The Brass Rail Bar And Grill — Restaurant in Plymouth

The Brass Rail Bar & Grill is situated on a corner in lovely downtown Plymouth, Indiana. From the outside it appears to be a nice place to eat. My only gripe, was before entering, I could see 3 employees having a smoke break on the side of the building.

This was my first visit to this establishment. I entered the restaurant at 11:05am, wasn't greeted; and headed to the bar for a couple beers and lunch. The bar is about 8 seats, so not exactly a "bar" in my opinion. 3 Tap beers (Bud light, Coors, Shock Top). Not impressive. Liquor is shelved behind the bar, with the basics, but again, nothing impressive.

The bar seemed to be the "social gathering" place for 4-5 servers. Honestly, I could careless about your personal problems and who your texting with. Take this to the back of the house. Management was sitting at a nearby table doing paperwork. Isn't this why you have an office? To me, this is just tacky. The servers tea and water pitchers were on the bar the entire visit. The idea of them being out and open isn't appealing to me.

I intended to have a couple craft/Micro/Macro beers with my lunch; and this is where the task started. Bartender lady wasn't exactly friendly or knowledgeable. I had to ask for a lunch menu, and when i asked what beers or wine they had; due to the menu not listing them; I got a puzzled look from her, while she went to the cooler to hunt down beer names.

I ordered a pint of Shock Top, and this was not desirable. The pint glass is unique, because it is advertisement for other local businesses. In my opinion, that's a turn off. I came here to relax and have lunch, not read about Joe Dirt's Auto Garage. My pint glass had the faint taste of soap or detergent. 1/2 a pint later, i couldn't finish it. I had to order a different bottled beer.

For lunch I ordered a French Dip sandwich and a cup of Au Gratin soup. The bartender mentioned this soup was "left overs" from the night before; which honestly doesn't bother me, but this shouldn't be mentioned to customers EVER. It took 7 minutes from the time i ordered to the time my food was in front of me. Very prompt. I was impressed at the time, but here's where it gets unpleasant.

The bun of my sandwich was excellent. Very fresh and soft. Nice flavor to it. The meat however was (2) 1/8" thick slices of beef, seared on a flat grill. ZERO flavor at all, and tough as nails. The cup of au jus was needed just to give the sandwich some flavor. I was disappointed.

The soup was a huge disappointment. Potato based soups are usually better as "left overs" as the starches thicken up the soup and it becomes very hearty. This was NOT the case. Whoever prepared the soup added water to the mix. Bad idea. Try using milk or cream next time. The amount of ham in the soup was great, but sadly the amount of pepper within the soup completely masked any taste of anything. No taste of ham, or potato or anything. Watery pepper is all that hits the tongue. 1/2 a cup was my limit.

I'm not usually one to complain. The restaurant had 6-10 people in it by the time i left, so excuses on the food were not going to cut it for me. Rather than reorder, I chose to finish my 2 bottled beers (Sierra Nevada & Bells); stop to check out the restroom and leave.

The men's restroom was small, but very clean; so this was a plus. The rest of the restaurant appeared clean as well.

Overall, this was a poor experience. Although it was affordable, I wasn't impressed. I would not recommend this place to family or friends; but i may give it another try for dinner if i am in the area again. Everyone deserves a...

Let me first start by saying that the Front of the House was spot on. The service was friendly and quick. The Back of the House missed the mark. We ordered the Spinach aves Artichoke Dip. Although the sides of the serving dish was bubbling, the inside was lukewarm to cold. The chips were a bit chewy and stale. That was only the start. When my Clam Chowder came out, it was soupy and not at all a chowder consistency. A good chowder should at least coat the back of a spoon, and this definitely did not meet that requirement. It was literally like clam flavored water. When I got my Top Sirloin, the temperature I got it was great. Perfect medium rare and juicy. It would have been better if it was actually seasoned with salt before it was cooked. It was bland, which took away from the satisfaction of a great steak. Luckily, there was salt at the table, but it's just not the same as if the steak was seasoned before cooking. My wife's Taco Salad beef was also not seasoned very well. I DID bring my concerns to our server, after we were done. She was extremely apologetic, and I reassured her that I knew it wasn't her fault. I spent over 14 years in the restaurant industry, 7 of which was as a chef, and 7 of which was as a FOH manager, to include bar service and dining room service. We'll still be back to this restaurant. I just wanted to bring my concerns public, so everyone can have an idea of what to expect if you go. As I mentioned earlier, the BOH missed the...

It had changed, I had been there years and years ago. When I walked in the door it confused me as the bar had moved lol. The dining area and bar separated now. It still had a definite uppity feel that hit me right as I walked in. The menu GREATLY decreased in choices but quality of what they did have was excellent still. Dynamite shrimp for appetizer and ribeye for meal. (ONLY 3 STEAKS TO PICK FROM..AND 1 WAS CHOPPED LMAO) Menu was slap in the face minimal choices from previous time I was there, but better than most other bars. Shrimp advertised as spicy were not at all spicy but very good. The remodeling must of had a functional purpose because esthetically it was a major boxy downgrade and had went from a fancy restaurant with a bar to a bar with a dining cave, and fancy food. The service was excellent! I truly felt like my waitress was the inspiration to at least one Disney princess and the ribeye was more than perfectly cooked to a smokey medium rare. Which is so so rare to find. Purpose of the stop was just, I wanted a good steak. Mission accomplished and then some. Fire the remodeler though, and give the...