Kodiax Barn & Grill — Restaurant in Speers

We had a spectacular experience with our axe master Brian for our Employees Christmas Party. Brian was alone in the barn to both serve us our drinks and help with axe throwing. We followed with lunch in the Dining Room where Lindsay and Shawna were our servers and did an outstanding job with the large group. The food was excellent, everything came out together, kudos to the kitchen staff as well! The experience we had today with this group was 5 star+. However the experience with the “manager” CoCo leading up to todays event was absolutely horrific. When calling to make the initial reservations she was all over the place, being in the business I chalked it up to she was having a busy day. That day we discussed option of a buffet in the ax barn but the choices on the buffet were very limited so I asked if we could order from the menu, she told me that was no problem and although they typically would not have servers in the barn that she would be working that day and take care of us as a server for that day, as well as helping out with the drinks in the barn. She also told me anyone over age 12 could throw axes (perfect! I have 2 employees with 12 year old children). CoCo calls me the week before the party to confirm our reservation and while going over details tells me that she was wrong and you must be 14 to throw, now I have 2 very disappointed 12 year olds. Then she asks if we decided on which buffet choice we would have, I told her we decided to order from the menu in our previous conversation. She says oh, that’s right, we again discuss that although she would normally be the one who takes care of the buffets in the barn since we weren’t having a buffet she would be there as a server and to help with drinks. So she calls me the following day and tells me if we want to order from the menu they will not have a server for us in the barn and they will pack our food in styrofoam take out containers to bring to the barn. My response was “absolutely not, this is a party to show my appreciation to our employees and that food in take out styrofoam is tacky for a Christmas Party”. So after discussing the options we decided we would move to the dining room after throwing and order from the menu. I asked her to email me a menu so we could make our food selections in advance (never received an email but got a phone call where she left a voicemail a few days later saying that apparently the paper she wrote my email down had gotten thrown away and for me to just look at the menu on the website). We also verified during this conversation that there would be seating for 30 of us immediately following axe throwing. She confirmed “yes”, we have plenty of group seating available. We confirmed that we had 4 axe lanes scheduled for one hour at 11 am and we would move to the dining room following throwing to be seated for lunch. Upon arrival the day of the party we tell the girl at the hostess stand we are there for 11 o’clock axe throwing and she asked if we were eating 1st. I told her no we had made arrangements with CoCo to throw then come back to the restaurant to eat. In the meantime somebody at the hostess station told several of my employees (not me! But yes, my employees) that we were to eat first and throw after or they couldn’t guarantee we would have seating. I went back into the restaurant and reiterated ALL of our previous conversations with CoCo…she denied most of our previous conversations and was the most rude restaurant “manager” I have ever encountered. Very long review for that I apologize but long story short….We had a BLAST and will most definitely be back again however, I surely hope they can train their “manager”...

So me and my 2 friends were meeting up at Kodiax for drinks and food. I was still in the shower when they arrived and got sat. So it took me about 15 minutes after the shower to get ready and about 10 minutes to arrive there. By the time I had gotten there my friends have been waiting for literally 20 to 30 minutes without being approached by a server or anyone.

I too am a server so I am NOT exaggerating when I say we legit waited almost another 20 minutes before we started to get annoyed. One server walked past our table multiple times and didn't even say "hey guys i see you sitting here, or let me get your server, or anything". The 3 of us ALL work in the service industry and if i saw a table sitting for that long i would have noticed and definitely said something of that matter. We were about to leave and my friend insisted we got 1 drink so we all went up to the bar. At this point we sat back at the table and i was like im telling someone we need a server this is ridiculous. So i told the guy behind us at the ax throwing area "hey we've been here for over half an hour (45 minutes) and not 1 person has approached our table". He went inside and we saw the girls and bartender determining who was gonna take us now that we were sitting forever so the bar tender approached us and said you girls needed a server? We said yes! She asked if the host sat us? I wanted to say obviously how else would we have menus? But im not a rude person so we said yes. She goes ohh okay so we don't have a problem then? Problem??? Like yes lady we're allllll servers we can read a sign that says "see host". The bar tender was nice to us after that the food came out super quick! she gave us good service. However people at my job say our food is overpriced meanwhile i got a buffalo chicken salad and the chicken was processed and wasnt even real chicken. Salad was good chicken was not. I was hoping for an actual fried chicken breast not processed formed chicken patty meat ya know? I've heard stories that the service sucked there and that people wait forever they must need a better system there or maybe the host should mention when a table gets sat. We do appreciate the bar tender for handling the situation n getting us timely and efficient food n drinks. It wasnt her fault. The atmosphere is nice we will be back but probably ordering...

Stopped in today with a party of 30 or more people. Did not overwhelm the staff as our drinks, appetizers, and entrées came out in a timely manner. The decor in this place is very comfortable and like a luxurious log cabin feel including a functioning fireplace. The food is very good and seems most of it is prepared in-house and the servings are large. Prepare to take some leftovers home. The prices are fair for the quality and size. My server Chloé was sweet, very polite, and not afraid of conversation. We tipped her well as you also should. I will definitely be back. Everybody had a good time and shared my thoughts of the place. Stop in, and you will not be disappointed!

Edit: Update: Removed a star because of yesterday's visit with a date. Although the place and staff are still great, there is some need for improvement. For instance, a 3 dollar "convenience fee" was on the check. They must have changed the wording because of others complaining. It used to be "credit card fee" and they charged it whether or not you were using a card or cash. This new convenience fee, same thing. I paid cash as always. Also the waitress failed to mention that there is a 4 dollar upcharge if you get a side salad instead of the included fries with the Big Ax sandwich and a 3 dollar upcharge if you get fries instead of the included chips with the Steak and cheese sandwich. I only found out when I received the bill. Please train your employees better and remove that ridiculous credit card/convenience fee. People don't like...