The Grove — Restaurant in City of Binghamton

What an awful business. I plan on hopefully bringing attention to this on social media. On Monday June 17th, I had a stalker following my boyfriend and I around downtown that I hadn't seen in years. Patrons from the grove saw in the window that we were being harassed outside. After hiding in a different building and being followed, I came to The Grove since it's somewhere that I've eaten before. I asked the hostess if we could sit for a while and immediately told her what was happening. A minute later as I was describing the car to her, the car pulled around slowly and I asked to leave through their back entrance. She said it would be fine and she'd just have to tell a kitchen manager. She went to them and he refused, not explaining why. I told him how bad the situation was and he refused to aid us. Afterwards, we hid in the bathroom and I called the police because I didn't know what else to do. The police arrived quickly and we tried to sit down to talk. The only 2 patrons in the bar corroborated the story and offered help. However, the kitchen manager kicked us out. My boyfriend explained how bad the situation was again and the manager showed no compassion, telling us to get out because "they're a Latino owned business" (I'm part Venezuelan btw, not that it matters) and our situation was bad for their business. God forbid that this man had a weapon (he does have legal open carry, rare in NY) and followed us into the Grove the way he did so in the other buildings prior. We could've been dead. He would rather our location be known to the stalker and risk us getting hurt than to help us by simply letting us out of the back door or even chat with the police about how to get home safely without being seen outside. It certainly didn't help that after being kicked out, one of the officers was completely clueless on what to do. And at no point in time did this manager ask if we were okay or needed anything. He wanted us out. I used to be a patron of The Grove, but at this point no longer. I don't think I can ever walk back in there. The behavior of the manager at this restaurant was more shocking than everyone's behavior that...

We chose The Grove because our first choice for dining in Binghamton, the Lost Dog Cafe, is closed on Mondays. The place is cute from the outside and the menu looked good. The staff was friendly and the restaurant was clean.

The Buffalo wings were delicious. Sauce was just the right level of spicy and they were meaty and cooked well. My mojito was also excellent. However, the rest of our meal was disappointing. My aunt ordered a burger with a salad on the side. She was not asked how she wanted it cooked, and they brought it a bit overdone. They served it with fries instead of the salad she ordered. The waitress said there were "some new guys in the kitchen" and that probably explained the mistake. She did bring out a salad for her but it took a hot minute. The waitress brought out the beer she ordered in the bottle. My aunt had to ask for a glass for it.

I ordered the Sunset Salad with salmon and balsamic vinaigrette. The vegetables were grilled, not raw as one would expect in a salad, which the menu did not indicate. I just shrugged that off. The salmon seemed to have been deep-fried rather than grilled and was a bit overcooked. At first I thought the salad had been served with no dressing, because I couldn't taste any. The waitress said they probably just had not put a lot on. She brought me more on the side. It was basically two tablespoons of oil, which I didn't realize until I dumped it on my salad, which was then swimming in oil. There was not enough balsamic vinegar in it to even taste a little. I suspect it was not mixed together (perhaps due to "new guys in the kitchen"). When my aunt received her salad, on which she had also ordered balsamic vinaigrette, it was the same. So then I asked for just vinegar, and she brought us four little cups, two with oil and two with white vinegar and we poured the vinegar on our salads. It was ok but...

Came for the first time on a Thursday night around 7pm. Averagely busy, greeted and seated quickly. First impressions were decor was good, could get a LOT more tables in if they wanted to and the table for two that we sat on was painfully small for two people. Note - No drinks on tap, cans and bottles only. Not entirely sure of the vibe they are trying to create, there are Fajitas and Quesadillas on the menu and they do a Tuesday special of $10 Fajitas but we were brought Salsa and chips after ordering, which let me be clear, I am not complaining about I just thought it was a little random. Wings you probably get 12 for $11 but they are small, think standard sized wing and half it. Chicken sandwich was fresh, good size and a solid portion of fries. I thought for 2 drinks, wings and 2 chicken sandwiches $46 was more than reasonable.

There were 2 people working and towards 7:30/8 it started to get a little busier and they were a little rushed off their feet. Few things to note they could improve on - Table size, I don't want to be thinking about where I can move things to make it easy for me to eat. Hot Sauce - Asked for a side of hot sauce and expected it to be the same as what was on the wings, was given tabasco. Cheese - Not a big fan of cheese, didn't ask for it but came on the sandwich. Salsa - Asked for more Salsa so could finish off the rest of the chips with, it finally came but when it did the chips were gone, was said were going to be brought more chips but never came.

Solid food, reasonably priced,...