Poppy's — Restaurant in New Bern

I came to poppy's on the twelfth of august 2023. I came with four friends of mine. I got there a couple minutes after everyone else so they had already sat down at a four head table. So I asked the bartender if I could use a barstool to take the end of the table to be with my friends. The bartender said that's fine with her. once I sat down the hostess walks over and said I couldn't put a chair there. I thought that was kina ridiculous because there was only one six head table that was still dirty. It was dirty when I got there. It had been dirty for about fifteen minutes and the establishment was not busy at all what was the hold up. Either way I complied and I put the stool back and decided that I was going to stand at the end of the table. Our a server walks by and asks if I am with a group I said yes I'm with these guys right here. She looks over at the hostess and points right at my chest and says "fix this" indicating that I'm acting like a problematic child. So he walks over and says I cant stand here either. So at this point I'm noticeable irritated and asked him if we could get that six head table that still hasn't been cleaned. He replied yeah it may take a while and walked away. I went to go sit at the bar and waited for them to clear the table and that took another ten minutes. But I guess they finally got around to it. The six head table was made of a four head and a two head but once they cleaned it they just pulled them apart like they didn't just have five people asking for it. So we took it upon ourselves to put the table back together and start dining. We all ordered a beer and some people got their's and it took another ten minutes for the rest of us to get ours but it was fine. The sandwich was fine its not the best sandwich I've ever had but I was pretty hungry and ready to let the seating situation disappear into the past. When we got the checks though I noticed that they charged twenty percent for gratuity the principle behind that is a foreign concept to me you don't imply to your customer that "you owe me this because I did a great job today" no It is my job to review you. On top of that they were asking for a tip on top of the twenty percent that they already took upon themselves to take. I always tip waiters and waitresses very well I spent many years in the restaurant industry I know how it goes. It felt like a final spit in the face on the way out the door. I'll probably try them because it was a good sandwich and I understand that people have bad days but I'll proceed with...

Very disappointed with the service mostly however had issues with our food as well. For 15$ a burger I’ve had better on the dollar menu at McDonald’s and I’m just being honest. My mom ordered her burger medium well and it came out rare. Not just rare but uncooked and cold on the inside. So obviously it was not cooked at all. This was the second burger she got though because the first one she ordered with Gouda cheese but it came out with American. So they sent it back and got the second one. When the manager was called to the table the manager told her the burger wasn’t bad and it was medium rare not raw... (how does that matter?!) 1. It for sure was raw but even if it wasn’t she ordered medium... not medium rare.... so the manager wasn’t very professional in my opinion but a ting to argue with her. They offered to take off the burger as she couldn’t eat it obviously and after seeing it was sick and didn’t want to try a third time. I mean honestly who would? And they wanted to give her a 10$ gift card to come back. We don’t live in the area and are visiting so she would never be able to use it. After that issue was settled they tried to say she didn’t pay her bill. She had given her card to them to pay for the other burgers at her table (I was sitting at a different table next to her) but they couldn’t find it. The waitress looked for the card and kept saying are you sure you gave it to us. Umm yeah. We did. After giving us a receipt of some random person who had paid earlier and saying she had it ... I took the random person recipt back to her and told her we don’t know this person .... and we need her card back.... she looked some more and finally found it stashed to the side.... needless to say we won’t be back. I’m sure they do not care as I said we were just passing through and do not live in the area but we will use our voice here on the review platforms because we did not feel heard at the restaurant. I do not recommend this place obviously but besides the horrible service and the raw meat the food that was made correct just wasn’t worth 15$. We spent 90$ on a family of four and I’ll express it again I’ve had better on the dollar menu before. The decor is really nice inside but the place is small and very cold inside as well. I would say the beer is good you know since it’s called beer burger army company but we ordered a draft beer and were given a bottle.... so many issues I’m just glad that experience...

I dined alone and upon arrival was given a 20 minute wait time, turned out to be 30 but I was famished and committed. No big deal, I waited.

The restaurant had a very busy dinner rush and the staff was noticeably moving around with a purpose and also provided their apologies for the wait.

Considering the situation, I ordered what I perceived as the easier menu items, Candied Bacon and “The Beast” burger. Admittedly, both were a let down, especially the bacon.

The bacon came out COLD and baked way too long, like made in the morning and sat around all day cold. The “candied” part was far from that and consisted of just sprinkling of brown sugar. The presentation was nothing short of poor. The portion was considerable but definitely did not outweigh the other factors…. But, I ate it because once again, I was famished (8hrs of travel here) and I had no idea when or if I’d get something else in a reasonable time considering the busy atmosphere.

The burger wasn’t cooked to my liking. I asked for medium rare because of the meats involved and how dry they can turn out, but I received a medium to medium well. It also did not taste anything like the description. The sweet potato fries (side) was the shining star and the dip was complementing.

I would not order either item again.

The best part of the evening was the staff. Especially the hostess, who was seemingly doing more than hostess duties. I seen her clear tables, bring chairs from upstairs to make table seating, get water, refill waters and she also got my check for me. It’s not to say the others weren’t doing anything, but the young lady was certainly putting in work.

I’d slightly consider giving this place another try if nothing else was open but most certainly would not be during any busy period.

I really wanted to like it, but it left so much room for...