Grovers Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Town of Amherst

My friend and I walked into Grover's today at about 2:15, and there was only a few tables. We each had the lunch special of the slider burgers which were overly well done & very dry. When I'd initially ordered and asked if my burgers could be done medium rare to medium, the waitress said that the slider burgers were very thin and could only be done the way they would come. This turned out to be untrue, because even though they were small, they were fairly thick. So that was a lie, befitting this waitresses rather obtuse attitude. Also, because my hands are becoming more & more crippled from ALS, I needed a few more napkins to wipe off well from the chicken wings, I asked the waitress for another couple of napkins please. She made sure, in a snarky tone and an attitude not befitting a professional server, to point to the one extra napkin that was already on the table. She obviously wanted to make sure that I should be aware that there WAS another napkin on the table. Of course I knew it was there, but I still needed a couple of others, which she did bring over after making sure I knew how she felt about it. It seemed like I was entering into a Twilight Zone episode of being in HER kitchen, and that everything was going to be her way or the highway. It was more than obvious that her attitude, like it or not, was going to be part of my 'Grover's experience', along with the rather poor food😬 My friend's wings were BBQ sauce and mine were supposed to be mild. My mild wings were more like medium and were spicier than mild. All in all, the wings were unfortunately nothing special or unique in any way. Just basic "bar-wings" that you might get somewhere for $0.25 to $0.50 each, if you were drinking at a bar and the establishment was trying to get you thirsty so you would buy more drinks. Again, nothing special. I had a cup of cheeseburger soup that wasn't hot, just lukewarm. The soup didn't really taste like much, sort of like an imitation Campbell's cheddar cheese soup (from Aldi's?), with some over cooked burger pieces thrown in from leftovers. The food in this restaurant is in no way the way I remembered it to be before the pandemic. My friend and I felt that Grovers has gone from an 8 out of 10 to (maybe) a 2 out of 10, the one extra star being only for the old time atmosphere and decor. Grovers used to be pretty good and now, sorry to say, it's below mediocre, with food & customer service that's not anywhere near what was its past standard. For two lunch specials at $12 each and a cup of cheeseburger soup , my Pepsi and my friend's glass of water, with tax and tip it was $43! $$$, not $$! With the cost of eating out nowadays being fairly expensive, Grover's is no longer worth the price. Yes, even with the waitresse's attitude, I still left her a $5 tip on roughly $3 tax, just to be decent even though her service was based more on her rough attitude instead of being professional and concerned about her customers satisfaction & overall experience. Maybe she should worry more about whether or not people would want to return and/or tip her nicely, instead of thinking that her arrogance is part of her charm. But I digress. Grover's is just slacking off based on their past record, which is going to ruin them if they continue in that direction.There's just too many other restaurants of high quality around Western New York to keep hoping that Grover's will get back on track, instead of just relying on its name and past reputation. Obviously there's not the same care or pride operating in the kitchen anymore. Nor is management concerned about what's going on in terms of food quality and making sure that there's better than average, all-around customer service. This particular waitress needs more than a bit of training in customer care. She needs to be impressed with the realization that without customers, she wouldn't have a job. There was just too much that was wrong and unprofessional in both the kitchen and on the floor today at Grover's, so we regrettably...

Ok... finally was able to get here early enough to get a table. We had been trying to come here for 6mos but we always tried after 530p and our stomachs were not willing to wait :)

Protip: have a light lunch and come here for early dinner. Place was jammed on Friday night. We arrived at 445 and sat immediately. 515 people were standing at bar, in dinning room( which was weird), and entry way. I was seated in the “ main area” that had a small stairway that people were waiting in. I described this as weird as every bite I had a woman at my eye level looking at me. It would be nice if people were not allowed to stand there. Unfortunately I think they have to do this as there is no room for the waitresses to move around the kitchen, bar, and then dining room. I only bring this up as if this bothers you don’t sit by the front door where that is. If you do get seated there make sure your kid is facing the door... that guest can watch that:)

, I still rated a 5 as it’s a bar with great burgers.

My family of 4 got 4 HUGE burgers and they were all cooked perfectly, had great flavor, and each had their own customization. Mine ( pic attached) was the blue burger with jalapeños as it was excellent. We also got a single order of wings ( medium) that were excellent. I heard the garlic Parmesan are also good but wanted to try the standard buffalo wing as we are always looking to test the wings at all locations. Next time the garlic ones will be on the order.

Nice beer selection with local beers as well as the standard choices.

Our sever was nice, cant remember her name ( Catherine?), efficient, and was handling multiple tables with ease.

They still are cash only, our 4 burgers, singles wings, basket combo of fries and onion rings , 2 beers, and 2 sodas was approx 90 pre tip. I felt I received good value for my dollar.

Summary: great food, great service, small place, go...

I really like the food here. Huge burgers! They're really tasty. I love the french fries here, some of the best! They're definitely using fresh oil. My husband loves their onion rings and says they're the best he's ever had. They have gluten-free buns. Which is great when you have celiacs and can't eat gluten, yeah you feel it like a real hamburger with a bun and not just a piece of meat on a plate. However, if you have a gluten sensitivity be careful the menu is not marked and the wait staff doesn't seem well trained. After ordering a gluten-free bun and my husband making a big deal about me being careful about gluten the waitress immediately wanted to put my husband's onion rings in the same basket as my fries. It's bad enough that there could be cross-contamination in the oil but having my fries Lay on his onion rings could have been really bad. While incredibly delicious the cheeseburger soup, which is a must if you're not gluten free, does contain gluten. So I've spent the last few days with what I lovingly like to call gluten poisoning. So be careful. Also I asked the waitress," what sugar-free sodas and drinks do you have?" I was thinking she would tell me iced tea, diet Coke, and (hopefully) Coke zero. No instead she gave me a rundown of all their sodas which included diet Coke. When I asked,"so the only sugar free you have is diet Coke?"she replied, "I don't know if that is sugar-free. " Glad for her honesty. However it seemed a bit odd that the waitress couldn't tell me what drink was sugar-free. my husband also pointed out they don't know how to pour their beer and get the proper head of foam so he said his beers all...