Sidelines Sports Eatery - Norwalk — Restaurant in Norwalk

I very, very rarely leave a negative review for places, but after waiting a few days, I still feel strongly enough about my poor experience at Sidelines to post about it.

We decided to have a late dinner at Sidelines on Wednesday, July 25, and we were seated just a bit before 8:30PM. This is where things immediately went downhill.

There were still at least three - possibly four - servers still on the floor, and it was quite a quiet night, but it still took over 20 minutes (literally) for a server to even approach our two-person table for the first time. We were told that our server hadn't been told we'd been seated in her section, but again, the restaurant was not at all busy. It's not as if crowds of people were obstructing anyone's view.

At one point, before we'd been waited on, we even noticed that there must have been a lull in service because for at least a few minutes, the full squad of servers and hostess(es) were all gathered at the hostess station just talking. This is not very good for optics, particularly if customers aren't being waited on.

When our server finally came to wait on us, she took our order and headed off. When she returned with our appetizer, we thanked her, but it was only after she left that we realized that she'd gotten the order wrong. We waited a few minutes to see if she'd stop back to check on us (as is usually how things go), but she had disappeared somewhere in the back. We ended up flagging down a busser, and asked if she would please be willing to go get our server.

The busser was very helpful, and instead went to return our incorrect appetizer and put in an order for the correct dish.

Our entrees were brought out then by someone else (not our server), and we discovered that the sauce/condiments we'd asked for were not present there, either.

A manager who was making the rounds stopped at our table to ask how things were going, and it was bad enough we actually told him we were fairly displeased with the evening so far, and he was very apologetic and went to check on our food to see what was going on. He was the one to bring out our corrected appetizer, and again apologized for all the issues.

After another long wait (and again, this was a quiet night), our initial server finally came out and asked how everything was. She was not particularly apologetic, but at this point it was such a comedy of errors, that I'm fairly certain I would have been surprised if she had been. Also, at no point had anyone ever asked or tried to refill our waters.

We finally finished our dinner, and while I was trying to take care of the bill, I had the distinct feeling that we were being rushed out of the server's section. I've never had someone try to cash me out so quickly. I barely had time to sign my name on the receipt and felt decidedly hurried as I tried to figure out sufficient tip before she was taking the payment folder away.

I will say the food was pretty solid once we were able to eat, and whatever chefs are on the line do a very nice job, but I don't think I'll be returning, nor will I be encouraging my friends to do so.

If you want to try out Sidelines, I'd suggest doing carry-out, as the food itself was properly cooked, but unless service drastically improves, I can't see wanting to...

Just steer clear and spend your money elsewhere. I give this place a chance every few months and regret it immediately. Me and a friend stopped in for lunch. Only two tables had customers. The first booth they sat us at was absolutely covered in old food and crumbs. They moved us to another booth. The dirty booth was RIGHT NEXT to the host booth so I'm not really sure how it wasn't obvious enough for them to clean it? The entire front entrance around the host booth was the stickiest floor I've ever walked through. My shoes were sticky for the remainder of the day. Again... Not sure how this is not getting cleaned if it's RIGHT NEXT to where the staff is standing. No wet floor signs or anything indicated that they had a spill or were in the process of cleaning. Nope. We are just cool with filth here, I guess. We were told a different gal was coming to take our order. Then the original gal came back and took our order and made a stink about it. I'm sorry but I just do not care about your weird coworker drama at 11:30 AM. We ordered simple stuff. A chicken wrap and a fish sandwich. Nothing crazy. 30 minutes later we got our food. The fish sandwich was disgusting and not worth $15 even if it was the most delicious food in the world for the portion size. The mashed potatoes came out cold and the waitress told us they were cold so they asked us to test the temperature with our finger because "she didn't want to stick her finger in" like ummm okay that's a weird thing to just say. If you knew the food was cold... Why did you even bring it out? We just told her it was fine and we ate everything anyways. Then we waited forever to simply get the check and pay. Mind you there's nobody else in the restaurant at this point. We were very polite and we didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings but I think you're better off spending an hour and $50 literally anywhere else in Norwalk and that's...

Update: I have tried this location a handful of times since open. The service is now usually pretty welcoming and the food stays consistent. I will continue to attend!

It’s a new business so they’ll have kinks to work out but, the service is horrible. The food was delicious but the service was unacceptable. The general manage from a Toledo location was at the Norwalk location. She overlooked us (party of two) and placed two parties of four ahead of us for seating and never acknowledged us. A different female came to us and advised there were no longer any seats inside so we were asked if we wanted to eat outside. We regrettably agreed to sit outside on a 90 degree day. Our waiter took our order and we never saw her after our food was delivered. The female general manager (from earlier) came outside to assist other patrons outside (four other tables). The general manager went to every other table except for my wife and I’s table. At this time both of our drinks were empty and we were done eating. My wife and I didn’t get our drink refilled once and the waitress never checked on our food. After about 15 minutes, a different waitress came out to deliver us boxes for our food and deliver the bill. The female general manager from Toledo (short female, blonde hair, glasses, tattoo on right arm) needs to stick to managing the business at an administrative level and leave the floor work to people who understand how to do their jobs. We will try the Norwalk location in a few months and this do another review...