The Pine Room at Hotel Roanoke — Restaurant in Roanoke

Four stars, rounding up. This restaurant was recommended to me by a frequent restaurant goer and food connoisseur. Though he also stated that it isn't the nicest restaurant in the Hotel Roanoke, I won't be back here for a meal. I arrived with the intention of ordering the scallops but after not having a proper breakfast or lunch, the chicken sandwich with strawberry pepper jam and fries sounded much more hearty on a bitterly cold winter day. I should have stuck with my plan and retrospectively, I feel as though the server tried to warn me by saying, "but you can get a chicken sandwich anywhere". I was surprised to see my sandwich arrive, splayed open so beautifully but brazenly revealing a small, dark piece of meat that was grossly disproportionate to the bun, lettuce, three tomato slices and abundant onion. Too bad I didn't grab that photo but a side salad with a piece of fried chicken accidentally dropped in would have been a better description. The chicken was small and over cooked, which rendered it unpleasantly hard on the outside and dry on the inside. I let the server know that I intended on eating the rest of my sandwich but my disappointment in my choice. The server returned shortly after to share that the chef said she had not received any other complaints. I pointed out that the bun was old and completely falling apart on the top and bottom. I asked her to take the chef the rest of my sandwich so she could see what I was served. The flavor of the white cheddar and the strawberry pepper jam with the overcooked breading of the chicken were not as satisfying as I had hoped either. Also, honey mustard as a standalone dip for fries was fine. I came home and ate leftover chicken, half of an avocado with plain yogurt and hemp hearts sprinkled on top. I was glad for the protein boost that I had missed that meal and in the day. Although the sweet tea was hardly sweetened, my son and his date were happy with their meals. However, my son commented that his steak was not quite medium rare as he had ordered and I saw that his asparagus was overcooked. The server noted that she could see that the bun on the mushroom burger we ordered was equally old and falling apart. The building is classic, the service was fantastic and the cauliflower was perfect. As the server pointed out, restaurant week is a stressful time for the kitchen. Likely, it was my misfortune to arrange a date with so many events occurring in one day, at a...

As a lifelong Roanoke resident I have always held The Hotel Roanoke in high esteem, which is why we chose this spot for a special lunch. Sadly our disappointing and shocking experience yesterday has changed that.

I arrived at the restaurant with several friends for a special holiday lunch. We were told that they were short staffed, but we were happy to wait. All having worked in food service, we understood the situation. We were celebrating and would have been happy to visit and wait through several rounds of drinks but alas that was not the direction our experience took.

Over 45 minutes after being seated no one had received their drink order and no one had bothered to even check in on us or speak to us about the situation. Then our food appeared with a different server but still no drinks. At that point I did politely ask to speak to a manager as I feel food arriving without beverages is something that should be addressed.

The food arrived with 2 entrees extremely over cooked and one raw. When we attempted to talk to the manager, she curtly said she would take them off the bill and proceeded to go stand at the order kiosk with the waitress where we heard them discussing that they didn't want to service our table. Shortly after their conversation the waitress began taking away everyone's plates (literally jerking them away). We were not asked if we were finished or if we wanted a box (some of our orders were edible).

For the finale of our celebration the manager and waitress engaged in a very confrontational exchange with us. The waitress was so inappropriate in her combative response the manager finally asked her to step away.

I work with the public and understand how hard it can be to deal with grumpy and irritated clientele, but I was genuinely stunned to be told we were rude when we had gone bevond reasonable expectations to be understanding and patient. Everything that happened could have been overcome simply by addressing the problem with us in a respectful manner rather than treating us like we were at fault for expecting minimal communication and respect. Sadly the Hotel Roanoke is no longer a place I consider of the same caliber as I did before...

My wife and I got dinner here last night, to take advantage of the restaurant week pricing of some places to try and see if we can find a new spot to frequent. The Pine Room has fantastic food, the place is gorgeous, but my experience with our server was truly enough to consider not going back. She was polite in the beginning but after ordering drinks, and then deciding to go with the restaurant week menu, it’s like we made her angry about our choice. Her tone and attitude changed from very upbeat and pleasant to like she didn’t even want to wait on us anymore. We were even seated right behind the computers where orders are entered, and despite being that close to our server, or any of the staff for that matter, I had an empty beer glass and water glass and was having to drink my wife’s glass to get through my entree. I really hate that this was the experience I had from a place that even with a discounted menu for restaurant week, I spent over $100 tip included. I thought surely this week would be the one to try and cater to a crowd that would bring new repeat business in, but I guess I was wrong and our server assumed we would not tip well or she wouldn’t make much off of our tab for not ordering from the standard menu. I didn’t get a chance to see our servers name tag, but the name on my receipt is Melanie. I don’t often leave bad reviews but the service here was enough to...