The Grill Room & Bar — Restaurant in Portland

This was a letter I sent to the Grill Room after my last experience

I’ve dined at The Grill Room on 3 different occasions, and have had varying experiences. However, the last was the worst. The first time, everything was terrific – we had a wonderful time and the food was delightfully cooked and nicely presented. The second time was mixed – my lamb meat loaf was hot and juicy, with a great sauce, but the garlic mashed potatoes it was resting on was at best, sort of warm. You’d think that the chef would care about consistent temperature. Yes, the server offered to warm it up, but to me, that is not the option in a classy restaurant. It smacks of chain eateries where they are used to inconsistency. I was disappointed, but, again, the meat loaf was superb. Now this last time is the real complaint. I made reservations for the evening of my 65th birthday – an occasion with both positive and negative connotations – December 6th, at 5:00 PM. We arrived early, and enjoyed happy hour appetizers and drinks at the bar. Our mood was definitely enhanced by the service and we were escorted to the chic table for two at the window, where we met our waiter, Zoltan. He’s a gem and he made us feel welcome and appreciative. We listened to the specials and I was really excited about the Porterhouse – what a treat for my birthday! My wife ordered the scallops. I specified medium for how I wanted my steak, Zoltan suggested that the chef slice it before serving our table. Great idea. After he left, I noticed how dim the lights were – at the table near us a diner used her flashlight phone app so she could see the menu. Our dinner was served, and I was amazed at how large the Porterhouse was. Zoltan asked if everything was all right, and I replied yes. Then I started eating my steak. I noticed that the end pieces were like medium rare, which was fine. As I delved deeper into the steak I saw that the rest of it was more than just rare – it was raw in the middle. The place was busy, so when Zoltan was finally able to come back to the table, I told him this. He offered to take it back to cook it better, but I was not really happy, and decided to stop eating and just take the meat home to enjoy it my way. Imagine my surprise when I saw that my raw hunk of meat (yes, as a full entrée) costs $90!!!! I was flabbergasted, My wife was, too. Stunned as we were, we decided to just tell Zoltan that we were surprised at how expensive it was and we just left. The more we thought about it, the more I felt like a chump for being so nice. After all, you pride yourself in being a steak house, and this Porterhouse should have been really special…I mean REALLY special! The lighting was bad – otherwise I would have sent it back immediately when it was brought to the table. In any case, the chef should have seen that it wasn’t cooked when he cut it. I had a Living Social $50 voucher, so it didn’t break us, but we felt ripped off the more we thought about it. I am probably not coming back, but I wanted to let you know what happened and how we felt. Before I post this to social media, I thought I should give you the benefit of responding to our concerns. You have my address, email, and phone number – feel free to contact me.

They...

I traveled all the way from Boston on Sunday to have dinner here with my mother and a friend. The restaurant seemed promising—it looked nice, and it was busy, which usually signals a good spot.

However, things immediately went downhill. Within five minutes of being seated, we called the waiter over to tell him we were absolutely freezing. We asked if a window was open or if anything could be done, and he apologized, saying he was cold too, couldn't move us, and the landlord controls the heat. It wasn't just cold; there was a literal draft/vent blowing freezing air right onto our table.

Despite being uncomfortable, we decided to order: a pizza, wine, onion soup, and a steak.

The final straw was the food. The pizza arrived completely burnt and black. At this point, I was frozen and extremely unhappy, especially after traveling so far for such a poor experience. I politely asked the waiter to take the pizza back.

I then asked the host for the bill, stating we no longer wanted the rest of the meal (we had already eaten the soup because everything arrived at different times). This is when the manager stepped in.

The manager is the reason I am writing this review; just thinking about it makes my blood boil.

She looked at me as if I were being unreasonable, with a genuinely condescending and performatively kind attitude. It was falsely friendly and overly acted, which is easy to spot. It was clear she had zero interest in actual customer service and, with the restaurant being full, she likely didn't care about one party having a bad experience. She just offered a vague 'sorry' but made no attempt to fix anything, like offering to replace the pizza (which I wouldn't have accepted anyway, as I didn't want to wait any longer).

The worst part was her subsequent behavior. She walked by our table twice more with that forced, fake smile and acted concern. I just wanted to be left alone to finish the damn steak, which arrived at that moment. We ate it and paid for it out of sheer embarrassment, even though we had already asked for the check.

We paid $90 for the soup, the steak, and a glass of wine. The prices are high, but I'm happy to pay for good service. I left the restaurant hungry, furious, and absolutely freezing, only to face a two-hour drive home stewing over the horrible experience.

The manager has no people skills and doesn't know how to handle situations. Every customer deserves a good experience, and if they couldn't move us or provide edible food, they should have at least offered to comp the entire meal. I felt more shame eating that steak than she showed in her lack of care for us as paying customers.

Terrible experience. (The young waiter was very kind, though, and this is...

Brought my girlfriend here last night for her birthday. I made a reservation much earlier in the week. While we waited for our table after checking in, we watched walk-ins be seated in the open area of the restaurant, which is where most of the tables are, and in view of the open kitchen.

We were finally seated in a side nook next to the busser/water station, right off the host station, as far away from the regular dining area as possible and really a horrible seating for a birthday dinner that I made reservations for. It was like sitting in a very narrow closet with servers/bussers constantly walking to the water/silverware station.

After our drink order, we were told there would be Rosemarie focaccia bread - that never arrived. Once our drink orders did arrive, the server tipped the tray while putting my gf’s drink on the table and the beer I ordered slipped and beer went everywhere - no issue, but she spilled the beer all over my girlfriend, and the server was only concerned about possibly spilling it on the table across the way - an older couple. She didn’t even address the fact that she spilled it on my girlfriend, and then didn’t even replace the beer.

Our food came, and it was meh. My GF got the salmon and the risotto was undercooked and not much flavor to the whole dish. My steak was also very rare, when I asked for medium. The best part of the food was the Grill Room salad, honestly.

I ordered a 2nd beer, and the beer never came after 20 minutes. We then just asked for the check and boxed up our food to finish at home in an actual dining area that wasn’t a closet....

Pretty disappointed, considering that we’re locals and work in the industry. It was my gf’s birthday, I thought I’d take her to a nice place, and it was really disappointing. $150 for bland food, poor service, and eating in a closet/hallway - so much for making a reservation!!! We would have ordered more drinks, food, & desert if the service and seating was better. And the food.

If you’re older & wealthy-looking, you’ll probably get great...