Brisam's Grill, Bar and Patio — Restaurant in Phoenix

I'll begin by saying that I don't usually write poor reviews. We dined at Brisam's last night and brought friends that had not been there before. It was Friday and a full house-good for them for being busy! We had a party of 4 and waited 30+ minutes to be seated. I'm okay with waiting-my concern is that there was a corner booth open the entire time. After about waiting 20 minutes we inquired if we could be seated at the open booth and were advised that is was for parties of 5 or greater. The booth could sit up to 5-6 people comfortably. The opposing corner had the same both with only 4 people seated in it. I pointed that out to the hostess, she advised us that those patrons were friends of the owners, so it was approved by him. That's just a huge turn off- the open table was not reserved-yet we couldn't be seated. Would Brisam's rather seat their customers in a timely manner at a open table and take over a $100 order or have them leave? From my experience and observations, they would rather them leave. I wanted to leave, the others decided we would wait a little longer to see if a table opened up. We finally got seated and enjoyed dinner with friends but this really left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. The food and remainder of our service was good. *PS- that corner booth sat empty all night! I think a policy change...

Great neighborhood place! Food is consistently good, casual neighborhood feel, and the servers are friendly! Been eating there for years. Varied menu. Tvs to watch sports but unless it's football season it's not a crazy sports bar setting. Update 1-13-19 Very busy due to playoff game. Only one server for entire restaurant which wasnt ideal. Got there around noon. I ordered one of the specials, barbecue brisket with coleslaw. I've had plenty of brisket in my time so I know what it should taste like. This was very fatty! If our server ever checked back I would've returned it but as I mentioned she was working solo. We had waited at least 20 mins to get order taken. When she returned after we'd all eaten I told her it was not good. I had pulled most the meat off one half and tried to find little bits of meat without the fat. Basically I made a coleslaw sandwich with the first half and left the rest untouched. She apologized but no compensation was made. I've eaten here many times, and will return, but I guess every place has its off day. More staff...

My husband and I were there for the first time a little over a week ago ... great food, brisams burgers, and the lady that waited on us was fabulous. She kept checking on us, brought second drinks w/o asking ... asked if we wanted desert and when we left Saud goodbye and please come again. Because of that I brought a friend of mine this afternoon ... neither the chicken marsala nor the salmon dinner was anything to write home about. My own home made chicken marsalla is way better. The gal who waited on us never came back to check on us ... never brought us a second drink, never asked if we wanted dessert, never asked if this one check or two ... when we left, never said goodbye come again... the waitress we hadf first time there did all these things. If my second experience had been my first I would never come back ... but because of our first awesome experience I will give them...