Down on Grayson — Restaurant in San Antonio

We dined in at down on Grayson on 02/24/2025 around 1pm. We sat at the bar and did not get a nice welcoming….the brunettes bartender did not speak the entire time and just felt as if she was going through the motions and did not want to be there…she didn’t say a word when she came up to us, all she did was get us waters.

The blonde bartender then came shortly after and gave us menus….notice how I am referring to them by hair color, because they did not even tell us their names…no greeting or introduction once so ever. I ordered a grey goose lemon drop martini which was LITERALLY the best part about the entire experience. As far as food goes…we ordered the meatballs, and chicken tortilla soup for starters. The soup came out and was completely cold, I sent it back…(while the blonde bartender was back trying to fix my soup, the phone rang,and the brunette bartender was nowhere in sight.) I’m assuming the bartender is in charge of answering the phone because instead of the managers taking initiative and helping the bartenders out while she was busy helping me, the woman manager immediately came to the bar to inappropriately confront the blonde bartender about answering the phone…I understand correcting your employees, but there’s a time and place and the place to do that is NOT in front of the guests…totally inappropriate So I get my soup back and it was hotter but mediocre at best…the meatballs came out shortly after but were also cold(we ate them because we did not want to send a second item back, back to back)….at this point we should have just left but we had already ordered entrees so we stayed to see it through…

My husband ordered the French dip sandwich and I order the rotisserie chicken with corn….his sandwich, again, cold. When you serve a sandwich for $25 the LEAST YOU’D EXPECT is for it to be served hot. The sandwich looked lousy and not appealing when received. AGAIN THE FOOD WAS COLD…we could’ve easily complained in the restaurant to the managers about the food but seeing as the way they were treating the employees…we didn’t think we’d get very far. So we ate our food as to not waste it because we were paying for it anyways. The chicken I had was not even cooked all the way…pink towards the center. I did enjoy the street corn though. OVERALL, THE EXPERIENCE WAS JUST NOT ENJOYABLE…THE BEST PART WAS THE DRINKS I HAD. SO WE LEFT DOWN ON GRAYSON with a $106.00 tab. and only ENJOYED $40 of that tab…again, I am writing in hopes that down in Grayson takes this email seriously and works toward focusing more on the guests dining experience and making it enjoyable for the guests….because we were not the only ones unhappy…we witnessed two other people leave the bars because they were not greeted in a timely manner. Please email me back, because I would love to hear feedback on how down on Grayson will change their service standards. Ad of right now, we will not be going back and we will never recommend….after talking about our experience with a few colleagues they all had negative input on down on Grayson as well. So this seems to be a problem for the restaurant and it should be fixed. Most of the comments included “overpriced, low quality food, and bad service” which was exactly how we...

First time Visiting the Grayson, love the outside dining area. One table had several birds eating the leftovers but kind of neat. We all have to eat. Pathway of rox\cks is so beautiful, all the umbrellas. It was hot outside otherwise we would have ate on the patio. 103 in San Antonio. Walked in the door to cool air and these beautiful chandeliers and bar. Took a little time to get seated, almost changed to eating outside but they finally found us a table in the back. Lemonade very pricey with an additional $1 for added flavor. Don't recommend the added flavor, not worth the extra cost. Menu Is also pricey but we were near the Pearl, maybe that's why the higher cost. Food was excellent no complaints. We ordered the meatballs as an appetizer and Mac and cheese and a grilled cheese for my grandson. Meatballs so delicious and fell apart. Mac and cheese...WOW! So creamy and delicious. We all had a bite but my grandson ate it up. He had string cheese hanging from his mouth. He loved it so much. The grilled cheese also went fast. He is almost 10 and has a huge appetite. The Grayson did not give small portions for the Mac and cheese, we were pleasantly surprised.. My daughter and I split a Cuban sandwich with asparagus spheres. Delicious!! The sandwich came with a side of shoestring fries, they were just OK. The portion size was small. Sandwich was excellent and the asparagus was so zesty. Highly recommend. Order for 2 was pricy; that is my only complaint really and the creepy manager with the earbud. No Veterans discount either. Our servers was so nice, she kept coming back to check on us. Thanks Mia! Someone was standing watching everything in plain clothes and had a ear piece in, if he was a manager he should have come to the tables to see if our service was good or not. Smile a little bit too...too serious seriously. Restrooms so clean, love the paper towels. Pictures of dogs hanging on the walls were a nice touch. Someone took a lot of time to get all the details of every painting. Especially loved the Collie. Did not get any pics of the restroom but super clean. Pricing may stop us from coming back, paid over $60 for 2 meals. Thanks Mia for great service and to the guy watching with arms crossed...lighten up. Stand and watch where your not noticed by the customers. Oh one more thing...don't fall for the Rainwater! Bottled water? Too expensive for a glass bottle with a rainwater label. I purchased for my daughter but the glass jugs of free water is better. Waitress will validate your parking if you park in the Grayson lot, we did not see the signs so paid to park...

DO NOT come here if you have a large party! On 8/27/24 I called ahead to inquire about reservations, which they do not offer. I was fine with the no-reservations policy, but I did specifically ask if they’d be able to accommodate my party of 14 and was told that wouldn’t be a problem. When we arrived, we were told they wouldn’t be able to seat our party of 14 together inside. Outside seating was offered, but it was way too hot to sit outside and the mosquitos would’ve eaten us alive. It was recommended we split our party into an adults table and children’s table, but we were an all adults group so that wasn’t ideal. I requested to speak to the manager and was greeted by Jeremy as I was pretty upset that I was told they’d be able to accommodate our party and now I was being told we’d have to be split up. Jeremy was not much help, but showed me an area where he’d like to seat my split party. It was around 7 pm and I was told the wait would be approximately 45 mins. We went ahead and stayed, waited over 45 mins, only to be told by Jeremy that his original plan fell through as the party sitting in the area he showed me wasn’t leaving anytime soon. He then showed me 2 tables, split catty corner from each other where my party would have to sit. At this point, it was 8:15 pm, we were hungry and tired, but we stayed. At this point, due to the lack of accommodation, I did request we be comped on our final bill for the unfortunate inconvenience. Jeremy agreed and did apologize. The two parties were split, orders were placed, the other table had food delivered in a timely manner and exceptional service by Matthew. My table (bride and groom) lacked service and received cold food after almost an hour of being waited on by Joey. By the time we received our cold food, the other table was finished with their food. And not once did the manager, Jeremy, come by to see how the service was. This was a my first & definitely my last visit to this restaurant.

The purpose of my post isn’t to bash this establishment, but merely to provide my experience with a large group accommodation and to hopefully prevent anyone else from going through what we went through. If you have a large group, do yourself the favor and find a restaurant that accepts...