Dead Presidents Pub & Restaurant — Restaurant in Wilmington

My husband and I went Dec 23. It was slow. We are new to the area and found this place online. Their website was excellent. And they were voted one of Esquires best US bars. The dead president’s theme seemed hip. Not a lot of parking available, but we found a few spots because they were slow. We walked in and the music was some rap/pop and way too loud, smacked you in the face. There was no one at any tables or booths, just the bar. We sat at the bar; was greeted well by the bartender, got menus for dinner. He updated us on beer specials and changes. We ordered beer and then food. I ordered fish and chips, my husband the mahi fish tacos. From there it went down hill. A patron sitting alone next to me was doing the crossword puzzle from the newspaper. The order took forever, especially since it was so slow and no other patrons were eating, just drinking. I had seen part of the staff sitting and talking in the back room of the restaurant. Not sure if that was it. My food was terrible. The chips were potato wedges which were dry, mushy over cooked and super hot! My fish was so mushy you couldn’t pick them up to dip in the tarter sauce but super hot. They were not crispy. It was as if my plate was dying in the window they decided to microwave it, which was why it was so hot and mushy. My husband’s tacos were just average and his rice was cold. The bartenders were just hanging out and talking to each we, singing to the music. Not engaging with customers really. They were nice. But they didn’t ask us about our food and we had to get their attention to check out. There were a lot of tvs there with the football game on. I imagine this is a great place to hang with friends to drink and watch the game. But there is nothing special about this place. Just an average neighborhood bar. Not sure why it got the Esquire rating at all. The ambiance and food were lacking. We probably won’t be back. We were suckered by great marketing and website...

I visited Dead Presidents for the first time and I will NEVER return. When I entered with a friend, there was no one nor any sign at the entrance greeting us or stating we were allowed to sit ourselves. After double checking at the front that we did not miss any sogn stating to seat ourselves, we walked back towards the bar and saw a man there. This was on 11/3 around 3:00pm. My friend asked ‘excuse me? are we able to seat oursleves?” and the man began to whistle.

After a few seconds, she said “Excuse me sir, do we seat ourselves?”. He turned to us and said, “Don’t you see I am helping a customer!?”. Not only was this rude, but entirely unnecessary. My friend proceeded to say to him, “you cannot multitask?”. Answering us would have taken two seconds. It could have been, “yes, no, or, I will be with you in a second.” Instead, he asked, “Well, if you can read, then you would see it says to seat yourself.”

Not only was there NO SIGN OR STAND stating to SEAT YOURSELF, he was UNPROFESSIONAL, RUDE, and UNDESERVING of our money. I told him I would NOT be spending a dime and proceeded to walk out. PLEASE TRAIN your employees on customer service. This is unacceptable and RUDE. If you would like for people to seat themselves then please have this posted CLEARLY for everyone to see at ALL times. I will...

I am appalled by the experience I had at Dead Presidents Pub & Restaurant located at 618 N Union St, Wilmington, DE 19805. My friends and I arrived around 11 PM, intending to have one drink before leaving. When I noticed three available seats at the bar, I asked nearby patrons if anyone was sitting there, and they said no. As I moved a chair over, the bartender immediately told me, in a snooty and sarcastic tone, that someone was sitting there. When I explained that others had said the seats were free and asked where we should sit, he responded, "literally anywhere else."

My friend, offended by his tone, asked why he was speaking to us that way. His reply was, "you ask stupid questions, you get stupid answers." We were shocked by his rude and unprofessional behavior. Although I don't know his name, he was a Caucasian man with brown or blonde hair, of average height, and wearing a hat.

We decided to leave and went to Grotto's Pizza down the street, where we were greeted by a friendly and outgoing bartender named Beth. She turned our terrible experience into a positive one. I have never encountered such poor behavior at an establishment before and will not...