Washington Street Ale House — Restaurant in Wilmington

This restaurant is special for my husband and I. We met here for the very first time, and decided to come back for my birthday this past Saturday evening, May 9th. To keep my comments in the right frame of mind, I have never written a negative, critical review, and my husband and I dine often: from NYC to pubs to diners..lots of places. From the host, to our waiters, to the manager, everyone was stressed, to summarize the feel of this place. My husband and I had a hard time enjoying the evening just because the staff was really hurting here. It made us feel uncomfortable seeing it all break down. We felt really bad for them.

-Our first waiter was so stressed, he actually said, "I have to get another waiter for you.I have too many tables right now." I'm proud of him for being honest. -The other waiter was waiting tables across the restaurant. He stated this to us,"I've been running around this place since I got here, but don't worry, I got ya!" Nice guy. However, we only got to see him three or four times throughout the evening, and had to find him twice just to order a drink and to just get the check. -I have never waited for food for as long as I did Saturday evening (excluding cases where I was in a very large party). This was the first comment my husband and I said to eachother when we left the restaurant. -We are not picky, and the hamburger (medium) was very dry that it just really didn't taste good. The onion rings were actually soggy. I actually have never had onion rings that were soggy...trust me, it tastes gross! -The guests at the other tables in our hallway of the restaurant all had looks of frustration. One table did address the issue with management. Some of their food was also cold. They had a different waiter, and they also said he never came by. -There was not one drink list to see. This is their bread and butter at the Ale House. "We are printing more" was the continual comment throughout the evening. We never saw one and had to finally walk up to the bar to go over the cocktails and beer list. -(most important) I think this example can resonate with you reading this review in how we felt after we left. Have you ever had to sit through a really bad movie? Afterwards, you feel like you wasted your money, time, and you just feel awful? That is how we felt. I want this place to do well. We were just so bummed on our drive home. It was a bummer of a...

I recently moved back to my Midtown Brandywine home after 3 years away and was eager to go back to one of my favorite neighbor haunts, Washington St. Ale House. I have been a regular at WSAH for over 15 years and looking so forward to hanging there 5+ days a week! Of course, all restaurant/bars have suffered badly during the pandemic, so I was glad to see my FAV had survived and I expected prices would be up a bit!

I was at first pleasantly surprised and then completely dis-heartened. The first thing I saw was the exploded draft beer selection. WOW! Nice upgrade with all new beers all so very interesting. Limited for time, I just wanted to get the new vibe, pick up my fav-of-all chili to go and have a quick drink. So I ordered a LARGE chili to go and a Dewars scotch on-the-rocks.

The pour was smaller than usual, but I figured maybe a newer Bar Tender .. I used to know them all! My chili arived and I got the check. I was SHOCKED! Not only had a $6 scotch almost DOUBLED in price over 3 years, but I was amazed to see something I had NEVER seen before .. anywhere! They actually charged me for ICE! $2.50. That's $1.25 for each of the two 1/2" square ice cubes that promptly disappeared! So a medium grade scotch that costs $8 just around the corner cost me $14 for 2 fingers of scotch (including those golden ice cubes).

I am an Engineer, so I calculated the price of ice at WSAH=$90/oz!!!

I WANT that GOLDEN ice machine!

When I got home, insult to injury, the large chili "bowl" had shrunk in size about 30% whilst the price UP from $7/"bowl" in 2021 to $10 per 14 Oz.

Stale tortilla chips just increased my displeasure/ Kuckily I have my own crisp ones at home!

Sorry to say, I will NEVER be returning to WSAH again, I am truly hurt that WSAH has become expolitative in feel DISRESPECTED ans INSULTED by this money-hungry pricing and complete disregard for me as a formerly loyal Customer! Same goes for the rest of the Big Fish group's restaurants including my former favs Mikimotos and Big Fish Grill as I expect I'll find the same Customer disrespect. So glad that TONIC hasn't fallen into the same money trap, and now THEY are my new neighborhood fav as well as my friends who are...

I ordered lunch for my team online on 4/8/25, called to confirm order on 4/9/25 for team meeting on 4/10/25. We ordered 7 pasta dishes among other things and desserts. For the pasta dishes, we requested extra sauce knowing that pasta will absorb the sauce. The request for extra sauce was indicated on the online order in the notes for each pasta dish as well as verbalized when we called to confirm the order. We were trying to ensure that it was included because we used the corporate card to pay prior to picking up the order and wouldn't be able to charge extra. We advised the bartender of our request for extra sauce. He went to get the manager, Michael Schwamp. Michael came out of the kitchen abruptly and with an attitude, not allowing anyone to speak. He said the sauce will be $2 per ounce. He should have appologized and said I'm sorry that you weren't informed there was an up charge. I can't give you sauce for all 7 but this is what I can offer. But instead, he didn't care about prior requests advising it was our fault and not his. He advised that he didn't give an F about our corporation after we spent $400 with his establishment. I asked for his name & he wouldn't give it to me. Additionally, he said that we can get out of his restaurant. We then heard him trash talking in the kitchen. Very unprofessional! He shouldn't be managing anything other than his attitude! Thankfully there are other ways to find out that the manager in question is...