Walnut Grill Washington — Restaurant in South Strabane Township

We just moved to Washington County and were anxious to try the Walnut Grill. We arrived last evening (without reservations) around 4:45 PM. When we arrived, the restaurant was less than half full, yet, the male Host felt the need to aggressively explain how they had "so many reservations" and acted like he was doing us a favor by allowing us a table. It was SUPER off putting. We were sat in a booth in the bar area. Our server approached the table in a reasonable time. She asked if we had ever dined at Walnut Grill before and we explained we had not. I ordered the 6 ounce filet mignon and crab cake, with baked potato and garden salad as the 2 sides, for $38.00. The salads arrived in a timely manner and were LARGE. We were impressed by the portion and appearance of the salads. My fiance' added tomato to his Caesar salad and that request was accommodated. That is when all the positivity ended. Since we were seated at the very first booth, in the bar, as you enter the restaurant, we could see dozens of people arriving, only to be told that the wait was long due to "reservations." Again, the restaurant isn't even half full at this point. I just think it's INSANE that a business would hold empty tables. We counted more than a dozen families turning around and walking out after being told about the wait. Now I know why successful restaurants do call ahead seating vs reservations. Walnut Grill is NOT elite enough of a restaurant to have a reservation system. I can't imagine that the empty tables they held for over an hour, generated anywhere close to the revenue they would have if guests could be accommodated on a first come, first serve basis......OR with a call ahead seating procedure. Back to the food......I've read a lot of negative comments about food and drinks taking long. That was not our experience, although we did not order anything from the bar. Even so, our salads and entrees did not seem to take overly long. I ordered my filet medium. When the entree was delivered, I IMMEDIATELY noticed that the kitchen had butterflied my steak! Who butterflies a filet......especially without checking with the customer? Does Walnut Grill NOT have cooks who can tell the temperature of a steak without cutting into it?! So, my $38 entree was delivered with the filet cut open and blood all over the plate..........because THAT is what happens when you cut into a steak while it's cooking and don't allow it to rest until it arrives to the customer. Due to all of the juices leaking out of the filet, both ends were well done, as well as the entire area where it was cut by the cook. I am 55 years old and order steaks out A LOT. I cannot tell you the last time I had a restaurant butterfly my steak. For as large as the salad was, the crab cake was a joke.....SO tiny. Meanwhile, the baked potato looked like it was on 'roids! It was literally enormous. I requested extra butter for my potato. My entree was delivered with 1 side of butter (none on the potato) and a side of sour cream that I never asked for. As soon as I cut into the steak, I was disappointed. This was not a $11.00 sirloin from Outback Steakhouse, although, I can guarantee you that Outback would NOT have voluntarily butterflied that steak. The server checked on us within minutes of the entrees being delivered. I expressed my disappointment and pointed out that the steak had been cut open......and not a little....the entire filet was butterflied, from one end to the other. She could see the well done areas and the fact it was cut into by the cook. She agreed that should not have happened and offered to have another filet cooked. Since I was hungry and looking forward to the meal, I initially agreed, but after 10 minutes of watching my fiance eat his "average at best" french dip, I cancelled my recook and requested the check. Our bill was $18 when it could've been over $60. URBAN GRILL is where it's at. It came highly recommended and did not disappoint. This place needs A LOT of work and obviously new cooks...

Edit 4/26/24. Went to WG for lunch, excellent service and food. (See pics) We sat outside, beautiful. I had potato soup - absolutely delish, I wanted to take a container home. I also had my usual farmers flatbread. Husband had house salad and shrimp scampi. He enjoyed the salad and the shrimp, the noodles were a little dry though. Will return and not take 2+ years this time.

2022: Been to WG 5 times in the last 6 weeks. Really good food, prepared with care. Tonight - oi vey. Not crowded. Got there at 4:30, ordered iced tea and beer, they came 5 minutes later. I’m used to being served beverages almost immediately at any restaurant. Their prices are very high but if we get good food and good service we’re obviously willing to pay.

I’ve had Farmers Flatbread at least once before. Delish. Shaped like the large rectangular plate it was served on. Beautiful presentation. Tonight, very little chicken, no goat cheese, no cilantro (which I had forgotten to say I didn’t want any so yay…), a LOT of mozzarella. The server asked how my meal was, I said that it had very little chicken, she was like - shrug - and walked away.

Honestly, for that price point I would’ve expected her or a manager to come over and ask me if I wanted something else or something of that kind. Other restaurants in Washington, Pennsylvania do that and they in the same price range as Walnut Grill.

We waited 15 minutes for the server to come out and say there was no corned beef for a Reuben. Husband ordered a burger and received it in a timely manner. My flatbread came out 5+ minutes later, she explained they had to “pull the dough.” Now this is 20 minutes after I placed the order. The flatbread was sloppy, it was obvious they’d hurried to pull the dough. There was a hole in it the size of a golfball. Every other time I’ve had this dish it was perfectly shaped to fit inside the large rectangular plate. Very impressive!! And of course it’s what I’ve come to expect.

So yeah. We’ll go back again. Maybe once a month. We’ll ask for the server who waited on us last week who was superb and took great care of us and other customers. She was an energizer bunny.

We were there 1.5 hours. We sat outside and there were two other parties. When we got there the inside looked empty but I had no reason to case the place.

We enjoyed one another’s company, and he enjoyed his burger so not a complete loss.

Edit: Someone reached out to me and I really appreciated that. We’ll definitely try WG again. And ask for Zoe. She’s an excellent server and really deserves the generous tip we gave her. 5* for Zoe. 4.8* for food on average. Price - $$$....

Walnut Grill and us have had an up and down relationship over the years. Sometimes we have really good experiences, and sometimes really bad ones. Our last time was one of the really bad ones so we’ve stayed way from this local chain for several years. However, they must be doing something right as they’ve been slowly expanding. This particular location took over from a different national chain and since it’s been a while – plus they sent up a coupon – we decided to give them a try.

The interior was vastly redone since the earlier occupant and is now very open. It still screams of a chain restaurant with American food vibes, of course, and you would not be mistaken if you confused it with any number of national chains. We were very surprised to note how many of their tables were high bar tables, and even when they were arranged as booths, there was a very high step to get in or out of them. Some people who have trouble with stairs would not be able to use three quarters of the tables at this location.

Our wait staff was excellent. The main waitress and another who delivered some dishes took good care of us and addressed every question and request. They could not have been more professional and helpful.

We ordered two entrees. Each of them came with two sides. One of the entrees was the Wild Mushroom Chicken. The dish itself was good. I would have called it something like Chicken Fried Chicken as it was a set of three breaded chicken breast filets covered in a white gravy. There were a few slices of Cremini mushroom on the sauce. It was tasty, but given the name, I was expecting more. The other main dish we ordered was more properly described. It featured two chicken breasts that were grilled and then treated with a garlic and lemon sauce with a Mediterranean salsa featuring tomatoes and herbs. It was very well done. For our side dishes we got the French Onion soup which was nicely hearty and not as salty as most places which won it some points from us. We got baked potatoes which were well done (one of them was “loaded” for which there was a $2 upcharge. For this we got a few slices of scallions and a smidgeon of cheddar cheese), and zucchini which was cooked in butter.

Altogether it was an enjoyable meal which makes us want to come back and give them another chance. With one glass of wine, and with taking leftovers home, we spent about $25 per person...