Beer City Bread CO. — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

My recent visit to Beer City Bread was a 1/5 and if I could leave a lower review I would.

To start off, we had a group of 12 people and when we called to make the reservation they told us they could accommodate such a large group. Instead, we were seated at a single table with 12 chairs in the front of the restaurant. Unfortunately, a massive white block (appearing to be some kind of machinery) split the table down the middle, isolating our group. My parents, visiting from out of town, were seated on the other side, making it impossible for us to enjoy a meal together. This setup was frustrating and poorly planned.

The private event space is on the opposite side of the restaurant (there is a partition blocking it off) and they had an event going on that night. In the middle of our dinner we hear a very loud marching band playing on the other side. I wish I was exaggerating but that is what it sounded like due to how loud it was. Despite a partition, the noise was overwhelming and completely disrupted our dinner service. It seems extremely inconsiderate that they would allow such a thing while other guests are dining.

While I understand that serving a group of 12 might take additional time for food and drinks, waiting over an hour for our meals was excessive. To make matters worse, our waitress forgot my drink order twice.

Just be mindful that bread also comes with the tables (according to our hostess) but you have to specifically ask for it. This seems like such a strange policy, that should come out first when drinks are ordered.

I ordered tacos, assuming they’d come assembled like any other restaurant I have been to. Instead, I was given a plate of separated ingredients and had to assemble them myself. The menu failed to clarify this, which was disappointing. I wouldn’t have ordered them if this had been clearly listed on the menu.

The side of the table that I was on initially didn't come with silverware when we were sat. When we asked the hostess, she informed us they’d run out and offered no immediate solution, forcing us to share with others in our group. To make matters worse, not even half an hour later, we saw her rolling silverware—while eating! Watching her handle supposedly clean napkins with her fingers mid-meal was incredibly unsanitary and alarming.

The combination of poor seating arrangements, disruptive noise, long wait times, forgotten orders, unclear menu descriptions, and unsanitary practices made this one of the most disappointing dining experiences I’ve had. While the food was great once it arrived, it was overshadowed by the numerous missteps throughout the evening. I certainly have no intention...

I was there with my partner. The hostess checked us in and led us to a table with a paid receipt sitting there and menus on the table and then walked away.

Then we waited quite a while, so long that I thought the restaurant staff thought we already paid because the check was there, so I moved it to an empty table.

It's a good thing I did because that got their attention and a server came over and explained to us that she wasn't supposed to have a table because she was getting cut and no one told her about the table. She told us either she would serve us or another person would and got us some water to drink and left.

She ended up being our server and serving us. I got the fettuccine alfredo and my partner got a pizza. We also ordered an appetizer, brussel sprouts, which we awkwardly couldn't eat because we didn't have any silverware to eat it with because there were none at the table when we were seated.

We asked our server to grab us some silverware and she said she would, but I guess she may have forgotten because she came back with only a drink and no silverware.

By the time we got our silverware (cheap and uncomfortable silverware btw) our appetizer was cooling and then our food was brought out shortly after we got our silverware. (Also the brussel sprouts were not roasted enough in my opinion and were hard to chew. There were multiple instances I was afraid I was going to choke on one and a few times I almost did). The fettuccine alfredo was very bland and didn't have much of a taste and the sauce was very watery with no spices. A few minutes into our food the bill gets handed to us like they are trying to rush us out of the restaurant it seems.

I feel like the food has gone down in quality and so has the service. I feel bad for the staff honestly because it seems like they are really stretched thin and struggling to communicate with one another and also stick to plans. If our server wasn't supposed to have a table, then why give them a table?

Overall I wouldn't recommend...

Went here for dinner with my family. We were seated relatively quickly for it being a Saturday evening around dinnertime. Wine was fine, cocktail was watery. Water was...water. It was nice that they left a carafe for refills.

Appetizers, we got the brussel sprouts and pretzel bites. The pretzels were amazing, but definitely not enough dipping sauce for the number of bites you get. The brussel sprouts (despite being recommended) were incredibly tough. It was almost like they didn't cut enough of the stem off?

Our dinner took ages to come out, and one of our people didn't get their plate until everyone else was nearly half done eating. Every single dish looked amazing, but to say that each meal was "only okay" would be an overstatement.

One person got chicken that was dry and tough to cut/chew. The Bang Bang sandwich was best described as "edible" and "fine." Three of us got different risottos and they were all disappointing, if not outright disgusting. The summer risotto lacked any real flavor or seasoning. The jambalaya risotto was also a letdown in flavor, quality and portion size.

For my part, I can say the tenderloin that came with the parmesan risotto was admittedly decent. Seasoned and properly cooked. But if there was any actual parmesan added to the incredibly watery, oily "risotto" and soggy accompanying vegetables, I couldn't detect any. Again, there was almost no flavor and there seemed to be no seasoning, including salt or pepper.

Even though our waitress was kind and tried to be helpful (even giving us a free dessert as apology for the late final plate), she seemed to make herself incredibly scarce during our entire meal. We couldn't even flag her down to get salt and pepper to try and make the most of our meals, much of which went uneaten.

I realize that when you go to what's essentially a sports bar you shouldn't expect a high-class, exemplary dining experience, but this fell short of all expectations, even the ones we didn't...