Porch — Restaurant in Mountain Brook

I ate here for lunch (around 1:30 pm) on a Saturday afternoon. I made a reservation via Google and it was super easy. The restaurant was a little busy. Basically outside was full but there were plenty of seats inside. The hostesses was nice and seated me within 5 minutes. I ordered crispy brussels with bacon, duck confit bahn mi with fries and a mixed drink with coconut, pineapple and dark rum (it had a medical “ play on words” name) I’ll start with the Brussels: they were not crispy at all. If anything, they were soaked in syrup and hot sauce. They were quite spongy and wilted. When I did get a hint of bacon, it was pretty burned. I was actually thankful that it was very small pieces of bacon in my brussel sprouts. The duck confit bahn mi was also disappointing. The pieces of duck in the bahn mi Were chopped as if you were serving up a chopped brisket sandwich. This led to what should have been beautiful pieces of sliced duck confit being chopped dried pieces of duck completely falling out of the sandwich. In addition, the cilantro that was In the sandwich was placed in it whole. Meaning, the entire stem along with the actual leaves of cilantro (You will see it in the pictures). This made every bite taken into the bahn mi awkward As all I got was a mouthful of cilantro stems; however, I couldn’t actually take a complete bite of the sandwich because you cannot bite off whole stems of cilantro at all or much less being in a bunch. Additionally, the menu stated that the bahn mi had thin slices of jalapeños. The slices were not thin at all and they still had all of their seeds. I was expecting actual very thin slices of jalapeño which would have added a nice crunch and slight heat. Instead, I had to pull out the slices of jalapeño and put them to the side of my plate. Next, is the fries. Once again, I was very disappointed as all the pictures I had seen on the Internet showed delicious looking fries that were of good length. Instead, almost all of my fries were approximately an inch long. I seriously thought they must’ve just had baby potatoes in stock. Or maybe I just got the absolute bottom of the barrel. My mixed drink was not good either. It was very sweet, but didn’t really taste of anything. The waitress even took it off my tab. And please note, I never complained to her about the drink. She just noticed that majority of it was still in the glass I asked for the check. The waitress/bartender was nice and attentive. There was one man who dropped my food off at my table. He didn’t say a word, he just dropped it and walked away. He did not ask me if everything looked all right, if I needed anything. I would like to caveat my review by saying that I searched the entire Birmingham area (And outskirts) To find what I thought would be the perfect lunch as I was visiting for one day only. And I took a chance on The Porch. I love cilantro, jalapeños, fries, and duck… And the reviews on this place really attracted me to wanting...

Update.... decided to give Porch another try, and had an incredible lunch. I am here to tell you, the burger I had just might have been the best I have had anywhere. My son had the same thing, and said he actually got a little angry eating it....because he knew he would never be able to make one better than it. They were phenomenal, absolutely delicious. The service was pretty good as well.

Much different experience this time around, and now I get why so many people like the place. Looking forward to going back.

Original post:

We had heard good things about Porch, and were looking forward to our meal. Unfortunately, we were the couple/table the staff forgot existed. After being there about an hour and watching other tables come and go, I got up and asked the hostess where our server and food were. Fifteen minutes later, still with no food and long empty glasses, my wife went inside to offer to pay for the drinks we had long since finished….which they made us do.

So, no food, much frustration, and a $17.38 tab for one cocktail and an iced tea. Bluntly, they didn’t care we were there and didn’t care...

'Date Night' at Porch Friday night - our first trip. We started with drinks - I got the Margarita 'on the rocks' and it was delish. She got a Moscow Mule-like drink and did not share a drop. I made a great choice with the blackened catfish which comes with everything. She got this giant cheeseburger loaded with bacon and a fried egg on top and a side of fries. Of course I got to help finish it off so I needed another Margo. The Good : Friendly service, great food and delicious drinks. Excellent view and out for under a $$$ hundred . The Bad : Pretty muggy so dine inside until October - or go naked. 2nd trip to Porch on Friday evening with a special guest and it was great. Chicken skewers were delish and really good service from Matt. Very enjoyable place to go and a bargain. 3rd trip to Porch. We had a really nice waitress and great food. Wow ! Your Bread Pudding was almost a shot across the bow at Tory McPhail ( Head Chef,Commander's Palace. Almost. ) 11.02.22 Back again and it was delish again. Good service and a fun time on our...