Olney Grille — Restaurant in Maryland

We were new to the Olney Grille, going there to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday. Our party of seven had, apparently, two waitresses, which seemed like overkill, but it wasn't too busy when we first got there for our reservation. My parents arrived about ten minutes early, and they were immediately seated. We showed up on time and were immediately provided menus. Having never been there, and having to order for three kids also, we weren't the fastest out of the gate with ordering. The waitresses came back a total of three times asking if we were ready. (Sometimes, more is not better, like when it involves more waitstaff asking if you are ready to order, or ready to turn over your plate towards the end of the meal.)

We did finally order, and the food came out correctly and was fine. I ordered a salmon special that seemed like there would be some spice involved, but I was disappointed in its lack of heat. It was fine tasting, but not what I was anticipating. Everyone else liked their food, so I won't fault the food. I won't rave, but I won't fault either. It's on the pricier side, so that added to the level of my disappointment that an item with a horseradish sauce has no discernible level of spice to it.

Towards the end of the meal, we were feeling increasing pressure to vacate our tables, as the place was crowding up, and my husband could see and overhear the waitstaff being told that they have other reservations and our tables were needed. :\ We rushed the kids through their desserts (not all three kids ate their meals, so we were trying to get calories in them somehow at that point, but the waitstaff would not wait any longer, if you catch my drift) and left a small tip that would have been much larger without the push to get us out the door. Unfortunately, what the manager later called the waitresses' "overly efficient" actions really translated to rude service throughout the meal. It appears we were seated in the weeds and were treated as such.

After leaving a tiny tip and a note about the unappreciated rush by the staff, the manager came out to our car to apologize and try to make amends (without that, this review would be 1 star). He was right, we should've said something during the meal so they could have rectified the matter. But it was my dad's birthday, and we were not trying to make a scene. The treatment was offensive considering the amount of money we were paying to be there, the main waitress was getting less and less friendly as our one and a half hour stay wore on, and we really just wanted the meal to end.

So, in the end, the service was not great, we felt compelled to finish the meal before it actually ended, we were made to feel as if we handled the situation incorrectly, and we got all this for just shy of a couple hundred dollars. Oh, and when you are standing in front of a mirror, five feet behind the customer who is facing the mirror, be mindful that when you tell your waitstaff that there are other reservations waiting and you need those tables, you may be overheard and watched while saying as much.

We...

You only get one chance to make a first impression; today was my first visit to Olney Grille ... and my last. Service was OK but simple food was lacking in freshness and taste. We ordered two Cobb salads (pretty simple, right?) - the first warning sign was that both salad bowl and its contents were extremely cold leading me to think the salads had been made a day (days?) before and kept in the reefer for an extended period. Digging into the salad verified my fears: vegetable contents were limp, watery and tasteless. Many of the lettuce pieces had that brown appearance that comes from being in the reefer too long. Ham, chicken, cheese contents seemed to be OK but were so cold they assumed the same tasteless nature as the vegetables. I hoped the blue cheese dressing (house made according to the menu) could rescue the day for me but it was probably the mildest blue cheese dressing I've ever encountered; so the tasteless lunch continued. I guess the dressing is a matter of personal taste (I prefer a more intense blue cheese) but the salad itself was inexcusable. Given the poor attention to detail displayed in the prep/presentation of this simple salad, I would have no confidence in sampling any of the more complex items...

Myself and another person in our party of 4 ordered the full rack of ribs as we’ve had them before. One person sent them back as he thought that his were, according to him, under cooked and bland. I kept mine so as to not embarass my wife in front of the other couple as it was her birthday. I ate three of the ribs and they were fair. My wife had one and didn’t care for it. In the past they were charred more, juicy and the meat fell off of the bone. These were none of those. Other gent who sent his back got something else and there was no issue with his doing that. Service was good and food came out quickly. Bread was hot and great. So many other dining options so we probably won’t be back. Manager on our way out said I should have sent my ribs back if not satisfactory and I guess that part is on me. Just wanted a pleasant evening so I brought them home and will probably throw them on my grill and lather them up with barbq sauce. Waitress was pleasant and attentive and patient as the other couple arrived earlier than our reservation and tied up the table to her detriment. Kudos to her for not allowing that to affect the...