Went to Brickyard Tavern tonight with a friend, arriving around 5:30 or so. The place was not busy, and we were able to have a seat right away. Server seemed attentive at first, but progressively felt as though they were rushing us out the door after our food arrived. We weren’t finished eating, yet asked us if we wanted our bills. We said “sure”, paid our tab but still wanted to stay a bit longer to catch up. The server continued to come to our table after we cashed out, and would take any and everything off our table (including a plate we were still working on). I get the idea of pre-bussing to help rotate tables faster…on a BUSY night. If the waitress wanted to leave because her shift was over, then transfer the table to another server. Or let us know your shift is over and we would have gladly moved to the bar. Being intrusively passive-aggressive sent the message we were not welcomed. Therefore, we will not be back.
Hannah Fiorenzo
crab stuffed salmon was the check In tip but don’t recommend! name is very misleading. just crab dip (not the kind youd even expect) & it definitely wasn’t stuffed, and very little of it on top
Michelle Taylor
The Brickyard Tavern exceeded all expectations! The food was exceptional, with the standout being the crab Rangoon dip—it was even better than it sounds, which is saying a lot. Despite the place being
Al Lenhart
Nice place. Great selection of drinks. Most of the staff pretended like the 6 of us weren't there. Sad. Update: Revisited and had great service.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
Liz Zbrozek
This restaurant has major management problems that prevent quality service. Which is too bad, because the vibe of the space is very cool, and the food is generally very good.
We stopped in for dinner for 5 on a busy Saturday. No host to seat us--surprising for a larger space on a weekend. We hunted for a table--the only available was in the very back, not cleared off. I asked the bartender to have someone clear it, and he did--except for no one wiped down/sanitized it. We sat almost 10 minutes without being acknowledged by a server--I got up to let them know we were there as we were out of sight in a back corner. Another 5-10 min before the server brought waters. We were ready to order from the QR code menu and had to stop the server from walking away to order as she did not ask for drinks or for food.
We waited for over 40 minutes for our food, our appetizer was brought out with our main dish. The food was great except for my sweet potato fries which were room temperature and overcooked. During the wait we were not checked on by a server, we overheard staff members complaining about being out of napkins (how can a restaurant be out of napkins? In any place I have worked if a supply is running critically low the manager or owner literally runs to a nearby store to buy enough to cover until a shipment comes in). When we tried to order we were told they were out of cheese curds and queso for appetizers as well. One staff member was sitting at the bar- I'm not sure if he was on break, or before shift, not scheduled and there as a customer, or had some other reason for not working, but the bartender eventually asked him to help out and he got up and started working.
When our food came we had to ask for dinnerware, and the server told us they didn't have napkins at that time and went and got some- but she only brought back three sets for our five top table. I went up and picked two more sets from the clean dishware, which of course was not rolled and ready for customers is there were no napkins.
When food was delivered I told the server that that I would like a dessert to go and I had a Groupon for the check which she could bring as soon as she can given how busy the restaurant is. She brought them when we were nearly done eating. She was so busy that even though my Groupon value was a dollar and a half short of the total, she said don't worry about it so she doesn't have to run a bill/card. Servers usually have to pay for discrepancies out of pocket--plus this didn't give me a chance for a credit card tip--so she was so busy she took the chance of loosing money by serving our table. (I paid a tip in cash with all I had but it only amounted to 8 percent of the bill). The entire time we sat at the table (over an hour and a half) the large table next to us remained uncleared. We would have asked for the TV channel to be changed on the screen in our view to watch a certain game, but didn't bother because they were so busy.
While I was waiting for the Groupon to process, I asked her if they were always so short-staffed. She said that one person had called in sick and so they were all scrambling- in my estimation, the restaurant would need multiple people to have it function properly- at minimum a greeter, two waitstaff, a table clearer/food runner assist, and an extra hand or two in the kitchen.
Overall the staff seemed competent, though our server was having trouble keeping up with the many tables she had to cover so there were delays and oversights. I don't blame her, but management for allowing the restaurant to allow unreasonable conditions for the staff. It would help tremendously if a host could divvy up tables per seated size for the waiters and if the servers had trays to carry items on so they don't need to make multiple trips to bring food and items to the tables.
At the end of the meal, I got up and found a box for leftovers, and we all ha
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Bruce Nicol
Had a lovely Rueben sandwich, service was a bit slow, but there appeared to really only be 1 or 2 wait staff working tables.
Our waitress did a good job dealing with a table of 8 and didn't miss a thing.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Cheese Curds
Desiree Farmer
Amazing vibe in the beer garden. Food, service and atmosphere all A1!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Brisket
Taylin Sherman
We bought the Groupon, and my experience was from quite a few months ago. However, the menu is wonderful, they have a wide variety of dishes and everything looked amazing. I was getting FOMO looking at the food ordered by neighboring tables ? We will definitely be back, the cheese curds were incredible and I can't wait to try the crab Rangoon dip! Thanks for a great evening!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Cheese Curds
John mesler
Large party. Cold burnt food. Sneaked a 20% gratuity plus regular tip. Under staffed. Waitress did well with all the orders.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Theodore VanderEnde
Amazing everything, wish I knew our servers name, she did say it but we didn't catch it. However, this was our 1st time and hopefully many more to come. Their food is fresh, it can be tasted, their service is attentive, and the atmosphere is perfect, local ma and pa gastro pub like feel that is close to the city and yet far enough away. This local Gem could definitely hang with the big boys down town. The location it's in now, is deep into a beautiful building of condos, which must be nice for the residents. Either way in a condo setting or straight up in heart of Grand rapids. Job well done! Keep doin a place that Grand rapids and beyond should know about.
Very cool brewery with some good food to eat. Loved my burger!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Brian
To give this place any score over a negative star is an affront to my sense of fairness. A truly terrible experience ranging from dirty keg lines, to subpar service, to food that I would be afraid to serve at a school cafeteria made by the lowest bidder of food service.  I was shocked as on OpenTable, this restaurant has 4+ stars, so figuring it might have just been a one off. I dove deeper into the reviews. It was not a shock that all of the reviews written by people with actual names, were one star and all the reviews written by “OpenTable user” for five stars... I feel as though some shenanigans were afoot . Regardless, if you're looking for a meal in Grand Rapids, with views of the river, do yourself one better, and pick up a combo box from Taco Bell.
Maddie Claire
Went here for a birthday celebration for a party of originally 13. When we got to the restaurant, we told them we had a reservation and they directed us to a completely different party table and took ten minutes to actually get to our correct table. After sitting down it took 30 minutes to try and get a drink order in. Once we finally got our drink order placed it took almost an hour to get our drinks(at this point some people had left and only 6 people got drinks) not everyone got their drinks because they said there was a new bartender and they didn't have the correct ingredients to make the drinks. They brought us canned mixed drinks which was very nice. However after another ten minutes we got those drinks that were originally ordered. After getting our drinks had taken another 30 minutes to place a food order. After we placed a food order, it took an hour to get our food where it was slightly warm. I had ordered the taco salad with the brisket and the brisket was ice cold. The server did not check on us after we received our food and never filled our water glasses again. Overall we had spent 3 hours after waiting for the drinks and food, and the server only checked on us five times total, including checking out.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 1
George Shara
The food was fine but nothing special. Also, the service was super slow and the waitress was not the best. For a $115 meal, I would recommend spending your money somewhere else.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
Kennedy
No hostess was present when we walked in. We had no chairs at our “reserved table”. Took over thirty minutes to just get drinks. There were few waiters and it seemed like chaos.
Went to Brickyard Tavern tonight with a friend, arriving around 5:30 or so. The place was not busy, and we were able to have a seat right away. Server seemed attentive at first, but progressively felt as though they were rushing us out the door after our food arrived. We weren’t finished eating, yet asked us if we wanted our bills. We said “sure”, paid our tab but still wanted to stay a bit longer to catch up. The server continued to come to our table after we cashed out, and would take any and everything off our table (including a plate we were still working on). I get the idea of pre-bussing to help rotate tables faster…on a BUSY night. If the waitress wanted to leave because her shift was over, then transfer the table to another server. Or let us know your shift is over and we would have gladly moved to the bar. Being intrusively passive-aggressive sent the message we were not welcomed. Therefore, we will not be back.
crab stuffed salmon was the check In tip but don’t recommend! name is very misleading. just crab dip (not the kind youd even expect) & it definitely wasn’t stuffed, and very little of it on top
The Brickyard Tavern exceeded all expectations! The food was exceptional, with the standout being the crab Rangoon dip—it was even better than it sounds, which is saying a lot. Despite the place being
Nice place. Great selection of drinks. Most of the staff pretended like the 6 of us weren't there. Sad. Update: Revisited and had great service.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 5
This restaurant has major management problems that prevent quality service. Which is too bad, because the vibe of the space is very cool, and the food is generally very good.
We stopped in for dinner for 5 on a busy Saturday. No host to seat us--surprising for a larger space on a weekend. We hunted for a table--the only available was in the very back,
not cleared off. I asked the bartender to have someone clear it, and he did--except for no one wiped down/sanitized it. We sat almost 10 minutes without being acknowledged by a server--I got up to let them know we were there as we were out of sight in a back corner. Another 5-10 min before the server brought waters. We were ready to order from the QR code menu and had to stop the server from walking away to order as she did not ask for drinks or for food.
We waited for over 40 minutes for our food, our appetizer was brought out with our main dish. The food was great except for my sweet potato fries which were room temperature and overcooked. During the wait we were not checked on by a server, we overheard staff members complaining about being out of napkins (how can a restaurant be out of napkins? In any place I have worked if a supply is running critically low the manager or owner literally runs to a nearby store to buy enough to cover until a shipment comes in). When we tried to order we were told they were out of cheese curds and queso for appetizers as well. One staff member was sitting at the bar- I'm not sure if he was on break, or before shift, not scheduled and there as a customer, or had some other reason for not working, but the bartender eventually asked him to help out and he got up and started working.
When our food came we had to ask for dinnerware, and the server told us they didn't have napkins at that time and went and got some- but she only brought back three sets for our five top table. I went up and picked two more sets from the clean dishware, which of course was not rolled and ready for customers is there were no napkins.
When food was delivered I told the server that that I would like a dessert to go and I had a Groupon for the check which she could bring as soon as she can given how busy the restaurant is. She brought them when we were nearly done eating. She was so busy that even though my Groupon value was a dollar and a half short of the total, she said don't worry about it so she doesn't have to run a bill/card. Servers usually have to pay for discrepancies out of pocket--plus this didn't give me a chance for a credit card tip--so she was so busy she took the chance of loosing money by serving our table. (I paid a tip in cash with all I had but it only amounted to 8 percent of the bill). The entire time we sat at the table (over an hour and a half) the large table next to us remained uncleared. We would have asked for the TV channel to be changed on the screen in our view to watch a certain game, but didn't bother because they were so busy.
While I was waiting for the Groupon to process, I asked her if they were always so short-staffed. She said that one person had called in sick and so they were all scrambling- in my estimation, the restaurant would need multiple people to have it function properly- at minimum a greeter, two waitstaff, a table clearer/food runner assist, and an extra hand or two in the kitchen.
Overall the staff seemed competent, though our server was having trouble keeping up with the many tables she had to cover so there were delays and oversights. I don't blame her, but management for allowing the restaurant to allow unreasonable conditions for the staff. It would help tremendously if a host could divvy up tables per seated size for the waiters and if the servers had trays to carry items on so they don't need to make multiple trips to bring food and items to the tables.
At the end of the meal, I got up and found a box for leftovers, and we all ha
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Had a lovely Rueben sandwich, service was a bit slow, but there appeared to really only be 1 or 2 wait staff working tables.
Our waitress did a good job dealing with a table of 8 and didn't miss a thing.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Cheese Curds
Amazing vibe in the beer garden. Food, service and atmosphere all A1!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Brisket
We bought the Groupon, and my experience was from quite a few months ago. However, the menu is wonderful, they have a wide variety of dishes and everything looked amazing. I was getting FOMO looking at the food ordered by neighboring tables ? We will definitely be back, the cheese curds were incredible and I can't wait to try the crab Rangoon dip! Thanks for a great evening!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 4
Recommended dishes: Cheese Curds
Large party. Cold burnt food. Sneaked a 20% gratuity plus regular tip. Under staffed. Waitress did well with all the orders.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 2
Amazing everything, wish I knew our servers name, she did say it but we didn't catch it. However, this was our 1st time and hopefully many more to come. Their food is fresh, it can be tasted, their service is attentive, and the atmosphere is perfect, local ma and pa gastro pub like feel that is close to the city and yet far enough away. This local Gem could definitely hang with the big boys down town. The location it's in now, is deep into a beautiful building of condos, which must be nice for the residents. Either way in a condo setting or straight up in heart of Grand rapids. Job well done! Keep doin a place that Grand rapids and beyond should know about.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Very cool brewery with some good food to eat. Loved my burger!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
To give this place any score over a negative star is an affront to my sense of fairness. A truly terrible experience ranging from dirty keg lines, to subpar service, to food that I would be afraid to serve at a school cafeteria made by the lowest bidder of food service.  I was shocked as on OpenTable, this restaurant has 4+ stars, so figuring it might have just been a one off. I dove deeper into the reviews. It was not a shock that all of the reviews written by people with actual names, were one star and all the reviews written by “OpenTable user” for five stars... I feel as though some shenanigans were afoot . Regardless, if you're looking for a meal in Grand Rapids, with views of the river, do yourself one better, and pick up a combo box from Taco Bell.
Went here for a birthday celebration for a party of originally 13. When we got to the restaurant, we told them we had a reservation and they directed us to a completely different party table and took ten minutes to actually get to our correct table. After sitting down it took 30 minutes to try and get a drink order in. Once we finally got our drink order placed it took almost an hour to get our drinks(at this point some people had left and only 6 people got drinks) not everyone got their drinks because they said there was a new bartender and they didn't have the correct ingredients to make the drinks. They brought us canned mixed drinks which was very nice. However after another ten minutes we got those drinks that were originally ordered. After getting our drinks had taken another 30 minutes to place a food order. After we placed a food order, it took an hour to get our food where it was slightly warm. I had ordered the taco salad with the brisket and the brisket was ice cold. The server did not check on us after we received our food and never filled our water glasses again. Overall we had spent 3 hours after waiting for the drinks and food, and the server only checked on us five times total, including checking out.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 3
Service: 1
The food was fine but nothing special. Also, the service was super slow and the waitress was not the best. For a $115 meal, I would recommend spending your money somewhere else.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 2
Service: 1
No hostess was present when we walked in. We had no chairs at our “reserved table”. Took over thirty minutes to just get drinks. There were few waiters and it seemed like chaos.
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