Leigh S.
Yelp
What a frustrating experience. My partner arrived around 6:30 on a Saturday night and sat ourselves in one of the three funky dining areas. The decor felt very fun and vintage, and we loved the ambiance. The food menu is fairly limited but it's clear that people come for the cocktails; we didn't see any other tables eating between 6:30 and 8pm.
My partner went to the bar to order for us; none of the three bartenders greeted him and when he walked up to one person to order, they weren't very friendly. We ordered the buffalo chicken dip as an appetizer, and two grilled cheeses as an entree--one with the potato salad and one with the chickpea salad. Neither of us were excited about those sides so we asked if we could have a small bit of pesto dip as a side instead, even if there was a surcharge. The bartender: "that's not possible." My partner also wondered if he could add anything to his grilled cheese, like bacon or some of the buffalo chicken. The bartender: "that's not possible. All of our sandwiches are premade." Not off to a promising start.
Roughly 10 minutes later, our drinks arrived. My partner had a beer and I had the American Muscle, which I hate to admit was delicious. The drink was ice cold and crisp, with a great balance of flavor. We then waited another 25 minutes for our premade food. The server dumped in on our table in a brown bag; we told her we'd ordered "for here, not to go", but apparently that's how all the food is served here. I wondered if it was to avoid doing dishes, or to be more environmentally friendly, but the sides, dip, and disposable cutlery were all wrapped in plastic.
The buffalo chicken dip was exactly what we expected it to be, and was really delicious. It's the only thing we'd order again, and we'd order it to go. The grilled cheeses were mushy on the inside, and you couldn't taste the rosemary butter at all. Frankly, you couldn't taste anything except the tomato. Really disappointing, because I'd been craving grilled cheese for days.
Throughout this whole experience, no one checked up on our table. When the server brought our food, she didn't ask how our drinks were or if we needed anything else. She didn't come back to check on our food either. My partner works as a server and bartender, so he's usually sympathetic when the restaurant is busy, but there were open tables the whole time we were there, and we didn't see anyone else order food. We couldn't explain why we had to wait so long for our food or why no one checked on us.
Overall, Homemaker's Bar was an unpleasant experience for us on what should have been a great date night.