Courthouse Bar and Grille — Restaurant in Putnam

The food is good and and you can't beat having curbside as an alternative to dining in during COVID times. However, I do have a suggestion for improving curbside service, especially on busy nights and evenings on the weekends. I'm not entirely sure of the protocol when is comes to whose responsible for curbside orders, if there is only one person in charge of checking outside for curbside orders or if it's every waitstaff's responsibility but I think if any staff person notices a vehicle pull up to the takeout parking spot, they should inform the person(s) in charge.

Last night I pulled up to the parking spot to pick up my order. I noticed two waitstaff by the large front window rolling silverware and napkins. I waited a couple of minutes to see if they noticed me parked outside. Nothing. After the task was finished, one got up with the empty bucket and walked away while the other person pulled out her phone and began texting or checking social media. All I saw was two hands grasping the edges of the phone and thumbs moving very quickly. A couple of minutes after that, the other person returned with another bucket of silverware and they began rolling napkins and silverware again. I noticed the bar person, who is facing the large front window in my direction, chatting it up with customers in the corner near where the napkins and silverware were meticulously folded. Still no one noticed.

My patience started to wear thin. I waited a couple more minutes and there was still a lot of concentration going on with the napkins and silverware. I dialed the restaurant and I could tell it was a very busy night for dining in and takeout because the phone rang and rang until it eventually hung up. The bar person was still chatting with customers and the now professional napkin-silverware rollers were still busy working hard. I called again. Finally after 7 rings the phone was answered and I mentioned I was there for a curbside order. She apologized for the wait and was glad I called the restaurant. She peeked out the window from around the corner and saw me and went to grab my order. When she brought me my order she apologized again saying the phone had been very busy that evening. I pre-paid my order over the phone to help speed things up when I arrived and I also tipped $10 to the waitstaff ahead of time because times are tough for restaurants during COVID. Maybe I should have waited to pay upon pickup or paid in cash? My tip was the equivalent of $1 per minute that I waited. Maybe next time if I don't tip, I won't have to wait as long?

The point of my story is to make sure every staff person is made aware of what's going on as far as curbside orders, to look outside and see if someone is waiting for curbside pickup, and to communicate with each other. The responsibility shouldn't fall on just one person who is probably busy attending to dine-in customers as well. Teamwork makes the dream work.

Thanks for reading...

During these trying times and given the conditions restaurant workers have to perform their duties in, there is bound to be hiccups. So my review here will reflect the food and decor. Upon entry into the bar area I immediately took note of the gorgeous, old world style tin ceilings. Furniture and floors could use a good once over with paint and shampooing. That being said...onto the food. Started with drinks. My husband had a clear soda and I ordered a margarita. Only option she asked about was whether I wanted top shelf or well. Was surprised when it arrived in a tall 20oz glass with no salt on the rim. Only a lime wedge. Assumed since she didn't ask it was a given since it is a margarita. Nothing special. More mix than tequila which is why I prefer to have mine in an actual margarita or rocks glass. It was later in the evening so we opted out of appetizers and went straight to ordering our meals. Hubby ordered the Chicken Parm/Meatball Special. Sauce was good. Sweeter than I prefer on a parm. The breading on the chicken was soft; as though it sat waiting for a bit under a lamp. No crispness to the crunchy looking breading. I had the French Dip with fries. Again, it was just good. Nothing spectacular. Beef was a bit over heated so it was dry. As if it was done in a microwave instead of bathed in au jus as a French Dip should be. Served cold with unmelted cheese. A little disappointing. Fries were the coated crispy kind. Nice and hot but no salt and since there are no shakers on the tables I wasn't about to ask for a bunch of packets to tear open. I ate a few but left the rest. The pickle my hubby and I fought over. That was really good! Nice deli style pickle! I will say this...Anne Marie was our server and she couldn't have been sweeter. She could give a lesson to the hostess...just saying. She is the only reason this review got 3 instead of 2 stars. In times when restaurants are struggling to survive and the competition for business is at an ultimate high, they may want to have a talk with the chef/cook. Or just get a new one. We may return if we hear things have improved. No pics. Left our phones in the car for...

I wasnt going to leave a review butin the way out the cooks were rude to my son our waitress did fine no issues there. So we got our appetizer which were supposed to be 8 potstickers there were only 7 me and my son were splitting so before we touched it I asked she said I'll check buy she took the whole plate back and came back with 8 less than a minute later almost like they had the last one on a plate still to eat themselves or was dropped hmmmm. OK the stuffed pepper soup was OK but mediocre I expected more for that price so OK again I ordered the baked cod it was called in scrod we trust but in the description said it was cod so the waitress checked and get said it was cod so I said OK for baked cod it showed no skill pretty sure it was scrod probably haddock or maybe the cheap cod piece maybe they use the filet for fried fish but my piece was the tail scrap I don't think even the thick end was more than ½" thick not even close to worth $22 it was tough and gamey tasting and the butter cracker was just dry bread crumbs piled on top when I put the tartar sauce on top and tried to spread it into my fish it just rolled up a pile of dry bread crumbs of the top the bread crumb layer was three times the thickness of the fish. It was so bad I asked to just take it off the bill it was clearly scrod she said she'll check then I heard the loudest mocking unfriendly arrogant laughter from the kitchen when she returned she said they took it off. My son finished eating like 10 min later and was headed to the bathroom before we left and the kitchen staff were all pointing and waving at him with creepy mocking smiles making him very uncomfortable and he liked his Cajun chicken but very unprofessional we drove 40 minutes from out of state on the recommendation of a friend very...