Bristol Bar & Grille | East — Restaurant in Lyndon

UPDATE JANUARY 19, 2018: OUR GROUP DECIDED TO GO ELSEWHERE THIS MONTH. Read more.

Our group of 15 - 20 adults had been meeting for lunch at this restaurant once a month for several years. The group consists of retired fire department Chief Officers and our wives.

The food quality was usually good and service adequate, considering the number of people in our group.

In the past few months however, service quality declined to a degree that we decided to look for another venue after our last visit.

When we met for lunch in December, 2017 our server did not speak English well and appeared to be unfamiliar with the menu.

My wife told the server what she wanted four times before he appeared to understand what she said. Even then, he misunderstood what she and some others in our party wanted.

Some of us were served dishes that we did not order and did not like and the service was quite slow. Some had finished our meals while others were still waiting for theirs. When my wife's meal was finally served, it was completely different from the dish she had ordered. We had been there more than an hour and there wasn't time to order something else.

In the past, fresh warm bread was brought to our table as soon as we were seated, but recently we've had ask for bread more than once, and even then it wasn't brought to us promptly.

On our last visit we waited more than 15 minutes before anyone came to take our orders. Our drinks were not refilled in a timely manner. When we had finished eating and were ready to leave we had to wait for our checks, some of which were incorrect. There was excessive delay after giving our server credit cards and it took several attempts to get the checks corrected.

Our server appeared to be inept and inexperienced in addition to his difficulty communicating effectively. I attribute this situation to poor management. He should not have been given the responsibility of serving a large group without assistance and supervision.

Furthermore, no representative of management was visable throughout our visit.

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We arrived at 7:30pm, hungry and eager to experience the "rave reviews" and recommendations from friends and family.

Our experience starts on a sour note, and continues downwards.

Now, the place was not busy. We saw at least 6 servers, 4 of whom were stood in a mingled group, giggling.

7:45pm the host returns from seating the guests in front of us, and making a side trip to the bathroom, and to talk to the bar tender. We are seated at 7:47pm...

7:52pm we are given menus and asked for our drink orders. Beer for me, sweet tea for her. Tea came immediately. 8:01pm server comes back to take food order, starts asking about appetizers and promptly walks away. Returning some moments later with the beer. 8:06pm Appetizer arrives and main food order is taken, while we eat. Greek Poutine (fries coated in melted cheese with tomatoes and olives). This was palatable.

8:17 server comes back to ask how the burger should be cooked... 11 minutes after ordering!

8:26 food comes. Burger is overcooked, covered in burnt remains of the previous order (grill was not cleaned), bread seems stale as it's hard to bite, and crumbles. Bacon is overly crisp, and inedible. Half the burger went uneaten!!

8:31 Wife cannot eat her food, just know she will ask for a box to throw it away outside (she doesn't like upsetting people). I'm waiting for the server to express my displeasure.

All in all it took one hour to decide we will not be back, at least not at this location, and will not be recommending the place either.

2/10 Does not live up...

We were not impressed. The restaurant was dirty. The furnishings were old and in need of replacement. The bathroom floor was sticky. This being the condition of the areas viewed by the public no telling what the kitchen looked like.

We started with a waiter who's look of disappointment was obvious when we didn't order drinks. He was one of those waiters who didn't write down our order. Of course, he had to come back and ask what we ordered. One plate of food delivered to our table was not ours. Oh, by the way, this is one of those places which puts the suggested tip size on your check. That's cool, but their suggestions start at 18% and go up.

Now for food. We started with the Fried Calamari which was flat and had very little taste and was greasy. I had the Bristol fish sandwich. It had very little taste as well. The tartar sauce just missed the mark. (That could just be my personal taste.) I'm sure the Bristol coleslaw came out of a tub either from Sysco or Gordon's Food Service. I have to say it was the best thing on my plate. My wife had the a salad and the grilled salmon Teriyaki which was just a piece of grilled salmon with heaps of Teriyaki sauce pour all over it. She didn't finish hers. My son had the crab cakes with a salad. The crab cakes were as flat as a flitter as were their taste. He's from Maryland and knows what a good crab cake is.

Anyway, this is not a restaurant we would recommend to a...