Brick and Forge Taproom — Restaurant in Killeen

UPDATED REVIEW 5/31/22 On 5/9/22, my mother and I visited Brick and Forge Taproom and had an awful experience. I posted my review on 5/10/22 and Todd, the owner and general manager promptly responded. Thank you to Todd and the professional staff for making it your mission to turn things around and provide us with a wonderful experience, which completely made up for the previous one.

Since our initial visit, we returned to eat at Brick and Forge Taproom TWO times within a 2 week period, bringing family and friends to enjoy with us.

Word of mouth can make or break any business. Thanks to TODD, JEFF, JEANETTE, JASMIN, MINDY, and last, but certainly not least, MADDIE, we have great things to say about this place, the food, and these staff members!

We will definitely return!

INITIAL REVIEW 5/10/22 Myself and my mother decided to visit Brick and Forge, each for the 2nd time. For my first experience, which was a few weeks ago, my server and the food were great. According to my mother, her experience which was several months ago, was also great. Needless to say, we were both looking forward to returning. My mother talked up the grilled chicken sandwich along with the onion rings, so I figured I'd give it a try.

My mother and I both ordered the chicken sandwich. My mom ordered a side of onion rings and I ordered a side of the sea salt caramel fries, as we BOTH had each of these sides during our first visit and were so pleased that we didn't hesitate to order them again for this 2nd visit.

We were told that it shouldn't be long for the food to be ready after we ordered, as only the bar area was busy and there were MAYBE 2 tables occupied on the other side of the restaurant, plus my mother and I who chose to sit outside. Several minutes later, our server brought the food. She apologized for how long it took, as even she agreed that it took longer than it should have to come out. She shared that the cooks were apparently occupied doing other things NOT related to cooking our food.

REVIEW OF THE FOOD:

Grilled chicken sandwich -- Pros: The chicken was well seasoned. Cons: The sandwich was COLD!!! Also, according to my mother, the size of the chicken filet was smaller than when she visited months ago.

Sea salt caramel fries -- Pros: Caramel sauce was good... Cons: The fries were COLD!!!

Onion rings -- Pros: Nothing... Cons: The onion rings were COLD!!! I don't know what good anyone could say about cold onions rings...

My mother went in to complain about the food being cold and another server said she would have a manager come out to us. Moments later, our original server returned, asking how she could correct things, which we appreciated, as our problem wasn't with her at all. In the end, the manager, Crystal, either didn't get the message from the other staff member to come see us OR chose not to come see us and therefore things were closed out by our server.

A few minutes later, a male server (I guess), came to take our plates and things and although he wasn't rude, it was another worker who either knew that we were displeased and didn't help with anything OR he didn't know the situation and was just awkwardly in our space cleaning before we were fully ready to pack up and go. It was all so confusing plus we still never SAW or SPOKE to a manager regarding the matter.

All in all, this was a horrible experience for us both and we ultimately left fully disappointed with no...

So, we went to Brick and Forge after going to Outback Steakhouse first and being sat at a table only to watch 3 other tables be seated after us and helped while we weren’t even acknowledged. It was a Friday night so definitely busy at both locations. Our waitress was great and immediately let us know she would be with us shortly. When she got to us, we explained that we appreciated her just acknowledging us even though she couldn’t help us immediately. We ordered our food. My husband got the spicy shrimp tacos and I ordered the steak, medium-well. It took over 45 minutes to get our food, but we didn’t complain because the waitress kept us updated and explained that my steak was taking longer to thaw than expected. When our food finally did come out, my steak was rare. I showed the waitress and she asked if they could fix it to which I initially replied no. She asked me to please let her fix it several times and I finally said ok. The manager brings my plate back out about 10 min later and the steak that was sitting undercooked for at least 10 minutes prior to them taking it back to the kitchen was replaced on the same exact plate, and my mashed potatoes came back with gravy that wasn’t previously on them. The manager asked me to cut into the steak to see that it looked better. I said it did and she left the table. We asked for our check and the waitress asked if her manager had spoken to us. I told her that the manager only asked me to cut back into my steak, but nothing further. We got the bill, paid it, and I still tipped the waitress $20 because I know it wasn’t her fault. But the manager needs to maybe take another class in management. I would have paid for my food either way, but there was no gesture at all to make it right with a small discount, comp, $5 gift card, nothing. Just a here’s your steak that stopped cooking for at least 15 minutes and then we threw it back on the grill to darken it. Thankfully we’d ordered an appetizer because I sat at my table without my food for about an hr total between the initial wait and them taking my plate back. I have a ServSafe food handler’s certificate and what this restaurant did last night was not ok. Over $100 on a meal I couldn’t enjoy. We likely won’t be back. We had been there one other time and really enjoyed it, but busy on a Friday evening or not, management should...

I'll start with this: My friend from high-school who I helped in-process into Fort Hood loved this place so much, we went for a week straight. We had a different meal each time and enjoyed every one.

Food: I have been here well over 30 times and never had an issue with the food. Everything was made to the order I put in and tasted amazing. I would recommend eating the Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, the Buffalo Chicken Tacos, and the Chicken Fried Chicken (I'm a chicken guy, what can I say.) There is a wide variety of options from pizza, to burgers, to pasta, to different kinds of chicken dishes. All in all the food is great. 5 stars.

Atmosphere: The restaraunt had a ton of different decorations and two flags (American and Texas) made out of painted license plates. The music changes genres every so often to appeal to everyone which I personally like. It isn't ridiculously loud either, you can still hold a conversation. 5 stars.

Staff: The staff has always been friendly and willing to engage in conversation to the customers. All of them are very polite and hard working. The bartenders are pretty good, the waitresses are sweet, and everyone typically has a good time. Even when people act a fool in the restaraunt, the staff does well to mitigate any issues. There is one waitress (I will figure out the nane and edit later) who I had that was amazing. I saw her there working constantly and working hard at that. Whoever owns the place needs to raise this waitresses paycheck. 5 stars.

Alcohol: Here is where my one gripe is. And it's very miniscule. This is a Taproom that lives up to its name. The amount of options for beer and ciders is insane. Hard alcohol has a decent selection too. Now the bartenders are pretty good at bartending but this place lacks the knowledge of true mixology. I tried to get a Mint Julep (oldest cocktail around) and they either didn't know how to make it or didn't have the materials. Like I said it's a tiny gripe, the place is still amazing. 4 Stars.

If you have made it this far in my review I put a little surprise for you. Order this: The Sunrise burger with Queso added too it and get the Snake bite drink, but switch Angry Orchard for Texas Honey. You can...