Westover Market Beer Garden — Restaurant in Falls Church

We had an awful experience at the Beer Garden this morning. We ordered a meal for myself, my wife and daughter, and my parents this morning around 1015. At 11am, we asked where our food was and was told that everyone had ordered at the same time and that our food would come out when available. This was difficult to believe as we saw people who ordered after us already receiving our food.

After waiting an hour for our food, we were told that the restaurant was out of two of the five meals that we ordered. Our daughter's meal was eventually brought to us, but after waiting for over 1 hour and 45 minutes we eventually gave up on ever receiving our food. The wait staff was kind enough to take the food that we never received off of our check. But, we were offered a perfunctory "I'm sorry" from one of the bartenders who also told the other bartender that they had expected to have to refund customers for food they never received.

I am extremely disappointed and upset that on a special occasion the Beer Garden was unable to serve its customers. I simply don't understand why this happened or why something wasn't done earlier to address or try to correct the situation. I'm also very disappointed with the casual apology that I received from the bar staff.

If this is the low level of service that the Beer Garden is going to offer, you should explain that to your customers before they order food and drinks, especially on days like...

I rarely write reviews, but after trying this place four times I feel compelled to warn anyone thinking about going here. If you like being ignored and mistreated by inked-up hipsters who know nothing about food or food service, by all means, this is your place. The staff are completely unaware of what's happening on their own patio (including safety issues) and can barely be bothered to look up from their smartphones to offer you service. The "Cubano" sandwich was a soggy mess, dripping with grease and completely unlike the classic Cuban sandwich offered by The Caribbean Grill, for comparison. And this only reminds me of the so-called barbecue here, for which they charge something like $12 a pound. It's also a greasy mess. I've eaten true barbecue all over the South and I've never been served so much fat, gristle, and bits of bone, and never for $12 a pound. If this place wasn't one of the few to have outdoor seating in this area they wouldn't have survived a month. And lest you think I missed the point of a beer garden, I love beer, but all they seem to serve are extra-hoppy IPAs (bored now) and snooty beers I'm supposed to drink from a snifter. No thanks. Do yourself a favor and buy a fire pit for your backyard and some decent beer from Lost Dog and enjoy yourself. Life is too short to spend another minute of it at this...

The reviewers who complain about prices seem to be incapable of understanding that this isn’t a chain supermarket or bar and, therefore, can’t take advantage of a simple concept, available to larger companies with more liquid capital, officially referred to as “economies of scale.” It’s a family owned one-off—anything that doesn’t sell has a huge negative impact on the bottom line, and to make it in high-tax Arlington you have to adjust prices accordingly. These folks do the best they can to find a balance and to maintain diversity of stock. I am old enough and have been in the area long enough to remember the grocery store that preceded this one: limited selection of everything, no bar, and no kitchen. Elk and wild boar meat? Then? GTFO already.

The advent of Westover Market dramatically changed the social scene in the area for the better, and I’m very thankful for this. We locals have a place to gather and be social, all while enjoying good food and drink. Is there a premium for this? Of course there is, as is typically the case for anything of real value. This kind of establishment is a rare and valuable thing. Respect it and patronize it accordingly, or hypocritically bemoan its absence later if it should fail and be replaced by a Starbucks. Don’t wait till then to suddenly realize the value of what you once had—it will...