is why I went there in the first place!

I've heard good things about this place from FCC supporters who meet there before marching to the stadium - I can't confirm this but I've heard about it. For dinner and trivia? I can't recommend until management puts a plan in place that makes it worthwhile to go here. Such a shame to have to say this about one of Cincinnati's most historic...

I've always wanted to try Mecklenburg Gardens and was looking forward to this dinner. The food was decent and the patio was okay but service was not good. Took a while to get a server and then we had two. The server who claimed us was annoyed about my questions about the beers, which easily could have been avoided if there had been a beer list. The expeditor took our food to the wrong table and left it there. The other table's server removed it from the table and took it back inside and the expeditor returned with the plates a minute later. She tried to give them to another table before we could wave her down. I asked if these were the same plates from the other table and she told me no, that they already had food plated in the back waiting to come out, and the wrongly delivered food had been thrown away. I didn't really believe her because there hadn't really been enough time for that interchange. Regardless, food sitting around pre-plated in a mostly empty restaurant isn't very appealing either (there were four tables seated on the patio and no tables on the inside). The dinners were Lukewarm and the gingerbread gravy on the sauerbraten was congealed. Our server never checked on us until we were almost done with our meals. We sat for quite a while after we were done before the server came to the table and asked if we were waiting for something. We told him the checks. Which eventually came out both mixed up and different pricing than what he had recited to us. He got snotty with us about the correction. I enjoyed the food, although I would have enjoyed it more if it had been hot and I hadn't been worried about it being fingered at another table, but I won't be rushing back...

This is the most disappointing "restaurant" I've been to. To be out of an entire beer menu on a Saturday night is redudant when we were given a full menu. Our "server" didn't greet us for the first 15 minutes we sat down, across from the bar, where the bartender also knew we were siding. After getting us waters and taking our beer order for a .3L, another 15 minutes go by before he returned to us for an order. We had to ask for our beer again, remind him of our requests, which he then assured us he had put though and was just waiting on the bartender. He then ran over to a computer and snapped at the bartender to pour what he thought we ordered while he put the order through for the first time. He brought is the wrong beer in a .5L size. We accepted it as the trouble wasn't worth the wait and we opted to wait to order food. Thankfully we never saw our server again because in the half hour that went by before we had go ask someone else for our check, we would haven't gotten food for what I would estimate would be another hour. This was such an excitement for us, being visitors from out of town and looking for a local favorite to try. The disappointment in the lack of service altogether makes me feel unvalued as a customer but most of all, if the restaurant held any integrity for their supposed "reputation", this issue would have been resolved immediately. It's clearer now, seeing there are posts of two years worth of terrible experiences, and that just screams that the owners and house staff are lazy and unreliable. Take some pride in your work ethic and business. We won't be returning and definitely won't ever recommend to...