The Grove Entertainment Complex — Restaurant in Lowell

Visited this establishment last night. We arrived shortly after 5:30pm and were greeted by a sign that said "Please Wait to be Seated". So we waited, no one came to seat us or greet us, so we sat ourselves in the bar area in a booth. We were promptly greeted by the bartender and she gave us drink menus and the food menu. I asked her what her favorite cocktail was and she said "The blueberry one, but we are out of mint." I read the description of the drink and saw no mention of mint in it so I decided to order a draft beer; they do have a wonderful selection on beers. We received our drinks quickly and then ordered an appetizer. I had been told that the truffle fries were amazing the waitress described them as "nothing special, but people seem to like them", we ordered the smoked Gouda dip. Our appetizer came out within 15 minutes. The dip itself was very good, the toasted points tasted like old bread and only a few were crisp, the others were stale soft. After we finished our appetizer we ordered our food, we were in no hurry. I ordered the Old Main sandwich and my husband ordered the Hangover burger. So as most couples do when they go out we discussed things coming up. We then realized that we had been waiting 30mins for our food and we both had 2 tall draft beers after we ordered. We had a perfect view of the kitchen and expo window, it was a mess back there. Food was sitting in the window for 10+ minutes, the person expediting looked frustrated, servers/food runners were waiting at the window reading tickets and trying to figure out where everything was going. At one point, a young lady spilled sauce on the ground outside the expo window, an accident that happened when a lot of servers were trying to get there food to their tables. She got on her knees and wiped the sauce up, then immediately grabbed some plates in the window and took them to her table, without even washing her hands. I have worked in the food service industry for 13 years, and from my opinion, this place was a mess. Not a mess like in dirty, but a mess in the sense that it was not being ran properly. I started to look around to see if there was anyone on the floor like a manager or owner. No manager or owner insight. The restaurant was not even half full, so they were not busy by any means. By 7:30 we were not happy, we were both hungry, our server was now avoiding our table because she knew what we were wondering, "Where is our food!?" We stopped another waitress that walked by and told her the situation and asked to see a manager. Her response was "The only manager here tonight is right there behind the window expediting". We were in shock, your only manager should not be stuck in the kitchen, she should be out on the floor apologizing to us. The server we stopped was really nice and apologetic and offered to go see if our food was coming. Keep in mind we are maybe 10 feet from the expo window, so we can hear everything. The manager acted like it was no issue and that we can just wait longer for our food. The server came back and said that she was looking into it. I was done. We asked for our check so we could leave. She was quick to get our ticket and we were happy to see that she took the appetizer off so all we were paying for was our beers. She took our card and went to talk to the so called "manager". She was upset that we were leaving, she kept saying they were working on their food right now, they will get it soon, the server explained to her that we just wanted to leave. She brought our card back and apologized again and said, "You should go somewhere else for food, honestly, I don’t blame you." We got in our car to leave and looked at the clock, it was 7:56. We were there for almost two and a half hours and did not even get our food. We have never had an experience like this. We read a lot of bad reviews online, heard bad comments about it from friends and coworkers, but still decided to give it a chance. Really wished we would’ve gone somewhere else. DO...

I used to love coming to this place at lunch and bringing my employees for our weekly meetings, but had not been in a month or so due to a change in my diet. It was always busy, and the staff on the bar side was always prompt with our food and service with an upbeat attitude. The food was pretty tasty, not necessarily gourmet, but for the price it was fair. Three of us visited today for lunch. When we walked through the doors, we could immediately tell there was a difference in the place. It was very dark and there were hardly any patrons. The hostess/waitress seated us at the tall tables in the bar area. Evidently, from what one of the waitresses told me, they went through a change in owners, and everything is different now. New menu, new wait staff, new kitchen staff... New is not necessarily better. We were seated and I promptly ordered my favorite truffle fries as an appetizer. I was told this item was removed from their menu recently as part of the change. This was one of the menu items that kept me coming back. Oh well, no matter. We ordered the rest of our meals. the menu seems much more limited than before with less appeal. I ordered the fish tacos which I remember as being delicious. My buddies ordered a classic hamburger and a French-dip sandwich. When the orders came to the table, the tacos came first. I could immediately see that they were topped differently than I had recalled, but I was sure that they were still fine. The fish was a hard breaded stick, and it had tomatoes and thousand island dressing on it. I asked her for the sides and she told me that they were out of Mexican rice, but they would give me double the beans. She dropped them in front of me and said “Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart.” The Burger looked a little dry and tasteless, but it is a plain cheeseburger, what do you expect. My buddy could not finish it due to the texture and dryness of the meat. The French dip was a good size, but the beef on it definitely came from a package. In addition, the sandwich was served with plain unsalted corn chips. The chips were greasy and stuck together, rolled inside each other. My buddy asked for a side of salsa to choke them down with. They brought him Pico de Gallo and told him they were out of salsa. He accepted it. We ate our meal and I have to say, I was not impressed. The presentation on the plate was less than stellar. The dishes were plated with all the finesse of a high school cafeteria. We got about three quarters through our meal, when I looked up to see a short, bald man in a brightly colored shirt (manager I assumed) go behind the kitchen counter and carry out a bowl of what appeared to be Mexican rice. He proceeded to carry it with him to a table. I guess they were out of Mexican rice for the customers, but not for the staff. No matter.

All in all, it was a mediocre meal from a mediocre restaurant. Whatever appeal the place had before, left along with the old owners. I will not be bringing employees here for...

My boyfriend and I went to the Grove on our very first date (2023). We had the best time! I can’t remember who we watched, but we both remember laughing so hard we cried!

He and I went again last night, to see Josh Blue. (Yes the guy from AGT in 2021). I will have to say it wasn’t as fun as the first time we went, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

A few things from this second visit that we considered a bit of a damper on the atmosphere: The price of the drinks. We ended up spending about $70 (not including tip) on our drinks. I ordered 2 margaritas and he had 4 beers.

Political comments. No matter what side of the table you sit on, I believe people come to comedy to escape the torment going on around them. Political parties is considered a torment/ stressor on everyone- and we really don’t want to be patronized with ill jokes because of who we vote for.

Josh made a bad joke about Trumps attempted assassination. “Oh man, I should really cover my ears. Can’t leave them exposed….” The crown at first didn’t get it- so he continued, “you get it guys, that’s a lot of brain matter right there. I don’t understand how the shooter missed.”

Also the club owner threaten that he slashed someone’s tire, due to the fact that there was a Trump bummer sticker on the back of their truck…

The owner of the club really prides himself on being a Class A comedy club, meaning no/ minimal crown work. He ended up kicking someone out of the club for heckling Josh…. And then the whole club started to do it- and then the club owner scolded us after the show- and told the audience they basically ruined the show.

An intermission would have been nice. Especially to address the hecklers. If the club owner would have offered a 3 min intermission, then he could have talked to Josh about the hecklers. If Josh was comfortable dealing with crown work- I say let it happen. But if he wasn’t, this would have been a great time to remind the crown that “heckling and interrupting the comedian doesn’t help the audience experience.”

Our seats. The first time we were at the comedy club, we had some nice seats. They were towards the right of the stage- standard chairs, but over all comfortable. This visit- we were sat in the back (not an issue), but we had to sit on bar stools. And for someone with a smaller figure… my back side was getting uncomfortable about 30 mins into the 2.5 hour show. So I would recommend bringing something to cushion yourself if you don’t have it naturally. Of course we will continue to come back- but I hope the owner of the comedy club really takes reflection...