Barrel Back Restaurant — Restaurant in Melrose Township

I’ll try to keep a long story short but my personal experience here with a group of friends was the worst service we’ve ever seen. We had a table of 7. Two of us were chewing gum before we got there and placed it on our appetizer plate (because the napkins are cloth). Our waitress picked up our plates only to return them with a paper napkin asking me to remove my gum from the plate and hand the gum in the napkin back to her. Lol, which was odd but whatever.. then our waitress forgot to place my order which was a salmon dinner. (Understanding mistakes happen) I said no problem but I can order something else if that will take to long. She said “no, it should be out shortly” she offered a cup of soup while I waited which was kind. Low and behold after everyone was done eating and the table was cleared (we also got an order to go that was brought out to us) about 30-40 mins later my food finally came out. She replied “here’s your special meal to eat all by yourself” I was told it would have brussel sprouts it didn’t. When I asked about it she replied “yeah, we ran out. Then proceeded to tell us not to come to this restaurant on Sunday mornings, they run out of everything” (weird) She was obviously bothered by the whole scenario that was neither my fault nor hers. Her attitude got short quick. She avoided coming to our table for anymore waters/drinks. We flagged her down to get our bill. When she came back she handed me my $40 bill for the meal that was 30-40mins behind and undercook without the sides I ordered. I asked her if she thought it was fair I had to pay full price and explained to her I don’t feel that I need to pay that. Cocky she said “I’ll see what I can do just for you” After she returned to the table to bring back everyone’s cards… she threw them on the table and walked away. The actual Resturant is nice. The staff needs help and an attitude check. Haha. We left with a memorable story from our girls weekend trip. Side note: A sweet family with 4 children waited in the waiting room with us and ended up leaving because they waited so long. They we’re told they’d be seated in 30mins. They continued to wait an hour over what they were originally told and finally left because they’re kids were so hungry. Looking back, We should’ve realized this...

Food was good, however portion sizes were small especially for the sides and for the price we paid. We waited at least 20 minutes for someone to just take our order. We sat outside and although the view was nice the chairs were so uncomfortable. They had no padding and there was a weird bar that jutted out so leaning back made it painful. The most horrifying thing that we saw was one of the waitresses cleaning a table with a white rag and spray bottle. She then took the dirty rag and set it down on the jug THAT WAS USED FOR SERVING WATER. The next waiter then came and took the rag out of the jug, SQUEEZED IT INTO THE PITCHER WITH HIS HANDS AND WENT ABOUT CLEANING THE TABLES. We expected him to notice the error and remove the pitcher with a clean one but no he NEVER EVEN CHANGED OUT THE PITCHER DESPITE THAT A DIRTY RAG HAD FALLEN INTO IT. I was appalled and spoke to the manager. I told him what happened and that the jug of water was still sitting there to be served to customers. I walked back to my table expecting him to remove the dirty pitcher of water and he never came!! We finally said something to our waiter at the end of our meal and he FINALLY removed the dirty pitcher. IF WE HAD NOT SAID ANYTHING, CUSTOMERS WOULDVE BEEN SERVED CONTAMINATED, DIRTY WATER!!! The manager even failed to take us seriously. I have a picture below of the dirty dish rag that was used to clean tables, hanging in the water pitcher. We cannot believe the ignorance from both the staff and manager in handling this situation. We will never be coming back and unless you really want to get sick, I would never eat here. If we saw it happen once, who knows how many times it’s happened. What a waste of $80 spent at...

Great views of the water, reasonably priced food with "seasonal" staff. Should you expect more? Yes; our primary server was among the most ungracious people we've encountered in our travels.

We ordered the whitefish / salmon dip to share. The dip was flavorful with small bits of whitefish and salmon in a cream cheese base; very well done. The toast that was served with the dip was too greasy and hard; you may want to request something softer (like bread) or thin and crunchy (buttered crackers) if available.

We ordered cocktails with no fruit (lemons, limes); they arrived with limes. We mentioned this to our waitress who abruptly pulled them from our drinks and threw the fruit over the rail onto the sidewalk below. Pretty snarky move ... one star down.

I had the summer salad and added the smoked chicken; the serving was large, the fruit was fresh and the chicken had a great smokey flavor.

My guest had the Angus burger; it was cooked perfectly and served with freshly sliced toppings. They requested mayonnaise and ketchup. Our waitress returned with the items and threw them on the table. We said thank you; there was no response from her ... two stars down.

Our primary server never asked ... would you like another drink, would you like anymore water, is there anything you need, would you like dessert? Instead she simply placed the bill on the table ... wordlessly. No "thank you for joining us today" ... or a single "you're welcome" to our many thanks ... third star down.

It's unlikely we'll return; there are many places where the view might not be so great and the food a little less tasty, but the service is warm and outstanding. Sorry folks...