Tyler's Bar & Grille — Restaurant in Pike Creek, Delaware

Tyler's used to be one of our go-to spots -- we were there once or twice a week for years. Sadly, after our last experience it's clear their over served bartenders would prefer to be bar-back bullies once their one or two swigs of liquid confidence start to hit than actual decent humans (I’m not talking about being decent servers, these guys need life lessons on how to be good people).

To be clear: the young women and day time male bartender, always wears a hat (sorry I don't know your names!!!) who work there are still friendly and competent, sweet, kind, everything you go there for.... but beyond that, the service is subpar -- particularly from the weekend male bartenders (the curly hair and tall one that seemingly always appears under the influence with thinning hair) who seem more interested in stirring up drama than doing their jobs. Like, these guys sized me up from the moment I walked in the door and asked if they were open…. The awkward stare from the door made me feel like maybe I was walking in at close or something.

For context, a few weeks back, my wife was clearly over-served after ending a work event that day, and I chose to drive her home as soon as I noticed we needed to go. Admittedly, I did do this in a hurry and couldn’t remember if I collected my card or not. The next day, I called the restaurant to make sure everything had been settled bc in the moment I honestly couldn't remember and, wanting to be responsible, I called to ensure no checks were left unpaid. I was told all was fine. Fast forward three weeks -- and roughly three visits later -- and suddenly a bartender corners us, claiming a $40 tab hadn't been paid and he had to cover it. We apologized and offered to settled it and he asserted a few times that we needed to not only cover that (which we had no issues with - in fact we explained the whole story of how we tried to rectify it the next day) but he just kept going at it. Further, he also DEMANDED we tip because the management made them pay it all (our response was "okay cool - got it- we will, like we said the first few times").

Honestly, for mangers reading this, if that's true you make servers settle unpaid tabs, why wait weeks and then confront us publicly instead of handling it like adults -- or better yet, through you, management? We were cornered at 1230am after leaving a movie by what could only appear to be two drunk employees, not even a manager. Further, the bartenders states, "yeah they wouldn't know if you didn't pay your tab?" So I guess we were wrong for trying to fix the situation immediately?

I mentioned to the bartenders that I totally understand the dilemma and their displeasure regarding having to pay the $40 and ensured they will be paid back. Still, the balding male bar tender decided to proceed to tell me he's now mad at me for being upset, refusing to let the conversation rest. I, clearly not wanting to drink around this guy, then order a water. This really set him off. What really sealed it for me, though, was choosing not to drink that night due to how uncomfortable the situation had become -- only to be chastised by the bartender. He actually said, "I'm mad you're mad and now you're not drinking?" It felt like pressure to drink just to appease his ego -- completely inappropriate and wildly unprofessional.

To top it off, the substance abuse issues among some of the male staff are impossible to ignore at this point -- the erratic, confrontational behavior says it all.

We're done with Tyler's. No amount of nostalgia is worth dealing with a toxic...

Typically I don’t write reviews, but I really want Tyler’s to do better because it has such great potential with how nice the atmosphere is and the food is typically pretty good. BUT the service is absolutely TERRIBLE, easily the WORST service I have ever had to deal with. The first time I dined there the food & drinks were great, but our server had a nasty attitude. She seemed to be having a bad night or something and was just not kind, but she was on top of serving us. She checked on us multiple times and did her job well. The 2nd time we went was such a disappointment. Our server took our drink orders and brought them out right away, took our food order and then we did not see her until she came to give us our check about 45 mins after we had last seen her. Someone else brought out our food and it was mediocre at best, it came out cold and was not at all worth the price of it. My boyfriend had to go to the bar to get a 2nd drink because our server never came back to check on us after we got our food. The last time we went was the absolute worst experience and the reason we will not be back. Our server came to take our drink order, brought them out right away, took our food order and then we saw her behind the bar with a backpack on as if she was about to leave. We thought ok, we’ll get a new server, her shift ended, we know how the service industry is. So a runner brings out our food which this time was better than the previous time, but then NO ONE EVER CAME BACK TO OUR TABLE. Just like the previous time my boyfriend had to go to the bar to get a 2nd drink and to get my water refilled, and then we had to flag down another server (who was too busy flirting with the guy at the table next to us, getting kissed on the cheek to do her job) to get our check. I told her we had been sitting there for half an hour AFTER we had finished our meal waiting for our bill and no one had come to help us. She had an attitude and walked away. Then when she brought back our bill she practically threw it on our table, rolled her eyes, and said nothing to us. To the management and/or owner of this establishment, please reflect on all of these bad reviews and do better. There is a very common theme. Your servers are ruining...

While the atmosphere seemed nice, our food was a collection of mistakes and unfortunate choices by the chef and kitchen (see photos).

My wife and I ordered some food for takeout. I ordered the Reuben and my wife ordered the wedge salad.

The wedge salad was given without any salad dressing. This, unfortunately, wasn't immediately clear when stapled inside the to-go bag. We didn't figure this out until we were well away from the restaurant, so my wife had to make do without.... A salad without dressing is just lettuce. She made do with a spare fast food sauce we had sitting around.

My Reuben had corned beef that wasn't the typical shaved variety you'd expect. Instead, it was 1/2 inch thick slabs of gristly beef. It was impossible to take a bite without the entire slab pulling itself out of the sandwich due to the excess fat. Note: this is why corned beef is shaved, because fat gets extra chewy when salt cured. Otherwise, the sandwich had delicious marbled bread, with great sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing. Unfortunately, the chef's culinary shortcut made the sandwich unworkable as a sandwich.

With all that being said, the sweet potato fries are some of the best I've eaten anywhere. They are dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Given the great taste of the fries, they were gone in an instant.

While Tyler's was recommended to us by a few locals, I was surprised by the lack of quality control and strange choices...