Glenwood Grill & GLENWOOD Grill Annex — Restaurant in Raleigh

The two stars is only to recognize the delicious burger I received. The collard greens were a bit too acidic for my taste, but was still edible and the intent was not lost. The loss of three stars from five is due to service. I am still astonished at the apathy and pretentious of the waiter my friend and I encountered. Yes, the majority of the diners were dressed in suit and tie (assumably for work meetings) and we came in with more relaxed attire, but this was just lunch midday. We are very accustomed to navigating casual eats and fine dining and did not receive a welcomed service disposition. As we did not create an unpleasant customer interaction, I can only assume it was either the bad luck of being assigned a disgruntled employee or our initial appearance was mistaken for customers that could not afford a generous tip to deserve basic attention (this assumption was extremely far from the truth despite the superficial attire from having recently come from a workout session). This person complained about being short staffed to us since someone called out and made a burden for him (not professional), but that doesn't excuse the extreme lack of attention or attitude by just asking for a straw (twice) or condiment (among other discrepancies like throwing down our knives, and yes, still wondering why I didn't receive a pre-entree roll as my friend did considering we got the same entree). We even joked asking each other if we were supposed to share it. Two chances to realize I didn't get mine: when you brought ONE small roll plate and when you picked up ONE small roll plate. As with other complaints that show up in the reviews, the pretensiousness that exudes from this establishment is not unwarranted and if you are not the stereotypical patron that's expected to be waited on (only rating this particular waiter, not others who may have been nicer), you will not be treated with the same level of attentiveness or consideration than those who regularly frequent this establishment receive. Yes, if reading this, he knows who he is by a note explaining the minimal tip that was written on the receipt plain as day. As a company, please encourage employees to not judge appearance as a way to determine their portrayed level of professionalism in the workplace. Unfortunately, they will not be receiving anymore business from us and since we have no problem paying a higher price or more for a good burger, we will go to the several local eatery's that have comparable burgers at that price or less with...

I'm giving this review a second star because I liked the lights.

I really wanted to like this restaurant. It's a local place, that seemed to have a nice menu, and could be overall be a nice spot to go every once in awhile as a treat.

I was wrong about everything, aside from it being local, only because as much as I wish it would go away this restaurant will more than likely never leave.

We got the Southern Caesar Salad and a soup that I don't remember. The soup was ok. The salad was not. Somehow, the salad could only be described as weird and burnt, almost like the bacon gave it the wrong kind of smoke taste. Unfortunately, the bacon was also the best part, because the rest of the salad tasted strange. I don't know if there is a better way to describe it. In the middle of us attempting to finish my salad, we were discussing the atmosphere. The table next to us overheard us and shortly began talking passive aggressively to each other about how the restaurant has a better atmosphere than all the clubs nearby and how younger people don't appreciate things around them. I'm not sure why they felt the need to do that. The crouton that came with the salad was not worth eating and made me very upset texture wise. Not soon after we got the something and grits. I don't think the something mattered because it didn't taste very good and it didn't smell very good either. Really, if I'm being honest the worst part of this whole ordeal was the salad. We also got a burger.

The burger was fine.

Our waiter was a jerk. It felt like everyone was somehow busy enough to take a long time, but not busy enough to ask the regulars at the next table over about all sorts of random things that the older crowd is interested in. When it became time to pay he took awhile and when he came back basically tossed us the receipt. I'm not sure if he said anything. I don't think I really cared and wish that I hadn't tipped but what can you do.

Overall I think you'd be better off getting a pizza next door...

On Saturday, February 27th, myself, my son and my wife came to Glenwood Grill for my birthday dinner. Two days before on February 25th, my wife had called ahead to make a reservation for three. She made a 5:30 reservation over the phone, specified that it was for a birthday, and we arrived on time the day of the reservation. At first, it seemed that the man working at the front counter could not find our reservation, as he fumbled for a good half a minute before leading us to a table (and never actually confirmed if he had found our reservation or not). We had not been sitting down for two minutes when a blonde woman came over to us and claimed that she “always hated having to do this”, but that we needed to be out of the restaurant in 90 minutes. We found this a little strange as we were not told this beforehand over the phone, but did not raise any objections.

Out of curiosity, my son and I listened carefully to hear if any of the three or four parties that arrived after us were told of this time limit. Not a single other party was told of this. When it came time for our check to arrive, my wife mentioned to our waitress that it was a birthday dinner and that she would be handling the check, not my son or I. Our waitress was clearly surprised and did not know ahead of time that it was a birthday dinner, and she soon tried to compensate by offering free dessert for the ride home. We declined.

Our food was good and our waitress was kind and attentive and we do not hold anything against her, but a combination of the difficulty the staff had finding our reservation, the abrupt time limit we were given to eat and the fact that no one else received said time limit soured the mood of the meal. I would advise the restaurant to be transparent with its customers beforehand where reservations are concerned, as being ushered out with no prior notice put a damper on the evening. We were return customers to Glenwood Grill and this did not make a...