Rustic Tavern — Restaurant in North Middleton Township

My husband and I don’t go out to eat as much as we used to with the cost of everything being so way out of hand, however we decided to splurge a bit and treat ourselves to a special night. At least we were hoping to have a special night out which didn’t turn out that way at all! We arrived at The Rustic Tavern around 3PM on Saturday, September 28, 2024. We were seated at a table for two as far back in the dining room as you could get, right under an air conditioning vent. The hallway to the restroom was right behind our table and my husbands' shoulder got bumped into by 3 di􏰀erent people heading to the restroom within the first 3 minutes we were sitting there. My husband went up to the hostess and requested to have another table because of how cold we both were. With an attitude, the hostess picked up our menus and water glasses and showed us to another table. Once again, we were seated at a table with an air conditioning vent directly above our heads and it was very cold, however, we decided to deal with it. When our server took our order, my husband asked for gravy on his fries to which the server replied “we don’t have gravy” my husband said surprisingly, “oh, you don’t have gravy”? To which the server replied no, this isn’t a diner! What did the server have against diners? It was as if they said why are you here, you should have gone to a diner. What an absolutely, unacceptable response from your employee. Is it customary for your employees to treat your customers in such a demeaning manner? Actually, I can most likely answer that question, because as time went on, our visit became even more upsetting. There were 3 separate parties of 2 who arrived shortly after we did. At this time, there were plenty of empty tables for 4 or 6 people, however the parties of 2 were put on a waiting list and directed, not asked, but directed, by your hostess to have a seat at the bar while they waited. I could see it on the faces of one of those couples, they were not ones who would feel comfortable “waiting at the bar” and they should not have been told they had to do so. They opted to wait outside in the rain while again, I must mention there were plenty of vacant tables in the dining room. Another one of the parties of 2 who were added to the waiting list, was a couple on the elderly side, you could see the man had trouble standing. When he decided to take a seat at an empty table the hostess basically scolded him and told him he could not sit there because the table would be

occupied shortly. Why did your employee, not go the extra mile to see that that man had a place to sit comfortably while he waited for a table? Again, I repeat, there were plenty of vacant tables at that time! There was a woman sitting alone at a table for 4 (not sure how that happened) who witnessed this and suggested to the hostess that she would be happy for that couple to sit at her table, and she would move to the bar to which the hostess waved her hand and said “no, that’s fine” as if to imply, they didn’t really matter at all and they would be just fine waiting. While we witnessed all of this taking place, I honestly lost my appetite which was actually a good thing, because, I ordered your Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo which had far less flavor than Stou􏰀ers Frozen Fettuccine Alfredo. My husband ordered your Prime Rib which was flavorless and absolutely cold by the time he took his 2nd bite, the Au Jus had no flavor what- so-ever. While the quality of our food was very disappointing, the attitudes and actions of your sta􏰀 was even more disappointing and unacceptable! They say when you receive good service it almost always goes unmentioned, however, when you receive poor service, you’re likely to share it with at least 10 others that will share it with 10 others multiplying exponentially. We were so deeply disappointed with our experience at your establishment, we will not even consider another visit, and we will be sharing our experience with all of our friends and family....

It took me a while thinking about this because I do not like complaining but with the holidays coming up, think somewhere else to take your family to. Several months ago, had relatives in town, and we had to wait to get a table, which we were ok with, but good thing we got our drinks at the bar.

To make a long story short, took us over an hour to get our (pre-made) salads, ( 3 of us are diabetics), and when the main dishes came, all but 2 were stone cold; I truely mean stone cold. These were not $10 plates. When we said something to the manager, she said exactly "I was there were she took the plates out, she took them just as we put them up on the warmer". This means that the cooks are not doing there job correctly as well. She did take 1 of the meals off the receipt, but with all the extra charges on this and that, we actually paid more than what the service and food was worth.

All in all, with the holidays coming up, relatives coming, and looking for a great place to take them, it got me thinking that others need to know about this place.

I guess if you are a regular, you get the service, if you are not, please think twice and eat over at the Carlisle Diner, about a block away. *Please Note: I would not have given them 1 star, but I couldn't post without putting the...

We wouldn't know how good the food is because we were dismissed from a "reserved" table which was NOT marked as reserved, nobody greeted us upon arrival & no signs telling you "wait to be seated" or "hostess station this way" nothing. So we saw a nice table for 2 & seated ourselves, since nobody else was helping us. Looking over a menu, that was on every table & water (assumed they were set for quick seating of guests), after a few minutes, we were told this was a reserved table, but we could eat at the bar, " it looks like there is some room". Yeah.. about 3 or 4 empty but.. no 2 chairs together. She did not try to accommodate us, so we left with empty stomachs & poor guest service. Will try again but very dissatisfied with the lack of service, regardless of it being a busy night.

Signs Rustic Tavern & this could have been avoided. Note to other people, make reservations.

I would like to try this place again, give them 5 stars for service & food. Seeing how packed they were, they must have great food. Atmosphere was very nice too but the 1st experience we had here is going to be hard to get over, from a guest service standpoint.

All in all, it was a funny story for our date night.. but we don't want it to happen again,...