Tavern On the Lock — Restaurant in City of Fulton

Went here for Mother's Day 2022 To start, their service was terrible and not organized. No one greated you, or even bothered to walk you over to your table. you were to just go in and sit wherever you wanted eventhough I called a week in advance to make reservations. Severely understaffed as the bar tender was also clearing tables plus making drinks for guests who were dining at the restaurant. Not sure why they did not have a much better set up. Now lets get to the food.....So they offered a Mother's Day brunch buffet..... The set up of everything from the room to the food was all consistent to that of a VFW or nursing home type of setup. They clearly were trying to maximize profits by providing what had to be the cheapest food you could find. Which wasn't even cooked properly. Green beans were over cooked and wilted, they offered mashed potatoes (zero flavor, not even salt) the meatballs had no flavor just masked by the smothering of the institutional gravy it was drowning in, their carving station was a joke, had some kid carving overly fatty what he claimed to be prime rib. That was NOT prime rib, I wouldn't have fed that to my dog.Their dessert table was arranged with frozen cupcakes with the cheapest frosting.. my children were joking about how they could literally take the entire top of the cupcake frosting off without eating it off. That's how hard it was. The pie was gross some chocolate mousse frozen pie with no flavor even the apple pie was terrible. Then to top everything off... no one mentioned drinks were not included, we didn't even order special drinks or anything with alcohol it was Lemonade and ice waters. no idea gratuity was included, or the fact that if you didn't pay with cash there was an almost $7 "non cash convience fee was added to the bill. Which again NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT THIS. Very unprofessional. Our waitress's name was put on the bill yet she only brought napkins, it was the bar tender who brought our drinks... anyways will not be returning EVER!! I have no idea where these positive reviews came from, they must have been paid, if not, these people have NO IDEA what real or good...

I wish I could give two and a half stars to this restaurant. The atmosphere of the restaurant is stuck in the early 1980s with dark lighting and music from the 1970s. The carpets were not clean and flies continually dive bombed us as we sat and throughout our meal.

The waitress was polite and did her job with a basic level of aptitude and courtesy. She refilled our drinks and was pleasant. My dad ordered a burger with regular fries and I ordered the "vegan" burger because I am vegetarian. I asked the waitress what the vegan burger consisted of and she seemed flummoxed. She did not know and could not tell me. I took my chances anyway and ordered it with waffle fries which was a two dollar upcharge on the already $11.99 burger. I also ordered a side order of Utica greens to go with the meal because I love them when they are done right.

The waitress brought us warm bread while we waited which was good but not anything special. When our meals arrived my dad's burger was very sloppy and the fries were undercooked. My "vegan" burger was a cheap veggie patty you could get frozen at Walmart ten for two dollars. It was underwhelming to say the least and not worth what I paid for it. The waffle fries were crisp and well cooked. The Utica greens were the best part of the meal, served with some kind of toasted cheese bread sticks and baked parmesan on top. The greens were a little spicy and well cooked. My dad seemed to enjoy his burger but didn't eat the fries because he said some were cold in the middle. Overall I would not eat here again. The food was not good and not a good value. The restaurant is not clean and may have issues with cleanliness in the kitchen. My dad actually had some diarrhea about an hour after eating which is not normal for him, so I'm guessing that tracks with what we saw. The only part of the experience which was minimally acceptable was...

Let me begin with, I’ve gone to Tavern on the Lock hundreds of times and likely have spent thousands of dollars at this facility and have usually enjoyed the food and atmosphere there.

Fast forward to last night...

My fiancé and I went to Tavern at 8pm last night and wanted to enjoy the outdoor dining and have a drink or two. We were stopped at the door by the worst possible hostess I’ve ever encountered. We were told that we could not sit outside because there was no room (now we could clearly see many open tables and room at the outdoor bar when we pulled in, but that’s besides the point) Understandably we offered to wait until there was room. We then were told that we’ll you won’t even get any silverware if you do find a spot (whatever that means, I have no idea). We were never offered a wait time or honestly at that point we would have just sat inside, but again the offer was never even made from the hostess to sit inside. So basically we were turned away from this establishment on a Saturday night. I understand that businesses are busy on nice weekend nights, especially outdoor facilities and that’s not what bothered us. The complete lack of care from the employees was dumbfounding and I have never in my entire life been turned away from an establishment. There are facilities in NYC with lines around the block and they don’t turn away their customers at the door, so how can a restaurant in the small town of Fulton be too busy to entertain a customer.

Sorry Tavern, you have been blacklisted by the Torrese family due to your employees lack of training, respect and...