Alley Burger — Restaurant in Columbus

We chose to eat here before a secondary event because the website looked like it was a great atmosphere with delicious looking food! Our reservation was for 6:30 pm, giving us two hours before we had to leave to be on time for our next event. The last two of our party of eight arrived just before 7 pm, as parking is difficult since it's downtown and actually in an alley.

Initially, we were put at a table that would have sat six comfortably, but let the staff know there was no way we would all fit at this table. They moved us to a table that actually sits eight people. The waitress asked if we needed menus, and we did. She brought us menus and took our drink orders relatively quickly. This is where the speed ended. Drinks came out super slow, and many in our group had finished their drinks before the rest of our table had one. We placed our food order around 7:15ish. We ordered eight burgers, three orders of alley fries to split, and two appetizers. We were surprised when the appetizers and one order of alley fries came out at the same time. The waitress had called the fries the wrong name, so the wrong person took them. After eating a few of them, she then realized they were not hers. It's fine, we're all friends. The other fries and burgers started trickling out of the kitchen... I mean trickling. The burgers were coming out two or three at a time with probably a 10-15 minute gap in between. Two of our group had ordered the Cowboy burger, but one had made a request to make it less spicy. Well, when it came out, there was no indication it was the less spicy one, so our spicy orderer took it. After a few bites, she knew it was meant for our other table member. Again, we're friends, but it was now the second time. I'd like to be able to rate the food, but my burger (one of the last) came out at 8:30 pm in a to-go box (since we told the waitress we had to leave at 8:30 pm). By that point, I had completely lost my appetite from frustration. I ended up refusing it since the activity we were doing after involved running around. I also didn't want to have to eat my food on the way to the event in the car. The few Cherry Alley fries I had were delicious and Sideline Sipper was good.

A few other notes from our experience: There were two groups in the resturant when we got there that had already had food before we ordered, so it was not busy. During our "meal," there were two other sets of two that came into the restaurant and got their food and drinks before we did. The full order of Alley Fries came out at the same size as the half order. We asked for refills on water multiple times. When we asked for silverware (since we were sharing the Alley Fries), they came out after we had basically eaten them all, and it was a mix of metal and plastic silverware. My $14 drink also came in a plastic cup which I found a bit odd for a downtown restaurant before 9 pm. There was 18% gratuity already added to the receipt.

Here are my takeaways: If you don't have a timeline and can spend at least two hours waiting for your meal, then you may be ok here. Depending on the size of your group, there may be some that are completely finished before others even have their food. If you're eating here before another event happening the same day, good luck making it to your second event on time. Double check if gratuity has already been added to your receipt before adding a tip. The interior is really cool, and what I hear from the rest in my group, the food was also pretty good. I won't be giving this place a second try as it was just a horrible experience for our group. At least we got a good "remember when"...

Get ready… 🥴 At first glance it’s a cute restaurant/bar. The art work was definitely a nice touch.. service -0! I love to support my people but they’ve got to do better all around. The waitress was TRYING we seen her moving around. She seemed to be over worked because she’d disappear and come back after a LONG time like 20-30 mins. It would even take that long get our drinks after our first interaction with her. The bar seemed under staffed as well because it took even longer for us to get our drinks! The food took way too long! My fried pickles were soggy not creepy at all. I had to send it back I could not eat no soggy pickles.. that ruined the whole food experience for me. I decided to not even order anything because the cook obviously did not care enough about how the food turned out to service me soggy fried pickles. Very disappointing! My friend ordered some type of loaded fries. She said they were OK and another friend said that they were too greasy. I could tell that the grease needs to be changed. my other friend ordered some mac & cheese when she first sat down and we didn’t get it for like an hour and a half later the waitress came back with an excuse saying that the noodles were taking a little long to cook, but we just felt like she forgot to put the mac & cheese order in. We kept seeing people get served their food or drinks before us but we had ordered long before them. It was Wednesday R&B nights. The music definitely was not it for me. I was highly upset about it. They had a couple people perform a song or two. They were fairly decent Artist. The female who was on the mic majority of the night singing. She has some vocals she was doing what needed to be done. There was another side of the restaurant bar that offered bottle service like a section in the club. There were guys throwing money on the girl who was singing she did not seem to like it, and they were throwing money on one of the birthday girls who was dancing for them lol. It was cringing to watch to say the least also not sanitary in a restaurant environment. We noticed the owner there immediately and he seem to be going up to everyone that he knew and speaking to them however, I feel like he needs to learn to make connections with everyone and speak to everyone who does business in his establishment. Any black owned place that I go to the owner is very friendly with everyone not just people they know except here 😕. The doorman was very friendly and welcoming. They also had hookah and an artist there selling his artwork. Basically, it’s a hood restaurant/bar (heavy on the bar) in the heart of downtown. We spent $85+ person not to mention we drink 1942 so yea we expected this place to be on point! A shot alone here was $45 & for this type of service and establishment we were highly disappointed. It’s...

We must have gone on a night that they had the junior varsity team playing. Not sure where the 5 star reviews are coming from, but definitely not the experience we had.

The drinks were given to us in some small plastic cup that they must have gotten from a failed frat house. My wife's drink looked like they didn't use all the alcohol or someone took a big sip before brining it out to her.

The food started to come out 20 mins after our order. I guess that's not too bad, except it was just ONE of the three side fries that we ordered. I would recommend that Alley Burger do some more training or maybe some pictures with the name of the type of fries in the kitchen so they know what they are brining us. They brought us the ONE fries and called it by another name (thus giving it to the wrong person). I guess we could have kept a menu so we could have compared the toppings on the fries, but that's what we get for believing the staff knew what they were doing....

15 mins after that, the burgers started to come out. Well, three of the 8 came out. The waitress dropped off the 3 burgers and went back (which I was assuming to get the other burgers), however she didn't come back for another 15 mins! Maybe the table had a weight limit that only 3 burgers could be on the table so they had to wait until those people ate their burgers before brining the next ones..... Or maybe the grill could only fit 3 burgers at a time..... Who knows.... I don't.... Seems like they didn't either.....

We had somewhere else to be at 9:00, so we figured when we ordered at 7:30 that would give them 30 mins to make it and an hour for us to eat (or at least an hour for them to make it and 30 mins for us to eat). The last burgers did not get to the table until 8:25 and we had to leave at 8:30 to make it to our next spot. I am a little impressed that it took 55 mins to cook one burger. If someone is getting paid by the hour, they got it figured out!

We had to ask for the checks at 8:15 since we had to leave. That entire time I wondered how this place is sill in business with with the pathetic drinks and slow services. I found my answer at the bottom of the bill with an 18% gratuity already added. This place didn't even deserve $0.18! There wasn't any time to discuss the gratuity with the staff, so we just had to pay the bill to make it to our next spot on time. I guess I do have to give credit where credit is due thought. They definitely were able to take advantage of us and profit!

All and all, I would say this is the worst dining experience I have ever had, but I did have a date throw up on a table once, so there is that.....

Best of luck to you if you decide...