The Old Goat — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

Editing this after a few more visits...

We will no longer be returning to Old Goat. The most recent experience we had affirmed what we have experienced over the last few years which is that there is very little attention to service and overall quality at The Old Goat.

When we went for dinner last week we waited almost 15 minutes for a host to see us at the front of the restaurant (it was a Tuesday night and they had tables, but were not on a wait and were not that busy) despite no less than 3 PEOPLE who were not hostesses seeing us and telling us "we will be right with you". I get that if you're not a host it's not your job to sit us, technically, but I thought it was weird that people seemed to notice we were waiting, and chose not to just pick up a few menus and seat us since the hostess was clearly preoccupied with something at the moment.

We both ordered pizzas. Mine was undercooked, the dough was still doughy, and overall the flavor of both of our meals was lacking (I'm no chef, but both recopies lacked acidity IMO) Bland, would be the best way to describe both of our pizzas.

Our server was kind, but only came to our table twice, and missed out on a bigger check because we weren't offered the chance to order a second round of drinks.

Overall, at $17 a pizza, we were severely underwhelmed. It's not that it's bad, it's just an incredibly mediocre experience both in quality, consistency, and service every time. We tried to like them, but we will no longer be going back to Old Goat.

my fiancé and I live in Alger and frequent the old goat a few times a month. We typically enjoy our service and are satisfied with the food, and we love supporting our local restaurant and really enjoy walking down there. However, we’ve had a few uncomfortable experiences with one particular employee who has denied us service during operating hours, and it’s felt really strange to us.

The first instance we came in close to the kitchen closing (appx 20 min to close) he he told us we could drink but not eat…which was a little disappointing (we knew we were coming in late and were prepared to sit and order quickly) but we did understand we were coming in late so thanked them and decided to go elsewhere so we could eat.

The second time was tonight (a friday around 6:25pm. We expected them to be busy), We called in and got the same person that had rejected us service before (he has very distinct mannerisms/speech patterns/inflect) and asked if we could place an order for take out. We had hoped to place an order for a single pizza under no urgent timeline, but the person on the phone didn’t even ask us what we wanted, he basically just told us “no”.

In my experienced it is appropriate to say something along the lines of “we’d be happy to take your order, I did want to let you know that we are very busy so it will be about an X long wait. Are you comfortable with that?” He simply said “no, we’re busy” and didn’t give us the option. We would have gladly waited and understood, but ultimately took our business to another local restaurant instead who was also busy but accommodated our order gladly.

I don’t know. This is two major turn offs for me. I’ve worked in service before so understand and empathize with a late night or busy shift, but to completely deny service twice within operation hours is disappointing.

All in all, we will be back. We like the food and we are passionate about the community and the local business. It just hasn’t felt like they have valued us back the...

A great gastropub with good hearty delicious food. Oddly eclectic, but not overly.

DISCLAIMER: We visited on a day electricity went out and they were swamped because many went out to eat on a Tuesday. Tuesdays are not normally busy like this one.

American Heritage Burger: The meat was spot on, though nothing too much above expectation. The toppings were wonderfully balanced. The bun was an amazing compliment. It was full-bodied, fluffy, slightly sweat, and with a flaky outside. It fit the flavor really well.

Gluten Free American Heritage Burger with Bacon: My wife is gluten free and ordered the same burger I did but with gluten free bread (not a bun) and bacon. She mentioned it was good tasting for gluten free and could tell they used honey as a sweetener (which is common for keeping it healthy).

I actually had a bite to see the difference. I was surprised how good it was. I don’t like my burgers on bread rather than a bun, but this was do-able.

Fries: Darkly flavorful (with soy or worcestershire?). Needed just a tiny touch more of salt.

Service: Our waiter was everywhere and constantly busy, but skillful. You could tell these guys take their job’s with attention to detail and balance their time.

Kitchen: We had a seat right next to the kitchen and had quite the show watching. They had quite a system down where they made the similar dishes all at once to keep everything flowing and efficient.

However, when things go wrong and something needs to be corrected, it takes more time than normal. My wife’s gluten-free burger was made with the wrong bun. She is not super sensitive, so we were okay with just swapping it out, but it took almost 15 minutes for just that minor change. (Again, it was an abnormal night with electricity out and more people going out to eat).

Atmosphere: The place was full, but we got in within the promised 15 minutes. The place was full of brighter neutral colors and blacks. The juxtaposition of industrial 55 gallon barrels painted black and church lights also painted black with some brighter colors was interesting, but I thought it was well thought out. It was generally cozy feeling, too.

Noise: General conversation volume was a medium with some music played about 25% of the time.

Music: There was an older woman there playing the piano and singing. She was really good and kept it mainly quiet enough to allow conversation. It was upbeat and stylish. Thought about asking to get a picture with her. ...

This was my second visit to The Old Goat. We came on Sunday with a group of five (and a high chair) for brunch. We were told it would be about a 45-minute wait, but only waited about 15 minutes for a table, which was nice. We expected a wait, and considered the food well worth it. The service was excellent, and she did a great job managing all the tables upstairs as well as handling the long wait for food, which was a little over an hour after we sat down. $5 bloody marys were decent, unable to be "extra spicy" as requested, but good for the price. $3 for coffee = SO WORTH IT! It is rich, delicious, and excellent! $3 upcharge for fries? Definitely NOT worth it. I didn't order them personally, but the tiny crispy things my companions got were lame. I assume it was due to the long wait for food, but if you're charging $3 extra for fries, they should be pretty darn good. Both agreed they were not worth the extra charge. I ordered the whisky brisket biscuit. I had expected more of a sandwich, but I guess I should have known it was more like biscuits and gravy. The biscuit was MASSIVE, and pretty much out-shined the gravy, which was thick and mildly sweet. The brisket was hard to find in the mix, and the one piece I did find was only ok. Of the two fried eggs, one was over cooked, one was perfect. The ratio of biscuit to gravy and eggs was way off; it is SO massive. It lasted two meals worth of leftovers, but I needed to make my own eggs and sauce to accompany it. The hot sauce I ordered to spice things up a bit was a personal portion and quite good. Wished it had been around for the bloodies! I was able to try two of the sandwiches, the spicy chicken and the grilled cheese. Both were really great, and although I didn't get to taste it personally their take on French toast looked awesome and was supposedly delicious. 😋 Overall, we had a very nice experience and if we went at a less busy time, I think we would have given the food 5-stars....