Redcoat Tavern — Restaurant in Royal Oak

So my wife wanted a nice bar atmosphere place to get a beer and have a good burger, so I thought to myself redcoat sounds perfect and it’s been years since I’ve last been so let’s check it out. The parking lot was 1/4 full and no wait so that was encouraging so we were sat immediately and were looking around wondering why the wait to even get drinks/ like we were the only ones waiting and wait staff all over the place but no one dealing with us- ok staying patient - ordered our drinks, got them and while we tried to get our guy, he was already taking the orders of 2 other tables that walked in after us? Ok- he finally gets to us and it was a simple order so off he goes. About 30 minutes later he comes to my wife and I and asks if we’ve already eaten our burgers or ...? We both looked confused and said - uh, no we never got them: next comes who I think was the manager that said there was an issue with the ticket and they’re getting it. Finally out comes food and before I let him walk away I check my soft yolk egg on my burger and it’s rock hard- I said excuse me, don’t mean to be difficult but I like the runny yolk for flavor can I have a new egg- he said sorry, disappeared and LITERALLY less then 1 minute later says here you go, drops and runs : I assumed I was good now- no- he took my burger less then a minute and brought it back WITH THE SAME HARD YOLK EGG I JUST SENT BACK—- I asked for the manager to say again I’m not being difficult but I like a runny yolk and I had two attempts with no success could he help? He did and returned with a burger with a nice soft yolk. The burgers aren’t as big as I remember them and they were truly just meh- nothing great- onion rings came out legit cold and fries were pretty salty. Manager guy comped the burger but I wish I would have told him about the rings and fries- just over all a disappointment. Would have been 1 star but the comping made me raise to 2 stars. Not sure what was up with the staff today but/ it was rough. Don’t go like I did with super huge expectations- thanks to the manager for trying to...

Unfortunately, Redcoat Tavern has failed again and despite the amazing onion rings that had us coming back -- the overall experience just lost us.

She ordered a well done burger - it came out very pink. I ordered a medium burger that was well done. Not a big deal - they swapped our orders around. But, we were already past the point of swapping these around. I'll also note that she scraped all the mayo off her burger by this point - because we both had mayo rather than the "secret sauce." She's not a mayo fan).

Didn't intend to send the burger back, but the waitress insisted. She came back a bit later claiming the burger was well done, it was just the lightning. No, the burger was clearly very pink inside - while mine was clearly done pretty well under the same lighting. Finally came back with the burger -- with, more mayo on it. By this time, I was done and she had lost her appetite -- took a couple bites and waited and waited for our waitress. Finally flagged someone else down for a box... and then waited for the bill.

I asked about the mayo vs. special sauce. She claimed someone new was in the kitchen and most likely didn't know. Sigh.... we even noted that she asked us if he wanted the burger sauce during ordering and she clearly scraped the mayo off her first try at a burger.

We left... however, this entire experience didn't sit well with me. So, I went back inside and asked the hostess to speak with the manager. I explained the situation briefly -- Mr. Manager claims their special burger sauce is mayo with onion. Nothing else - just mayo and onion. We've been here enough time to know that is not the case. The Manager was bordering on being rude and with a "how dare you question the great Redcoat Tavern" vibe.

The onion rings are amazing. The burgers are, generally, pretty solid - you can get better and you can get much worse. The service can be hit-or-miss. The management SUCKS.

There are too many really good place out there that treat customers like they're wanted and welcomed - Redcoat Tavern is not...

TL/DR: Rude host, great burger. Don't bring a large group.

We had a large group for a birthday. I tried to do my due diligence and call ahead, knowing they don't take reservations. I chose 4pm, to hopefully be before the dinner rush. The woman I spoke to on the phone said to call 30 minutes before to put my name on the list, which I did.

I arrived right before 4pm, and the Hostess/Manager immediately said that they could not seat us until the full party had arrived - they had a sign even. Okay. We were all crowded around the entrance waiting for everyone, looking at the table they already set up for us - but would not let us sit. The last people we were waiting on was a couple with two toddlers- they were about 20 mins behind, which we communicated to the host immediately.

However, every couple minutes the manager would ask if we were all there yet. We could hear her talking about our group in an annoyed way with the other host. It was very awkward, as there was nothing we could do but wait standing there since they would not let us sit.

At about 4:20, everyone had arrived. We realized they had not put enough tables or chairs. There was fault BOTH on my end and the restaurant here... they were short five chairs, but I had told them 20 people, and 22 showed up. Regardless, there wasn't enough seating so we had to use a couple booths... there were plenty of booths available, but they seemed very annoyed to have to accommodate us.

When one of my relatives asked to pull another table up, the manager said, "No, just sit down".

I feel like this long story speaks for itself... great burger, lovely server, and rudest host I've ever met. I understand the situation wasn't perfect but there was no kindness or accommodation to be found. I won't bring a...