The Butcher and Barkeep — Restaurant in Lower Salford Township

My friend and I had to take a trip out to Harleysville to pick something up. We googled good places to eat and came across this restaurant. The atmosphere is great but the service was very poor. We arrived around 3 and our waitress was not very friendly or helpful. My 4 month old has an allergy to milk and soy. Due to breastfeeding, I need to avoid these two foods. I explained that to her and said I picked 3 things on the menu and I know we will need to alter them slightly but was wondering if she could check on a few things in the kitchen to make sure they don’t contain these foods. She cockily responded “well just tell me what your choices are and I can tell you if it’s in there or not”. This was unsettling as many times sit is in food you wouldn’t expect it to be in. I went along with it anyway, shared the 3 options and she only pointed out the obvious things I could not have (ex: cheese on a burger). I ended up ordering a hamburger but asked her to double check the bread for milk and/or soy. Then asked if she could check the fries as well because I’d like to have them as a side. She responded that the fries are fine and I can have them and that they are cooked in vegetable oil. She obviously did not know that most vegetable oil contains soy. I ordered the mixed greens instead and she brought out a creamy dressing. When I asked her what it was, she said the name of it and said “it’s dairy free”. I was very uneasy and didn’t want to ask her to double check or check for soy because I already felt like an inconvenience and like she wouldn’t check anyway. I asked for oil and vinegar and ate the greens with that.

Fast forward to after feeding my baby - he has been up for 3 hours now with stomach pains and is inconsolable. The way he acts if I ingest dairy or soy. I am furious. I felt as if the waitress did not take the allergies seriously. I understand it is a burden and going back and forth between the kitchen and my table is inconvenient and an annoyance. I also understand that there can be cross contamination. However, I did not feel that she took these allergies seriously, she did not double check the ingredients and she did not share with the chef that dairy/soy free was the goal. I also understand if I cannot eat at the restaurant because they contain dairy/soy. But, the way it was handled was not friendly or welcoming whatsoever and now I am dealing with a sick child because of it. I will not be back and will not be recommending this...

We have waited a long time to try this restaurant, even though we heard & read good things about it. After today I wish I would have waited longer.... what a disappointment! The only 2 good things were we parked right in front of the front door and there was no wait for brunch. Reading the menu, everthing sounds wonderful, I didn't know what to order. The waiter came over to take a drink order while we picked our items. I asked for lobster bisque soup and a rare burger. My boyfriend ordered the soup and a short rib sandwich. The soup came out from the kitchen and wasnt to bad. For $8.00 I expected more soup then what we got and for it to be more flavorable. My burger actually came out pretty rare which is close to impossible at most restaurants. The burger came out not hot, Yes, I know it's cooked rare, but this was pretty chilly for coming right from the kitchen. My boyfriend's sandwich was cold also and had very little short rib. For $15.00, I believe there should have been a lot more meat for him. The waiter was also useless, he took the drink and food order and never came back to our table. He never asked "How is everthing, can I refill your drink? He eventually came by asking If we wanted our bill, it took all in had to not say "No... we dont." He seemed to like all the other customers, talked to the them and even refilled their drinks. $51.00 for a burger and a sandwich, 2 soups and a cider seems very high considering most of it was cold and skimpy with the meat. My burger didnt have any flavor and the short rib sandwich had more tomato on it then short rib. Maybe I should have tried the dinner instead of the brunch. By looking at the outcome of brunch, I think I would have spent more money and been more...

EDIT (Aug 11, 2022) - Stopped in last week on a whim to grab some drinks. Great to see that the menu evolves and changes over time, there were a few new things that we don't remember seeing in past visits. Felt a bit snacky so DW and I split their Hot Chicken Thigh sandwich with a side of hush puppies (picture added). The sandwich was really good, especially with the candied bacon. The hush puppies were good but not your traditional hush puppies you'd expect south of the mason-dixon line. (See my other reviews for other hush puppies, we order them whenever we see them on the menu!)

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

This is usually our go-to for date night and last night was no different. It was pretty full as always, no worries. Got here ahead of our reservation so took a bit to get drinks at the bar, no worries, everyone was working their butts off.

We decided to try a few new things on the menu instead of our what we usually order. This time we got the hush puppies as an app, and two dinner entree specials: the country fried steak and the chicken pot pie.

The hush puppies were disappointing. Six came in our order for $7. Mentioned to our server and her response was “yeah”. Should have gone with the sexy fries instead.

The country fried steak was delicious. Nice cut of steak was still medium rare, just the way I like it.

The pot pie came out only lukewarm. We asked for a new order and they did take care of it and brought out a new order that was piping hot. It had great flavor, good seasoning. However it was a bit pasty like it had been allowed to cool and reheated.

Oh well. We tried new things, found one we liked and two we’ll skip next time. Can’t go wrong with...