Birchwood Char House And Bar — Restaurant in Hackensack

If I could have gave it a zero I would have. We were at Birchwood last night August 18th at 6 p.m. the parking lot was fairly busy the restaurant was half empty if not less the bar area was almost completely full the patio was almost completely full we got seated we ordered. We waited and we waited and we waited some more we watched people come in, be seated and wait and wait and wait some more. I finally pulled a waitress over and asked her why we hadn't received our salads or our drinks she said she'd go check with our waitress and be right back, we waited some more and waited some more it must have been 45 minutes before we got our dinner salad, and cold dinner roll, popover, and FROZEN butter. Our friends ordered the all-you-can-eat fish fry and the two piece chicken dinner, my husband and I ordered all you can eat fish and shrimp scampi. Then we waited some more. When we finally did receive our food, 90% of it was ice cold, the fish was cold, the potatoes were cold, the scampi was cold we did not receive coleslaw with our all you can eat fish we did get the beans and the baked potato. When we went to reorder fish for the fish fry our waitress brought us two more full meals. I don't know if this was her first night but we tried to explain to her that you don't get another full meal when you reorder the fish. She said well that's what my ticket says. we sat finishing our dinner noticing that everybody else in the restaurant hadn't received any food either all the sudden one table that came in the last got all their food yet three other tables that had been there right after we got there hadn't had anything I think they were getting a little upset because I was upset too. We watched at the doorway into the restaurant them turn customer after customer saying that they were too backed up and couldn't seat anybody. Mind you the restaurant area had at least 15 Empty Tables. Yet they were turning customers away or making them wait hour upon hour to be seated to eat in the restaurant. Such bad business I will be surprised if any of those people ever return . We have eaten at the Birchwood many times in the past and many times we have had not that great of food or service but we keep trying it hoping it will get better and it always disappoints us, well this will be our last disappointment, we won't...

Stopped here for lunch today with my teenage son while the local repair shop was fixing his mower. We were the 2nd table of the day. Already seated was a family of 6. Quickly decided we wanted 2 waters, beef nachos, fish tacos. Waitress said its cash only, internet down so no credit cards. Fine we say. Ordered. Got our waters and waited. More tables and bar filled up and all other parties getting their food timely except family of 6 and us. Waited 50 minutes! Waitress kept head down, not seeing me trying to get her attention. So from our table I called the restaurant. Bar maid answered. I asked how long a wait would be for food if ordered. She said the usual 10 to 15 minutes. I asked, "Would you please tell the table sitting by the tv- they ordered nachos and tacos 50 minutes ago and still are waiting, unhappily now." Bar maid confers with manager and states our order was never put in. I said "Don't bother" and walked out. But I needed an answer from mgmt. I called again from my car and the Mgr, Dana, answered. I expected an apology when I told her who I was. But no apology was offered. Instead she said our order was lost because the internet went down. (This wasn't true because internet was down prior to order.) I asked how in 50 minutes our waitress, the bar maid, or herself the Mgr, did not see we were still waiting and address us. She responded that the girl at the bar was busy and she herself was busy doing her Mgr job. So the answer I received from mgmt was they were too busy doing their jobs. But serving our table IS the job! And wouldn't the Mgr ask staff to take paper order tickets for the cook when you can't order online? I've eaten here many times. It's never been good enough to write a good review- just mediocre food truck quality menu. Now with a tuned out, dismissive manager who lacks common sense and staff who can't follow through I will not be back. That goes for the Mexican joint in Walker as well,...

Great service, friendly atmosphere. Pricey food that isn't that great but brags about being great. From overcooked rock hard steaks to burgers, it's hard to compare. I would possibly cut the restaurant a bit more slack if they didn't have giant signs outside proclaiming "Voted Best Burger". I ordered a Mushroom-Swiss burger, a burger with 4 very easy steps to its success. 1: Juicy medium cooked burger, 2: REAL swiss cheese, 3: Sauteed mushrooms, and 4: toasted bun to keep those juices from sogging up the works.

I did get a juicy burger, but was much above medium cooked. so half a point there. Real Swiss cheese was used so full point for them! They used fresh mushrooms but there was no evidence of using a sautee pan, so I'll give half a point but throwing raw mushrooms on a burger is not acceptable. The bun was either not toasted, or toasted so lightly it didn't make a difference because the bottom bun was a soggy sponge for the burger juices... just wasn't appealing, no points there. So out of 4 points for what I assumed should have been a 4 point burger based on their signs outside they got 2 points. Disappointing indeed! Service was however EXCELLENT... and that speaks a lot for the potential of a restaurant.

Now onto the Ribeye I had. Ordered it medium-Rare, it came medium-well. A good quality ribeye will melt in your mouth, but this was tough meat that I had to grind at for awhile to break down to the point of being able to swallow it. Again, Service was great, and I only offer my opinion of the food at a restaurant if directly asked, and I was not asked... I felt like it was a very big waste of $26 for the ribeye.

To summarize: Great Service, great beer selection, high prices, surprisingly poor quality food, and even more surprisingly poor burger that didn't mesh with the "voted best burger" signs posted everywhere...