CowBar — Restaurant in Raleigh

Cowbar is located in a food hall in downtown Raleigh. I like the atmosphere because they have so many places in here you can eat at and desserts. It makes it real cool to visit and get a group together and everyone can go get what type of food they want and meet back. It is like having food trucks indoors. They have couches, bench seating and tables. The chairs at the tables are a bit weird and not the most comfy. The bench seats were taken but if we visit again we hope to sit there. It is pretty loud in there though so sometimes hard to have a conversation depending on which part of the hall you sit in/at.

Good service. You go up to the counter and have a pad you can fill out with what you want on it with the options they have already up there. They have pens available. You get up to the register and give the paper to him. We fill out two separate ones and paid together. They give you a pager/buzzer thing like Olive Garden does when it is busy and you are waiting. We went to sit down and chit chat while we waiting for it to go off. It took a little while since they were packed. Once it went off we went back up there and got the food and went back to sit down.

Price - 27 bucks for two burgers and a small Italian fry.

Fries - pepper on the fries - didn’t know and don’t care for pepper much. Even without the pepper the fries were nothing special. They were fries. They were not crispy like we like them and part of them were not warm/hot. I think I would of preferred plain fries to use some ketchup with. We wouldn't get the Italian again. Also, I think the garlic was a little too strong for me. Boyfriend didn't care much for the fries either. We didn't even eat half of them.

Cheeseburgers - big, double patties which were nice. We both added bacon to ours. No lettuce, no tomato, and no cowbar sauce. I had mayo on mine. I thought the burger itself was good but possibly just as good as Wendy's Baconator...or maybe a tad better. Personally I do not think it is...

We went to Morgan Street Food hall for lunch today and placed an order for two burgers and fries at 12:57 pm. We were with a group of people who all ordered from various restaurants at the same time. Everyone’s food came within 10 minutes while we were still waiting on our order. We stood in front of Cowbar for another 10 minutes waiting for our order meanwhile people who had ordered after us were getting their orders. I went to the counter to check on the status of our order number, the associate went to check and it was clear that they had forgotten about our order completely. They then began to make it. While we waiting another 15 minutes, several other orders continued to come out. At this point it was 1:35 and our order was still being made. All this while there was an associate or manager on his phone, one cashier, and only one person making the the orders in the back. Even after realizing that our order had been skipped, there was no sense of urgency or an acknowledgement that our wait had been so long. They kept saying it is “on the way”. Meanwhile other members of our party had placed orders for seconds, gotten them and finished their food before our order was even done.

After our close to a 45 minute wait, even when the order was on the back counter I had to ask the associate if it was our order and ask him to hand it to me while he stood around. You would think if they knew a customer was waiting for 45 minutes and they had forgotten our order that the staff would be ready to hand it to you as soon as it was done, but that was not the case.

Overall, Morgan Street Foodhall probably has better options. After all this wait the burger itself...

One of the busier spots inside the converted warehouse that is Morgan Street Food Hall in downtown Raleigh. Like most food court style venues, you order at a counter, food is made-to-order, and you sit where you want (inside or outside). Here's what we thought:

Service: the person working the front counter was super friendly, answered questions intelligently. Definitely A+ service.

Food: The burgers are smash-style with super thin patties that are cooked to well-done, usually with lots of cheese. We ordered the Southern Burger, hold the onions. They didn't hold the onions (but, you know, we picked them off, not a problem really). The burger itself was very good, with a scoop of chili and slaw that elevated it. Unlike other chili cheeseburgers, this really had some stand-out seasoning to it. Very good.

We also ordered the Quad Burger, cut in half (yes, get it cut in half!). It was four patties piled high in a monstrous cheesy mess. So, I wouldn't necessarily try to eat this one while driving, but bent over the tray? It was a solid choice.

Finally, we had the Italiano fries. A large was an abundance. They are seasoned with a mix of rosemary, garlic, parma, and salt. We both agreed that the flavor profile was exceptional. Very good. The amount of seasoning, however, we disagreed on. I thought they were over-seasoned (I said while I kept stuffing them in my mouth) while my wife thought they were perfect as they were. She's probably right.

So, our final take? While there are other choices in the Food Hall to check out, we will certainly be...