The Beer Spot & Grill — Restaurant in Fort Lee

Food was ok, but this may have been the most unapologetically terrible service I’ve ever received anywhere! It was almost comical to the point that we were joking about being on a hidden camera show. I couldn’t tell you who the server was as she never introduced herself, but for owner reference, she had long dark hair & wore heavy makeup with harsh, unblended contour lines. Stopped in for a late lunch on Labor Day with a party of 4. All of us have worked in service industry positions before & are understanding of the challenges of working a solo shift if that had been the case, but unclear if it was since she barely engaged with us & it wasn’t busy anyway. There were 2 people finishing up outside on the otherwise empty porch & a few patrons at the bar, so nothing crazy. We also checked with her first to make sure they had service outside or if she’d prefer we order inside, & she seemed annoyed we were even talking to her but told to sit anywhere & she’d bring us menus. Eventually she did, then quickly disappeared inside. When she finally reemerged, we placed an order for 2 beers & 2 flights (which she referred to as “tastings”). She brought everything out a single item at a time at a glacial pace, & both flights were missing items that she had either run out of (or didn’t know the menu as there was a handwritten label in the empty spot on my flight for “poison berry” when I had ordered a boysenberry sour & pointed it out on the menu when she asked me to repeat the order). One of the others was an incorrect item that no one ordered (we just dealt with it rather than wait for her to correct the error since everything was already taking so long), & none of the pours were filled properly— they were all at different levels. When we asked to put in our food order, she disappeared again because she “didn’t have an order pad” (?), & it again came out super slowly, a single item at a time with long waiting periods in between. Towards the end of the meal, she disappeared entirely, & another man who was far more polite & attentive took over for her, clearing our plates and bringing to-go boxes so I hope for the business’s sake he’s more reflective of their typical service style, but yeah… SUCH a bizarre...

I came to this location almost two weeks ago to watch the Giants playoff match vs the Eagles and sat at the bar to the far right. This was my first time coming here post-COVID and chose it over bars in Moonachie or Hoboken where you would have the vociferous Giants fans.

As soon as I arrived, I saw that half of the TV's were set on a gameshow and only the other half were set on the Giants pre-game show. I asked FOUR different waiters/bartenders to change the channel to no avail. A half an hour before kick-off, they changed the TV’s which were showing the game show to a UFC fight. Only a handful of folks were there to watch UFC, where the main event wasn’t going to come on for another 2 hours anyway.

I repeatedly asked the bartenders to change most of the TV’s to the Giants game since the ones that had the football game had an obstructed view and I was repeatedly told “Yes, we’ve already texted or spoke to the manager/owner, but there’s nothing we can do since we don’t have authorization”. I requested to speak to the owner but was told he was “upstairs” and wouldn’t speak with anyone.

This is the first place I’ve been to where meeting an owner or manager was harder than meeting the President. Several other fans kept making the same request and also were getting brushed off. One of the regulars did notice the manager walk through quickly, but obviously he couldn’t be bothered to speak to paying customers.

They had only one speaker in my section where you couldn’t hear anything about the game and was crackling among the large crowd. Pathetic. I left at halftime to go another place in Fort Lee where I could actually see AND hear the game.

No one should be surpised that the place would be packed for the playoff game and they still only had a skeleton crew to handle it. The ladies did the best that they could. The salmon and side dish I had was ok, but I was obviously there to watch the game and hear it, which didn’t happen.

I feel bad for friends whose restaurants suffered during COVID and are doing their best to bring the fans back. This ownership is doing the opposite. There are many other places in the Bergen County area to come watch a football game....

We had long supported this restaurant pre-pandemic. Sadly, we no longer will be. Placed a wings and salad order 3 weeks ago and paid by debit card. Bank charge should have been approx. $30. Instead when bank statement came in it was $90+. Assuming it was a mistake made by the restaurant, my wife and I visited them in person, to be told by Craig (manager) that he would research and get back to us with his findings and correction the following Monday. I then left town for a week. When I came back, my wife informed me she had not heard from Craig. Again, we visited in person. My wife spoke with Craig once more and was told he would get back to us within 2 days. Again, no response. So now I called and spoke with Craig by phone. It was clear that resolving the incorrect charge was not a priority of his and that I was at his mercy to get to it when he felt he had time (never mind the fact that twice we were told he would have done so by now). I want to make clear my reason to no longer patronize this restaurant has nothing to do with the wrong charge. Mistakes happen. I could have even lived with the delay and failure to resolve when Craig said he would. Staffing is down. The decision to not patronize has everything to do with the attitude I got when calling to find out why it hadn’t yet been researched after nearly 3 weeks. So now I need to find another craft beer...