Browndog Barlor & Restaurant — Restaurant in Northville

UPDATE: The owner of the restaurant reached out to me quickly and I met with him this afternoon. Not only did he sincerely apologize for what happened, he took ownership of the issue. He asked his employees for their input and realized that he needed to adjust his own messaging to help them be able to make better decisions about how to serve customers. Our conversation was so refreshing - he really cares about his employees and customers and values feedback to help improve his business. We had dinner there tonight and had a wonderful meal! We will be back!

ORIGINAL 1-STAR WREVIEW: My family and I walked in for a sweet treat around 7:30 this evening. We were looking forward to enjoying lava cake and cider mill donut bread pudding and told the hostess that. We were rudely told at the door that tables are for dine-in customers only and we would need to order at the ice cream counter. We could then sit at the counter/island and eat if we wanted to. I was stunned and tried to explain that we weren’t ordering ice cream. It didn’t matter. We waited in line and ordered. Our items were warmed in the microwave. We paid and our food was handed to us at the counter/island. No opportunity for water or coffee was given. In fact, no one spoke to us once we had our food. On top of that, my bread pudding was cold in the center. I can understand not providing seating for cones & shakes, but our dessert was served on ceramic dishes with real spoons. I have eaten many full meals at Browndog before and was appalled to be treated like a 2nd class diner this evening. Especially since 3 tables and the entire counter/island were open. You must not want us to come back for more food. One more note: our tab was $22 and we did not leave a tip because we got no service. If I came in alone for a burger, the bill would have been the same, but I would have been graciously seated and served and would have left a tip. It will be a long time before I decide to...

Started off rough, I had made reservations with the manager, (Paul Gabriel) had his cell # talked to him directly. All good, we arrived full party of 4 on time. drove over an hour to get to browndog, hostess was clueless & blamed the manager for not informing her of reservation. If that wasn't bad enough, We ordered our food. One Wagoo Burger with the egg, one without. hmmm, seems the kitchen left out the slaw, the bacon & our burgers looked slapped together & not looking like their website pic. sad. Another order was the triple Bulgogi sliders, again, where was the wasabi & no pickled cucumber, but there were a couple of carrots there?? Trying to catch our server was not easy. When she finally came to the table we told her our burgers were not as the menu described, no bacon, no slaw??? She said she would let the kitchen know? really? that didn't save our burgers. After speaking with the (girl) manager, she came over & offered 20.03 off our bill . The server was fast enough to get the card swiped before the manager told her not to. So, a credit for the full amount was given & then less 20.03 of the bill recharged on my cc. She offered a receipt but not the breakdown of how she gave the discount. Bill started out at 133.56 & eneded up at 113.53.Lousy service, food marginal. Not even close to the presentation of the morning show, food shown on Live in the D. We tipped the server cash,18%. We were so excited to venture out of our local area, as it was my daughters & mine birthday dinner to someplace that sounded fun & the food looked amazing, ON TV. Too bad we didn't get to...

This is in regards to the new location that includes cocktails. I'm really hoping our experience last night was due to still finding it's groove in a new location and not what we will see in the future. To give them the benefit of the doubt I'm giving them 3 stars vs. 2. I love the Farmington location but this seemed nothing comparable:

1. The atmosphere and lighting are inconsistent with a bar. No one wants bright lights wirh their cocktails. It's just not relaxing.
2. Whereas I love the cocktails at the Farmington location, this was just gross. I don't mind spending $10-14 on a cocktail but it has to be made well. My cocktail was significantly sweeter than expected and cloudy with fig seeds all throughout. Pretty gross and not balanced!
3. If a bar is doing the theme Dessert Bar, I expect desserts and adult beverages to be available until close... I thought that was the whole point of a dessert bar! When seated we were asked what we were there for, we responded dessert and cocktails. We weren't told until we went to order that the kitchen was closed. It would've been nice to know that from the beginning.

To be fair to the clearly new staff, I will leave my thoughts about their service out until they have a better opportunity to step up their game but that will be necessary for this business to succeed. I want to love this location as much as the Farmington location. I really hope it'll...