Bunkers Sports Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Vandalia

I went to Bunkers with a small group of friends and was anticipating good food and service based on positive reviews online and recommendations from coworkers. Unfortunately, Bunkers failed to live up to expectations. In summary, the food was mostly good, but overpriced in some cases with hidden charges, and the service was extremely slow and rude.

Our problems with the service started immediately. My friend arrived about 20 minutes before the rest of the group and ordered a drink upon arrival. Another server gave him his drink but the waitress did not come back for another 30-35 minutes to take his order for appetizers or another drink.

About 10-15 minutes after everyone arrived, the waitress took our drink orders. We repeatedly tried to flag down the waitress to take our food order. Each time she just zipped by. At one point she made a dismissive hand gesture towards my wife when she spoke up and said we are ready to order. During this time, I observed her devoting a disproportionate amount of attention to at least two other tables within view. Finally, after spending about 20 minutes flagging her down, she took our order. It look another 30 minutes or so for our food to arrive. I found this timeline be unacceptably long given that the restaurant was only two thirds full and has a reputation for being completely packed with a line of people waiting to get in. It was not unusually busy or understaffed.

Overall, most of the food was pretty good, except for an order of nachos that was cold with hardened cheese. I ordered chicken strips for 7.50. I thought this was a little pricey given that it did not come with another side such as fries or coleslaw. Despite being a bit pricey at 7.50 , my order was pretty good: the chicken was tender with a crunchy breading, covered in the house firecracker sauce, which had a good level of heat.

However, I was surprised to see that I was charged .65 for the firecracker sauce and another .45 for a small container of ranch sauce. Considering that upcharging for condiments is not standard practice and that the pricing was not conveyed clearly by the waitress or the menu, I found this practice to be misleading and unethical. This is the kind of pricing shenanigans I would expect from the healthcare industry or a utility company, but not a restaurant.

Perhaps the poor service was an anomaly and under usual circumstances I would have given a rating of 4 for the obnoxious hidden charges instead of a rating of 2. However, I can only base my review on the services rendered. Considering that there are other options with good food, good service and clear pricing, I doubt I will be returning...

Today was our third visit to Bunkers and probably will be our last. The first visit left a lot to be desired. Server was stone faced, a little dry, wasn’t interested in much conversation concerning the menu and explaining anything to new customers. We ordered the mushrooms and wings. Mushrooms were fantastic, the wings were decent. Second visit we went for breakfast. The server was upbeat, very helpful, personable and made us feel like she was happy to have us! Food was ok too. That was encouraging, so we decided to head back for breakfast again today. We sat down and the waitress finally decided to head over 13 minutes later. Trust me, she saw us way sooner than that. She was extremely dry with a little sarcastic attitude. We had to ask for table settings & menus. Strike 1. Ordered two waters & an orange juice. When our drinks were brought out the water cups were dirty & the glass of orange juice had a black spec of something floating in it. Waitress tried to justify this. Truly there is None! Once I was finally given a paper mat I was using mine to kill the flies that kept landing on the table & window to the left of me. Strike 2. We probably should have got up & left but we were really trying to stick it out and hoping the food would make up for all the rest. When the food came out, the steak was well done, not medium. The eggs scrambled hard, not over medium, white toast instead of wheat & the hash browns were a long hard, overly crispy chunk of dried potatoes with hardly any edible soft potatoes under this rectangular rock hard chunk. As our waitress was walking by our table, I tried to show her the potatoes, without even pausing to look at them good she said that’s how they are supposed to be & kept walking. When she finally came back to the table, she even tried to justify the hard scrambled eggs & white toast, I didn’t even mention the over cooked steak. Strike 3. It was definitely time to go. Don’t plan on returning. Two stars only because we were treated with respect & great service on the...

I stopped in at Bunkers on a whim last week, basically to see what the place was like: food, service, and atmosphere. I arrived at the end of the lunch rush on a Thursday, maybe 1:15 or so.

i was greeted virtually immediately and after i asked for booth or table for one, was asked if it was ok to wait a couple minutes until a booth could be bussed. No problem at all; it was nice to be asked, rather than told.

i ordered a bacon cheeseburger with chips & non-alcohol beer (O'Douls). I also indicated i would be ordering something to go before I finshed... admittedly lazy, why not let someone else clean their kitchen for supper? Haha...

The burger arrived faster than expected, and was great! On a nice brioche bun, and was exactly how I wanted. For me, a high point was the sharp, thick cut onion. That took me back to a favorite diner growing up, when Burgers always came with a "slice".

My take-out was the 'Grilled Birdie' salad and was likewise superb. The salad itself was fresh snd crispy, and the grilled chicken was done to perfection in a lemon pepper base. My server was also kind enough to ask if i wanted the chicken boxed separately. Oh my, yes. - good-bye wilted salad! Hello, fresh, tasty, crispy supper with a tangy, excellent house cajun ranch dressing!

In short, despite bit of a drive {~20 miles}, I will definitely be back! Very, very good food, wonderful service, and a comfortable setting, what more could you ask for?

Oh, did I mention the price? Extremely priceworthy, my tab was under $27, including two NA 'beers' {I tipped accordingly btw, i.e., the same $$ amount as i would have at my former overpriced 'hangout' - equal to 66%+ tip [instead of 22-25% of other place prices] same dollars ... & worth every penny!!}

Thanks, Bunkers! ...