Kelly D.
Yelp
I've removed 1 star from my prior review because of this visit last night. If I was reviewing MY meal alone, GrillMarx would receive 1 star andvid be hard pressed to return! But because 2 of the 4 at dinner had great entrees, 1 had mediocre and 1 less than mediocre, I'll favor the establishment based on 2.5 entrees and reduce 5 to 4 to be generous!
To start, service was horrible!! Waiter was personable, that's it, and needs to have service skills improvement. When he first came to the table, he NEVER asked if we wanted to order drinks. He brought small glasses of water and left to give us time to chat and read the menu. However, that should have been the time to ask for drink orders and offer bread for the table or apps while chatting. I was starving, skipped lunch in anticipation for this dinner as I was highly recommended to try their Caesar salad. Many know I LOVE a good Caesar and have yet to find one lately and this was on the list to try. Anyway, I digress from the service points. He did come back, still didn't ask about drinks or offer bread or if we wanted appetizers as 1 of our group still wasn't ready. So he left. Once we all had decided, he took our order without writing anything down and 2 of the 4 in our group had very specific requests. We did make comment about it to him that he'll remember all the specificity of those 2 orders, which he was confident he would remember. As he was leaving, I asked if I could order iced tea and coke for my hubby. He NEVER asked! Everyone else stuck with water. Again, no bread offered. Sure enough, he later returned to ask a question about 1 of the orders as he forgot!!! AND it was WAY overdue that we still did NOT receive our drinks we ordered SO, we had to remind him if we could get our drinks. He didn't remember what we ordered and we had to restate Iced Tea and Coke. Drinks finally came, i also had to request a refill, pet peeve is waiter not noticing your drink is empty. When meals came out, I did ask then if bread could be served for the table. He did retrieve quickly enough. Then he disappeared, but did return once to check if everything came out OK.
As far as the food and kitchen, I'll start with the worst and then return to the best. Caesar salad was BELOW mediocre and the quality and value was robbery! I added protein of chicken tenders for additional fee. It was a joke. 1 tender cut up to try and hide the small portion, AND this is served in what I consider deceptive plating. They utilize a large plate with wide brim and a slight indentation for a "bowl". I took the "taco topping diced" Romaine and pushed it together rather than their spread out masking for the customers eye to appear as if there is more in the plate than actual and I guarantee there was only a cup of lettuce there, IF that. Yes, the least expensive ingredient in a salad and I got basically a starter salad with hardly any dressing, so it lacked flavor, basically I had a cup of $22 lettuce for dinner and left hungry, disappointed and let down. So if you compare the amount of tenders in the platter my husband had vs my 1 measley tender they charged $7 extra for, they could have put more than 1 in my salad. At that rate, the tender platter of 6 tenders at $7/each should be $42 plus he got fries and Cole slaw for the BEST bargain ever of $24 (or price per tender of less than $4/each). Again, I feel robbed! But now I know.
Then to add to the misery, old bread was served. They tried the trick of taking stale bread and microwaving to soften, only problem with that is it turns into a brick in 5 minutes which it was just a huge crouton, by time I tried to get a 2nd slice. And resulted in abrasion of my gums trying to bite it, again I was SO hungry!!!
Now for the GOOD portion of my review as there were redeaming entrees: their chicken tenders are one of THE BEST in this area we have found recently. They were cooked correctly, not overly breaded and chicken was moist and tender. Great portion for the price and fries were real and not the formed type with good flavor, nicely salted and no need for ketchup type fries. Coleslaw is not my husband's favorite, he said it was ok, I tried it and liked.
My Friend who needs gluten-free options had her requests met without issue, AND she also has a corn allergy. Knowing some gluten-free buns are corn based, she requested "no bun." I did not realize gluten is in oils fries are cooked in, and she knew GrillMarx has gluten-free preparations for fries. Good thing for those who need this option to know. Her chicken, avocado and bacon sandwich (less the bun) was delicious with plenty of bacon, good portion of chicken which was moist and tender. She did note to me that she has had in the past, the same sandwich with overcooked dry chicken.