Yard House — Restaurant in Portsmouth

My experience with Yardhouse today, on 8/16/24 was disgusting. I used to be a server so I get it, but today was truly unacceptable. There’s no excuse. First, YH is one of my favorite restaurants, so I love having a location in Portsmouth instead of having to drive to VA Beach. I come here frequently and spend between $50-$100 per visit, so I’m truly lost on why today happened. I was excited to come to YH after work for Happy Hour. I purposely came at this time to avoid the dinner rush. I arrived around 3:50pm after fighting through MMMBT and 664/264 traffic. The hostesses greeted me, I told them I’d check out the bar. At the bar, one bartender was already speaking to a patron, fine. I sat down and waited to be greeted by the two others. Nothing. Ok, could be busy. The first bartender (Black) finished his convo with the patron (White) and then moved on to other tasks, didn’t greet me yet he stood right in front of me. I continued waiting, and went unacknowledged by everyone. Three white men walk in and sit right beside me. They’re greeted in no time. I continue to wait. The three men are served their beers within record time for restaurants/servers. I still have not been greeted. By the time the men finish their first round, I interrupt the server (white) ringing their order and ask if he’s the manager. He says no and I ask for him to get one. By now it’s after 4pm. The server asks if I want a menu while I wait for the manager, I said no, you’re too late. The three gentleman are now putting in their 2nd round of beers. Still no proper greeting from any of the three bartenders. Now that word is out amongst them that a manager is coming a third server (Black/POC) asks if I’d like a menu after she ignored me and never said hello have I been helped for over 10min. I tell her no, I’m waiting for a manager, it’s too late for that. She rolls her eyes. Eventually a manager (black) comes, and I share my complaint about how I wasn’t greeted and have watched three men, who came in after me, enjoy two rounds of beer, cash out and head to the casino. The manager asks if I’d like a menu and offers no other solutions besides she’ll talk to the three servers, I tell her no thank you, I’m leaving. I never thought I’d ever experience racism/profiling at Yardhouse, but today I did. Since I’m not satisfied with how the manager handled this blunder, I’m compelled to share my experience. My highly anticipated Friday afternoon happy hour was ruined and unsalvageable since I have to go back into traffic to find somewhere else to enjoy the rest of my evening. Beware YH bartenders in Portsmouth may...

My best friend chose to come here for her birthday yesterday and that was the last time either of us will walk into this location. We had a table of 10 with 9 eating. We entered at 8:40 and we didn't end up getting to leave until almost 12am (there were about 4 other tables TOTAL that were sat in the entire building prior to our arrival) . Our server took our drink orders, then dropped off 12 drinks at the table with 3 straws and disappeared until I had to find him to ask for more straws. Not a single refill was given to anyone at the table. we placed our order, and after getting our food, the only one who NEVER receives her entree of course is the birthday girl. We watched 3 tables get sat by our server, get refills, get boxes, and leave before we even got any sort of acknowledgment from our server. When it came around to payment time, our server again was nowhere to be found, and we needed the check split multiple ways, and we were charged for too many items & the wrong size for another item. He continuously removed and added random things on the tablet and we ended up paying for one of our items 3 times last night simply because he could not help us at all. He would move something onto another check and walk away for 30 minutes at a time, and it ultimately took us 2 1/2 hours to leave AFTER we had all finished eating. My food sat on the table for 3 hours because I had asked for a box FOUR times and he continuously walked away. To really top it all off, this server had the nerve to hit on the birthday girl (the one who never received her food ) after she left while she was upset to one of the people in our group (not to mention he is DEFINITELY older than her and he knew that because her age was on the candles on the cake we brought!). Absolutely disgusting behavior after completely ignoring ALL of us the entire time. Everyone in our group was either a server or worked in the kitchen, so we all know how the food industry is and we usually all tip very well, and we were ready to tonight, but this guy truly didn't even deserve the 20% service charge for how he treated us. I couldn't catch what his name was because we saw him for maybe 2% of the time we were there, but I asked around and heard "derrick" or "darren" something like that. If we really NEED to go to Yardhouse, we'll be driving the extra miles to the Virginia...

We live walking distance from the new casino. This was our 3rd attempt dining at Yard House after visiting Va Beach location multiple times. Our 1st visit was by far the best. Greeted and told to expect 20-30 minute wait. We took menus and studied them for solid 30 minutes and got seated. Ordered at 1st opportunity and almost immediately appetizers were hot and in front of us. Server was beyond friendly. Super attentive. Excellent experience. Tried going back on a middle of week night (1st trip was Saturday night before Christmas). This time I thought we’d get on waiting list as this location isn’t listed for making online reservations. When you click party of “2” you get message “no wait, come on in, we are ready to seat you. Nope. 45-60 minute wait. We put name/number on list and left. 16 minutes later we got the text to be seated. We were already across town by this time. Tonite, same line of bull online, “no wait, we are ready to seat you” pull up to front door reserved parking, walk in, 15-20 minute wait. It was closer to 30. Excited to see we got same server, expecting same level of service…it was not to be. Super slow. Took multiple greetings to get drink order. Ordered appetizers and entrée so order was in. Server was still very friendly but seemed to have a lot more going on. Stretched too thin maybe. Seems like an awful lot of bodies moving around with food. Wait staff, runners, busers, etc. Asked for refill and never saw server again. Waited for drink to hand card to pay bill. Figured out how to pay on tablet at table, gave 18% gratuity and walked out. First visit 50%+ cash gratuity well earned. Witnessed multiple patrons complaining to managers. When you see so many empty tables and what appears to be more employees than patrons, stumbling over piles of people waiting to get in the door, waiting to be seated, you wonder what it would take to operate more efficiently. My opinion would be to utilize more available seating so people are at least comfortable while they wait. Your mood tends to dip and expectations just...