Great American Ranch — Restaurant in Midlothian

We arrived on Sunday for dinner around 6 pm. This was our first time ever trying the place. When we first arrived they sat us by the window and we ordered a beer and an appetizer. The beers came pretty quick, but the appetizer took quite a while. The waitress we had offered to take the price of the appetizer off of our bill since we had waited so long for it. We were very appreciative of that, and our problems didn't arise until after. Shortly after we ordered our food, we heard an explosion noise. Every staff member and some guests at the bar ran outside to check it out. The power and lights flickered a little but everything was still fine. Turns out that their electrical panel out back had exploded and caught fire. (None of this was anyone's fault, so I'm not reviewing them poorly because of an unfortunate fire). Then we started smelling the electrical fire, and they asked us to evacuate and head outside. No problem, we completely understood. Once outside, we were not told where to go, or what to do. All of the workers huddled together and began chatting. We stood over by our car for a few minutes until a woman asked us to move to the edge of the parking lot. I smiled and said "okay" and my fiance and I started moving. She then quickly turned to me again and rudely shouted at me (as though she thought I had given her an attitude) and said "I'm trying to get you out of the way, lets go!". My fiance quickly responded abruptly with, "was there a reason you had to be so rude to my fiance?" I told him to ignore her because she clearly was stressed and taking her frustration out on me and I was understanding that this was an unusual situation. After watching the workers interact with her we assumed she was either the owner or upper management. which was completely uncalled for someone of her position acting that way to a customer. We sat for 3 hours without ANYONE communicating to us about what we had to do or what was going on. There was one young man who was a waiter who walked over to the Food Lion and bought water and gave them out to everyone (so shout out to that young man), however he did give them to all of the workers first before noticing there were guests, and then gave them to us. At this point there were only 6 total guests, and their workers. Not a single waitress or waiter (besides him giving us water) approached us to let us know what to do, what was going on, or how we should go about anything. I've worked in the food industry and our first concern was always the customers or guests. Once we were outside, we were the last people they were concerned about. There was another gentleman who we also assumed was upper management based on his attire and the way the waiters communicated with him. He never acknowledged us or tried to make us feel comfortable about the situation.My fiance asked him numerous times what we should do, of we could leave, how we could pay. (At this point we only had half of a beer and our free appetizer). The man said "hold on, let me check". He walked away (most of the fire trucks left) and then came back and walked right by my fiance, and straight over to his employees. He told them that they could all go home, but never acknowledged us. My fiance and I were so fed up at this point we walked right passed him and got into our car.

I completely understand that unfortunate things like fires happen, and it was no ones fault, but the way we were treated during the entire 3 hours we were sitting on the curb (starving mind you) by being yelled at, and then ignored the entire time, made us extremely upset. And we are not the type of people that easily get upset. This was our first time there and unfortunately it might be our last. (Not because of a fire, but because of how we were treated- we were paying customers, and only stayed because we didn't want to dine and ditch). I was really looking forward to the food and the atmosphere, but the management really need to get their act together. We finally ended up leaving...

Wife and I have been to this restaurant a few times over the years, typically for special functions / events, but last night we went to see a band we like. Each time we've gone, we've ordered different things on the menu... and so far, we haven't found anything that tastes very good... except their french fries. However, the prices are reasonable (especially if you go during Happy Hour), so at least there's that. Also on the plus side is the staff, which is plentiful and friendly. Parking is plentiful too. The room where the bands perform is kinda strangely laid out and not very "cozy" feeling. The volume the bands play at is purposely elevated (too much for that room IMO), so it's hard to relax when you feel your teeth vibrating continuously. Fortunately I had some ear plugs with me, which was a Godsend. Good news is... the dance floor is big. Bad news is... it seems sticky / not smooth... so it's difficult to dance on... kinda like trying to dance on a rubber mat. Halfway through the evening I noticed the paper towels were empty in the men's room (there were some earlier). A member of the Ranch's staff (security) was at the bathroom sinks with me, so I mentioned the absent paper towels, and asked who I should mention it to. He kinda chuckled and said he'd look into it. I don't think he did because the towels remained empty the rest of the night and I saw him hanging out near the dance floor much of that time, even bussing a couple tables. Not a big deal the paper towels weren't replaced... just a little odd. I wanted to like this place, but we just didn't feel that comfortable there (really loud music, sticky dance floor, off-tasting food). It's a very popular spot with young adults... I guess they're the targeted customers ...and the reason for all the extra security staff on weekend nights. We'll probably go back from time to time for events / functions, but not to hear a deafening band while trying to dance with our shoes stuck to the floor. When we order food, we'll likely stick with a basic hamburger & fries. Hard to mess those...

Second time stopping in for a few cold domestic draft beers only to be disappointed because the beer is flat, no head or carbnation bubbles. Tried Bud light and Miller lite. Men's room needed cleaning attention. On the plus side, the burger was good and I had a few Bud bottles. Great draft beer at the bonefish grill. Up Date, 7/03/18 went to the Ranch for Kids night. We were seated in the large back room with the big screen and they were showing "Nemo". Our party consisted of 6 adults and 4 children. The wait staff put 4 tables together for us. When the waitress finally arrived we asked her some questions about kids night as this was our first kids night here. I asked about the FREE popcorn (I had expected to see a movie type popcorn machine) and was told she would bring some out. We ordered drinks, an appetizer while looking over the limited menu. Like last time, the Miller lite was flat, and the IPA was kinda warm like it was poured into a warm glass that just came from the washing machine. A glass of wine was served in a stemless glass (when ordered a second glass of wine it came in a water glass as they had run out of wine glasses!! The place was by no means crowded). My ICED tea with lemon came with no lemon and very little ice! To make a long story short, the waitress brought out one little bag of popcorn while we place our food orders. The food was very good but the wait was long and the waitress seemed rude like she did not want to be there. My granddaughter's mac and cheese never came out and so we finally asked for it to be put into a 'To go" box. The NEW manager on duty stopped by and we let him know how unhappy we were with just about everything, except the quality of the food. He did adjust the bill to a point that will bring us back in for another try some weeks down the road as we/the kids did enjoy the big screen experience while dining, and the RANCH is very continent for us to get together. Watch for my follow up in...