Big Whiskey's - Republic Rd — Restaurant in Springfield

Usually not one for making negative comments but very frustrated about our experience at big whiskey on republic road in Springfield today. We are long time patrons of this restaurant. We have gone to this restaurant nearly weekly for five years. We had a server for years, Nick, who was amazing and always took the best care of us. Nick is no longer with Big Whiskey. Since our service at Big Whiskey as been sub par at best. We love the food, drinks and atmosphere at BW so continued to be loyal customers. That said, today we went into the restaurant and was greeted by a friendly hostess. The restaurant was no busy and she sat us in the middle of the room. We are clearly visible. There is no one sat near us. We waited for service for about 5 minutes, before a woman wondered in lost. No one sat this lady. She sat at the table in front of us. We continued to wait for someone to even acknowledge us. Servers were helping the couple tables on the outer perimeter of the restaurant. People continued to run by us and the lost lady in front of us without so much as a word. Even a "Hello" would have been nice. Nothing. Another 10 mins go by, and a server comes out and helps our lost lady in front of us. Ok wonderful finally maybe we can get something to drink. After taking the ladies drink order she walked away from the bar, right past us and to a table behind us. Couldn't even flag her down! We had decided to leave, when I caught the eye of another server. I told her I am sorry, we have been sitting here for some time with no service. She said oh no, I will get her. She runs to the back. We thought ok we are good now. No such luck! She walked back out of the kitchen and nothing. No one came to our table. No service! Seriously!!! Finally we gave up. We stood up to leave and I spotted a manager walking out of the kitchen. I flagged him over. Told him the situation, expecting a "I am sorry, let me make this right. What did you want to drink. I will have someone here in second." No, instead it was well did you get sat by a hostess or did you just sit yourself? What?!?! No! We have spent a lot of time and ALOT of money in this establishment. We know the drill. We told him Yes we did get seated by a hostess and we are leaving! (FYI the woman who seated herself was served!) We left so frustrated...

My husband and I absolutely adore this location. We usually end up here whenever we go through town. The wait staff is usually very pleasant and timely. The restaurant is divided in three sections: quiet sit-down, bar area, and patio. You can have a traditional dining experience in the sit-down and patio areas, and the bar has plenty of entertainment. The bar staff can get a little loud and rowdy, but that’s expected of a bar seating area and those who complain are being ridiculous if they assumed it’d be quiet and mellow. The menu is large and accomidating. There are foods- and drinks- that just about everybody will enjoy. I personally like the variety provided, because some days I want hawiian chicken and other days I’m craving some shrimp tacos. Between my husband and I, we’ve had over half the menu and haven’t disliked anything yet. Special mention goes to the fried pickles, which is the appetizer that we get every time, though we sub out the regular ranch for southwest ranch because that’s the way to go. You’re guaranteed to get tasty food regardless of what you order. I personally recommend the burgers or sandwiches because that seems to be where they excel. It’s a bit pricey for the town, but not nearly as expensive as similar restaurants in Springfield, so it’s worth a stop if Republic is on your way. Small word of warning, though, don’t get a steak unless you like yours well done. I’ve gotten the New York strip a few times and though I’ve never been disappointed in the quality of the meat or the flavor, they seem to have difficulty cooking to specifications. I always ask for my steak medium everywhere I go. I’m not picky about my meat and will eat it either way as long as it has a good flavor, but I’d prefer it a little less done. That’s something the managers should probably keep an eye on, though, because it’s a pretty common occurrence as far as I can see and some people in this area are extremely finicky about their steak. All-in-all, a pretty solid restaurant. No major problems but a good place to stop...

One star for the appetizer, zero stars for the food. Just left there for lunch and was absolutely terrible. The BBQ chicken is not a breast of chicken but a thin chicken piece that tasted like it was dipped in runny bbq sauce and then microwaved. Chicken was tough to eat and was very dry. It reminded us of thin frozen chicken you would buy at Sam's, dip it in French's BBQ sauce and microwaved they life out of it. Thank goodness waitress brought us plenty of tea which was $2.50 a glass but free refills thank goodness. Fish Tacos were with taco bits, yes not real fish but battered fish nugget like material in a taco. My daughter only ate one of three. Now for the boneless chicken on back of menu. All the sauces were heavy with vinegar and spicy. I know they are supposed to be spicy if you get the hot ones, but the BBQ and Teriyaki tasted almost the same type of high vinegar spice with no real flavor. Difference between the two was they were different colored sauces. Could not eat them and sent them back. This was our second experience with this place. Cost of this horrible experience was over $65.00. The first time was worse than this one about two years ago. Thought we would give them another chance. Manager tried to get us back our first experience with free food or a refund of our money. Didn't take it. Please do not offer it to us again PLEASE. I would like our money back though since most of our food was left on the table or brought home and fed to the dog. We are done with this place. No money amount or free food would drag us back into this place. Want a great customer experience over and over again, go to FD grill house or Cheddar's and the prices are more reasonable. You also get real chicken breast that looks like a chicken breast on their BBQ chicken dinner and they use real fish in their...