Hardwood Cafe — Restaurant in Penn Township

Hardwood cafe Two times your out......review of patio bar only.

So on a positive note ... we loved the patio bar and large screen TV's. Bartenders are friendly and the atmosphere very nice.

👎 on the service. This was our second visit - both times we waited over one hour for our food. Both times we ordered bar menu appetizers and sandwiches from the menu. A toss salad was a good portion of lettuce - but literally one thin slice of cucumber and one slice tomato as big as a 50 cent piece. That's all. We believe our wings were given to the couple beside us as they ordered easily 10 minutes after us. First time we ordered oven roasted wings - they were vey good. All wings that came out to the bar this night were clearly deep fried, but that was denied. But everyone on the customer end of the bar agreed - not the same. Maybe they are way too busy to handle the extra food orders this patio generates. I felt sorry for the waitresses and the bartenders. A gentleman at one point in our July visit came out from the kitchen and reprimanded a bartender in front of all the customers at the bar. Very unprofessional and it made those of us witnessing it very uncomfortable. A patron commented he was the owner. I cannot say for sure. This last visit we ask our food order be cancelled as it was over one hour since ordered. The bartender was clearly upset and said it would be three minutes- it was not. She wanted us to wait and take it as a take out. She even offered to comp the entire food order. Nice but not what we wanted at this point. We really just wanted to pay our bill. I believe she was very worried - we did not believe it to be her fault - but definitely a kitchen problem. I have eaten lunch and dinner inside the restaurant and it was always good. Tim is an excellent waiter. If we go back to the patio, it will be...

1st time there, after just moved here. We like going to local vs franchise.....Should of read the recent reviews first. Place is HUGE in the back, great design lots of tvs for Sports. Make sure you use Open table to make reservations on Friday or Saturdays. We didn't, but got in after a little wait. Staff needs to be more knowledgeable of beer selections both draft and bottle. Ordered spinach artichoke dip and mozzarella. Chips for dip are super super thin and can't scoop any of the dip onto them with out breaking every one. Mozzarella comes in two small triangles, kinda pricey for what you get. I ordered the ribs after asking staff for recommendations. The ribs looked as though they were boiled or steamed vs. Actually Grilled or smoked or even baked (I cook alot of ribs and my wife even laughed at them) it still had membrane on the backs so it was tough to eat, not falll off the bone. Sauce was definitely store bought Texas roadhouse and Smokey bones franchise does better ribs.....so skip those if you go here

Kids liked the burgers and kids pizza.

With a place like this they gotta do better...

This place always comes through for a good meal and a nice experience. Recently, the management stepped up to the plate twice for our family. Once in September 2021 when COVID had made it nearly impossible to get catering, Hardwood agreed to cater a meal for more than 50 people for my father-in-laws funeral, with only 2 days notice, and the staff even came in early to prepare the meal. This past weekend we were planning a celebration for my mother-in-laws 90th birthday. The place that already had our reservation could not handle an increase of three people taking the reservation from twelve to fifteen guests. So I called the Hardwood. Not only were they pleasant on the phone but they were gracious in accommodating a reservation for fifteen (and a toddler). The waitress was terrific, literally ran her feet off with our drinks, appetizers, and meals, brought us extra plates and a knife for the birthday cake, and even brought the kids meals to the table first. Local restaurant, good people, good management, good food, amazing...