The Pub & Restaurant — Restaurant in Gettysburg

"The Pub" is a solid 3 stars 🌟 🌟 🌟

I've been here a couple times and unfortunately, it's declining. I believe this is due to management (owner)

I am completely beside myself at the experience I just had. I honestly can't believe I had an interaction so awkward and unprofessional.

I'll start with the food and service prior to the discrepancy (which, if you read the reviews, you will find a lot of similar reviews)

FOOD: it's 50/50. You really don't know for sure if you will like what you order. This restaurant makes weird choices for ingredients. READ THE MENU CAREFULLY. If you dislike your $16 - $20 dish, oh well. You will NOT be compensated, and your meal will not be replaced. If you're in the mood for a gamble, roll the dice at "The Pub". -Their Frensh onion soup was watered down. Their coffee was watered down -They put whole rings of onions on their house salad. Have fun chopping them down to an edible portion without your salad being all over the table. -They put chocolate on some of their beef dishes Good dishes: Brisket sandwich, sweet potato fries, vegetables, their cocktails are good. NOTE: Again, you will NOT be compensated... just read the other reviews and like clockwork, you'll find this validated.

SERVICE: I just hope you luck out with a good waiter. The first time we came, excellent service! This time, total flop! Again, I'm not judging all the waiters here, just my experience:

They open at 12pm. My wife and I were waiting outside for them to open. We saw two young employees walking quite haistly towards the restaurant. Keep in mind at this time it was 11:58am. As they passed us, they were joking about being early and how they still had 2min to spare. One of those was the host and the other, our soon to be waitress.

As we checked in, there was the "Lead" (I guess) laying out the day to the host that had just walked in. They were discussing how they haven't heard from one of the other staff members yet and would presumably be understaffed.... they both looked frustrated.

The host was awesome, though! He was personable, engaging, nice, welcoming.

When we sat down we were visited by a couple people that said, "your waiter will be with you shortly" keep in mind we are the only customers so far. I suspect the only reason we were not served as fast is because our waitress had just walked in the door with the host a couple min ago and had to get ready.

The waitress, was nice. She was not engaging, or as welcoming as the Host. You could just tell this was going to be a bad day. Sure enough, the Pub got crowded and the typical items that were supposed to be kept up on were forgotten about (i.e. water)

With no regards leading up to this point, "the Pub" was already tracking a 3.5 star establishment.

The issue: I had not realized that they put Chocolate on their "black and blue" burger. When I ordered the burger, which everyone would agree is a burger with blue cheese, the waitress said," now this sandwich does come with blue cheese, is that okay?" I said, yeah! I love blue cheese.

Now when the burger came out like an hour later, I had to wait for my water to be refilled. By the time my water was refilled and she had left, I finally was able to take a bite of the burger. BOOM! SURPRISE! We have chocolate, folks! In my head, I was like "you can't be serious" someone poured Hershey chocolate all over my burger!!! when she got there she asked if everything was okay. I said, is there supposed to be chocolate on this burger? she said Yes! That's what the black is in "Black and Blue" Dumbfounded, I said No, the black is the charded burger. I was fine with my fate.

Whatever, this woman randomly showed up at our table and was just staring at us. Like someone random walked off the street dressed in jogging clothes, just staring at us. It was the owner! Most awkward feeling! She didn't even introduce herself, and why was she just standing at our table staring at us, we didn't even ask to see you... so uncomfortable and awkward.

Name your burger "Black and Blue and...

I was shocked to come on to review this restaurant and found it had an average of 3 out of 5 stars! I had to double check to make sure I had the right place. I was very happy with my experience here.

Reading a few reviews I saw people were complaining because of a long wait time (if you don't want to wait, don't wait and go somewhere else. At least they're honest and tell you it'll be 20 minutes and not just say a few minutes or something), or complaining because there were ads on the menu. Really? Maybe I'm just more laid back than most people, what do I care if there are ads on some pages on the menu. I just didn't read the ads, no biggie. People also complained because they had to leave their drivers license when they take the pager to wait for a table. Well, honestly, what's to stop someone from getting mad from waiting and just throwing away or breaking the pager. You get your license right back after your pager goes off. They're just trying to keep from having to buy new pagers when they go "missing".

So, our evening there did start off with us waiting about a half hour for a table. It was very busy. But they told us it'd be about that long and asked if we wanted to wait. Wasn't a problem, we had plenty of time to kill before our ghost tour late that evening. Our waiter was wonderful, so pleasant and friendly. We got drink refills quickly, weren't waiting long to place our order or for food.

In the menu is the story of the owner and a fire they had, they also had a thank you and tribute to the firemen in the menu, so they got more respect from me right there!

The one problem we did have was the low lighting in the place. For some of us, it was difficult to read the menu or the stories because the lighting seemed dim. I understand it was probably good for ambiance and dinner, but maybe having a dimmer switch on the little light next to the table that could be turned up at the table would be handy. But, that's minor.

Now to discuss the food.......on a recommendation from someone else we met that day, my husband ordered the bread bowl of the crab soup. It was amazing! I don't like soup, but when I tasted his, I was sorry I didn't order any. Real crab meat, not that fake stuff. Totally delish! My burger was oh SO good! Medium well was actually medium well! We were with a group of friends (5 of us) and not one of us had a single complaint or mistake on our order (and 1 of the 5 of us is so picky and always finds something wrong...lol, but not that night!)

The bathrooms were upstairs and just darling with a beautiful bowl sink (is that what they're called?) There was also a gorgeous banquet room upstairs we peeked in to look at. That would be a wonderful location for bridal showers, rehearsal dinners or something that needs an elegant look.

Wonderful food, great service, lovely...

Been going here for a while, drive over 30 minutes when there are tons of restaurants close by my house. Always had a good experience until tonight. First started with a requirement for ID to get a Beeper (as long as I've been going there, NEVER had a demand like this!). I showed the host my DL, but he said no, I must have it and keep it to give you a beeper. I said no, I do not hand my ID for anyone to keep, in this day and age with ID theft, you've got to be kidding me! He said he'd just take a name and let us know if/when a table was ready. Another customer came up while we were waiting and he too, refused to give up his ID for keeps just to get a beeper. In the meantime, the host decided to bring a manager to see what my issue was, I had told him I didn't need to see a manager, I just wasn't giving up my ID for him to swipe, keep or whatever the heck he seemed to need it for to get a beeper for me to wait. The manager, short hair, obnoxious, asked me what my issue was, I explained I was not giving up my ID for a beeper and she told me to go elsewhere, that there were many other restaurants in Gettysburg to eat at. I had brought two of my friends to this place specifically because I told them I had always enjoyed it We were seated, waiter was OK, slow, but OK, when our food arrived and my one friend was eating, she asked the other guest with us if his food was salty as he had ordered the same meal. His answer was yes, but he wasn't complaining as we had already had a run-in with the manager. That same manager came out, told my friend she was rude in the way she explained about the meal being too salty, and called the OWNER (who claimed NOT to be the owner, but was!) over. She was very smirky and all but giggled as my friend explained the situation to her. Honestly, the attitude was beyond comprehension. I explained to the owner, Lisa, that I had made many many special trips to that restaurant because I truly loved the place. But I can't justify the drive knowing if I have an issue, I'm going to be treated that way. It's good and I enjoyed the many times I was there, but it's not worth subjecting myself to any further issues. I won't be going back, nor will I be taking my out-of-town guests there as I have so many times over the years. Customer service is lacking in every way possible here, from the host all the way up to the owner. Too bad. I do not wish them well, as I would not wish my worst enemy treatment like I received tonight. Save yourself the attitude, rudeness, and comedy-like attitude if you have an issue and go elsewhere, you won't regret walking past this place!! Thanks again Lisa, for a very disappointing night. I was all set to have a totally relaxing and enjoyable evening, but you and your staff made sure that wasn't...