The House — Restaurant in Durham

We went to this very fine establishment last evening. I loved how CLEAN it was, the accommodating staff, and the spaciousness of the building, allowing for proper social distancing. I am on crutches and use a wheelchair. My only observation is that lighting is desperately needed for the handicapped ramp area. When we left the restaurant, it was completely dark, and so was the ramp area.

When we arrived in the main bar, all of the tables had high bar stools. We were directed to an additional area, where we were able to be seated with regular chairs and my wheelchair. I'd like to acknowledge the Bar manager, Janell and her Bartender, Davaja, for being SO amazing and accommodating!!! They provided REALLY outstanding service! Janell made sure to tell us about events happening during the week, daily specials and Happy Hour specials. We were even able to find out that The House can be used for events as a venue. She's GREAT for their marketing!

It was Happy Hour when we arrived, so we ordered drinks after talking with Janell and Davaja's suggestions. I had her delicious Long Island Iced Tea, and my Sister had something custom crafted that she said was scrumptious, it was a fruit juice concoction with vodka, that she loved! The ratio of alcohol to mixer was appropriate, and I had also requested light ice. Davaja is a really good Bartender too. She was very attentive, and so was other staff members, but I didn't get their names unfortunately. We just appreciated that they stopped to ask if we were okay, or if we needed anything. Customer service is amazing at The House and is NOT lacking like at so many other bar/ restaurants!

For our dinner, I ordered their House salad, Parmesan Garlic wings, and Sweet potato fries. My Sister ordered a appetizer, the Sampler, which comes with 3 wings (she chose Honey Barbecue flavor), 2 potato skins, 2 chicken tenders, and 3 mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce, her entree was a Club sandwich with a side, she picked their House salad as well. The dressings we picked were Ranch, Bleu cheese and Raspberry Vinaigrette. All are supposed to be made in house. The kitchen didn't have the ingredients they needed for the Raspberry Vinaigrette, so we just had the other two. The Ranch was tasty, albeit a bit thinner than I like. I don't think I received any Bleu cheese dressing, because I didn't have any chunks of the cheese in the dressing, but it was still delicious. My order of wings were fried a little too hard for my liking, and usually are tossed in a Parmesan butter sauce for this recipe, but not here. Here the wings are just dusted with the cheese. My Sweet potato fries were excellent and so was the House salad. All of the ingredients were chopped nicely, and my request for Romaine lettuce instead of Iceberg was honored. Despite a few exceptions, the ambience, customer service and my Sister's company made my first visit to The House so AWESOME. I'm glad that I went with her recommendation to eat here!

Overall, it was an EXCEPTIONAL dining experience, and I will be going back, because their prices are really reasonable, and the food choices were decent for a...

The food here was fabulous the last time we went. So when I needed to eat following a medical appt, I wanted to go back. We ordered, and everything was delicious. Server was attentive. Atmosphere average for a tavern/pub style place. However, we got STICKER SHOCK when we got the bill!

The menu listed loaded cheese fries as $8, and Philly egg rolls at $10. There was NO MENTION of an upcharge for sweet potato fries under the burger heading. And extra wing sauces were listed at .25 each. When we got the bill, the fries were $10. The sweet potato fries were $3 which made the burger price $1 something more than listed on the menu, egg rolls were $10.75, and extra dressings were .50 each. AND there is a $2.31 charge to pay by card which we were unaware of. When we pointed out the differences, because this made our total $8.81 more than we were expecting (and we are on a tight budget), we were met with nonchalance. “Oh yeah, some of the price are different than on the menu. This code shows the updated version.” Ok, I get that prices change. But no one told us about the new prices OR that we should scan the code. Not the nice man who seated us OR the otherwise sweet and attentive server. No one said “just so you know, prices aren’t accurate on the physical menu, it’s best to scan the code.” And NO ONE mentioned we would be charged MORE for using a card.

I get it. Prices change, but it is on the business to update all menus. It is on the staff to ensure customers are AWARE of what they will actually be paying. To not do so is slimy practice. Charging customers the credit card fee without telling them prior to them ordering is equally shady given that so few people carry cash in 2025.

The worst part of it all though, was we were not even offered an APOLOGY for the inconvenience. LUCKILY, we had the extra $9 by taking it out of our budget elsewhere, but WHAT IF WE HADN’T? No one told us the prices were different and we ordered based on the pricing we saw. No one told us we would be charged a fee to pay by card. And when we mentioned this, we were met with “yeah the updated pricing is available on the code.” Not an “I’m sorry about that.” Not an offer to make the situation right. Nothing but nonchalance.

So yeah. Food is EXCELLENT. Service is attentive and staff is friendly. But they won’t tell you important information which will lead to sticker shock, then they won’t apologize or make it right. Makes me hesitant to want to go back no matter how good...

I usually enjoy myself at this establishment, but this specific night made me never want to go back. I had just gotten my food when my friend told me I needed to check on my car because hers got towed. So I immediately went to ask the ladies at the front if I could go out and come back in without being charged again and her response was “you just want to put your food in your car”. So I proceeded to tell her what I was told and she insisted that cars don’t get towed where I parked because they have a “partnership” with the place next door. The lady at the front desk assured me my car wouldn’t get towed and then said SHE would PAY FOR IT if it did. I foolishly believed her and I waited until I was ready to leave (about 15 minutes later). Just as I felt was going to happen my car was towed. When I went back in to talk to that same lady she went back and forth with me saying there was no way my car was towed and that she “wasn’t giving me shit”. I left out angry and ran into the owner and began telling him exactly what happened and asked who was going to help me and he proceeded to say “no one in this establishment”. I was just so taken aback by the lack of empathy and customer service. How are you the employee going to say something like that and then try to get an attitude when I come back wanting the help that was offered. And then the owner shrugging it off like it was no big deal. Just absolutely ridiculous. Aside from that I enjoyed my night the drinks were good, food was good, and the bartenders were so sweet. But I just can’t go back there off principle. If your going there don’t park next door or listen to the ladies in the front because they make false promises and the owner won’t...