The Back Porch Kilgore — Restaurant in Kilgore

Is it me or has the service gone completely downhill recently? I’m not sure who our server was last night (she had highlighted bangs) but she seems new.. is she? It took her 25 minutes to bring me a side of ranch. My friend asked for a tall Shiner but was stuck with going to the bar for that. We were completely ignored after I asked what virgin drinks y’all have. She said “we can make our cocktails virgin”. I’m a bartender. I just said “cocktails are made with alcohol. I’m a bartender.” A virgin lemon drop? Lemonade. Virgin crown & coke? Coke. Virgin Cuba Libre? Coke with lime. Virgin Long Island? Sweet & Sour with a dash of Coke. Virgin Cape Cod? Cranberry juice with lime. I know it’s gonna be a bad time if I see to-go cups on the table. It’s a red flag to see styrofoam cups on the same table as alcohol (tabc would have a field day). So I stick with a water. I wanted to feel festive with a drink from the bar with no alcohol (health reasons why I can’t drink). The only thing I was able to get was a Shirley temple. We had to get it from the bar because our server was hiding from us or talking to her one other table. It took a friend of mine 25 minutes to get his beer.. which again he had to get from the bar. Do y’all really not offer anything more than a Shirley temple on that realm? All of my friends & I work in restaurants. We get it. What we don’t get is the ignoring us completely & not bringing us anything we asked for. And when we ask again you the server are pissed about it when you walk away. I’m also a server.. again I get it. But baby, it’s the industry. If you can’t handle your 4 tables & get mad at them for asking for stuff. You are in the wrong industry. It’s different if we were rude but we weren’t. If we weren’t at the bar asking for stuff it was us asking the nearby server’s. Back to the cocktail thing.. I’m kinda flabbergasted. If a guest came in knowing nothing about alcohol & agreed to the “we can make any cocktail virgin” that’s just incredibly dangerous. Someone could get seriously hurt with that. Because a fat chance say’s they’ll receive alcohol. The food was good (I had the ALT.. so good!). Better than I had the week before there. Which also again.. don’t know who my server was the last time. I said I am vegetarian but kept getting offered meat. If you gave me meat you’ll be cleaning a giant mess while I’m sobbing from embarrassment. I get vom-a-tron after consuming meat. I asked about any vegetarian options but was told about a small side salad being the only option. So I ordered a plain Jane with sour cream & avocado. And again I was ignored more than the tables around me (I even had a styrofoam cup so I know it’s gonna be a bad time). I typically love going to the Back Porch & rave about it to everyone I know. But it might be a minute before I rave...

I guess this place is under new ownership again because it really showed last night September 1st 2022. Started off with appetizers, fried pickels which were heavily fried, not much flavor. Onion strings which came with a "special dipping sauce" it was ranch not sure what is so special about ranch but that's what we got. Ordered drinks, they really did not know what they were doing. Bartender didn't know how to make a Moscow Mule. We had to explain to them how to make a 3 ingredient drink. They didn't even fill the mule cups all the way. We places our order, wife got a blazin turkey burger, I got a 6oz sirloin cooked medium, that's pink in the middle.

Got our food and wifes burger was a plain ole turkey burger. No jalapeño bottle caps or cheese. My sirloin cooked well done. We told the waitress who informed us the cooks are absolutely horrible in the back. 15min later wifes burger comes back out with bottle caps and still NO cheese. My sirloin made it out an hour after I sent it back. By that time I was not hungry anymore as we has been at this place for 3.5 hours.

Now this is just the screw ups my wife and I had. Our table of 7 ALL had many issues that I did not list. Everything from drinks to strong, silverware not placed out until we had to ask for it, Waters not being filled until we asked for it, alcohol drinks not made properly, food over cooked, undercooked, wrong order. I mean it was astounding how clueless the waitress staff, bar and cooks were at this place.

To top off the horrible experience when the checks came we were not offered any discount or apologies from the manager/owner. That is our last time going there. Every time a new owner gets this place it's always the same disappointment.

I truly hope The Backporch takes the time to read my review. And please don't offer a pre-made auto reply apologizing for the countless mistakes. The only awesome thing there last night was the band! Food,service,drinks, wait time, preparedness all sub par for a locally...

BACK PORCH?!! What has happened to yall? When we moved here a couple of years ago I was told that eating at your restaurant was a MUST! We were not disappointed I will tell you that. It didn’t matter what we ordered it was all good! A few months ago we went and had very slow service and chicken salad sandwich was not crispy as usual. Soft! My sons chicken tenders were burnt and my husbands burger had way too much mustard and said it must have been cooked first while waiting for other food cause it wasn’t even warm. We just thought, well…maybe it was just a bad day. 2 months ago we had family come up from San Antonio and we sent them there. They had the worst service. Broke my heart to think y’all have gone down hill. Yesterday another one of our guest came up to visit, drove 7 hours and waited to eat lunch till he got here and took our son, daughter and 2 grandkids with him. Again, sadly, BAD SERVICE AND FOOD! They said it wasn’t packed at all and their server waited on her other tables but kept passing them by. My daughter had to walk over to get their server to get their drinks and place their order. Took forever for the drinks to come and never brought my daughter her tea. Food took forever to come out and it was cold. Including the steak! Again, my daughter had to get up and go get the server to get their ticket. Server NEVER came to the table to ask if they needed anything. They never got refills! Now I’m hearing yall have new management??? So to the newest manager, can you PLEASE for the love of God, get some tips and pointers from the old management about how to run the restaurant cause you are failing my dear. It’s not just me that has a bad taste in my mouth from Back Porch. Word is getting around, so please fix it. We will come try it again soon and if nothing has changed and I get the same service I will be making a complaint again....