Three Notch'd Craft Kitchen and Brewery - Roanoke — Restaurant in Roanoke

Where to begin… my partner and I stopped here on Saturday evening 6/3 around 5pm. Downtown was very busy due to the art show among other things. Being in food service and retail management for 15 years, I chose to give ThreeNotch’d a try because they were clearly over staffed with few patrons present at the time we arrived and I hoped for good service. We were greeted by a happy hostess who promptly seated us with a smile but things went downhill from there. We were greeted quickly by a taller man with a bandana on his head that frankly seemed exhausted and annoyed we were there. He obliged quickly with drink samples and returned to take our orders. Once we ordered an appetizer, two beers and one entree to share, the server seemed completely disinterested in us. After 12 minutes of waiting for our beers and appetizer we asked a passing employee about our beers and he went to the bar and sent our server over. The server comes over and says what’s up guys with his hands in the air as if thoroughly annoyed we were still there. Once we asked about our beers, the light bulb came on and he said “oh crap” and brought our beers out within a few moments. Roughly 5 minutes later, my entree burger comes out along with the appetizer (same time!?) the burger was ordered medium and was delivered dry and beyond well done on a chipped/damaged plate. After 10 additional minutes waiting for the server to check on us, I walked up to the bar to ask for more bbq sauce because I couldn’t eat my hockey puck without it. Unfortunately the only bbq sauce offered is root beer flavored which I didn’t care for. Once the server brought the bbq sauce, I informed him that the burger was over cooked and that overall we were disappointed in the soggy and undercooked garlic fries appetizer and the overcooked root beer burger, not to mention the beers being warm. In response, the server brought us two pint cards which I assumed are free beers and said, this is because we sucked today. When I asked if there was a manager around, he walked away and came back with stickers… I thought this was a joke but it clearly wasn’t… this restaurant at the time I visited was a clear example of lack of leadership a poor customer service. I never saw anyone that appeared to be managing the more than 5 employees standing around. There are so many other good brewpubs in the area that places like this can’t afford poor service especially when locals can afford to eat out less than ever. Between the lazy culture, chipped plates and lack of urgency, the whole experience screams “we don’t care!” Wake up...

It sad how much this place has gone downhill since it opened. It used to be great food and craft beer, including craft soda options, and friendly, attentive staff. But something has changed. One week ago I stopped by for lunch an hour and a half after the posted opening time and they weren’t open. With no explanation. Today, a week later, I again stop by for lunch. The door was open and I walked in. One other person was there using his laptop at the back bar. I assumed he was a fellow customer. I sat at the bar for ten minutes and never saw another soul, but I did look at the menu and got interested in the advertised “All In For Ten, All Day Monday” options. After about ten minutes someone else wandered downstairs. He turned out to be a fellow prospective customer. I asked him if the place was open and he said that as far as he knew, it was. After maybe five more minutes the guy with the laptop got up and wandered back behind the bar and started cleaning trays. Then an obviously overworked solitary waitress came through with someone else’s food. She asked if she could help me and I asked her what the “All In For Ten” options were. At this point laptop guy says the only thing I heard him say, “We ain’t doing that today, we’re doing brunch.” The busy waitress asks if she can get me a water or something in the meantime and then goes back to apparently doing all of the work being done in the restaurant. I glanced through the menu for another minute and decided my business was a better fit for an establishment that was interested in it. By the way, Jack Browns, about a block...

I was in town, just getting there and hungry, saw Three Notch’d and checked out the menu. Though it was Sunday around 1PM, still brunch time for them, they had a very nice menu of lunch type food too. I opted for their pretzel bites to start. What drew me to them was the description of the mustard and beer cheese that came with them.

The pretzels had a really nice flavor, but the texture was too hard. The cheese was decent, but not as “strong” in cheese nor beer flavor as I was hoping for and the texture was too thick, not good for dipping. The mustard was awesome. The pretzels still did taste really good, especially dipped into either, but the mustard was better.

Next up I ordered their boneless wings, but first I asked the server how they were made. She described them as freshly battered sliced chicken tenders, which sounded amazing to me! I was still hesitant that they might come out like hard nuggets. Well, they were absolutely perfect! The batter on them was great and the texture, tenderness of the chicken was great. I ordered the gochujang flavor and that sauce was very tasty! It had a nice spice to it as well.

Service was a mixed bag… The hostess who sat me was really friendly and helpful. My server seemed like she had better things to do. Though she did a nice job answering my questions about the menu, refills on my water and attentiveness were seriously lacking.

Overall, I really did enjoy my visit and would...