B-Side grill, no bang for your buck
If you are looking for a subpar diner with average food, look no further than B-Side Grill, on Mainstreet in New Paltz. While the decor of the restaurant is cool and has a retro vibe, it gives the feel of a record store not a restaurant, and cramped for its popularity it is small which some people may like but for my case, I feel as if it was too distracted from the horrible service and okay food. Before I went to the establishment I was recommended to B-side by about 10 people, all saying it was the best experience/ food they have ever had, so my expectations were high since everyone enjoyed it. My expectations exceeded every everytime I passed the popular grill, there would be groups of people waiting outside just to be seated. My expectations exceeded limits for when I looked up other reviews for B-side. They had a 4-4.5 star rating on almost all the websites I found, like trip advisor, yelp and a bunch of other well known food review websites.
Finally I decided to visit this popular restaurant on my 1 month anniversary with my boyfriend, Mike. If it’s such a good restaurant, I might as well use it for a special occasion. It was about prime brunch time on a wednesday, so not busy since it was a school/work day. We got to our table immediately, well we chose our seat immediately, they did not bother escorting us to a seat. The waitress brought over 2 forks, 2 knives, 1 menu, and 2 very thin napkins, and put them on the side of the table. Not bothering to set the table or even get us another menu. Now when the waitress first came over, I asked for water, since we had to walk about 10 minutes to get to the restaurant, and we were both very thirsty. She said no problem and then proceeded to sit down 2 tables over and start eating her sushi lunch. I then asked again for the water seeing she did not care that much to help us, she apologized, got up and went to the kitchen. About 5 minutes passed before we saw water, she proceeded to finish her lunch before getting our order 20 minutes later. Mind you Mike and I both had class at 3:30 and it was now close to 1 in the afternoon. So we called her over from her lunch with her fellow employees and told her we were ready to order. She went to the kitchen and found a pad and pen to write. I ordered the Classic Eggs Benedict with hash browns and Mike ordered the B-side Burger with fries. About 45 minutes later we had our food served to us, and after we asked for more napkins we proceeded to finally enjoy our food. Well, we hoped to enjoy our food. Although the presentation was beautiful, the food itself was okay at best. Now I’m not the usual kind to judge a restaurant, I worked in food service so I get the hardships of the job but so far B-side had no etiquette of any sort when it came to running a restaurant. So at around 2 o’clock with about an hour to spare to enjoy our meal we were struggling to find the flavor in the food. The egg whites were not completely cooked on either meal and Mike’s burger was completely burnt when he asked for it medium rare. The eggs benedict was oily and the sauce was flavorless, the english muffin was completely soggy like it was sitting in the sauce for awhile, and the hashbrowns were spicy for some reason. Mike’s meal was a “medium rare” burger with a fried egg, bacon, onions and cheddar and even with all that the meal was flavorless. With no seasoning, a barely cooked egg, greasy bacon fresh out of the microwave and kraft cheddar cheese, the fries were krispy like a soggy potato chip. After our meal, which we finished just because we were hungry, the waitress came over asking if we wanted dessert. We had a little time to spare so we decided on 1 Panda milkshake with 2 straws and may I say it was the only part of the meal I enjoyed. The total bill was about $32 and for a college town I think it’s a little pricey especially for how flavorless the meal was. May I add the waitress was sweet but she didn’t know basic restaurant etiquette, and she wasn’t known for the job. She never took away our dirty dishes till we left the premise, she ate her lunch right in front of us, she took her time after we said we were in a rush. She just didn’t know the basics, and I don’t blame her, I blame the establishment for not teaching her.
Also the table was sticky and the whole area was just not sanitary. Once you got past the decor the place was not clean and not organized, things were just thrown around. The only theme was records and CDs. But between the 50’s and the 80’s there was no continuous era or topic for that matter. For all the great reviews it got from people I know and from the internet it did not live up to my standards, especially for the price. I kid you not everyone I talked to about my experience there was and is shocked by how I was treated and served. I don’t know if it was the time of day or just the staff at that hour but I would rate this place no higher than a 3 out of 5 stars. The food wasn’t great, everything was a bit pricey, the service was subpar, and the overall atmosphere was weird and small.
So overall the establishment was a bust and I probably will not be going back because I now know how B-side runs behind the scenes. In reality it is a mediocre diner with the respect of a nice restaurant, something it doesn’t deserve. I hope one day the owners take a look and fix up B-side Grill. It has great potential and could be great but because of the unprofessional service, presentation, and overall cleanliness of the place there’s only one place it can go, and that’s down.