Downtown Gastropub & Restaurant — Restaurant in Royersford

We recently moved to the area a few months ago and have been wanting to try Downtown since we first drove down Main Street. My wife and I finally went there today (9/5/25) around 1pm for lunch. We were the only customers in there so we sat at the bar. We each ordered a cocktail and the bartender said they were all out of bitters which limited which cocktails she could make for us because most of them require bitters to make, which was fine and we told her "no problem" just make the cocktails without the bitters (not a big deal). After the bartender brought us our cocktails we gave her our food order which was chicken fingers to share as an appetizer and we each ordered a burger platter. So we're sitting there at the bar drinking our cocktails and chitchatting.. About half an hour goes by and the food has not come out yet (we were the only customers in the entire place) a few more minutes go by and the bartender says to us "your food should be done soon.." About 45min after we placed our food order, and still no food, a car pulls up and a guy enters the side door carrying in a bunch of brown paper bags, then another guy comes out from the kitchen and starts helping unload the car bringing in more bags of stuff.. At this point I look at my wife and said "what the heck is going on, where is our food?" I then ask the bartender if she can please go and check on the status of our food and she says "I can't right now because the cook just went outside.." To which I respond "okayyy?" and then I asked her if our food was done or if anyone has even made our food yet to which the bartender responds "I can't really tell for sure without talking to the cook first.." (even though about 20min earlier she said our food "would be out shortly.") Sooo long story short after waiting for almost an hour for chicken fingers and 2 burgers we asked the bartender to cancel our food order and to just charge us for the drinks. We paid for the drinks and the bartender "apologized" (apologized for what exactly we do not know) but we never got an explanation as to what had happened and my wife and I both said to each other "what the heck just happened?" Like we were looking forward to trying this place out and it was a total flop like I totally understand if they were short on supplies or didn't have certain items on hand but the very least they could have done was TOLD US THAT WHEN WE PLACED OUR ORDER. The bartender could have said anything - "oh I'm sorry we don't have that right now" or "oh we are all out of that at the moment". But instead she said nothing of the sort and let us sit there for almost an hour waiting like fools for a food order that wasn't coming or at the very least was not even started yet.. After sitting there for an hour? What a joke! At the very least they could have comp'd the drinks on the house as their way of acknowledging this inconvenience. There was not a word from any sort of "management" or anything from anyone besides our bartender who was cleary "in" on whatever shennanigans these people were up to.. Again, if they would have told us ahead of time about being out of stock or running low on supplies I would have totally been fine with that.. To the bartender and/or management : next time you don't haver items just say that from the beginning (at least I'm assuming that's what the issue was but who knows..) Anyway, we will not be going back there. I was expecting more from a so-called "gastropub" (menu was average at best, the burgers sounded good though which is why we tried to order burgers). And for the record - I never leave reviews at all but I just couldn't let them "get away with this" level of crappy service. You guys need to get your act together. What a...

EDIT (Sept 5, 2021):

We've been back a couple more times since the original review. We haven't seen the server we had on our original visit, so maybe she's not here anymore. Service on these subsequent visits have been on point, so no more complaints there and upgrading my rating from 4 to 5 stars.

The Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich is the BOMB. After taking a bite of mine on that initial visit, it's now the only thing our daughter craves!

DW and I also tried out their Sunday brunch a couple weeks ago too. The biscuits and gravy were good (as in not the best we've ever had but a great local alternative, it's just missing something that we can't put our finger on), and the meat lovers skillet was a delish mess to eat (messy means it's good!). Pictures attached this time!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

Family and I stopped in for dinner on Wednesday. We had been in before for drinks but wanted to come try the food too.

It was pretty nice out. Wish they had outdoor tables set up. The AC was pretty strong so it was a bit chilly inside. My daughter wished she had a jacket.

Wings were the special tonight. We got the Korean BBQ wings, turns out one of the last orders before they sold out. It was still pretty early (6:20?) so that seemed surprising. The sauce was delish. They were kinda small wings though, 9 for $14 seemed a bit much.

Wife and daughter shared the nachos. They said they were good too, especially that the pulled chicken and pickled jalapeños were homemade (not out of a can). They wish the cheese sauce was hotter though, it was only lukewarm and had gotten clumpy. We wanted to see if they could get a hotter side of the cheese sauce, but they were practically done eating before the server came back.

I ordered the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich. It was wonderful, one of the best I’ve ever had. The homemade chips were excellent too!

So overall the service seemed a bit lackluster. Not sure if our server was new, but she struggled to multitask and prioritize. We watched her take one party’s check to close, just to come out and get another party’s check to close instead of doing them both at the same time, all while walking multiple times past our drinks sitting on the bar for 10 minutes. Eventually one of the other servers delivered our drinks.

Overall, service issues aside, great atmosphere, good food, great drinks, and a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Will be back!

(No food pics this time, totally forgot!...

Going to provide a very objective and forthright review - I have been to this establishment on many occasions, previous owner and now I understand new ownership. The opportunity here in Royersford, the atmosphere and the simple things that could consistently be done to make this a huge success are being missed.

Food was generally solid - service (hardest thing in this industry) was average.

Decided to give this another try on a Friday night this past week.

Place was packed but clearly disorganized.

Sat at the bar - young girl who clearly was beyond overwhelmed and not set up for success was beyond unqualified for her role - not only did she lack the proper skills, professionally and socially - she is clearly not cut out for that job and the ownership should have identified that - dismissive and beyond horrible service, she also looked terrified.

Not a way to make money and treat customers, felt bad for her.

But here is the problem - rest of the staff (many seemed to be leftovers) also were disorganized and clueless at times.

I waited 20 minutes at a bar for anyone to even acknowledge us, clean a counter and let alone show any enthusiasm or energy for valued customers. Staring at them.

I was very patient and finally ordered some below par drinks and a basic appetizer - absolutely horrible food, cold, mess and no attention to detail whatsoever - pile of stuff.

20 minutes between drinks and 30 minutes for food.

Politely told them my disappointment - oh, sorry - removed the food (Not that I would have paid for it anyway) and charged me for overpriced drinks and horrific service.

Management - You want to survive here, I would clean up all aspects of the business in short order - many folks were very disappointed and this is an easy win for you.

Service, food and approach - all substandard, wanted so bad for this to be good - absolute mess and will not spend my hard earned money here again.

11/7 - Returned for another visit, service and food greatly improved - had Bryce who turned my opinion around 100%. Keep up the attention to detail and crowd management - make...