Crabtree Ale House — Restaurant in Raleigh

Very rarely do I leave reviews. However, tonight I must.

My family and I are in town for Monster Jam. My youngest son, age 5, is a huge Grave Digger fan. The tickets were his birthday present. We chose to go to The Cheesecake Factory as we have been to others and have always enjoyed ourselves. What we did not realize was that it was Prom for one of the schools in the area. Our wait was going to be an hour and 45 minutes. No can do. So we walked out into the mall and stayed looking at the directory. Mall security came up and asked if she could help. She directed us to the food court, but if we wanted a sit down restaurant, the Crabtree Ale House was one level down below the food court. So we walk across the mall and decide to try the Crabtree Ale House. Let me just say that so far, it has been the highlight of our trip.

First, we walk in and we are greeted by a hostess. She was lovely. Personable and smiling when I told her we were a group of six. She disappeared to find us a table and came back with a thumbs up.

She seats us with menus and shortly thereafter, our waitress comes to take our drink order. You can tell that she is personable and friendly. Definitely the type of waitress we like.

After looking at the menu trying to decide what to eat because it all looked so good, we finally placed our order. Boys... chicken nuggets and fries and cheeseburger and fries. Father-in-law... Philly steak sandwich. Wife... BBQ chicken with bacon entree. Yours truly... chicken bacon ranch wrap. Mother-in- law.. couldn't decide so blurts out, I'll do a burger. Our waitress says it's a great choice as they have they best burgers.

Now here is the good part. As she is going around the table she sees my oldest son playing Pokémon Go on his phone. She asks if that is what he's playing and when he says yes, she smiles and says good, and gives him a piece of paper with some codes on it. She explains that she knows nothing about Pokémon but there is a guy there who does and she sent him over.

A few minutes later a young waiter comes over and starts talking about Pokémon with my son. It was like the two of them were in their own little world and the rest of us didn't exist. Not only did help my son with the codes, but he brought out another sheet of codes to help with his game. To top it all off, he returned to our table and gave our son a large Poke ball that also had Pokémon cards inside. To say my son was ecstatic would be an understatement. This has already been a top 5 dining experience and we haven't even gotten to the food.

So our food arrives. Our boys eat their food no complaints. My FIL loved his Philly steak sandwich. It was tender and juicy and flavorful. My wife's BBQ chicken with bacon was too notch and something you would expect from a more formal dining experience. The makes potatoes were amazing and the steamed vegetables were flavorful. My chicken bacon ranch wrap is probably the best wrap I've ect had. The balance of flavors of the bacon and ranch did not overshadow the chicken since the chicken was cut in big enough pieces to hold their own. My MIL reached about her burger. She likes it too be barely pink, but not dried out. Y'all, when she cut that burger in half and turned it sideways you could see the juiciest burger you'll ever lay your eyes on. She who complains a lot about restaurant food, was very satisfied with her burger.

I apologize for not remembering our waitress' name or the young man who made my son's dinner the most special dinner of his life, but I'm sure if you share this with your staff, they will know who they are.

Kudos to the Crabtree Ale House. Your food is top notch and your service is...

Came here recently with my daughter. I got a veggie wrap with fries, she got a firehouse burger with fries. Our food was actually really really delicious. What bothers me about my visit was when our server was taking our order, I asked for a side of Buffalo sauce to dip my fries in. She says, "sure." Then I request a side of ranch as well, as my daughter wanted that for her fries, and our server says, "the ranch side is a dollar. Do you still want it?" I told her, "nah, forget that." (I didn't want to pay a dollar for two tablespoons of ranch). Our food comes out and the order is correct, and I see not only did I get my Buffalo sauce, but there was a ranch on there, too. I thought, "Cool, she just decided to give me the ranch. That was nice of her." So we ate, and again our food was really good. Our service was just mediocre at best, but it wasn't horrible. She could have been more attentive.

So when it's time to go, I request to-go boxes and the check. I look over the bill and see not only did she charge me for the ranch that I told her not to bring, but she also charged me for the Buffalo sauce that she didn't tell me there was a charge for. So, a $2 charge for about a quarter of a cup of sauce total. I didn't like that. She didn't listen well and she didn't effectively communicate. That was irritating. It's not about $2 because $2 isn't a big deal, it's about the way she just didn't listen, and wasn't completely transparent. I would've said no to both because I think $1 for that teeny-tiny sized thimble of sauce is a ridiculous price (it's really really small, and not filled all the way). I get it, they have to make money. Again, I ain't mad about that. The exchange just left a bad taste in my mouth in regards to the service. I just paid the bill and left.

I'm not judging the entire place on that, though, because the food really was good and fresh, and it didn't take too long to come out. Plus they have some local breweries on their beer list which is cool. I would just ask management to remind employees to clearly explain the small stuff to customers and actually listen to the customer (or at a minimum clarify the order). I would go there again to give them...

I gave a 1 rating...not for the food b/c I did not eat...but for the treatment that really deserves a big fat zero. So in the scorching summer heat at approximately 3:30 pm on July 28, 2025, I sat in one of the chairs of a totally empty terrace when the lady manning it, approached asking (in not a friendly way) if I "need a menu." I responded that I was just waiting for the Uber. She then responded in a not friendly way in the totally empty terrace that "this is for customers, sorry" and walked away to continue to man a terrace with zero customers. Mind you, there was no sign stating "customers only" but that is neither here nor there. I give this white employee a big fat zero for service and brains because where she could have seized the opportunity to make a few bucks for her boss by maybe turning this black female into a customer by maybe asking how long was the wait for the Uber and if I would like to order a drink while waiting. In that heat and the Uber wait being 20 minutes, this vacationer would have grabbed that menu and ordered a nice cold one. I am after all a retired and travelling probation officer...in addition to looking younger than my years and never having looked like a prob officer, I could not expect this "woman" to have the intelligence to know that you don't judge a book by its cover. I can only wonder if she would have addressed me so, had I been a white female...something tells me no. So the Crabtree Ale House has lost this black customer while just shortly before this, I proclaimed the praises of the female white bartender at Cheesecake Factory in the same mall for her kindness and professionalism towards a black stranger who she did not know is one of tens of thousands visiting from out of state for the Woman Evolve conference in Atlanta. Heaven help the owner of...