Ric P.
Yelp
The FGL House is a nice, eclectic, establishment with three levels and a rooftop bar. Large and when full with a band playing, loud and a fun place.
Our experience for dinner was a mixed bag of disappointment, some anger, good tasting food and finished off with an ok visit. Kudos to a manager for saving this review from a 1-star.
Seated at table in front of stage, two persons were setting up microphones. Restaurant no busy and the bottom floor is about 1/2 seated. I don't know why but I started the timer when we were seated. Twenty-one mins and no-one had approached our table. Three servers were noted moving at warp-speed, like busy bees flitting about. There is a gentlemen standing in an alcove or corner where the servers are going in and out. At 25-mins I got up and approached him to ask if he was the manager, he was. I showed him the timer, now 26-mins, and requested a server ... at least for drinks. We were thirsty as we've been walking for several hours sightseeing and it was hot outside. He followed me back to the table, took our drink order, and indicated a server would be over soonest. HaHa.
About 10-mins later, no drinks and no server, and the manager is no longer standing in the alcove. I approach the bar to order our own drinks and off to the side is a beer and a coke. I asked the bartender as to which table they were for ... LoL, it was for us. Now I have a semi-cold beer and a watered down soda. The bartender replaced both.
I'm seated at the table and just as I am checking into Yelp!, a server appears. Barbara asks a few questions and the Yelp! app pops up a free appetizer from FGL House. I show it to the server and say, I'll have one of these, pointing to the Yelp! screen. She immediately indicated that was an old Yelp! special from the previous month and was no longer being honored. So now we're disappointed that we've been in the establishment for almost 35-mins, had just gotten our own drinks and now the Yelp! special, an agreement between FGL House and Yelp! wasn't being honored. Anger is setting in.
We place our food order and, I swear, 7-mins later its being placed on our table. Fries were limp and cold when we asked for well done crispy fries. Burger was dark and hard from being overcooked and barely warm. The Mac-n-Cheese FGL style was luke warm too. I walked into the kitchen and asked the first person for a manager. Manager arrived, same person as before and told me I wasn't allowed in the kitchen; really!. I said your cooks shouldn't be putting out cold overcooked crappy food. He followed us to the table. We showed him the food and he quickly understood. He apologized and said he would take care of us. After he departed the server brought fresh drinks and removed the plates.
I had stopped watching the time as the band has started playing, we've cooled off from being hot outside and we're beginning to enjoy ourselves. After some amount of time the manager arrives with a server in tow, both with hands full of dishes. Nice hot burger, VERY crispy well-done fries, the Mac-N-Cheese with a steaming sliced chicken breast on top, and ... wait for it ... the appetizer I asked for from the Yelp! app. The manager departed briefly and came back with fresh drinks. He apologized for the issues and said if we had any more problems to ask for him.
The food was really good and we spend almost three hours here. The manager comped two rounds of drinks and the appetizer. We also had dessert and many more rounds of drinks.
So we went from a 1-star to a 4-star visit.