54th Street Scratch Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Shiloh

Well, it was my birthday dinner. My family had taken me out there, and when we arrived, they said it was going to be an hour waiting. I had 5 of my grandkids with me, so a total of 11 all together. As we were waiting, we all noticed how a group of 5 came in to set after us. So the hour has passed by, and we are still waiting for our table. We were about to leave and go somewhere else to eat. Well, the manager came over to apologize for our extended time waiting to be seated. I wasn't too happy that we had to wait the extra time for a table. We'll once we findly got to our table. We were ready to order our food since we had all the extra time while waiting for a table we already knew what we wanted to eat. As we were sitting waiting for our food. I noticed for a good 15 minutes that everyone that came in after us their food was coming back quickly, and my family noticed it too. So I asked my waitress, "Sorry if i don't remember her name." What was taking so long with our food. She said that she would go check. We'll she return said that's it's been fix. I noticed the manager walking around. He stopped to check on us to see if everything was going alright, and I told him no. I explained to him that we had been waiting for a long time and that other guests had been served and we were still waiting. After another 10 minutes, I was ready to go, and so was my family. My oldest grandkids weren't happy because they were hungry. Well, the food was finally coming out. Well, this is when I wasn't really a happy birthday person. I ordered the Ribeye steak medium rare with double mashpotatoes. Well, my meat wasn't cooked the way I asked it, and the mashpotatoes were cold, and for the record, I was piss at this time. My daughter steak wasn't cooked right it was past well done. The manager once again forgives me for not remembering his name. He came to see if everyone good was fine, and I said no. I told him that my food was cold and to top it off, it wasn't cooked the way I ordered it. He did offer to have fresh food cook, so that's meant I have to wait another 10 to 20 minutes for food at which we had other plans to go somewhere after dinner. I still wasn't a happy person. Well, my dinner arrived since I'm the only one eating. The steak was cooked right and fresh, and my mashpotatoes were hot, but after the first ones, I really didn't want them. The manager came back to see if my food was cooked fresh. I told him yes, but I felt like the cooks should get guests' orders right the first time. If they can't do it right, they need to be retraining. The manager did take my meal off my bills, but I felt that he should have taken more off due to the fact of all the trouble we had been through. Well, I come back to eat here again. Nope, I'll take my business somewhere else for now, and the greeters at the door need to now be playing around in front of guests as they enter a place...

The only two reasons I’ve given this restaurant one star is because the server was acceptable and Google Reviews won’t allow me to select any less.

When we first arrived, there was nobody at the front podium to greet us or seat us. We waited there for quite a while before being seated. Not a big deal, we thought. Restaurant employees are fairly busy, and I know this from my own experience working in restaurants, so we said “not a big deal.” This honestly should have been my first clue that it was going to be a bad experience.

The server who was assigned to us was courteous, but nothing special. She refilled our drinks and took our order, and that’s about it. She met the minimum standard for restaurant servers. Here is where the pattern of meeting the minimum standard starts to be seen more clearly. Clue number two.

The only positive thing I have to say about the food is that it was edible. There was not a single unique option on the menu that you could not receive at a contemporary chain restaurant at a comparable price, and unfortunately this particular restaurant happens to be the lowest quality I’ve had the displeasure of experiencing within this group. The only thing I can think about the food we received (Cajun chicken Phillies for me and my wife) was that it was pathetic. Listed below are the reasons:

1.) The bread they used for the phillies was about half as thin as a regular hoagie, and obviously stale/dry. 2.) The sandwich was obviously put together sloppily and without care. The ingredients were falling out all over the plate, and it literally irritated me as soon as I looked at it. I wish I had taken a picture. 3.) The chicken part of the philly was tough and overcooked. 4.) The Cajun part of the philly didn’t show up to work that day. The sandwich was bland and tasteless, even with the probably less than a teaspoon of chipotle mayo they added. 5.) The whole sandwich was cold by the time I got it. It was literally room temperature, and the “melted cheese” had the time to return to a solid state of matter. It complimented the stale, hard bread perfectly. 6.) My wife’s seasoned waffle fries were in the same state as our sandwiches. Cold, bland, and unimpressive. I’m running out of ways to describe how mediocre this food was. 6.) For the dessert, just as our hot food sat long enough to get cold, the ice cream/cake sat long enough to change temperature also. By the time the dessert was on our table the ice cream had turned into soup, and the piece of cake I’m assuming they microwaved due to it having the consistency of a car tire had gotten cold. At least this restaurant is consistent.

I will never spend money at this location again, and I strongly recommend that nobody else wastes their time or money here either. There’s a Qdoba about 100ft. from this place that will be cheaper and taste...

We decided to stop here while out shopping one afternoon. It was 3 pm on a Saturday so there was not much crowd. We have eaten here many times before and love it.

This visit was absolutely horrible though!! We sat in our booth for 15 minutes before I finally flagged someone down to wait on us. She eventually gets to our table and takes our order. The manager stops by and welcomes us, which was nice. No mention of the delay in service, but that's ok. Our appetizer (fried pickle spears)came out quickly and was delish! Our entrees are then delivered by a different server. I ordered the ribs and they were not hot, maybe warm ish. The other dishes we ordered were good. Our drink glasses were empty, our appetizer plates still crowded our table, and our server had not been back since dropping off the appetizer. My friend could see her talking and laughing with other staff though.

I see the manager joking around with some other staff and get his attention. I inform him our server has been basically non-existent and ask him for some extra BBQ sauce for my ribs, refills on our waters and lemonade, and a small size refill of my wine. He goes out of his way to find our server and sends her to our table. There was no acknowledgement of the poor service. The server does get our refills as requested and clears some empty plates when asked. The manager then passed our table an additional 4 times without acknowledging that there was a problem. We were seated along the main path to the back. It would have been quite easy for him to make sure things had been resolved, but he didn't. He also could have refilled our drinks, but he didn't. That is poor management behavior! He should have been setting an example and promoting customer service. Very disappointed in his behavior!

The server brought us our bills which we promptly paid. We continued to sit and chat for about 15 minutes before the server came back to collect our signed receipts since she was going home and wants her tips.

This whole visit was horrible! This review could have been avoided with better management. Set an example and teach your servers how they are supposed to behave. Acknowledge that there is a problem and apologize. It really is...