T-BONES Great American Eatery — Restaurant in Salem

I was disappointed 😞 I was at a T-Bones at the same time in Salem this time last year for an annual friends get together. Last year was enjoyable (food, service, seating). That we all came back this year thinking the same would occur.

I went in with a larger group of people - looking to have a nice meal. Maybe this was an off night. and we went at the wrong time.

We arrived at around 8:30 PM and we asked if they could accommodate a party if 12. They said there was only a table for 10 near to the bar.

After looking for further possibilities to all sit together we asked if we could sit out on the back closed-in porch. There was no one out there sitting which made it enough room to sit our party of 12. The hostess said yes, we could all sit out there. We had asked if we could turn the heater on and, they said yes.

We were seated in the back where the longest table was located. The table only sat 10 people from our party. One gentleman from our party sat at the end near a door that opened for the servers, and a other sat on the opposite end to evenly fit the people.

The manager came out and said that he could not sit there as it was a fire hazard ' - which she was right.

Though she was correct, she was all frazzled.

We acknowledged that he couldn't sit there so we offered a solution to move the table so as to have it away from the door - simple solution.

We moved the table and the manger came out yelling at us, very panicked that we had moved the table. Trying to explain the practicality behind the solution was impossible - she was clearly unhappy, and upset demanding we move the table back.

We then offered the other solution to put the a small table adjacent to the big table (another simple solution) she frantically stated we were not able to do that.

It would have been fine given the fire hazard in the first place, but it was so unprofessional and rushed that I felt like leaving. But given the time of night and hungry guests we stayed with hopes of an improved experience going forward.

We were then told me could move no more than two small tables together, not anymore than that.

Anyhow, half the party of 12 sat at small tables on the other side and then the other half sat at the large table. We were served by the same server to separate tables.

That said, the waitress appeared to be frazzled after her manager scolded us creating an awkward atmosphere. Waitress was very nice. However did her best.

It's not that the food was amazing, the best part was my glass of white wine.

My party of guests were upset and uncomfortable with all the chaos of the tables and yelling manager. Not the right way to treat guests at a restaurant.

Food was dry , I gave two stars to some ratings because the waitress was trying her best given the dynamic of the operation of...

I originally left a raving review but I have to update it. Afyer renos the take out service has become subpar.. I get same thing every time, and ALWAYS ask for extra extra tortilla chips when placing order. Ive even offered them to up-charge me. Now; due to the inconsistency in fulfilling my request I check before leaving and whenever theres not enough chips (9/10x), I ask for more…9/10x I’ve been met w annoyed attitude. Even tho I made it crystal clear what I expected, when ordering…. Tonight I called order in at 4 before going grocery shopping. Got there at 545, w my hungry 2y/o in tow….expecting it to be read… shockingly it wasn’t ready. i wasn’t offered compensation, until I made formal complaint w manager Brandi. when I placed my order I was told 45 min. not sure why they thought it was nbd it wasn’t ready 1 hr 45 min later. I was compensated w/ a whopping $20! (Less than my order total) and again met w annoyance when I asked for extra chips ( by manager). She was nice to my kid but seemed bothered that I had nerve to not only complain about my order taking 2 hrs but for asking for extra tortilla chips. Give me the dang recipe bc at this point I’m annoyed I have to even ask Food is still pretty good, imo, most times. Sometimes we receive smaller potions and sometimes the chili is a bit watery but it’s the service that is the most subpar part imo. Hopefully this review helps them become better. Was hesitant to leave this review bc I go there often enough and I’m 100% known as the crazy tortilla lady 🤣. I just do not understand. It’s a restaurant. I have a special request that I’ve offered the pay extra for. It should not be an issue. Hopefully this prompts them to make some improvements. I will still go here but I’m fed up w the reoccurring issues and being made to feel like I’m the biggest inconvenience for wanting a lot of tortilla chips (if u have had them u know they’re diff and I have no idea how to make them at home...

Not a bad experience. I had ordered a tall fiddlehead and when I got it I was quite surprised by the taste and quite sure it was not fiddlehead. I've never really had that issue before and the waitress was great about it. She even brought me a sample that the bartender and her were sure came out of the fiddlehead tap. It still tasted the same and I ended up getting a tall Sam oktober instead which tasted like a Sam oktober. Perhaps I was wrong there but after leaving I had remembered that they had UFO regular and pumpkin on tap. In hindsight I believe their tap line for fiddlehead was likely connected to the regular UFO. Either way the waitress took great care in putting up with my objections etc... and this didn't really negatively affect the experience. I do hope they double checked their lines, that's how sure I am that, that, was not fiddlehead but I wasn't about to press the issue in a crazy way. The water tasted a little funny to me too, but my wife had lemon in hers and could neither confirm nor deny my thought on that. It wasn't so odd I didn't drink it, so perhaps this was a ME issue as well, who knows? We sat on their enclosed patio (heated) and that was nice. The chairs... They were a little "laid back" in terms of the angle of the back and the arms were a little low, in my opinion, for sitting up at a table and eating dinner. This too wasn't a big deal, just my feelings. The food was good. I had fish & chips and it was good. My wife simply loved "the gobbler" which is essentially a Thanksgiving sandwich. Turkey, cheddar, cranberry sourdough, and a honey dijon that she loved. I'd love to have given 4 stars but I just feel like it fell a hair short, all things considered, but our waitress and the food (the important parts really) were quite good. I'd like to go back to this location and give...