Bradford Tavern — Restaurant in Rowley

This place was recommended to me so when I was in the area with my BFF we stopped in for lunch. It's gorgeous inside with a very impressive bar area complete with a beautiful fireplace. And yes it was on to add to the aviance. We wanted to sit in the main dining room but for some reason the bar area was pushed on us by the hostess. I take it, maybe because we both still use masks due to elderly parents, with health issues, that we care for. She said it was less crowded in there so we let it be. The waitress was extremely pleasant who took our order. Their signature apple cider sangria was outstanding. We ordered their burger, I requested medium rare and got well-done. Sadly the waitress never returned to ask how they were so I ended up eating it. When she returned I was on my last bite and told her to let the cook know. My BFF wanted well-done so she thought it was great. The waitress did apologize and I could clearly see she felt bad about not returning sooner. The bar area was not crowded at all (6 people) so no real excuse for an overcooked burger and at their price point. I opted for their onion rings, don't bother, they're all batter, zero onion flavor, and chewy, not crisp. They look like the chunky beer batter ones when they arrive but sadly we're horrible. I needed to use the restroom and went to the only one near the entrance. I believe it was their handicapped restroom on the first floor because others were upstairs. Tough to reach toilet paper that's way behind you on the wall and it wasn't clean. The white door itself, especially around the door handle was filthy, and could use a good cleaning with bleach. Hence my rating. I'll give this place another try because it was recommended, and everyone has an off day, especially in this industry. Sorry for the...

Stopped in at Off The Vine Restaurant 10/6/22 at around 6:15 P.M., but no seats available at the bar. So I stopped in at the Bradford Tavern a few minutes later. Ordered the Chicken Pot Pie (A special menu item). Horrible. Came out with a burnt crust. I was hungry, so I thought what the heck. Although thinking back, they should never have served it to me like that. Anyway, after cutting through the burnt and dried out crust I got nothing but stringy tasteless chicken, a few peas, a piece of garlic (I think) and gooey paste. I have eaten in this place in the past, nothing spectacular, but this recent experience has taught me to get to the Off The Vine Restaurant earlier so that I can get a bar seat and avoid allowing my hungry appetite to make a bad choice. Does not deserve even one star.

Update:

The owner asked that I reach out to him so that he could rectify the situation properly. I sent in a response to his email address 3 weeks ago and have not received a reply to any of the following below.

The way to rectify the situation:

Assure me that quality ingredients are used and kept fresh (none of the ingredients tasted good.) Assure me that there are qualified / trained cooks and food preparers (what kind of cook / food preparer sends out a burnt looking order.) Assure me that qualified / trained people bring the food out to the customer (should never serve food that does not look presentable.) Refund the item.

Further update: Been over one year, still no response by the owner and I still have not returned to...

Not really a review guy, but the service at the bar was so subpar that my wife and I were agitated for the better part of our visit. They clearly forgot to put in our order. There were 2 sets of patrons that came in after us and were not only served before we were, but finished before we even got our food. It got to the point that one of those patrons sitting next to us asked the bartender if she forgot about our food. Mistakes happen, I get it. but there was no apology or admission of a mistake. In fact, someone came out of the kitchen and asked us if we were the ones that got an appetizer. When we said yes, they claimed that that's why our food was taking so long (stating that after they gave us the appetizer, they got busy). I'd love to say that maybe they were just having an off day, but the way the situation was handled, suggested otherwise. The food wasn't bad, but it didn't matter by the time we got it. I completely support independents over chains and would encourage everyone to do the same, but that doesn't mean some independents are better than others. Unfortunately, we won't be returning to this...