Stockyard Grill — Restaurant in Montgomery

You hear of a restaurant located within a cattle auction and is known for their burgers, your mind makes a leap from one to the other, and assumes that the restaurant's beef must be top notch because the cows are RIGHT THERE. This assumption skips the butchering process, of which I don't think Stockyard is at all equipped. Compounding the issue is Stockyard's identity, which is primarily that of a meat and three restaurant. The burgers get their own spot on the menu, but you get the feeling the focus is on the daily stuff like fried chicken, meatloaf, etc.

Regardless, Stockyard and Hamburger King were two of the five finalists chosen for the "Alabama's Best Burger" contest back in 2011... a contest organized by the Alabama Cattlemen's Association, of which the Montgomery Stockyard is a member, but I'm sure it's just a coincidence - the vote was primarily accomplished by Facebook votes. Either way, I wanted to try that burger, if only because the burger scene in Montgomery leaves much to be desired.

The tiny restaurant fills up quickly during their daily three hours of operation, so rather than wait ten minutes for a table, I walked up to the counter to make a to-go order. The nice girl taking my order tried to upsell me from my requested cheeseburger to their special sandwich, a sandwich that packs both a burger and a 5oz piece of steak between the same two buns.

Let's pause for a moment to think about this. Sheer amount of beef aside, burgers started as a means of using the tough scraps that we didn't want to discard. To top that with a piece of steak is not only antithetical to the whole concept of a burger, but there's absolutely no way the combination could work due to the contrasting textures. Even the most tender steak in the world is still going to require a considerable amount of chew in comparison to the pillowy give of a well-packed hamburger. And I saw a picture of this burger on Facebook - it's not the most tender steak in the world. This sandwich seems like a product of someone who doesn't have a point of view besides "beef, and lots of it".

Meat and three restaurants, especially those who deal with a working lunch, make it a priority to get your food to you as fast as humanly possible. Most of the hard work is done ahead of time anyway (don't ask me what kind of voodoo it takes to turn out a good piece of fried chicken under that kind of time crunch, though), and as someone who doesn't have all day to wait around, I appreciate that. Dispite this, I was surprised that the time it took me from order at the takeout counter to getting my burger was less than five minutes. In a completely packed restaurant. This was not a burger that was completely made to order. It tasted like it, too: the thick patty was seared well, and seasoned, but overcooked and dry. combined with the plain white bun and boring onion, lettuce, and tomato, it was a significant disappointment from what I had built up in my mind.

Sure, I admit my expectations of Stockyard Grill were largely a product of my own doing, but when you eat out an average of six times a week, you burn through Montgomery's clear favorites pretty darn quickly. We want to believe that there's some hole in the walls that will reveal themselves if we take the time to do the work, especially in a town where so much Yelp activity ends up reviewing the same restaurants that already have the most reviews. Even if it wasn't a home run, Stockyard Grill is a pretty unique concept, and probably puts out a mean daily special (as a side, I had some mixed greens that were plenty good), but to expect the world from them is...

A friend recommended it as a great hole in the wall place to grab a quick lunch and it was awesome. Ask for the "Dan" it's a sandwich not on the menu that consists of ribeye on top of a hamburger Patty. The seasoning is spot on. Neither of my fellow diners were able to finish it and the crinkle cut fries it came with (their both skinnier than me what can I say) but they raved about the sandwich and even had me try a piece and it was indeed the right spot to have lunch. I opted for the Thursday special which was pepper steak and 3 sides. I was hoping for a real kick in the gravy but there wasn't. I certainly could have added hot sauce to it as every table had 2 bottles. The sides we're good, I had the speckled butter beans and creamed corn then opted for dessert instead of a third side. Our server recommended the (I'm kicking myself for not remembering the name exactly) buttercream pie (I think) and it put an exclamation point on the meal it was amazing. While looking around the restaurant we noticed a meat case where they would customer cut steaks for you and we all wished we had brought a cooler with us for the road trip. In summary great hole in the wall for meat and 3 or for the Dan. Definitely check it out. It is in the actual stockyards where they do cattle...

The name is fitting for this interesting place. It is literally a stockyards / auction entrance, with your first option to be food. I assume this is to make it convenient for the farmers and buyers to get a quick bite while taking care of business at the same time. You can literally eat your meal and walk 30-50ft farther to buy or sell your cattle.

Place was busy and with a lot of regular locals. You could tell because everyone seemed to know everyone. We got some tots to share and then the meatloaf and chicken strip basket. Fries and tots and chicken strips were pretty good. Meatloaf was pretty good as well. The green beans tasted like they came out of a bulk can. Edible but not great. Over all, was a pretty good little meal, but nothing I’d tell people they needed to try. For us, it was a standard diner that was an interesting choice due to the stockyards being attached, and it had decent reviews. We would certainly have no problem trying it again, but at the same time, would be perfectly happy trying another decent rated place as well.

Staff was friendly and helpful. They were a little busy to keep up, but at the same time, everyone is...