The Big Biscuit — Restaurant in Lawrence

Having eaten at a couple of different downtown locations over the past couple of weeks, my girlfriend and I decided to go further west for our brunch fix on Labor Day. The Big Biscuit's online presence was promising: good reviews, tasty-looking menu items, and a premise that was hard to resist (biscuits and gravy are one of my girlfriend's favorite "special occasion" foods).

Sadly, our experience at The Big Biscuit didn't live up to the expectation. The food was decent. Good, even! But... not as good as other locations in town that serve far better breakfast and lunch cuisine at a similar price. My girlfriend commented on the irony that the biscuits and gravy she'd had just the day before at The Roost were superior to the dish served at a restaurant that literally had "biscuit" in its name.

And the service was straight-up bad. I understand that labor day is a busy brunch day, and the servers were probably run a bit ragged by the time we rolled in. But our server moved slowly, barely checked in on us once our food arrived, and repeatedly ignored (despite making direct eye contact with us) our attempts to draw her attention so that we could get a) water refills, b) to-go boxes, and c) the check. After we'd finished our food, we waited a full 15 minutes to even receive the check, not to mention the time spent waiting for her to collect our card and then to bring it back.

To make matters worse, despite calling ahead and confirming that my gluten-free/dairy free diet could be accommodated, our server did not seem to know anything about food allergies, much less care about catering to them. She reacted with annoyance and frustration when I asked questions about the contents of a couple of the menu items, repeatedly suggested items that very obviously contained ingredients that would make me sick, and answered every question I made about substitutions with either "no" or "that'll be a $2 surcharge."

Now, to be clear: Not everyone understands how gluten allergies work. And I try, very hard, not to act like an entitled brat when I interact with service industry employees. They do a hard job, get paid very little for doing it, and rarely get thanked for their work. I do not expect nor demand any special treatment.

But I do expect people who work with food for a living to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of what foods contain what allergens, and I do expect them to make a good-faith effort to give customers their money's worth of food that they can actually eat.

Neither of those needs were met at The Big Biscuit, and I highly doubt we'll be going back. Instead, our money will be going to locally owned shops that have consistently treated us with a much higher level of respect and consideration, even during the incredibly busy...

Ordered the chicken fried steak and eggs. Meat was SPOILED. I swear to God. Smelled and tasted AWFUL. Seriously was SPOILED. Told the waitress. She apologized and offered a replacement which was way out of the question. Did not feel like any meat after THAT. She let me keep the toast off the plate. I asked for some gravy to go with it. VERY delicious gravy by the way BETTER EVER!! My friend had chicken and waffles. Chicken was GREAT, waffles not so much. Cold and under cooked

After finishing my toast and gravy I asked the waitress for a ticket. She brought it to me and made me feel like she did me a favor by letting me keep the toast off of the plate of the spoiled chicken fried steak. Looked at the ticket and she charged me for the gravy. It wasn't about the charge, it was pretty much the point of it. That steak was so disgusting I'm surprised I didn't throw up on the table. It was really really bad I felt the least she could do was bring me some gravy to go with that toast that was on the plate messed up food but anyhow it is what it is. It up pay the bill and made a mental note to not return to this place. Kept expecting a manager to come to the table to apologize but there was no manager to be found. After reading the reviews for this place, I realized this is pretty typical for this place. Pretty bad customer service. I need to learn to read the reviews first but anyhow it is what it is. There are lots of choices for breakfast don't make the...

This was my first visit at this location and the rude young heffa with the extra painted eyeliner on at the podium needs training in customer service. As we walked in, there were 5 people waiting to be seated. The older lady grabbed 5 menus and said come with me. I stepped to the podium and said there are 3 of us and the young girl rudely said “they’re next, as she pointed to 2 people standing behind me. I said “oh, I thought they were all together”. The older lady seated them. The young girl asked who was next as she looked past me to my husband and son and I said there are 3 of us and we’re all together. The young girl rudely informed the older lady and the older lady took us to our table. If your restaurant chooses to have such rude individuals greeting your guest, I would suggest they be trained to greet their customers in a polite manner and direct them to come inside the restaurant so the customer doesn’t have to wait at the door or doorway. I will never come to this location again. My location in Midwest City, OK provides exceptional customer service and I’ll continue to patronize their location.

Our waitress Jessica was...