The Union Grill — Restaurant in Washington

Atmosphere- 5 stars- located in downtown Washington PA this Italian style restaurant is below street level. You enter the building by going down a set of steps. Reminds me of the entrance of the famous television show - Cheers. As you enter you see a full bar to your right and to your left a seating area as well as further ahead as you’re waiting to be seated. It is a cozy environment that feels like a local spot and is decorated nicely with old photo memories of the past. Love the rustic brick wall that was in our dining area. I don’t believe there are any windows since you’re in the lower level of the building however it doesn’t feel dark or uninviting. Everything was really clean and there was plenty of seating- both tables and booths or seating at the bar. I also noticed a back room which was probably used for private events or overflow seating.

Service- 5 stars- our waitress was Bridgette and she was on the ball! We had a table that was a little rocky but she noticed it right away and fixed it. She gave us her advice when asked about what was good and she didn’t steer us wrong- I had one of the best sandwiches I had ever had. She was very attentive and made sure our drinks stayed full and that we had everything we needed. Super friendly. I hope this restaurant knows what a good employee they have.

Food- 5 stars- we had been here before however it had been awhile and our last visit was a little disappointing but I accounted that for being rusty after reopening due to the COVID episode. This time was amazing!!! Everything was delicious. Starting with the Wedding soup- perfectly made with tender meatballs and a savory broth. I got the Roberta sandwich- which was made with tender slices of roast beef, cheese, Cole slaw, fresh fries and thousand island dressing all on Italian grilled bread- amazing!!! We also got Cheese Ravioli made with imported pasta and you could definitely tell the difference from the store boxed pasta. Sauce was very good and we got a side of Meatballs- very large Meatballs at that and they were awesome! Just can’t say enough about our experience here.

If you look at my past reviews you will see that five stars reviews come far and few between so when I give a place five stars it must...

After reading great recommendations I was excited to try union grille.... probably won't go back anytime soon. We didn't mind waiting over and hour for what we expected to be a great evening. We were seated and given menus, that's aboit the best service we received. We asked for water and got it during dinner. We ordered 2 appetizers right away and got 1 fairly quickly and maybe 20 minutes later the other, and they were both delicious. We spotted our waitress at the next table after a bit and had to ask her if we could order dinner and get the menus out of our way. As we order she tells us they are out of the specials... so now we have to rethink what we were going to order because we didn't know - not sure why someone somewhere didn't think to tell us during the hour+ that we waited OR during the 40 minutes we had been sitting there before ordering. When the meals finally came, we were informed that they are out of baked potatoes, which 2 of the 4 had ordered . WOW, isn't potatoes a staple of any restaurant? Ok, we get it, but now we have our meals and by the time she brings the alternate side, we are almost finished eating. Waitress does come back to ask how everything is, but at this point all you really can say is The Food is Good. Never asked if we wanted another drink, which we did want (in fairness she did ask if we wanted more Water) and we were never asked if we wanted dessert, which we did want also. We paid and left. Very Disappointing. I will say that if you are a "regular" here, it definitely shows. It was obvious because the wait staff talked, was friendly and spent time at those tables... we overhead them because 2 tables next to us obviously were regulars... they got drinks, bread, offered everything and we also noticed some older guy maybe owner or manager who also stopped at those tables. We are not demanding or picky couples, but we do like to spend our money where we are appreciated and not overlooked. We arrived about 630 and it was a little after 10...

After talking the Union Grill up to family members who came in to visit, I was disappointed with the level of service and quality that was presented tonight. We waited for over an hour for a table, no big deal because I kept telling my family members it was worth the wait. We finally were seated and waited an additional 15 minutes for anyone to realize that we were seated. Again no big deal because they were busy and had a lot of tables. We ordered and the soup came out quickly but the drinks were very slow to come out and everyone but me got their drinks. Surprise surprise, my was left off the order. Again they were busy so that was understandable. Our meals came out, and everyone's was perfect except for mine which was over cooked. I'm not talking about I ordered medium rare and the steak came out medium, I saying I ordered medium rare and my steak came out well done, it was so over the meat was grey. Refires can happen very quickly when your server is paying attention and not visiting with regulars. While trying to get her attention my party continued to eat. By the time the server decided to check to see how our meals came out, everyone at the table had finished their meals. Needless to say this meal does not rank high on the I want to come back list. I can not even tell you if their steaks are delicious because I never got to try it. Tonight was an epic fail, not only was my steak overcooked but I never received the drink I ordered. While my party left the restaurant with full bellies , I left hungry and wishing we would have gone somewhere else because maybe tonight diner would not have been cold cereal. But hey I least I saved money...