Flat Branch Pub & Brewing — Restaurant in Columbia Township

Terrible customer service- if you’d like to be accused of stealing less than $23 worth of food- this is the place for you! I stopped on my way to St. Louis to eat lunch with my sister before her final and picking FlatBranch was the worst decision. Took awhile to get our order taken, no worries though, our waitress was a bit busy. Hostess was nice in the meantime. We ordered the spinach dip and chicken strips- pretty simple menu items. It came out and was fine. The issue came when we went to pay. The waitress told us the credit card machine was down and they’d been having issues- she said they were resetting it and it should be just a minute. We waited for 25 minutes and I finally went to the host to ask for our cards back. My sister had a final and we couldn’t continue to wait. They wanted us to wait for them to call IT- why weren’t they called 25 minutes prior when the machine went down??Neither of us had cash, only cards but offered to leave our phone numbers for when the machine started working. The manager told us that was NOT an option and she needed some form of payment to allow us to leave. Well I tried to give you a form of payment 25 minutes ago.. and your machine wasn’t working. So… ?? Mind you- my total was $13.02 and my sister’s was $9.86. All of this over less than $23… She then handed us a piece of receipt paper and told us we had to write our credit card numbers down for her. We told her we did not feel comfortable just writing down our credit card number but would be happy to have them call once their machine was up and working. She told us we were not allowed to leave. She didn’t trust us to pay the $23 total, but expected us to trust her with our card numbers... MAKES TOTAL SENSE. We wrote our phone numbers down and proceeded to head out the door as my sister had to catch her final. I provided my number and once they called would have paid my balance. On the way out we were told “we were stealing” and they would “write down our license plate and call the cops.” I stopped and told them I would actually be more than happy to call the cops to sort this out. I tried to pay and your machine wasn’t working- I will pay once it is. The manager then proceeded to argue with me but told me I did not need to call the police she would call us later to pay. After we left we informed our mom of the situation who did not take lightly to the fact that her daughters were accused of stealing $23. She called and spoke to the manager who then told us she would waive the bill and offered us $20 each in gift cards. She told her to keep her gift cards as neither of us will EVER return to this establishment. So you were unable to take our phone numbers down to have us pay later, accused us of stealing and then decided to cost yourself $60 by offering $40 in gift cards… MAKE IT MAKE SENSE! Be careful being slanderous as it’s likely to cost you a heck of a lot more than $60! !! I also decided to glance at other reviews of this place and the responses from management are wild- blaming an allergic reaction on someone not having a epipen, blasting someone for rating 1 star due to bar service stating “that’s ridiculous,” making excuses left and right for any negativity instead of taking accountability for their actions. YIKES- avoid this place...

On my first visit to this restaurant, my girlfriend and her service animal were treated rudely during our meal. I would like to preface this by mentioning that the food was enjoyable and our waitress was lovely; however, the same cannot be said for the manager. Upon entering, we were questioned without an initial greeting about her service dog’s tasks. My girlfriend is very familiar with ADA policy and has thoroughly researched the rights of her service animal. She recognizes that his question was legal, so she answered truthfully by stating medical alert. He initially claimed that my girlfriend’s service animal was an emotional support animal without support for his suggestions, and although he tried to dig out more information, we were eventually seated. However, upon being seated, he stood next to our table as to ensure my girlfriend’s service animal would lay down — he specially stated she could not be sitting. From my girlfriend’s knowledge, the ADA does not state such a requirement under their policy. Her service animal quickly settled, and he said that he would be making periodic check ups. For the entire meal, her service animal laid down and performed its job well. According to previous reviews, there have been previous issues with service animals within this restaurant. While at times, the patron has been at fault, neither I nor my girlfriend can identity our fault in this situation. Both her and her service animal adhered to ADA policy, and she believes this manager acted against such policy. Perhaps the biggest issue was the manager’s attitude. Also in past reviews, customers have criticized his rude personality. I would have to agree with these reports as in our experience, he was abrasive, ignorant of proper ADA policy, and simply disrespectful. I hope this establishment would take the time to respond to this review in a professional manner as I would maintain that my girlfriend and I conducted ourselves in a proper manner. At the very least, I hope this restaurant is able to admit fault or clarify this manager’s behavior and better understand ADA policy or address this manager’s previous and present...

Food is always great! Great housemade beers as well, also with the option to buy a refillable growler and take some home! The food menu changes for each season --- for example, I love the Bangers 'n Mash, but it is only on the winter menu! They always keep their staple items, like burgers, steak, Paleo platter, most salads, most apps, most pizzas, some seafood, and some pasta! As far as apps go, sometimes we get the buffalo wings (which are AMAZING! Not your typical buffalo, but very, VERY good!), green chile chicken fingers (I get the buffalo wings sauce to dip them, but they have a good selection), chokes and cheese -- cheesy artichoke dip in a large bread bowl with fresh veggies to dip as well - and for just $2 more, you can add chips for dipping, too! BUT.....there is ALWAYS a catch...get there early or send someone to reserve your entire table! They fill up FAST, especially on weekends! I've been told a 2-3 HOUR wait for 2 people! But that tells you the good food and quality service you get here!

And just one more thing...

SAVE ROOM FOR DESSERT!!! We have NEVER strayed from the classic stout brownie sundae...a rich, creamy chocolate brownie, made with stout beer, of course! It's topped with LOCAL (literally a few blocks away on MU Campus) Arbuckle's homemade Tiger Stripe ice cream (you can sub flavors, but I wouldn't 😉), chocolate drizzle, and whipped cream.

TO. DIE. FOR.

And if it does somehow kill you, you will die happy, with a full belly of delicious food! I've been a return customer since they opened, practically --- we lived in Jeff City, but came to Flat Branch to eat fairly regularly! We will continue to be loyal customers...especially to that stout brownie sundae! And I will be the first to admit that I do NOT have a sweet tooth, but now I'm counting the hours until they open and I can get my hands on...