Bar Louie - Brier Creek — Restaurant in Raleigh

I am one of those people guilty of never reviewing a place unless its really really good or devastatingly bad. I live in the area and visited bar louie for the first time about 6 years ago and thought nice place for finger food and drinks. Makes a perfect date spot. Been there quite a few times since and each time it's been worse than the last but not bad enough for me to care to review. Recently, I found myself there twice within a month (July/Aug 2024) which compelled me to review. I'm guessing it's new management for the downfall? Staff is inexperienced and indifferent, didn't know the menu, couldn't answer questions, constantly having to 'go and check'. I ordered a gin soda and you would have thought it the most complicated cocktail. Bartender and waitress now involved. Anyway finally got what tasted like vodka and sprite lol. It was 4 of us at the table and it says volumes when the best meal was the ceasar salad. The fish and chips were overbreaded and overdone, plus no vinegar was available. The wings had feathers on them and the shrimp and grits were bland. Waitress didn't come back after dropping off the food, wanted a second round of drinks but decidedly flagged her down to pay and had our drinks at Trali instead. The last time was 3 of us. First, we had to wipe the table it was dirty, sticky and wet. Again the wings had feathers. The shrimp and grits were the winner this time and the New orleans chicken and shrimp pasta was tasteless like a microwaveble meal, boiled pasta with sauce poured over it.​ It needed way more than salt and pepper to revive it. The waitress was entertaining 2 tables of friends near us. We had to find our own cutlery when the food arrived. The table only had 2 and 1 set was dirty. Music was too loud, and I could see it being inappropriate to other guests maybe but we didn't fuss over the lyrics. The waitress was neglectful yet constantly in view entertaining the 2 familiar tables. The food was borderline edible. It seemed like the kind of place where you got hired as a favor to a friend regardless of skill. It is in serious need of qualified management. Total 180 experience from the first visit. I would never recommend this spot to anyone anymore. I think the only reason it still does good business is the location and that it's one of the few places open late that still serves food...

Came in to eat on a Sunday afternoon with my family after my daughter's soccer game.

Restaurant itself has a nice location with good easy parking and nice decor with an outside side patio seating available. Bathrooms were maintained and clean as well.

Our server was a nice quiet guy, service was overall fine. A little slow on drink refills and getting us our bill, also as a customer I feel I shouldn't really have to ask for my water to continually be refilled while I'm still eating.

Food is where this this review more falls short. The menu has a good selection of different burgers, sandwiches, apps, a couple salads and an interesting looking brunch menu on weekends until 3pm.

We started with the fried pickles, these were actually good and the best thing we all had to eat. They had a good batter, were chips not spears, and had a good dipping sauce.

My wife had chicken tacos (out of shrimp), my daughter had the broccolini and chicken mac and cheese, and I had the chicken nachos.

Chicken tacos came as an order of 3....nothing special about them and they looked a little underwhelming (sorry I didn't get a pic to share).

The broccolini wasn't appealing looking at all and the taste matched how it looked.....burnt and with a weird unpleasant glaze, even I passed on them after eating 2 pieces. The chicken mac and cheese, the chicken pieces were heavy breaded or tasted like something you pull from the frozen isle section that you buy as cheap snacks for your kid. The cheese in the mac and cheese was kinda watery as well, very odd.

The chicken nachos I had were okay, chips tasted a bit stale...needed more cheese and it was bland tasting.....and the amount of shredded chicken on the dish wasn't all that much. It had a small piling of toppings but after the first top layer of chips you had nothing, so you pretty much ended up with a tray of chips after the first 10 chips.

Last issue with food we ran into was hair in the chicken mac and cheese and also in the chicken nachos. We reordered the mac and cheese dish since my daughter really wanted it, but it was in all a disappointing and unsanitary visit. Never did get a visit from the manager or anything, would have expected one after 2 of 3 people end up with hair in their food.

We won't be visiting again and wouldn't...

My family and I arrived and was greeted by the really nice hostess, my Mother and I went to the ladies room and to our surprise. The restroom was absolutely DISGUSTING. Two of the stalls were out of order. One of the restrooms had urine and tissue sitting in the toilet. The HANDICAP stall had an empty beer bottle next to the toilet and FECES on the toilet. After immediately walking out we ran into our server to let him know that the bathroom was filthy. Mind you it is CHRISTMAS NIGHT so it was not busy what so ever, there’s literally no reason that the restroom should have looked that way. Nevertheless our server Von was on it immediately and because it was the ladies room he told us he’d relay the message. So after asking for an update he said he was unsure if it was taken care of and sent the manager ERICA over to our table. As we were watching her come to the table we could see her shrug and roll her eyes as if it would be a bother to check in on our concerns. Once she arrived to the table she never introduced herself and her energy was that of annoyed. My mother asked her how she was and she said Good and never bothered to ask how my mother how she was in return. My mother told her the situation with the bathroom and she immediately jumped to the defense. By telling us that two of the bathroom stalls were broken and that the server we asked for help from initially was a male and couldn’t take care of it himself. Things we were already well aware of. We really just wanted to know if the bathroom was cleaned. Her attitude was so disgusting that my friend decided to cancel her order immediately in fear that her food would be tampered with. The rest of us decided to stay considering it was a holiday and it was late so there were not many dining options. Erica needs to take classes on problem solving skills and attitude management. As a previous restaurant manager myself im well aware of the day to day stresses of the position. HOWEVER, no one was forcing me or Erica to work the jobs we applied for.

On a lighter note VON, being only his 5th day of his first serving job. Did absolutely amazing and kept asking us to come back to see him! He really was the only reason that ERICA was not met with the same unkind attitude that...