South Hill Grill — Restaurant in Washington

2024.10.19 Update

Still going strong. We always enjoy the food. Live music night is a bonus in adding to the evening ambiance.

Still wish there were less big screen TVs, but is what it is.

2023.May Update

Pass on the Pepper Chicken. My husband and dear friend both ordered it and both said, "meh." Sauce was too sweet. They subbed sweet potatoes for mashed. They don't make the sweet potatoes in waffle style anymore: sad. But still yummy.

My dish was great. Ordered Cali rolls and Caterpillar roll. Friends' kids enjoyed their burger and pasta.

2023.April.08 Update

Finally got to eat at their new location. Like many, I agree that old location had a cozier feel to it. Although I'm happy they could expand and take in more diners. The TVs are quite overwhelming in number, however. I get that they wanna go for sports bar grill feel, but feel they went overboard. For those of us who don't want TVs staring down at us menacingly as we try and enjoy our meals... they are quite distracting and overwhelming in an atmosphere of getting together to dine together. We went on a Saturday afternoon and nobody was even remotely interested in watching TV. During times like this perhaps an easy fix would be to turn off several of the screens.

I tried the Caterpillar roll. Yummmmm! And adorable presentation. Went for my now fairly usual Jalapeno Burger. Husband's first visit here and he tried a pasta and I sadly forget the name, but he really enjoyed it. As for the soups? The clam chowder wins. The tomato basil was so thick that husband ended up dipping his parmesan bread into it. 🤣 It tasted good, but it was a bit way too thick for the soup category.

Staffing shortage remains so we did have quite a bit of delay in getting refills (on our waters).

2022 - at their old/original location

I recently got introduced to this restaurant by a coworker and now I can't stop going there. 3 visits in less than a month!

The long island iced teas are fantastic! I forget if they do or don't make it with tequila. My default is always to tell them to skip it. Nice and strong. Hits you on the third sip and they make it without the strong taste of alcohol.

Favorite burger has been the Jalapeno one.

I've had the 29th Ave Burger twice. Once with hamburger meat and once with chicken. Both fabulous.

Tried the California roll and definitely want to try the fancier sushi. (I tried to ease my friend in with something simple. It was a no-go for her.)

The potato soup and clam chowder soups were both ridiculously delicious.

Tried the sweet potato waffle fries which are absolutely worth the $1 upgrade.

Both my friends have been loving it, too. They don't water down their mixed drinks. Two thumbs up.

Curious to check out their new place in the...

Nearly great! The food is very good, the portions are generous, and the prices very reasonable. We had a burger, a pasta dish, a sushi dish, and two kinds of soups, and all were quite tasty. We didn't have to wait long to get our food, even on a Saturday evening.

However, there are some areas that really need work. There are TVs on nearly every surface. They're obviously trying to be a sports bar, but they're not, and so it's just awkward. Most of the seating is for families, and in the "bar" area most of the seating doesn't directly face TVs (although they are always, annoyingly, in your peripheral vision no matter where you look). On a recent Saturday, everyone seemed to be there for the food, not the drinks or TVs, and that included those seated on stools at the bar itself. (On another recent Saturday during March Madness, many people were there watching a Gonzaga game... but then they weren't leaving, and potential dining customers were being turned away left and right.)

Get rid of all (or least most) of the TVs, and I'd be much happier with the place.

The other issue is service, and I think this is mainly a function of not having enough staff. We were seated fairly quickly, but not attended to very well. We had to wait a very long time to even be able to flag down someone to get more water, and the soup order brought out initially was wrong. Also, they almost never answer the phone. We accidentally left something at the restaurant, and we had to call repeatedly for two hours before we got anyone to pick up the phone (right before closing). They weirdly don't even have a message with business hours or even the name of the business.

The food was great, so I will be back. But it's not fully enjoyable the way it is.

(Note that I never went to the old location, so this is a fresh impression, not a...

FOOD POISONING!!! Do not eat here. Our family of 4 went there Sunday night & my grown son at the grilled chicken pasta. About 6 hours later he was VIOLENTLY ILL with HORRIBLE diarrhea & unrelenting vomiting. After several hours he was so sick & dehydrated & writhing in stomach pain. We had to go to Urgent Care for medical intervention. My son was so sick & in so much pain that he had to lie down on the dirty Urgent Care waiting room floor. He required IV fluids & anti-nausea medication by IV. It was the sickest he has ever been in his life.

While he was there, the ER doctor told us that ANOTHER person was being treated for food poisoning from South Hill Grill at the same time!

I thought that I had escaped getting sick because I also had chicken in a Caesar Chicken wrap but ate only half, but a day later I got sick with the same exact symptoms of SALMONELLA food poisoning. My husband, who got the Club sandwich has also come down with horrible diarrhea. We are suspecting that his sandwich was prepared on contaminated surfaces or the bacon (also on mine) was tainted.

After getting back from the Urgent Care, I immediately called the restaurant to speak to the manager but was told he wasn’t there & they would call me back. I waited for about 6 hours with no response so I called and asked for the manager but they refused to let me speak to the manager. I told them that this was a public health hazard but apparently they don’t have the courtesy to respond to their customers who become violently ill.

We will NEVER eat there again.

**update: I received calls from the manager who was very apologetic & gracious. She said that they were taking the food poisoning seriously & will be looking into how this happened. Hopefully they can take steps so this will not happen again to...