Doc's Backyard Grill — Restaurant in Sunset Valley

The manager at Doc's Backyard Grill (on Brodie) has gone full Gestapo. Their food is fine, but the atmosphere is really why you go. Not anymore. Their manager called the cops -- not once, but twice -- on two 3 year olds who dared to crawl in the nearby city-owned playground. This power-hungry manager took it on himself to enforce the city's "orders" which the Texas Attorney General himself had just called "unlawful" the day before.

Here’s the story... we decided to go with a doctor friend of ours. I mention her job, because we made an informed decision that our children are allowed to play on a playscape. Except the manager of Doc’s came charging down and told our kids to get off and that we aren't allowed to let them play there. I asked if the playscape was Doc's or the city of Austin. The manager was angry by my question and stated, "It's owned by the city, but I'm responsible to keep everyone safe." I said, "so the city gave you the order to control the playground?" The manager said "No, but I'm keeping you safe!" To which I replied "Ok, we appreciate that, but we can make out own decisions for our kids." To which he responded, "I'll let the city know and we'll see about that!" Off manager went to call the cops on a couple of kids playing. Oh, but he was more than happy to have his staff keep taking orders and running up the bill.

10 minutes later, 2 nice cops showed up, and did their thing and told us we can't use it per Mayor’s orders. We thanked them and apologized their time was being wasted on kids playing. They thanked us for understanding and went to do real work... until another "Karen" or Docs manager sees some babies committing the crime of playing. Hey Nice Cops… I have nothing but love for you and the job you’re are forced to do! Especially the super nice cop with kids the exact same age as mine. You rock man!

Anyway, we ordered more, and let the kids go explore. They ended up going back to the playscape sporadically in their hunt for lizards, and the Doc’s manager called the cops again. Not only did he call the cops, he kicked us out of the restaurant for... the kids playing on a city-owned playscape. NOT anything we did to them, or that we were bad customers, nope. Doc’s management has turned into the Gestapo-Informing, Anti-American, Anti-freedom restaurant. They encourage people to come spend money, while simultaneously wanting to limit our rights.

We can all go walk through the petri-dish of the grocery store, Walmart, Lowes and other big box retailers because I guess this virus can't survive there? But heaven-forbid children who have been locked away for 10 weeks go on a tax-payer funded playground. We can go walk the public trails, can swim in public pools and go to enclosed businesses, but NO playing on a playground .

Regardless of how you feel about the orders, (I believe if you're not ready to go out, you should have support and understanding to stay home, but if you're ready to responsibly start reengaging and help the economy, that should be supported too), at what point did Americans decide it was acceptable to call the cops for kids crawling on a playground? At what point did Americans (Doc’s management) become so desensitized to the needs of others, that a family celebrating with their kids outside with a couple of other kids became a crime? At what point did we decide to give our freedom to the government to make decisions on what businesses (hint hint, those with expensive lobbyists) are safe to go to? This is anti-America and the management of Doc’s is too! To Doc’s management, it’s safe enough to spend money there, but when spending it, they assume control of your taxpayer funded playgrounds? Shame, Shame, Shame on Doc’s!

We won’t be returning to Doc’s to spend anymore money. We plan to share this story with all we know. I encourage any Liberty-loving, anti-gestapo, healthy, ready to support the economy Americans to reconsider their support for this...

I want to start by saying that I used to love Doc’s, especially for the playground and ability to eat/drink while the kids play, however my last few visits there have been pretty bad - with tonight taking the cake for worst visit (even worse than one time where we came and sat on the patio and were never greeted for 15mins and left).

We had a terrible experience on the patio tonight for MNF. Waitress (Amber) took our entire order (4ppl) without writing anything down. Most of it came out right, but they brought me the wrong salad + it had chicken (which I didn’t order). I ordered a side salad + bacon and cheddar. I got a bed of lettuce with chicken, nothing else. When I pointed out the mistake, Amber said “oh, I guess that was a miscommunication” (it wasn’t, I didn’t order chicken, and the entire salad was missing, there were no veggies). To which Amber replied, “do you want to keep the chicken or have me take it away?” I said, “well, I guess you can leave it” (not thinking twice about this because it was going in the trash otherwise). Then she came out with a tiny plate of (1) tomato, (1) cucumber, (4) croutons and my bacon + cheddar. It was the saddest excuse for a side salad that I’ve ever seen (really wish I’d taken a pic).

So at the end of the meal, we have to ask someone to track our waitress down so that we can pay. I check the receipt and notice they charged me $6 for the chicken I didn’t order. Out of principle (bc it’s only $6), I had to point this out. Amber replied with “but you told me to leave it, so then you pay for it…if you told me to take it away I would have taken it off the bill”. Okay #1, that is ridiculous and the worst customer service EVER - and #2, that was NOT the option that was presented, because I would have gladly sent it to the trash over paying for something I didn’t order. How ridiculous! When I stated how that was NOT what she said or communicated, because I would have never agreed to that, she stuck to her guns in the snarkiest attitude I’ve ever seen and then said “well I can get my manager”, at which point I said GREAT.

The patio and dining room was hardly full, probably at 50% capacity. They were not understaffed, yet we waited 10+ minutes for the “manager” to arrive. Over $6 chicken. He showed up with the same snarky attitude, so it’s clear that this problem starts with the leadership there. He argued the case some more (insane to me because by now the entire group is fully committed to not EVER coming back) and begrudgingly said he would remove the chicken. Insane.

All of that: drawing a line in the sand, arguing with the customer over being charged for something she didn’t order, losing future business - all for $6. I hope it...

First and last time eating here. Was expecting this place to be good based on how good the food looked on the pics online but looks can be deceiving.

Grilled chicken sandwich - the grilled chicken patty had a rubbery texture, the lettuce was not fresh and soggy, and there was 3 tomato slices on it that were dripping wet and soggy which caused the bread to be soggy making the whole sandwich itself and soggy dripping mess.

Regular cheeseburger- the beef patty was DRY and way over cooked and had a burnt hard exterior with absolutely no flavor. This one also had non fresh, wet and soggy lettuce and tomatoes that made the whole burger soggy.

Kids mini cheeseburgers- the pattys for the burgers were dry and too undercooked for a kids burger and was very pink on the inside. I mean come on. It’s a kids burger. No kid is going to want to eat a raw pink burger. I wish at least the regular adult cheeseburger was cooked this way instead of the hard burnt puck it was.

Fried pickles- way overpriced for the portion that they give you. The price should be cut in half at the least for the amount given.

White queso dip- only thing that was descent but the chips were stale and old. Tasted like that open bag of tortilla chips you forget about in your pantry for weeks that end up being stale and having a slight cardboard taste.

Word of advice, save your money and eat elsewhere and if you do decide to eat here be prepared to be dissatisfied. I thought this place was supposed to have good burgers but you can get a way better burger at p terrys for a third of the price. I’m sure just like every restaurant this place has its good and bad days and some cooks are better than others but our personal experience was not a good one. Me and my family are not picky people but when we pay $72 for a meal we expect the...