Liberty Ale House — Restaurant in Reading

This past Saturday, I took my wife and sister-in-law to Liberty Ale House on Lancaster Avenue in Reading, PA, a restaurant we have visited many times before. What should have been a routine dinner turned into a highly disappointing and concerning experience.

We arrived at 7:00 p.m. and were seated immediately in the side room. Despite multiple servers working the tables around us, we sat for 20 minutes without being acknowledged. I had to approach a server, who eventually became our waitress, to explain that no one had even offered us drinks. She blamed a hostess error and then took our order.

It took another 10 minutes for drinks to arrive and an additional 25 minutes before our appetizer was served—immediately followed by our entrées. At no point after dropping off our food did our waitress return to check on us. She ignored our table completely while tending to others, which was both unprofessional and disrespectful.

Even worse, my wife’s French onion soup contained a plastic lid. This is not just a mistake—it is a serious food safety hazard. Our waitress apologized, removed the item from our bill, and provided a voucher, but when I asked to speak with a manager, I was told none were working. When I asked to speak with whoever was in charge, I was again told no one was available.

I paid the bill and left, but this experience was unacceptable. Poor service is one issue, but serving food contaminated with foreign objects is a critical health and safety concern. Combined with the absence of any manager or supervisor on duty, this raises major questions about how this restaurant is being operated.

As a longtime customer, I am extremely disappointed. Based on this experience, I cannot trust the safety or reliability of returning to Liberty Ale House.

I attempted to contact them via their website; however, have not...

This place has amazing food and atmosphere, but tonight we wanted to eat at home. So I placed a an order for pick-up. I ordered the Rise and Shine Burger with FRIES and also the Rice Bowl with Tempura Chicken. I went in and the hostess greeted me and I told her I was there to pick up a to go order. She then said, "ok, the bar will take care of you then". I stood at that bar with $40 in my hand for about 8-10 minutes in a clear and open spot without one look from any of the staff. If I was in one of my work suits with my hair combed over I am sure I would have received service promptly. The parking attendant gave me more recognition and even said I was in there for a long time and we joked about it. He did a very good job at lightening my mood walking out. Maybe he should be receiving all the tips. The cherry on top was getting home and realizing the order for the fries had magically turned into chips! I dont know when the next time I will go here if ever. Best advice...well there are better places out there that will give you better service and the same quality...

I am giving two stars because it look's like there actually is some seating area that does not make you feel as if the walls are closing forcing me to leave because i could not get comfortable enough to order a drink and this was after a giant dab of federally legal Cbd it also looks like they have great parking nope not at all you can't park in that wonderfully large empty parking lot you will be towed.

Edit after owner response: Yes i know there is a tiny parking lot out back i took a picture of it in my review. I certainly don't consider street parking since anyone can park there for whatever. If there is parking in that large parking lot why was there sign saying exactly what i said in my initial review? The only thing i saw was a work van as you see in the picture and a sign saying it was parking for something other than liberty ale house and all others would be towed! So it most certainly is not clearly marked if i failed to see it with my prescription glasses on while riding as...