54th Street Scratch Grill & Bar-Richland Hills — Restaurant in San Antonio

This restaurant was busy on a Friday night yet I was still able to walk-in. They initially were encouraging me to sit at the bar but I was able to get a two-person booth in the dining room. I was met shortly by Vanessa who was pleasant and dropped off a carafe of water. I was thinking to myself at this point that we were off to a good start as I usually have to ask for several refills on water. Little did I know that this would be the highlight of my experience. I ordered when she returned and opted for the chicken tortilla soup and a house salad. The food came relatively quickly brought by another server who wasn't particularly pleasant and who just dropped off the food. My salad had a fork in it, which I found strange. And my soup had a small spoon that felt like it just came out of the washer. Other than that, I had no napkins or any rolled silver that were in the black cloth napkins that diners around me had. I proceeded to eat using the cocktail napkin they had placed under the soup bowl. I was hungry so I started with the soup first. Right off the bat, the soup is not soup, it's a stew and if you're from Texas or lived here for any length of time it was more akin to green chile stew only with chicken instead of pork. The flavor was awful. It tasted heavily of burnt chilies and tomatillo with an occasional piece of corn and small strip of chicken. I switched over to the salad less than a quarter into the bowl of soup/stew. The mound of sour cream dumped into the middle of the bowl as if the cook dropped a container of Daisy remained untouched. The salad fared better but was pretty standard. The plus with it was they brought the dressing on the side. Now to the service - I never received a refill on my iced tea nor was I asked until the check came (more on my that in a minute). I didn't receive any silver and when I asked for a napkin, Vanessa brought me a stack of paper napkins. There was a table of 6 beside me to the to left. She spent most of her time there, but I did notice both that table and the one directly across from my booth had to ask for their checks. As I was pretty much done eating I figured I'd ask Vanessa for the check early. I didn't see her again for 20 minutes. I suspect she might have taken her break. At this point, I was clearly done with everything and my dishes were sitting at hands length away from me. Vanessa finally made an appearance and proceeded to wait on her other tables. She passed my table 4 times without stopping, once making eye contact and registering that I was waiting for her. I then waited an additional 10 minutes before finally asking another server for the check. Vanessa brought the check over finally after another 10 minutes had past. When she did she offered to refill my tea which I declined and promptly handed her my cash. Despite my bill coming to a little over $20 she stated that I didn't need change on the $40 I handed her. I let her know I did indeed want my change. When she returned I left an appropriate tip for the service I received and left. As when I entered, no one greeted me with a smile or said anything to me. I do not plan to ever come to this bar and grill again and I would advise all locals and hotel patrons to find another selection as the convenience factor just doesn't make up for the mediocre food and abysmal service.

To the management - should you read this review please know I do not need a reply. Rather your time would be better spent properly training your wait staff and letting them know they can make just as great a tip from stellar service to a table of 1 as they can...

If I could give 0 stars I would! I understand having new employees and them still training, however, the management here needs trained as well. First, my bartender (there were two short hair and long hair. She had long hair) didn’t know the menu and argued with me regarding what the menu said. I showed her the menu and she goes, oh they must have just made a change, that’s not right.. then she repeated my order back to me 4 times because instead of writing it down she tried to memorize it and couldn’t. I told her I would be taking the food back to my hotel and I’d like a drink to go with it. She told me, you can’t have a to go drink without to go food, not a problem, as I said I would be taking my food with me back to the hotel (to go food)! After going back and forth with her regarding the tier of alcohol I asked to speak with a manager, who hopefully had more knowledge and understood liquor. I was greeted by Lauren (Floor Manager), not only does Lauren not know the tiers of alcohol (I asked her and she said she wasn’t sure), she was extremely dismissive and told me I couldn’t have the drink I wanted because “we simply don’t know how to ring that in and she would hate to over charge me”. I explained that they could charge me for two wells I didn’t care about the overcharge I just Simply wanted a top shelf drink.... what bartender doesn’t know how to ring in a top shelf drink?! I again, explained to her, I’m not worried about the cost, I simply just don’t want well. She explained to me that other customers like their wells and ensured me I wouldn’t taste it. I wasn’t asking for the taste, I wanted to enjoy a nice drink that wouldn’t give me a headache the next morning. I asked if I could speak with the bar manager, again, hoping to have someone with more knowledge. She told me nope, call the number on your receipt he doesn’t have time to talk to you. I have worked in the bar industry for YEARS (that doesn’t make me all knowing I get that). However, if the 54th Street team was trained/educated and could be factual in regards to why they were unable to accomplish something I’d be understanding. If there were liquor laws pertaining to why they were unable to proceed, again, I’d be understanding...But to be told, “I don’t know how”, that’s a simply fix, grab your manager or someone who does know how and have them show you. Jeremy Diaz eventually came out (Bar Manager) and when he came out instead of hearing me out he went straight into how his manager knew best and acted as though he completely knew what was going on. He didn’t even know my complaint before he started coming at me! I kindly asked him to hear me out and let me explain my issue...Needless to say not one manager understood their own rules or had the ability to remain professional and listen to a genuine complaint. I remained calm and was simply trying to express my concerns. I wanted to spend my money, enjoy a nice drink, get one to go and be on my way - it’s sad this company lacks professionalism and doesn’t have trained employees it could have been a very simple interaction. I do have to applaud the second bartender though (I wish I would have gotten her name she had short hair) she was phenomenal. She came over after, apologized, knew her drinks and explained how to ring it into the system. She had more knowledge regarding the bar than the two managers above her!!! Ultimately, I apologized to her for having to work under such poor management. I would never recommend coming to this restaurant unless you want to be dismissed and told “I don’t know how to ring that in”. Terrible...

Went to this location with my cousin to quickly split a couple of apps in the middle of our shopping day. As soon as I had walked in, I was poorly attended to by one of the hostess' that had made me uncomfortable by having a carseat - it seemed to be an inconvenience to her to accommodate me. my cousin then joined me, and though we planned on being in and out quickly, we ended up leaving an 1.45 later... our server (Giuseppe) was nowhere to be found multiple times and the other servers couldn't even find him :-) I had my 4mo old with us, and our server had been interrupting our experience by asking if I was breastfeeding, and sharing that he personally didn't believe in the pandemic, along w/ his religious beliefs by stating bible scriptures that express that women shouldn't get abortions.. we attempted to finish our meal, and also realized that the table next to us had been sat and hadn't been greeted for 20 mins. I had also noticed that our servers other table that he was supposed to be tending to, had only ordered their drinks (which came from the bar and were dropped off by another server), but had to wait on him just to put in their food for over 15mins. when he finally took their order, he came to close us out - he dropped off our tab, then after we split the check, the total had increased? he had accidentally sent in one of our apps twice, and though we were told it was going to be taken off, we were charged for them. we understand that mistakes happen, but being dropped off a tab with a certain amount, then for it to be increased after we close out? after speaking with the manager (though we asked for them twice and the never showed), as we were walking out of the door, we were able to inform them of how disappointed we were. not only with our overall experience, but for the tables around us that were not appropriately tended to. the manager had also shared that we were not the first table to provide negative feedback about our server. why is he still out on the floor representing 54th in this way? it is reckless behavior, no matter how short staffed an establishment is. as a restaurant manager myself (right before having a baby), this service is unacceptable! the unprofessionalism is something we will never forget and we promise we will never be back to this location. side note: my fiance had worked for this company at their San Marcos location for years, and even going to that location often, I know they would never allow their guests to go through something like this! we will continue to exclusively go the live...