Joy's Table Pasta & Steak — Restaurant in Kearney

I've been a waitress/bartender for 15 years, so this might be a long post. We arrived for our 7:30 reservation last night and waited while they set up our table (but we had a reservation??) It didn't seem too crowded and there wasn't anyone else waiting for tables. We had a ten top though so maybe they hadn't flipped the table yet. Ordering drinks my 12 year old sister wanted a cherry coke, the waitress said we don't have cherry Coke just plain coke. I said "well you probably have grenadine at the bar right?" She looks confused and says maybe, I think so. Then she tells my mom that then she would have to go get it from the bar and it might take longer (heavily implying to not get it) and she just stares at my mom. So i just said "yes, we want a ROY ROGERS from the bar." Not a crazy request but she acted like it was. When looking at the wine list my dad suggests ordering a bottle instead of four separate glasses... The house wine was $6/glass and the bottle was $29. Sound funky?! A bottle is four glasses, so at most the whole bottle should cost the same or a couple dollars less than four glasses separate... Not $5 extra?? I scanned the list and all of the bottles were more than four of their glasses....sooooo yeah they should probably fix that. And if they say "oh we do five glasses to a bottle" then they are under-pouring your wine. Husband asked for crown and Coke, they were out of crown. We ordered appetizers the shrimp rolls and the charcuterie board... "Board" turned out to be a six inch by two inch tray with MAYBE enough cheese and salami for a single serving. It was $14. Italians live on charcuterie, they pile it on, believe me, I've been to Italy twice in the last two years. This was terrible. On to the main course, my husband and mom both ordered the osso buco which should be the most tender meat ever - it was like a dry pot roast. Completely inedible. I've accidentally forgot to check moisture on my oven roast before and that is exactly what this was like. Beef jerky. My husband complained and the manager did come apologize and comp his food. Dad got the beet ravioli and the flavor was good, but it was cold. Also, who the heck charges for bread sticks?? You have to actually order breadsticks to go with your pasta. On the plus side the pasta everyone else ordered was delicious, but it was hard to weigh out against the service and other issues. So I rarely leave reviews. And I know it's more likely for people to bother reviewing if things are bad, so I'm not saying "oh never go here", but just hoping that the management will read this and correct some of the issues. I know the place just opened a few weeks ago so I'll definitely try it again sometime farther out in the future. I just want this review to be more of a...

Arrived in the restaurant and ordered at 6:50pm, ordered caprese tower salad, Bloody Mary, 10 ounce ribeye medium rare Oscar style with green beans. 7:05 got my caprese tower salad and Bloody Mary which ticket total for one person would have been well over $100.00 at 7:45 I requested for the staff to cancel the rest of my order as I have sat for forty minutes after my salad waiting for main course. A medium rare steak takes 8 minutes to cook, lobster tail 8 minutes and green beans 8 minutes. When salad left the kitchen steak, lobster and green beans should have been started and out the door 10 no more than 15 minutes after salad left. Now I do not blame this on the staff working as they had a group of 30 rent the back room and management short staffed the coverage. The hostess, two waitresses, bartender and bust boy all were making drinks trying to keep up with the drink orders of the group of 30. People walked in stood at the front door waiting to be seated that just left because there was no one to seat them, gentlemen in the restaurant next to me had ordered the all you can eat pasta and asked for second plate of pasta and when I cancelled my order he still had not received his second plate which had been at least a 15 minute time between asking for more and me cancelling my order. A plate of pasta in a all you can eat is scope noodles, sauce send out. This is a reflection of management and poor planning not supporting their staff. Two waitresses, one bartender, one host and a bust boy to support the whole restaurant and party of 30 in back room. No general manager or anyone came to apologize, nor from what I could tell had a general manager on duty. the hostess and bartender apologized multiple times who felt horrible and I assured them this wasn’t their fault and I understand their issue. Menu looked phenomenal and was excited to try it, but poorly managed and poorly supported resulted in not...

We had two really good meals at Joy's Table during our stay in Kearney. My husband had steak both times - they have excellent steaks which they raise on their own farm nearby, Nebraska Star Beef. I went for the Eggplant Parmigiana (you can have either Chicken or Eggplant) which was really good - a large portion on top a bed of pasta with the best sauce. I also had the Farro Salad, which I went crazy over - sweet, nutty farro grain with feta, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, local cherry tomatoes, cucumbers with vinigarette - my new favorite salad. Even though I still miss the color and warm vibe of Sozo's (the slick gray & dark hardwood of Joy's seems a little industrial to me though it is growing on me) the food remains wonderful. The servers are outstanding at Joy's Table, always very positive and eager to talk about the dishes. I really like how Joy's Table emphasizes local producers for their dishes - there's an enthusiasm of the employees about the food. The engaging hostess who seated us mentioned that a relative of hers grows the tomatoes used in the sauce, which made me decide on the spot to try their sauce - it was excellent. If I had any small suggestion for Joy's Table, it would be to use a better brand of pasta, though I admit I am partial to the imported Italian pastas. Overall, I appreciate restaurants like Joy's Table - restaurants that strive to provide quality dishes made with local produce, cheeses and meats, which Joy's Table does consistently. We look forward to dining at this restaurant...