Aviator Brewing Tap House & Kitchen — Restaurant in Fuquay-Varina

Let us start by saying we were always fans of Aviators Tap and Brewhouse, but after tonight, we and our set of 6 friends will not be back. Carol was our waitress and went out of her way to make sure we were taken care of, but was very overwhelmed with a bartender that refused to take tables due to her 20 minutes left of shift and we had to wait 20 minutes for a bartender to do our draft beers. Nachos come out as appetizer, did you forget the toppings? 1 tbsp of cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, 10 cubes of chicken, and 20 black beans no salsa. Ordered 5 Reubens, Buffalo Chicken Wrap, Cobb Salad. All which we have ordered before, and then it falls apart. The Reuben was no longer chipped, but sliced 1/4” thick and like shoe leather. Couldn’t even chew it. Cobb salad, again 6 cubes of chicken, and a sprinkle of cheese with 1 egg and 1/2 an avocado on spring mix lettuce. Not per the menu for sure. The Buffalo chicken wrap came out like a Panini with dry chicken and barely sauced. Oh wait the frozen tater tots were good! Beers were cold, and then the Cherry Limeaid Margarita comes out in a double shot glass. When the re-order went in, my friend was told can she have the glass, they will have to wash it since they don’t have anymore. Ok, we look around and there are 20 patrons total inside? Instead bring me a double in a pint glass? Bartender refused the do a double and demanded the glass or no drink? Really? 20 minutes to get the next one. Please get us the manager. He came over quickly ( did not introduce himself, just said, what’s wrong)? Well 5 Ruebens left on their plates, and showed him the tough meat and he says, “ Nobody liked it”? No we are just not eating out hot food because it is amazing? Open up the can of worms now. His response was I will take them off your bill. 30 minutes later the waitress comes back and asked if he did anything for the food, never told her. She had to go adjust the tickets. We will NOT be back. You lost 3 more families. Our friends have a $100 gift card that they will be using at the BEER store. Take note, SATURDAY night this place is always packed at 6pm, and there is a wait. Not tonight, starting to see why.

*Since the owner responded blaming the pandemic for the overcooked corned beef, the bartender that refused to work the last 20 minutes of her shift, or the Manager who clearly didn’t give a poop, let’s clarify. There were under 20 patrons in the restaurant, and when we left 2 hours later, the outside deck had probably another 20. No lines, no wait, 7pm on Saturday night? We could see the kitchen, 4 in there, Manager expediting (who saw the tougher than shoe leather corned beef), 4 runners and prep people, 6 waitresses, 2 hostesses, 4 bartender, and plenty of staff walking around and standing doing nothing. Yes, I was prepared for your response and I DID count your staff. Have a blessed day. #stopblamingcovid #ownuptoit...

TL;DR - Food and beer is good but, the service is non-existent. Also, don't sit outside unless you really like garbage flies. This was our first and last visit.

The good: Burgers are big, juicy, and flavorful. Good fries, great beers. These are the only things that keep me from giving this place 1 star.

The bad: Service... or the complete lack thereof. I'll provide a timeline of our visit to illustrate:

Walk in the where there's a sign that says "please wait to be seated" halfway shoved back from the door. The only waitstaff visible inside yells "be right with you"... only to never be seen or heard from again. Wait several minutes with multiple waitstaff passing by us repeatedly without acknowledging our presence. Walk outside and ask one of three staff congregating around the POS terminal at the bar if we should just seat ourselves. Told yes and that someone will be with us shortly. (Ha!) Wait 10 minutes at our table without any one of the now four waitstaff hanging out at the bar a mere 12 feet away from us so much as glancing in our direction. Go inside and grab our own menus to figure out what we want. Wait another 15 without being acknowledged, finally give up and just go to the bar to order. Food is at least brought out in a somewhat timely fashion but, is dropped on our table by a surly waitress who doesn't even say two words to us and ignores our request for some water. We eat and drink at a leisurely pace and are ignored until our used dishes are piled up at the end of the table. A waiter that we haven't even seen yet asks if there's anything we need and we finally get our water (40 minutes after the 1st request). We have to go up to the bar again to ask for our check and end up waiting almost another 10 minutes there because they apparently lost our order.

The ugly: Tables not cleared, being "pet-friendly" apparently means having peoples dog bowls with old food/water just sitting where people walk, and garbage flies EVERYWHERE outside. I've been to family gatherings with 3 gallons of potato salad baking in the sun for hours that drew less flies than the patio...

Welcome to the new chef Jonathan things have changed around 100% if you didn’t like it before go back and try it again and ask for chef Jonathan . If you liked it a few months ago you’ll like it even more now. Whether you like to enjoy an evening out under the stars or inside a nostalgic tavern you will enjoy the Aviator Bar and grill which is next to the old train tracks. With strong history and in the quaint part of town in Fuquay, we enjoyed the atmosphere inside and outside where they had entertainment. You could feel the old building floors creek inside where we enjoyed a really amazing dinner prepared by chef Jonathan who had only been serving at the tavern for a few weeks but Was an extremely knowledgeable chef who added his own flair and style to the restaurant menu that included sauerbraten and other German delights which really surprised us. I have to mention that the crabcakes were the best we’ve ever had. The Menu was diverse and well priced for anyone to enjoy . With a large array of different beers we were able to sample many different ones that were brought to our table by a knowledgeable waiter and found everything from a chocolate tasting beer too many other enjoyable flavors that they create in Their own brewery across the street which does give tours, by the way. I must get my hats off to chef Jonathan really impressed us when he came to our table and asked us what we had liked about the food we had sampled which was really enough to feed a person but then we also got dinner! Also have a restaurant across the street which I have not tried yet but also belongs to the aviator. We decided to try a more casual and relaxed evening that night so went to the old aviator and so pleased that we did. You just ask and you receive at this restaurant tavern I strongly advise you go try it out on a Friday or Saturday evening. Whatever you do do NOT park behind the Aviator where the train tracks are! We received a 200$ fee from a company that locks your tires if you park there. We did not understand the sign and thought you were able to park there after work...