The Green Leaf Grill — Restaurant in Waynesboro

Edit 5/10/2018, the review I posted before is not visible, it has been reposted below.

I came here with my girlfriend for a birthday getaway. It was later in the evening but still fairly busy.

The staff: The staff were very polite. We were seated quickly and our waitress took our orders promptly.

The venue: Fairly nice, live music and decent lighting. The booth we were seated in was falling apart though, very rickety.

The food: We originally ordered the stuffed chicken breast and the lamb rack with a side of oysters. After several minutes our waitress returned and informed us they were out of lamb. No big deal, I ordered the grilled salmon. Several minutes the waiter returned again "we are out of salmon". At this point it felt like we were trapped in a Weird Al song and all I was going to get was a box of half starved crazed weasels. I ordered the duck instead.

When the food came, we were shocked by the portion sizes, and the stark presentation, and not in a good way. Portions were small, and it looked like they had slapped the chicken and duck on a plate with the sides, while blindfolded. When it came to eating it, it was not much better. The chicken was very dry and the stuffing had very little flavor. The duck was just duck, it was average and nothing spectacular. The oysters were very small, and for the price, very disappointing. The sides (we asked for spinach instead of fries) was over salted and had a very strong seasoning that overwhelmed everything (Old Bay maybe? MSG?). The salads were OK.

Summary: When we walked in we did not know what to expect. The restaurant has many good reviews, so it had to be decent right? Wrong. The Green Leaf Grill is a sad representation of Cajun food and a disgrace to southern food in general. The mediocre quality of food served here coupled with the exorbitant prices is exceedingly disappointing.

To give you perspective, we stopped at a gas station after leaving and got some cheese and beef jerky (because we were both still hungry), which not only tasted better but was also cheaper and of better quality than Green Leaf.

Take the extra 20 minutes and drive to a restaurant that will serve you a decent meal, and will have the ingredients for what is...

On a busy day. My husband tried to get reservations, so we can take our 80+ year old mom to eat with us. Someone in Greenleaf told him that they don't take call in. Then, when we got there there were people coming in after us and getting seated before us because they called in. When I got there I ask the lady long is the wait she said 25 minutes and boy that was longer than hour late. After we got seated it was another long wait for the food and the waiter never came back to refill our drinks as if to kill us from thirst. I guess I have I have to call their attention to fill up our water despite it being empty and it's been a long wait. When we were seated we noticed that people who were seated later than us were getting their food served first already despite we were seared way before them and have waited hours just to be seated and served food. Also, the food quality was not as good as it normally is. The oyster have some smell and lingering taste not as fresh. I don't if it's because it was busier. Especially Heritage that was nearby is closed. People flock here to eat but I wish for the long wait and below par service they would atleast maintain their food taste and quality.

Reply* For your information nobody explained anything to us. We were just getting frustrated that after lining up there were people just coming in and getting ahead of others. One couple told us they called. So you don't treat your customers the same way then??? No one humiliated your hostess we never said anything bad to her. My husband never hollered at her and the guy that came over and talked to us said that yall were bust and acknowledged that he didn't holler at her that she was just extremely sensitive. We've eaten there 2 or 3 times a month plus have brought friends there for the past several years. If that is how your service and attitude treat the hard-working people of this great nation we live in , you don't deserve...

2 stars is generous considering the food among 6 people. However, the staff was friendly and genuine. Among us, we started with salads and the alligator bites. The salad greens were fair at best. The Cesar dressing was closer to water and cheese over greens and croutons. The alligator tasted as if the cooking oil hadn't been changed in months and was burnt. Additionally, it gave a plastic, rubbery taste and experience. We ordered soup, seafood, pork, steak, chicken and a kids pizza as mains. You'd think we'd have varying reviews, however that wasn't the case. Most tasted as if it had a burnt vegetable oil infusion. The soup was fair, but left you wishing you'd ordered something else. The seafood, well, it let you know it wasn't fresh, just frozen, likely freezer burnt. The pork faired the best, but likely because it was masked by the apple inspiration side of the dish. But the pork was certainly low grade. The steak, well, it's a stretch to even call it steak. It was shared for opinion and questioned if it was actually steak. The texture and look didn't lean to being steak. While cooked to order, it wasn't good at all. Best described as giving a taste of the brown managers special at your discount grocery store. A taste that leans to the beef having that funky smell that should have been tossed for going bad. The chicken was rubbery, cheap and overcooked. From the first cut it was clear it was terrible. I'd also like to know, or maybe I don't want to know, how such different dishes all had a similar taste, not for the good. Even the kids pizza carried a similar taste. Not to forget about the sides, they were clearly an afterthought. These were of the lowest quality as well. Zero appealing flavor. Oddly, carrying the similar burnt vegetable oil taste.

The Google rating doesn't match the experience. Locals, please get out and experience better. Out of towners, this isn't the local place...