Sibley Gardens — Restaurant in Trenton

Rating: ★☆☆

What We Love: •   Always excellent food and atmosphere—familiar, elegant, comforting. •   Service shines, especially from Stacey, who consistently makes us feel welcome.

Where It Fell Short: •   We reserved our favorite table—the one closest to the bar—for a Friday at 5:30 PM and were confirmed a week in advance. We were looking forward to dining at Sibley Gardens since we have moved to Birmingham and our family history long attended this wonderful restaurant for so many years. •   Upon arrival and to our disappointment we were seated at a tiny table barely for two in the middle of the room where servers struggled to navigate around us and the trays over our heads almost hit us. •   We didn’t complain—but were confused! Then we saw two casual-looking what looked like (forgive my judgment) they just got out of bed with T-shirts and jeans diners arrive walking right into the table we had reserved a week ahead. It appeared everyone knew them —As they were warmly greeted by many of the staff. •   It felt like we were Definitely bumped in favor of leaving us uncomfortable and under-appreciated. The rest of the evening seemed somber because we felt so disappointed. If even you had called us and told us that you had special people that were going to take our table for that evening ---we would’ve been prepared and also certainly understanding. We also could have made arrangements for another night.

Final Thoughts: The food, ambiance, and Stacey’s service were all amazing. But being bumped despite a confirmed reservation was disappointing— especially after making the long trip in and looking forward to reminiscing about many years of our families memories at this wonderful restaurant. I guess all things have to come to an end sometime. I would hope going forward you would have more respect for your longtime patrons---- Especially when they make reservations at their favorite table a week ahead of time only to be bumped for people that the staff seems to know. Very poor business ——-you’re better than this...

We were there with 10 family members celebrating husband's 75th which Sibley was aware of. They gave poor service all around. The waiter was loud as if performing on stage. He never brought the bday boy, the 75 year old, his iced tea despite being reminded several times. My husband asked for it in a to go cup when we were leaving. The bill was close to $600 & once food was served we never were asked if we needed anything or how the food was! Ridiculous, inexcusable service. We bragged about Sibley Gardens to our family & this is where my husband wanted to celebrate his 3/4's of a century birthday. It was a mistake. The meat raviolis were ridiculously oversized at 4x4" & looked like a child made them! The shrimp fettuccine had only 4 shrimp laid on top. The scallops again only 4. My tenderloin sat atop a plain stark white dinner plate, nothing else, at $48 the only other item I received was a salad! Not even a vegetable to accompany the piece of meat on a huge plate. The salmon was the same, sitting on an empty dinner plate. It's all too paltry of a look. Sibley's won't be around if they continue down their present skimpy road. Food was bad & service was worse. Wish we had it to do over - we'd not have gone to Sibley Gardens. We won't be back & we will Not recommend them to anyone. A waste of a...

We've been here several times this year, however our recent experience was not up to par. Upon walking in (we had a reservation) we were abruptly told that we needed to be finished at a certain time. We were seated quickly, but after that it was an experience in being rushed through our dinner. We all felt that they could hardly wait to get us out of there. We placed our orders, mine was the steak Sammy and my husband got chicken parm with a baked potato and the onion rings (note - these are not acutal onion rings but onion straws, which should probably be updated on the menu) along with a ceasar sald which he said was the best part of the meal, however the portion seemed much smaller. He's gotten the parm on each of his visits and this visit the portion was noticeably smaller. The chicken was dried out, the potato was lukewarm. My steak was done correctly, but the portion (2 piece) for $33 was in my opinion fairly small. Even though I applaud the wait staff being diligent in refilling the water (it's a thought - perhaps purchase larger glasses and/or leave the water carafe on the table), they were whipping away dishes as soon as we put our utensils down, contributing to the rushed dining feeling. It will be a while before we return...