Red Heat Tavern — Restaurant in South Windsor

This was our first time eating here, and this will be a bit detailed.

The waiting area is a bit squished between the rotating door , the bar area, and folks waiting to pick up their food. Luckily, it wasn't too crowded in this area, and they were bringing out orders just as we were being seated.

We had made reservations ahead of time as today is Mother's Day.

We were seated at a booth near the back of the restaurant and mentioned that this was our first visit. Our waitress was polite but didn't go out of her way to brag about things on the menu. That kind of surprised us. She did give us ample time to look over the menu before ordering drinks and an appetizer. Perhaps she had other customers on her mind. 🤷‍♀️

We ordered our drinks, mostly sodas & tea along with the B.A. Pretzel. Which came out hot, but no silverware to be found. It was a tad awkward as we had to pull it apart with our fingers. Luckily, we found some hidden paper napkins behind the condiment basket. Something was better than nothing. The pretzel and sauces were great 👍

Our meals finally arrived along with the missing silverware, which was still warm from the dishwasher.

2 folks ordered the basic burgers & fries and thought their meals were great. One commented that if the burgers are good, then usually everything else is too.

That wasn't the case.

The fried fish sandwich was bland and messy to eat, and that person y thought the French fries were nothing special. They had to excuse themselves afterward to wash their hands.

I ordered the Cobb salad with grilled chicken. My grilled chicken was overcooked and difficult to cut in the bowl. As I tried to cut it, the contents of the bowl would spill out onto the table, which was rather embarrassing and made it awkward to eat. I wasn't sure why the grilled chicken had been partially sliced as it made it dry. The lettuce mix needed cutting as well, as bite-sized pieces would have been more helpful.

Our waitress did return and offered to refresh our drinks by taking our glasses back to the drink station.

The place is clean, but the Dyson vacuum used to clean under the tables was a bit stand offish when trying to have a conversation with someone at our table. A few eye rolls ensued.

We didn't have to wait long for the check to arrive or be processed. They were busy and moving folks through as quickly as they could.

Dinner was a bit more expensive than o anticipated. I'm willing to give them a second chance and...

Sadly it is not often nowadays that you find a restaurant with great food and service. Red Heat Tavern nailed both today.

There were 2 parties ahead of us when we walked in, and they sat all of us efficiently and quickly. We were offered a high top or booth, it is always nice to be given the option.

Server came over relatively quickly to take our order. Appetizer came out in a reasonable amount of time, as did our entrees.

We had the Bang Bang Broccoli appetizer. Nice light and crispy breading. I'm not a huge aoli fan, so it was nice to see that they don't get carried away with it. The general tsos sauce was flavorful and definitely not super spicy, like some can be. Really good appetizer!

My wife had the avocado bowl and added steak tips to it. She said it was really good. Steak was cooked perfectly. The overall portion size was good. I would have thought you would get more than 3 steak tips for the additional $10.00, but they were really good quality. She loved the tortilla strips on top.

I had the Mac and cheese and I added the beef brisket. They were very generous with the brisket, much more than I expected. Bread crumbs on top were really good. Cheese sauce was good, and they have really good BBQ sauce. If you do go with the Mac and cheese, be ready because it is a very rich and heavy dish. I take food home from a restaurant maybe 1 out of 20 times, well some of that Mac and cheese came home with me.

Very nice atmosphere with indoor and outdoor seating.

Our server Justin was on point. Checked on us multiple times, refilled out drinks without us having to ask, and genuinely thanked us before we left.

Other littles notes from our visit.

Every server we saw were focused on the customers. We didn't see any servers standing around, while customers were being ignored. They were quick to bring out food, drinks, and refills. Definitely a very efficient staff. Even the manager was running food and drinks.

They sanitize every table after customers leave. And not a wipe down with a towel that has been used over and over again all day. New towels and plenty of sanitizer.

Top notch experience! Keep up...

I took a chance to visit the Red Heat Restaurant on 06/19/24 @ 5:00p. My wife & sister initially visited the restaurant earlier the same day. They arrived 30-minutes after opening and got good service and food. She was so excited I wanted to see for myself. When arrived I immediately notice the tables were not cleared, the place had a cafeteria smell and the bar area was dark and practically empty without a bartender. Later noticed after starting to sweat there was little to low AC. After asking to be seated by the window the waitresses made us wait for initial service despite noticing there were four waitress hanging around the hostess. After a few more minutes of waiting, we decided to leave. To salt to wound, the same server that served my wife & sister earlier greeted her as we walk in. If I were this waitress I would be eager to wait on a returning customer. The main Reason for visiting: they serve Guinness on tap & serve same burger as in Burtons. I cannot believe the Red Heat and Burtons are associated. We enjoyed the rest of the afternoon at Burtons' sharing our experience with the manager. There are multitudes of reasons for this style of service, now of which make sense to me. Finally, first impressions are lasting impressions. On June 19, 2024 the hostess and waitress misrepresented this restaurant. To customers reading this, be warn the Red Heat is a hit or miss place. Take your chances. I am hoping this review will...