Birdie's Barroom & Kitchen — Restaurant in Raleigh

I had an extremely disappointing and unsatisfactory experience at Birdies Barroom & Kitchen tonight. I booked a reservation over a week in advance for a much-needed girls' night out with friends and family, and to introduce my friend to the area as she just moved here from California. Unfortunately, the evening turned into an embarrassing and mortifying experience.

First off, I arrived 10 minutes early and approached the host stand, where I greeted the two young ladies working there by saying “good evening”. Neither responded to my greeting. Instead, one of them rudely asked, “Do you have a reservation?” without so much as a hello. I was immediately put off by the lack of basic courtesy. When I confirmed that I did have a reservation, I was told our table wasn’t ready and that we'd need to wait an additional 10-15 minutes.

I noticed four tables in a back room, with only one being occupied. I asked why we couldn’t be seated at one of the other three empty tables and was told they were reserved for a private party. However, I kept glancing over throughout the evening, and the other three tables remained empty the entire night. No one was seated at any of them, which made the explanation feel untrue and added to my frustration.

As we waited—two of us standing and two squeezed onto a small bench near the cold front door—I became visibly irritated. Only then did a staff member finally notice and offer us a seat at the bar with a complimentary glass of Prosecco for the inconvenience. While this gesture was appreciated and seemed like a step in the right direction, it did little to salvage the night. Once we were finally seated after about 10 minutes, our waitress approached but never introduced herself or made us feel welcome. She didn’t ask if it was our first time, didn’t explain the menu, and offered no recommendations. The staff seemed inexperienced, uninterested, and uninformed about providing quality service.

When I received my order—grilled cheese and tomato soup—the food was cold. To make matters worse, while serving, the waitress accidentally dropped crackers from another plate into my water. She casually said, “Oh, my bad, girl, I’ll get you another one,” calling me “girl” multiple times throughout the night. I was appalled. I’ve never had a server refer to me so casually and unprofessionally. What made it even worse was that she didn’t refer to any of her white patrons in this way. The disrespect and disregard were beyond infuriating.

The waitress ignored prompts from my friends, failed to listen when one friend requested her appetizer be served with the entrees, and then later asked the same question again. When we ordered dessert, they brought all three desserts in one bag as if we lived in the same household, which was just bizarre and inconsiderate as no one us live together and had to go separate ways.

I made sure to leave a low service rating on the electronic payment machine because management needs to know what’s going on in their establishment. The staff—from the hostesses to the servers—are in desperate need of retraining. Some serious work is needed to improve the service and overall experience at Birdies Barroom. This was truly one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had.

Update/Edit 10/19: Since my initial review and the response below, management has made no effort to contact me or address the issue. You can’t expect the staff to do the right thing if management isn’t setting the example. Leadership starts from the top down.

It's also interesting to note that in response to many of the negative reviews, the owner invites the reviewer to email the establishment to discuss the matter further. However, in my case, no such option was offered, which further raises concerns about potential discrimination by the...

As food and restaurant vloggers with a very large social media following, we were extremely disappointed. Our waiter rarely checked on us, and we practically had to chase him down. We waited nearly 30 minutes just to ask him for our check while he spent his time at the bar talking to the bartender. We constantly felt as if we did not matter, which is why we tipped him the way we did—when we initially planned to tip much more due to how much food we ordered. The hostess was wonderful, and we honestly wished she had been our waitress because she was super polite and attentive. We spent a good amount of money and got great content of the restaurant, but it seemed as if they simply did not care about our order.

We are the type of people who promote these spaces without asking for anything and are well known for this around the Triangle, NJ, and NYC. If we have a great experience, you truly have a loyal regular customer for life that will also promote your business.

The pull apart rolls looked nothing like they did on the menu. They were overcooked, yet tasted better than anything else. I’m positive they knew that it should not have looked this way, yet it was still given to us. I will say they cooked my half of chicken exactly the way I asked, but nothing was seasoned. The restaurant has a lottttt of potential. The menu is great, and the ambiance is stunning and I mean STUNNING, but they do not season anything, not even the Brussels sprouts. I could not catch our waiter’s attention to ask for any salt, and by the time he came, we simply let it go and was ready to leave. The chicken sandwich was not cooked fully. It was mushy, and we constantly wondered if we were eating the chicken or the bread because of how soft the chicken was. That also had no seasoning. It’s extremely disappointing, especially considering the amount of food we ordered for two people. I’m glad that we did not waste our money on the deviled eggs which we nearly ordered as a second appetizer with the pull apart rolls.

Seriously, if you guys see that there are multiple reviews about the same thing (seasoning), then it is time to reevaluate or speak with the kitchen staff. The chive butter was amazing. The chicken dipped in the garlic/basil vinaigrette made it a bit better. Vinaigrette’s and pull apart rolls are really good. Sure the rolls are a 10/10 if they are...

Went here for lunch on a Sunday and while we were running about 5 minutes late my partner called ahead and let them know that we would be about 5 minutes late since we had reservations. Once we arrived it was almost like an episode of Seinfeld as my partner was very specific on the reservation of room for sitting. Though apparently you all know how to take a reservation but not hold or keep a reservation. However our table was given to a walk in group right in front of us. Now mind you there was still tables available in that area however the one hostess was not going to budge and basically was like you can sit in the main area or not. Which then caused my partner to become upset due to the rudeness of this host. I could see if we were an hour late or even 10 - 15 minutes but we were less than 5 min lates. But it progressively gets worse. Once seated the waitress comes over and says before we start I will tell you everything we are out of which is not a good first impression especially at 1:30 PM on a Sunday afternoon... Poor planning on food there. So we go ahead and place our order and then the waitress comes back to inform us that they are now out of tomato soup... at this point we should of just went somewhere else to dine. Though we continue through.... the appetizer arrives and I ask the waitress where my partners drink is she is like oh I will check with the bar it was a freaking lemonade... finally it arrives. Then comes the food while it was flavorful the birdie fries were not all that hot seems if they had been sitting or made ahead and not kept hot. The turkey sandwich was decent. Then comes time for the bill and we are informed they are trying to go "green" so no printed receipt which is fine but all I saw was a total couldn't review the charges but anyways I went ahead and paid and called it even. The waitress while nice seemed intimidated by her job and unsure of herself.

I would avoid this place since they don't seem to understand customer service and overpriced for what you get. The decor is nice but unfortunately the lack of customer focus and ability to have a full menu is a real downfall. And the fact our reservation was not honored fully and caused some grief in the matter it shows there is more improvement...