The Bull — Restaurant in Spanish Fort

I thought long and hard about posting this review because at the end of the day we need places like "The Bull" in Spanish Fort to be viable and successful.

The location is at the Eastern Shore Center in Spanish Fort. There is plenty of parking and you could do some shopping then ideally run in for a quick bite / drink. It should be a place to go after a night of high school football or to go watch a game at the bar. I was truly excited when I had heard they were going to open (originally as the Voodoo Brewing Co.) and I was looking forward to their opening. They just opened officially on the 3rd of August so they had been open just over a week when I went to check them out.

My visit was on a Monday it was very slow (actually looked closed before we went in). There was only one other table with 2 people there at the time. We sat at the bar so we could check out their beer / drink selection. The person at the bar welcomed us and asked if we had been there before for which we let them know it was our first time.

We placed our order: Philly Cheesesteak $18 Big T Patty Melt $16 Beer I feel the the pricing is a bit high for the market , but I will happily pay it if the quality is there . As comparison : $13.95 California Dreaming American Burger with Cheese $13.99 Briquettes Patty Melt $13.49 Beef o Brady Five Cheese Burger $14.29 Beef o Brady Philly Cheesesteak $12.99 Newk's Philly Cheesesteak

After what seemed like a longer wait then expected given the place was empty the food came out.

The philly cheesesteak was "ok" , it was made to order and hot, but for $18 it should be exceptional. Newk's is right next door from "The Bull" and their Philly Cheesesteak is better and $5 cheaper.

The Big T Patty Melt was very dissapointing. I asked if they cooked to order and they confirmed that they did ( I was not asked how I would want it cooked). I asked for it to be made medium rare however it came out well done +. What is sad is that they cut it in half when it served so it should be obvious if the meat temperature is correct ... it was not even close. When I paid , i noticed that the meat temperture was listed correctly (medium rare) on the check so the server did their part. There was no sear/ crust on the meat at all which hints that the grill temperture is not hot enough. The meat was dry and the texture was not what you expect from a fresh hamburger patty (frozen?) . The fries where also tasteless. I had to add salt which I never do at any other restaurant.

As for the service...it could be much better. Even though it was dead, there was little interaction with the person who took our order. We never received any silverware. I could also not tell if there was any management present. I would have expected if there was , that they would at least introduce themselves and check in to see how things were especially considering they have been open only a week.

Final Thoughts I went in with an open mind and hoped that that the experience would be better. For the price... there are far better places within walking distance or a very short drive. The key will always be consistency and if the product they are delivering is poor when its slow, how will it be if they get a rush. The price / quality just isn't there at this point and its definitely not an elevated pub food experience as they advertise. I do hope they succeed and will monitor reviews to see if things get better, but for now it is a one and...

To begin this was our first visit! I must say in advance the owner did speak with us 4 times and apologized! No excuse!! To open a new restaurant you should be well prepared to provide the utmost experience and quality service to all customers who enter. So this review will speak of my experience and what occurred!

We entered the place and saw a sign saying seat yourself. Then a male server approached us saying his name, telling us that he will be taking care of us. We ordered our drinks! Mind you no menus on the table nor did the server provide any! We had to get our own from another table! They have no fountain drinks, only in bottles! So I asked the waiter for water and that was never brought to me!

When he returned we ordered our appetizers! I ordered the fried pepper jack cheese bites! So another server brings our appetizers and what was brought to me was snapper bites!!! Seriously?? After that was corrected, we literally sat there for 20 mins waiting for our server to return to take our order!

After looking back towards the bar area trying to find him about 20 times, finally a woman approaches and says can I help you. I said I am looking for our server! So at this time, another woman approached and says her name saying I will be taking care of you! She takes our order finally but I asked her what happened to our server and she replied apparently his shift was over and left! Why weren’t we told of this?? Who says I’ll take care of you and leaves??

Here another 20 minutes goes by and a male server asked what did we order in which I pointed saying that lady there took our order! He apologized and said it wasn’t in the system! I had to ask him water in which he brought it to me! So, come to find out that lady who took our order said to the other male server that she never took our order! What!! OMG! Afterwards we found out from the owner she walked out and quit!

Sadly to say the pictures as shown was my paradise burger! The receipt said burgers well done! We were never addressed in the beginning how we would like our burger cooked for one, secondly if this is the quality food they send out, is beyond unacceptable! A burnt bun??

To go thru all this, we still had to pay for the meal! The owner didn’t even try to compensate anything on behalf or what we went thru but said to us as we walked out, I’m truly sorry please come back and I’ll personally take care of you! In my opinion it’s not his job to that, it’s the unexperienced workers who don’t give a crap these days to know how to properly handle...

We were so excited for the menu and to try this place, but we had a very poor experience. It said to seat ourselves at the door, so we did, and no one greeted us or offered to get us drinks until I went up to the counter and said something. At least four other tables were greeted, got their food, and were out the door before we even saw food. I then mentioned to someone delivering food that we had seen so many people come and go, everyone that came in 25-30 mins after us got food before us. I told her I understand things are new, and they clearly lacked proper staff, but we had children with us, and we were over it. It took way too long, so we got up and left. I left 6 dollars on the table FOR OUR DRINKS, NOT FOR THE SERVER. It was not meant to be a tip, just payment for our drinks, so I hope the business sees this. They acted like we didn’t even exist, our server was avoiding us like the plague. They couldn’t make anything on the kids menu except cheeseburger or chicken. They said they could not make pizza either. I would very much like to try this place, but they’re making it very hard to want...