McCoole's at the Historic Red Lion Inn — Restaurant in Quakertown

Going to McCoole’s Red Lion Inn? Here is our review/s of McCoole’s Red Lion Inn. Sat. Jun 24th. 2017 @ 6:00 PM. Party of 7 for a family dinner. Rated 0 to 10, 10+ = BEST!

1. 9 = PARKING - adequate w/ approx. 40+ spots in back. See & print web site directions for overflow parking.
2. 9 = EGRESS & EXIT - lot & building. Once you been there, you’re an expert. Handicap friendly.
3. 10 = WAIT STAFF – Professional & knowledgeable, friendly, well groomed, clean and respectful. We were seated & served in a reasonable time frame. The wait staff play well in the sand box and work with (not against) each other. Special kudos (10+) to Eileen, our dedicated waitress. Eileen knew her wines, hard ciders and menu. I ordered Ahi Tuna, my wife ordered crab cakes. We asked to have our plates split in the kitchen so we could share each other’s dish and they did just that without any push back! Eileen rechecked our needs during dinner.
4. 9 = DRINKS – Average prices, size, quick and good selection.
5. 10 = FOOD – McCoole’s employs a CHEF NOT a cook! The chef either was professionally trained at a place like Johnson & Whales or been in the biz a long, long time. The (very warm) plated dishes were presented, timely, professionally, simultaneously and the food was perfectly done. GMO & Farm Fresh +++. Our 7 orders were: C – Cedar Planked Salmon, she raved how tasty and moist is was. Stated, I must be over cooking mine at home. J – Eggplant Parmesan, he said it was good (how do you mess up this dish though?). N – Broiled Shrimp, they were tasty and what she expected. T – Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna, rare, little dry, I thought it was tasty. The cube of wasabi blew my socks off! P – Twin Broiled Crab Cakes, LARGE, all meat, no filler, as good as any in Texas, Florida, Chesapeake or any sea faring town restaurant… she said “perfection at its best!” Yet, in a land locked Q-Town! B – Queen Cut Prime Rib, medium, perfectly done, no excessive fat, 1 ¼” to 1 ½” thick, about 5” round, he stated “just the right size.” L – Flame Grilled 10 oz. Rib Eye, medium, she thought it was perfectly done, expected marbling was on edge, very good taste and texture. I was watching, no one used salt or pepper, the food was seasoned in the kitchen correctly. No one spit out fat or gristle because there was none! There were zero food or any complaints. Then we all did something we rarely do, we had deserts! All made in house with the exception of my carrot cake and my wife’s 3 layer choc. cake. I will describe the deserts in one word… they were all EVIL very, very EVIL… Anything that good has to be EVIL! Over all McCoole’s caters to the discriminating palate who appreciates the finer things in life such as tasty well prepared food.
6. 10 = CLEANLYNESS, DÉCOR & OMBIENCE – The place is tastefully decorated without any clashing styles. The tin ceiling (copper) goes well with the many copper & brass pieces. The glass block corner and leaded glass panels lend warmth. The menu’s come in wooden booked style old world format… most importantly they were wiped clean by the wait staff. The lighting is adequate and not gaudy. There were 54 guest (I counted them) having dinner and talking… NO Restaurant can stop the low acceptable conversation hum or din from that many folks. Consequently, it was a typical big kids night out with expected back ground noise. I left Rita the inside pianist a $5.00 tip, because she made our evening all that more enjoyable by playing songs we knew and grew up with.
7. 9 = BATHROOMS – Acceptable, not perfect but acceptable. They were clean, not dirty, all towels and soap were full to needed levels. Bowl clean, sink clean, no spilled or dripped liquid soap residue on sink. McCoole’s have a men, ladies and co-ed BR’s = 3 total.
8. 9 = OUTSIDE DINING AND DRINKS – Not for us older baby boomers… but the young millennials (30 YO Echo Boomers) folks were having a good time listening to the live music. There were no rough necks or hoodlums.

Be careful, you can be sued for libel for untruthful...

Extremely disappointed in the service, we arrived meeting family on the bar side, first time there not realizing you need to be seated even on the bar side. We saw a table empty but dirty still, put our things there trying to get out of the servers way, as the room is rather small. The waitress came over and told us we couldn't sit there as it was reserved. I apologized and said I didn't realize we need to see the hostess first for that side. She was extremely ignorant. I would say at least 9 family members were seated at the bar, who had all ready had dinner on the other side. The hostess came over and said again what the waitress said, even after we vacated the table. While we were trying to figure out should we stay or go to another place, the hostess continuesd to evil eye is and make faces like she was annoyed and disgusted. So I walked to the hostess station and ask the young girl at the computer did she have seating for 6-8 people. She was very nice and began looking, all while the the hostess, a tall, dark haired woman with glass stood there acting all pissed off and making faces. I couldn't believe how ignorant she was. Finally, a lady standing off to the side with gray spikey hair said I don't think the table is reserved you can sit there- which was the table that the waitress and hostess told us was!!! So I said really??, she said yes go ahead. I thanked her and we sat down. Waitress was still a bit ignorant and acted as if she was annoyed. I'm not sure if she was afraid we weren't going to order food and get drinks from the bar leaving her without making tip money or what. Bottom line is it wasn't very welcoming and I was embarrassed because we had brought people who had never been there! My sister and parents had been here before. You need to find a friendly hostess who is able to speak instead of throwing nasty looks to customers. The food was good, between the 14 of us we definitely dropped a good bit of cash. I'm not sure if I would go back- due to the service, it was less than inviting. I wish the rest of the staff was as kind as the girl trying to see if there was any seating and the woman with the gray spikey hair. I wish I had gotten everyone's name. The waitress and the hostess definitely need to be trained in social skills and how to act...

I’d choose no star if I could. We go here every week or two but won’t be back. Eileen was our waitress and we arrived at 440pm on a Wednesday. We didn’t even know her name until we saw the check (thanks for the introduction Eileen). It took 10 minutes for her to take our order. 20 minutes later we received our draft beers and appetizers. (By the way our beers sat at the bar for 10 mins-we were in eye sight of them). Eileen never came back to check on us or ask if we needed water. We finished the beers and left the empties in the edge of the table. Nothing. We finished our pizzas and wings and stacked the plates. Still nothing. A bartender was walking around so we asked him for beer stating our waitress was MIA. 2 minutes later we got our beers and 5 minutes after that Eileen appeared asking if we needed anything. Nope we got our beers from someone else. Thanks but no thanks! We finished those and waited yet again (shocking I know). Eileen took our next order. They came out late AGAIN! We asked for the check—that was speedy! However, we waited at least 10 minutes before a random waiter took it for us. Eileen appeared randomly a few minutes later. I left a note on the receipt detailing our awful experience for the manager to review. I waited some minutes and called to ensure the manager saw the note. I was informed that there was no manager. I’m sorry, no manager? It’s a restaurant! What happens when something goes wrong?! I was transferred to Karen. Pretty much as useless as Eileen was only she was inconsiderate and lacked integrity and poise. She said the owner was on vacation and she was handling issues. She heard my plight and responded “well I can tell you that Eileen is one of our best waitresses and is having a bad day because she’s pregnant” ummmm ok? Do your job regardless? She then said “I don’t know what you want me to do since you said you’re not coming back” like ummmm convince me to? So, to the owner of McCoole’s, you lost great customers today. You lost potential customers. When people ask me where to go for food/drinks/good time... I will never again say McCoole’s. If you can convince me otherwise, we will be happy to come back. But as is stands now, no thanks. Good luck defending the actions of...