Paladin Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Virginia

First time to this new establishment. Still deciding if it's trying to be upscale or casual. The decor screams upscale the uniforms scream casual. It has been open for a few months now and they have these nice little cards on the table describing why Paladin and to bear with them. Our waitress was not good. She was friendly and personable but she hardly ever came back to check on us and was absent most of the meal besides when food was ready to be delivered to us. We started with the cheese fries and Brunswick stew. The cheese fries were typical of any bar. The Brunswick stew however, was on point. I had the virginian for my entree and my s/o had the paladin burger which I did not taste but appeared to be cooked to perfection. The virginian on the other hand which primary ingredients are ham and a crab cake I can give a review for. The crab cake while done perfectly and not seeming to be overly filler like a lot of crab cakes was over seasoned. I'm not sure if it were the cake itself or the sauce on the sandwich but the seasoning overpowered every other flavor. Then the bill comes. At the bottom it states a 20% gratuity will be added to unsigned or misplaced checks. While the server said that misplaced meant if the guest took it with them that still sounds overly sketchy and I unfortunately didnt bring enough cash to pay for the bill. So, after all this I give 3 stars. Not bad, not great. I will probably return again as there are a few things I'd like to give a try...

Ordered soup to go that was 2 weeks old. Either it was bad at that point or they’re freezing soup and thawing it to serve. When was it thawed? Who knows, but I wasn’t gonna find out if it was still good or not. Was told that is what they’re serving in the restaurant as well. My advice, don’t risk your health, this place has taken a serious turn for the worse in the last year. I’ve had several subpar experiences prior to this visit.

To the owner:

Thank you for proving my point regarding your establishment. Apologies for wanting to support a local business that was at one point very promising. I can assure you it won’t happen again. Not only is your response a lie, this is no way to respond to a review regarding your restaurants lack of quality control.

For the record to others reading this, the manager I spoke to informed me the stew was a quote “3 week process.” Not sure what that means but it clearly doesn’t mean it’s fresh.

2nd response: You do realize the entire city, even better, the world can see how you’re responding right? You’re the reason your business is failing. You’re the reason you can’t keep competent staff. And the only reason you refunded my meal was in an attempt to get me to remove my review. It wasn’t because you were apologetic about my messed up order, but because you got caught and called out and wanted me to make it go away. Keep...

Went here for lunch, mixed experience, good food, good service, just a few other things detracted from a great experience.

Beautiful day, so sat outside. Our sever was very good, no issues at all except for the end, had to hunt her down to get our bill, but that was the only thing, as she checked on us several times throughout our stay.

Food was good, and HUGE portions. Be advised, even our server stated “we serve big portions”. Ordered two small salads, they were both the size of a full meal, which would have been too much, had we ordered the larger size. Also had a cheesesteak appetizer, and a small side of fries, both very good. The appetizers and salads were more than enough for lunch.

A couple things stood out that detracted from a great experience. The first is a little odd, in that they bring huge water glasses with straws that are shorter than the glass, so the top of the straw is actually down inside the glass…odd.

The other issue was because it was outside, people would come out and sit at tables and smoke, so our lunch was interrupted several times by someone’s cigarette smoke…not enjoyable at all.

Would I go back…maybe, but would be a bummer if it’s a beautiful day outside, as we would have to deal with cigarette smokers.

Would I recommend…maybe, but not for sitting outside unless you...