Foodbar — Restaurant in Vestavia Hills

I'm sure this restaurant would have earned more stars if they'd ever bothered to serve us. I'd called several days early to request a reservation and was told they didn't take them. So we got there at 7:30ish on a Saturday night and, as expected, every table was full, as was the bar. The hostess started to tell us that we had a few parties before us, then corrected herself and said that we were next. She did also say that if two bar seats opened up, the bar offered full service.

There's literally nowhere inside to wait and not be right in the way of servers so we were just standing there awkwardly inside the door. A table cleared and they seated someone from the bar at it. Another table cleared and they seated some more people from the bar. I suppose we were next for whenever one of the (approximately three) tables that seats exactly two people was available?

Anyway, we decided we'd just sit at the bar and eat. It looked like one bartender (female) was in the middle of a nervous breakdown/tantrum and the other one was trying to do literally everything. He acknowledged us right away, then we sat there for quite a while before he came over and gave us water and walked off again without asking what we wanted to drink. He passed us several times without even looking in our direction as he attended to people on either side of us. We allowed another ten minutes to pass before we gave up and left.

I told the hostess that it seemed like they were just too busy to serve us and that she could take us off the list for a table. Instead of offering any apology or solution, she hatefully said, "Well you're going to have to tell me your name!" I resisted the urge to tell her to figure it out for herself.

I understand being busy, but they looked perfectly adequately staffed for the relatively small number of tables in the restaurant and two bartenders should have been PLENTY to provide timely service to the small bar area, as well as fulfill the servers' drink orders. And this place is too pricey to offer anything less than spectacular service.

We went straight over to Fig Tree Cafe and had a fantastic meal at the same price point, with...

We've been going here since it opened. Wife loves it...until last week. She had the flat top chicken and it was fundamentally inedible. WAAAAAYYYY too salty, over done/underdone components, just a disaster. She didn't mention this til we were driving home. I have no doubt management would have remedied this somehow. I had the lacquered pork and really enjoyed it, even if I've no idea what to do with the little tongs...I got a kick out of watching another guy doing the same thing and finally resorting to a fork. Oysters app was great. My son and daughter liked their meals...so. One 'Miss' out of nearly a decade is pretty good. Basically this is an upscale neighborhood strip mall place. Nice menu, decent dining room. It's pricey, but what isn't nowadays? I guess 'grill at a nice golf club' is the best summation. Men in shorts, fairly loud conversations, bar stays busy. It's not a Stitt restaurant, but it's possible to get a table within a reasonable time. Beats the heck out of anything at the Summit/280 area and parking is easy. There are some tables on the walk in front....a nice option after the retail...

My husband and I went to the Foodbar for date night. Upon being seated at the smallest table in the restaurant, we could hardly hear each other or the waitress. The environment was very loud. It probably didn't help how close each table is set up to the next. With that said, the service was good but the star of the show is definitely the food. We had oysters on the half shell for apps. They were fresh and the cocktail sauce was amazing. My husband got the coq au vin. He said it was good. I ordered the crab cakes. It was delicious! Packed full of real crab meat- no fillers. It was paired nicely with dirty rice and wilted spinach. I would order the food to-go next time and...