Railwalk Brewery — Restaurant in Salisbury

So I’ve been debating about writing my review, chalking many of my experiences up to maybe I have high standards of customer service, but after looking at other reviews and seeing people have similar experiences I felt my review was legitimate. In my experience with this place, the food is very good, beer selection is nice, the waitresses “try” but the general feeling is that the staff doesn’t care about the experience of the customer and/or just don’t have enough experience with customer service.

I have gone to Morgan Ridge 4 times, three of the times with friends and family and those three times were during bingo and trivia nights. The first time I was there for trivia, the food was great but the waitress was unaware that it was wing night and over charged for wings. I also got the perception this was her first time waitressing and we waited long for drinks. I also requested a half pour and thr waitress and bartender didn’t know What I was talking about. The trivia host was also drunk.

The second time I had requested a low top table for bingo night through Facebook messenger because my 80 year old grandma would be joining us for three people. Being in the restaurant service industry myself, I have been taught that if you can accommodate a reasonable request from a customer then do it and it makes the customer have a better experience. When I made this request I got pushback from the person on Facebook manager basically saying they don’t take reservations for less than 10 (but they took a reservation for 4 people when I went to trivia night) and we would be fine. Eventually they agreed to the request and if I hadn’t have made that request it was so busy that night that my 80 year old grandma would have only had a high top table to sit at and she wouldn’t have been comfortable or had a good time. Also, Richard who hosts bingo is 5 stars!

The last and most recent time I invited my family of 6 out for trivia night. The girls at the hostess stand were friendly and happily let me make a reservation this time. Food was so great but the waitress/bartender took too long on our drink order and kept bringing out wrong drinks. We played trivia, got really into it and the trivia host said we were in second place with 64 points. When she announced the winners she completely skipped us and even counted our points up wrong. If you are a trivia player you probably know how I was feeling about this. It’s really the principle. We came to play trivia and be a part of the game but then were slighted. When I went to the bartender to point out that it wasn’t done correctly he couldn’t have cared less that I had had a bad experience and pointed me to the trivia host. I went and told her that she missed our team and even counted our points wrong. Long convo short, she was drunk and wanted to pay more attention to her boyfriend.

So the overall experience has come down to my critique which seems to be a growing trend in Salisbury locally owned businesses: owners have an opportunity to open up a business (which is great!) offer up a better than average product (also great) but lack obtaining qualified staff that can elevate their customer experience and really make their business stand out. My family spent $200 and tipped at least 20% but with the consistent lack of customer care I don’t expect to be going back unless I’m craving the chicken pasta to go.

Response to owner 3/24/21: David, I think hiring Richard for trivia is an amazing decision!!! He seems like a winner for the team. And I am glad to know that you are aware of the problem and care about making it better. I can for sure understand the work force problem at this time. Because of your response I will for sure be coming back and supporting the growth and development. 5 star...

I have worked in the service industry so I’m really understanding, but man, this place is severely lacking in service and quality. On our way to Charlotte for the day, we purposely sought out a independently owned/small business to have lunch and settled here. When we arrived, there were 2 people at the bar; 1 table mid lunch. Another group of 4 walked in with us. That’s it. It took 40 minutes to get our lunch (a salad & cheese burger…the onion rings I ordered “weren’t put in yet” according to the wait staff member who delivered our food). The burger was cold and beyond well done; chips that came with it were cold. I canceled the order for the onion rings….we couldn’t wait another 15-20–30 minutes for those. We let the wait staff know the issue with the food. No effort was made to apologize but they did offer a halfhearted “do you want us to recook it?”…we declined since it had already taken 40 minutes(!)…when the check arrived, there was a 30% discount off the burger….but again no apology. Come on! Really?! Again, I’ve worked in the service industry and have had to apologize more times than I count for kitchen mess ups and what-have-you…it comes with the territory. And I’m understanding, but it just seems they don’t really care here. With a courtesy tip (below 15% but something), this experience cost us $50.

I’m an alumnus of Catawba College and haven’t been back to Salisbury in many years. I was excited to show it off to my husband— especially with the new growth/places and check out a great restaurant. This -sadly- wasn’t it. When we come back to Salisbury, we’ll visit...

This is such a great location, and Salisbury needs it to do well, so I've refrained from posting on the half-dozen-plus times I've eaten and always been disappointed here. The food is constantly underwhelming, and service disappointing. Tonight, for six adults, it had taken 2.5 hours to be sat, get food, and pay.

First of all, order enough product that you're not routinely out of things. Second, check to make sure tables have silverware to eat with---especially if they wait over an 75 minutes for food. Don't serve salads with rotten cucumbers, in ridiculous slanted bowls that spill everywhere. Don't charge $15+ for burgers unless you're hand-pattying the beef, and for heaven's sake make sure it's dressed as described in the menu, and certainly don't serve with mealy, tepid fries. Drinks on empty, expo person hollering from the window about food getting cold (doesn't help--still cold), skimpy serving sizes of sides, and even the bathrooms aren't clean or stocked with paper products (its 10/30p at 8pm, and the bathroom checklist was last initialed 1145 on 10/28).

Folks realize that we're in a pandemic, with an employee shortage, and supply chain issues, but successful businesses get flexible and accommodate. Maybe Morgan Ridge would do better only offering appetizers and beer, at least until things normalize a bit...because as a restaurant, there are way too many things...