Plough — Restaurant in Lancaster

My fiancé and I came to Lancaster for the night to get away from the hustle of our home city, Philadelphia. We had heard so much about the growth lanc has been experiencing and we’re excited to get to see it firsthand. We’re not some fancy foodie duo or anything of the sort but We were extremely disappointed with our dining service last night. Everything from the food, the service, and the ambiance was just not good.

We made a reservation two days prior and when we looked online Plough looked like a modern place with a farm to table vibe and we were excited to get a hearty meal for dinner. When we got there the host seemed almost surprised at our arrival, and had no place to put us even though we were right on time for our reservation. He offered to put us at this long 12+ person table by the bar or a booth by the bar. We chose the booth but the light above the table was much darker than above the other booths. So we asked if it could be turned up a bit (I’m talking can hardly see your plate dark) and he said he would look but nothing ever came of it.

It took well over 15 minutes for a server to come over to get our drink order, and come to find out it was the bartenders taking care of our table. Three of them.. all behind the bar chatting amongst themselves, zero sense of urgency. We know things aren’t normal right now, but the bar area, albeit the restaurant, was pretty empty and we could hear them talking about other employees and complaining about work in general. Just very odd. We’ve both been servers so we are very understanding about things that are out of servers control, but nothing that happened was not within their control.

When we finally got our drinks we ordered our appetizer and entrees. Was a little surprised that only one large entree was vegetarian. We got the mozzarella and bread app and it was so bland. If you’re gonna serve cheese in a dipping bowl, the cheese actually has to be soft enough to dip in. We had no idea how this was going to be served otherwise we wouldn’t have ordered it at all. As soon as the moz reached room temp it was rock solid in the plate and it just had some apples (might’ve been pear) on top with bread. There’s nothing spreadable about moz cheese. That was such a strange dish.

For dinner he ordered the pork and I ordered the half chicken. We waited as the table next to us got their dinner, ate their dinner, got their check... and still no meal. My fiancé had to flag one of the bartenders down to ask if the food was coming and they said “oh sorry 5 mins.” They brought the food out and the bartender said it was very hot. Perhaps the plates were hot but the food was not. The chicken was slimy. It’s one thing if the chicken is moist and has a crispy skin... but both were just slimy soggy and room temperature. The gravy was just straight salt, no other flavor to be found. And i may be wrong, but i thought there were supposed to be greens on the plate but they were about the size of my pinky finger. My fiancé’s pork was the tiniest portion. It was ok but the pork itself had a gamey flavor.

We finished eating and did not see another server again, so we had to get up and ask for our check. The restaurant was nearly empty at this point so it was ridiculous that the service was so terrible. Initially we were hoping to get dessert but with all things considered we just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

Spending $120 on a subpar meal with even worse service and ambiance is a kick to the gut. Have had far better service and food at Applebee’s. Needless to say, we will not be back. And to whoever is answering these reviews, spare the vague “I’m sorry your experience was less than stellar,” that says nothing and takes no ownership at all. I’d rather you...

Leaving this review in the hopes that management will read it.

We had a baffling experience at The Plough over the weekend. We stayed at the hotel above, and frequented your establishment twice. On Friday night we sat at the bar and had dinner and drinks. The bartender (Bridget) was a pro, holding down the entire bar, helping out her coworkers, handling the various (sometimes difficult) customers who came through. I had a couple of moments of wondering about how the place was run, the food runners seemed pretty confused about where to drop the food, but I just chalked it up to regular restaurant industry chaos.

Today, Sunday, we returned for brunch. When we entered the restaurant was relatively empty. We were there as part of a large party that were staying at the hotel, and were able to get seats at a couple of tables and at the bar. We were happy to see Bridget behind the bar again, but it quickly became clear that she was not supported by the restaurant structure as a whole. We were dining at 11 am. She was slowly getting slammed with guests, and clearly was not getting support from her co workers or (more importantly) anyone in management. We watched her juggle orders, realize that there was no coffee in the restaurant, learn that there was also no coffee in the restaurant next door, and make us several americanos instead. She handled it like a pro, but it was clear the restaurant was not functioning to support her. She was working the entire bar completely by herself, and also running food and wrangling coffee the entire time.

Meanwhile, at the table, our party had partially arrived and were waiting for two more guests. The server was a woman with long brown hair, up in a ponytail. (We didn’t get her name) She told us that we needed to order our food right away, even though the party was incomplete. When we asked to wait until everyone arrived, the server informed us that if we didn’t order now, we would have to wait and hour and a half to order, because our food would be “behind everyone else’s”. When we asked again if we could have a little more time, she told us that the restaurant prioritized people who had made reservations over tables who haven’t, and so we would have to wait until the people who’d made reservations were taken care of first. She became so upset with our table that she gave us to another server named Josh.

Josh was lovely, and the rest of the meal went well. He did damage control after how strangely and rudely the earlier server was interacting with us. He was professional and courteous, and even tried to make us feel better about how intense and rude the previous server had been.

I’ve never seen or heard of a server telling guests that they had to order before their party was complete. I’ve never heard of a server telling guests that their table was less important than any other table. While all of this was extremely off putting, the thing I found most surprising was that there were no managers to be found. All of the front of house staff seemed to be either floundering or drowning inside of a confusing and broken system. The hosts didn’t know if they were allowed to give us brunch menus or not. The kitchen seemed to be pressuring the servers to put in orders before the guests were ready. Where were the managers? Who is controlling these systems, and leaving their employees to crash and burn? Whoever is running this restaurant, your employees need support. Bridget and Josh are doing a valiant job and made our experience much better than it should have been. Please set them up for success, clearly something is very off.

My grilled cheese was good, but I left with a bad taste in my mouth from the way the...

Atmosphere was pretty nice. Felt upscale but the service and food didn’t seem to follow. We had a reservation at 8pm. We arrived early and let the host know that we would be having a drink at the bar. Bar service was timely, nothing fancy. I assumed the host would come get us when our table was ready, but instead I went over to check and they were able to seat us immediately. The seats are entirely too soft, my girlfriend sank in them. Made it awkward, and she’s 5’9”. The waiter poured our water immediately. He spoke so fast hardly had and idea what he was saying. Told us it was standard menu, no features and sped off. We had no small talk, no way to ask a question. He returned and asked us if we was ready to order. We chose the feta dip and the Brussel sprouts to start our evening. Before I could order a drink he sped off again. When he returned with our appetizers, he asked my girlfriend if she would like another drink, she had brought her Malbec with her from the bar.. she said yes and before I could suggest that he just bring us a bottle, he sped off again. This was starting to frustrate me a little. We were dressed appropriately, came to enjoy the whole experience and it seems like this guy had something more pressing to attend to, though the house wasn’t fully seated. When he returned with her wine, my girlfriend made mention that I would like a drink too.. so I just ordered a beer. He asked what out entrees would be. She chose the cod. I then asked about the mussels and he said “it’s small”…. Ok, so I chose the steak, he suggested I add shrimp, and I did.. And he sped off. He came back and placed a knife, no dialogue.. no beer… then he left again for some time then came to take the app plates. No beer…so my girlfriend asked where my drink was, he asked me to remind him again.. moments later he came back with my beer can shoved in a glass, set it down and sped off, returning with our entrees..

I’m no food critic but the food was way over seasoned. It lingered well on through our evening. The steak was cooked wonderfully, medium rare but it was just so covered in gravy and heavy seasoning. Her cod was much better than my steak overall, but similarly seasoned. The sides nor the main really stood out of the seasoning. I’m sorry to be harsh but we spent $200 for a dinner celebrating our 4yr anniversary. Service was terribly rushed, food wasn’t that great, we passed on dessert.

Not sure we...