Backyard Ale House — Restaurant in Scranton

If I could give 0 stars to our horrible experience just minutes ago, I would! I can only assume that the reason our party of 5 were not given the stellar service others experienced in their reviews… is the obvious reason, the color of our skin. We were a happy & hungry group of 5. There were no other patrons of color while we were there. Our server Jeff, who we sadly learned was also the manager, took 10 minutes to come to the table, without a hello, he immediately asked what we wanted to drink, then rushed us through our orders, interrupting our congenial questions about the dishes several times with “do you need me to give you five minutes” instead of providing us encouraging details on the menu items we were interested in, as you would with first -time patrons. He literally sneered and stomped off shaking his head as he snatched up a glass of orange juice from the table after the customer said quietly that she didn’t realized it would be served with ice. He returned to the table with a 1/2 filled glass of OJ, slammed it down and shoved it in her direction and stalked off. We asked another server for a manager. She was obviously scared and did not want to be involved. Unfortunately, Jeff came over saying confrontationally that he was told we wanted to speak to a manager, and that he’s the only manager. We said not you please, sir you’re very rude. His shocking come-back was “well I’m just matching energy.” We felt so disrespected and upset. To add insult, the food came out literally as he said this so at the still shocked look on our faces he sneered “so what’s wrong with this? Tell me.” Yet we hadn’t said a word. At that point one of our party said he’d had enough and left the table. Instead of trying to salvage the situation, Jeff hustled away, throwing over his shoulder “oh well you all have a good evening!” as the rest of us got up to leave and he ran off to hide in the kitchen. This is disheartening to experience especially in the company of young people who are still shaping the way they see and respond to this world. Shame on Jeff. It will also be a shame if the owners of this establishment do not speak to him about his rascist treatment and...

We came here with our parents since this place has a decently diverse menu that can suit different diets and preferences. They told us to seat ourselves, and it didn't take long for our server to come and take our drink order. That was the end of the good service though. Our server never left the room but only checked on us two other times (during 2.5 hours), each time after we had successfully flagged down another server. We are not in the habit of flagging people down, but each time we had been in need of service for over 20 minutes. Part way through our visit, someone started live music and it was SO LOUD. We were seated on the back porch (a lovely spot short of all the flies), and the music made it so that even while yelling we could not have a conversation. My mom eventually went to the bar (our server was MIA) and asked if they could turn it down and was told "we can try, but people are here to listen to him". Lastly, I ordered the mac n cheese with pulled pork. This happens to be one of my favourite meals, and I have eaten it in tons of restaurants across the States. For some reason, they mixed their BBQ sauce with the cheese sauce, and mixed in the pork, so it was more like a baked ziti (but with rotini). It wasn't bad, but it did not taste like Mac n...

We came in around 7:30pm on Saturday and there was free street parking alongside the restaurant. We were immediately seated and we chose the back room to dine. I sat underneath a warm ceiling heater and felt comfortable the whole evening. The service was great and attentive! We ordered a few beers on draft and they were super affordable at like $5.50 to $7 a 16oz glass! We ordered the Backyard Beef Philly which is served with a house cheese sauce similar to that of Cheese Whiz. The beef was thinly sliced and seasoned well. I personally prefer provolone over this house sauce. We also ordered a BBQ platter consisting of the pulled pork, brisket, and baby back ribs. The BBQ sauce reminded me of a Carolina-style barbecue flavor which I thoroughly enjoyed! The pineapple slaw was unique and gave a sweetness to the rest of the meal. The corn bread was overly dense but not too sweet. We ordered a side of fries well-done but unfortunately, they were soggy! Overall, enjoyed my dining experience as well as the food. I could see the vibes of the venue to be wonderful in the summer. I’m sure the roof in the back opens up. The music played during the night had me in dancing while waiting and...