Plank Town Brewing Company — Restaurant in Springfield

I have been to Planktown for years. Heck, I have been under the guise that they were THE VERY BEST on Main Street for a good ol' American bite to eat. Therefore, I couldn't think of anyone better to accommodate an after party dinner after an event at the Wildish Theater three blocks away. I spoke to the managing staff initially in Summer of 2018 about accommodating our event, in which they informed me to come back again in January, I ate a meal, tipped well, and returned five months later. When I returned again, I requested to use their space for our event, they informed me that they would get back to me on it. I left my information with the manager, I ate, I left a good tip. When I did not receive a call back I stopped by again another month later, in which the manager spoke to me in person about the size of the reservation I would like to make. Since our event was new, I could only give them an estimated average size of 100 people. They once again told me they would get back to me after speaking to the owners. I ate, I tipped well, I waited for a phone call. Two weeks later I received a call that the owners were not interested in reserving their location out for an event, but they would "accommodate guests as and service who showed up." I informed them I was still heavily interested in using their restaurant and if they could just be prepared on the dates of our event to do so, everything would be great. Heck, I would be making them thousands of dollars in revenue, a win for everyone? Right?

Yesterday was our event, we were treated with utter disgust. The manager started to refused to seat our attendees, staff, and judges. He made them wait while half a dozen tables sat empty, just because. When one of our event managers small, 8lb (papered) service dog came in, they spent an extra long time considering even allowing her to sit. When another customer gave the animal a bite of turkey, they told her, "DO NOT FEED THAT DOG OUR FOOD IN THIS FACILITY!" When she inquired why they were being so disrespectful, they said "WE DO NOT WANT YOU HERE, WE TOLD YOUR PROMOTER WE WERE NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR EVENT DINNER!"

I am appalled that a business could be so directly uninterested in their bottom-line. I am equally as disgusted because our event didn't even reach their max capacity and seating remained and they were still not happy. I am angry because a restaurant that I once considered a Gem, is now muddied and unfamiliar with how to serve the community...

2 1/2 stars.

Weird experience this time. Have eaten here several times previously, never really had bad service before, it's been slow but not painfully so. I've had soggy fries a couple of times, but the service was always pretty good. (On a side note, the fries this time were much better than the ones I had here previously, small but at least crispy)

There were several open tables around the restaurant (and a few outside as well) and they did not seem to be extra busy at the time, most people appeared to already have been served. I would call it relaxed as nobody seemed to be moving fast.

The weirdness started with the hostess seating the 2 of us at a 2 top near the restrooms in the rear, usually a table you would try to use last. I know you seat people in rotation so all servers get equal tables, but there were other 2 top tables open more towards the front of the restaurant as well as one directly across from the one she seated us at which looked to be in the same service area we were in.

After a little more than 10 minutes, our waitress came over to get us water, silverware, etc. Yes it was more than 10 minutes, I timed it when I realized how "relaxed" everything seemed to be. We asked our waitress if we could move to the table about 20 feet towards the front of the restaurant (2 top), she said sure.

After getting our drink and food orders, the wait staff kept walking around us (not past us) and were not even looking or communicating with us. It was like they didn't want to talk to us. It was weird. No water refills, no asking if we needed anything, nothing. Our waitress was ok, but the rest of the staff wouldn't even walk past us even though they talked to other patrons around the restaurant; even joking around with some.

On a positive note, the food was pretty good, but it wasn't good enough to get us to come back based on service. I ordered Fish and Chips, she had an order of Chicken Nachos (both were pretty good) so it wasn't like they had to go kill it to grill it. No reason for easy food to take 40 minutes to make. The whole place seemed to be on 3/4 speed.

Our whole dining experience took about an hour and 30 minutes of which about 45 minutes was waiting for food and 10-15 minutes initial wait time. I didn't even take pictures...

My son and I stopped in here 8/12/25 for an early dinner and the food was excellent! I'd been here once before, and convinced my son that he must try this place out! I think he was a little skeptical about my enthusiasm, but he very quickly changed his mind. He ordered the pulled pork slider for an appetizer, and I would include a photo of it but he wolfed it down too quickly for me! I ordered the fried artichoke hearts and they were perfectly fried, perfectly salted, soft with slightly crispy edges and paired with what tasted like a dill cream sauce. Delicious, 10/10 recommend! My son ordered the Steelhead salmon with grilled asparagus and gnocchi and could not stop raving about the flavors as he ate. I chose the special, two prime rib tacos with habanero salsa and pickled jalapenos, and let me tell you, the harmony of flavors within these amazing tacos had me in awe. They were SO incredibly good. I also had the "WY East", a tropical tasting creamy cocktail, and it too was fabulously delicious. We finished up with a slice of the peanut butter chocolate torte (I think?) and shared it in the car before the concert we were heading to. AMAZING. While I'm here, I want to shout out our waitress, Carrie, who was also excellent! She was very attentive and almost seemed to read our minds, and popped over to our table right when we needed anything--without having to wave her down. Not even a minute after I said to my son "I'm so full, we definitely need boxes!" she showed up to offer boxes. That's how her service went for us the whole time we were there, and we were so appreciative! Thanks, Carrie!! My son and I had a wonderful trip to see 311 in concert, and our time was enhanced by our stop here and the quality of this establishment. We will be back, and highly recommend this place...