Hank's Grille & Catering — Restaurant in Elkton

While making our regular pilgrimage thru the area and visiting some of the best eateries around, we decided to forgo a couple of our regular stops and try some new, one of which was Hank's Grille. With so many reviewers giving it high marks, how could it not be a worthy replacement we thought. Well, I'll tell you exactly how & why we WON'T be returning to this restaurant in a bit.

Let's start with the reason that I am giving it two (2) stars instead of one (1), and that reason is the beef brisket was some of the better that I've found and the beer was cold ... that's it. Well, the pulled pork wasn't the worst I've had either to be completely fair here, but the sides of mac 'n cheese and baked beans were very disappointing. However they weren't the worst thing about our meal on Thurs, Oct 07, 2021, but the service, or lack there of, certainly was! I'll not mention her name so as to not humiliate her here, but she isn't cut out for the business. I realize that finding competent help these days is a challenge, that is evident by the amount of help wanted signs everywhere not just in this area, but even that's not an acceptable excuse for not returning to our table for most of the meal to see if everything was ok, were refills needed (and they were), forgetting to bring requested items to the table until meal was mostly completed, etc. The restaurant wasn't even half full at the time we were there, so I can only imagine how ignored her customers are when they are busy. We even overheard her explaining a 10% off receipt swap deal they have with another "sister restaurant" to another table, but that was never mentioned to us. With them being connected to this place I'm not sure we would try them anyways after such poor service at Hank's Grille.

We were just about to leave and have desert elsewhere when our unattendive waitress appeared and asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu, so we reluctantly ordered before leaving. I tried the Blonde Brownie Sundae which sounded good on the description, but was yet another disappointment when it was finally brought to the table. The "Blonde Brownie" was far from being brownie-like in texture and the chocolate ganache overpowered any flavor that it may have had.

If you do decide to try out Hank's Grille, maybe you'll be fortunate and NOT be seated in our waitresses section, or maybe just order the...

I cannot possible say enough good things about Hanks in this little blurb. First of all, their service, responsiveness, communication, and value for what you get is unmatched. I had an unsettling experience with a different catering vendor prior, and the Hanks team was just absolutely amazing. Secondly, their food was just outstanding. As the Bride, I throughly enjoyed my meal and I know our guests did as well. They have a variety of options and everything tasted great. When it comes to a wedding, food is important. You are spending a lot of money to serve your nearest and dearest and at the end of the day you want it to taste good and have plenty of options for all to enjoy. We ordered BBQ, but they also had many sides to choose from for vegetarian options, in addition to gluten free. Food was hot, flavorful, and at the end of the day exactly what we were looking for. We also had them do cocktail hour and desserts (not the cake but other desserts) and those were equally delicious! And the Bar package, let me just say the bar tender was unmatched in customer service and the signature drinks we had are still being talked about and I am sure will be talked about for years to come. Our guests had a great time, and she was quick and efficient with serving.

I cannot say enough about their customer service. They were a JOY to work with, and Sabrina was just outstanding. Planning a COVID wedding is stressful to say the least, and their understanding made everything that much easier.

Furthermore, somewhere in the planning, I needed to add a Sunday Brunch. I asked Hank's if they had the ability to do so and they did! Brunch was ALSO amazing! I'm not sure how they do it all, from BBQ to drinks to breakfast, but let me tell you they are the ones to hire if you want something that tastes good and want to have you guests happy. And at the end of the day they were more than cost effective. We were the happiest couple that they were apart of our...

From all the reviews here I was looking forward to coming here to eat. Unfortunately there were some parts of this visit that were unpleasant. The service from our waitresses was less than desirable. The seating was fast and everything went good in the beginning. I ordered the Brunswick stew, the cheddar cornbread and honey butter, the Texas grilled cheese sandwich with baked beans and macaroni and cheese, and for dessert I had the bourbon chocolate chip pecan pie.

Here are my ratings:

Brunswick stew - Would Recommend Minus Cheddar cornbread and honey butter - Would recommend Texas grilled cheese sandwich - Would recommend Baked beans - Meh Macaroni and cheese - Meh Bourbon chocolate chip pecan pie - Meh

The Brunswick stew was full of meat but the flavor was a little bit bland. The baked beans were average as was the macaroni and cheese. Bourbon chocolate chip pecan pie had a good filling but the crust dropped the score.

When it came to the food, it wasn't a bad stop to make to eat. Unfortunately the service was terrible after the initial seating. Our drinks remained empty for approximately 10 minutes before refills were brought and they were brought in two stages because she forgot one drink the second time she was asked for drinks. Also we asked for a specific barbecue sauce and after several minutes the waitress who said she was going to get it didn't bring it and we asked the next original waitress for it. It was several minutes before she brought it and the meal was 90% over. This is unacceptable! These are tough times and I realize it is very hard to get good employees but we have decided not to return to this establishment because of it.

Here are my review terms: Yuk- Horrible Grimace - Bad Meh --Average Would Recommend Go out and get it Now! I go out of my way to return to...