My group of 4 ate here for dinner recently. When the four of us arrived the waitress came to take our drink orders. We received our drinks (champagne slushies are still delicious as ever) promptly, but still weren't ready to order food. Our waitress vanished for a bout 20 minutes. I know there were only 2 servers working, but the restaurant was not busy when we sat down at 7:00. There were lots of empty tables, and a few of the tables were occupied by those who were just drinking, not there for food. We didn't come to Broneys with the expectation of having great service, but we did expect that our waitress would be more attentive than she actually was.
Our food took a long time to arrive given that we ordered chicken tenders, fries, and a club sandwich. I think we waited about 45 minutes for our food. When our food arrived, my friend's sandwich was on the wrong bread and the waitress had forgotten a couple of extra sauces we ordered. Not a big deal, but because the service had been pretty iffy so far, it was harder to ignore. The food was a notch above standard bar food; iit was hot, and it was reasonably priced. I would definitely give the food here 3 stars, as long as you stick to the greasy fried offerings.
Another issue that I noticed was the ambiance, or lack thereof. I usually avoid Broneys after 9:00 or 10:00 when the bros start coming in, but we figured that by dining at 7, we'd be out the door before the real bar crowd started arriving. We were wrong. There was evidently a Greek formal this weekend, and towards the end of the meal, the bar was mobbed. We were glad that we were almost finished with the meal, but the bar turned the lights off while we were still trying to finish our food. Our table was surrounded by drunk couples--fighting and making out. My friend went to the bathroom and came back to report that every sink was clogged with puke.
I won't fault the bar for... being a bar. We mostly shrugged it off, but we were really looking to leave, so when we received our checks we were ready to pay and get out. The waitress said she wasn't sure how she was going to figure out our drink orders. Why didn't she record who ordered what? This didn't make sense whatsoever. So she had to take away our checks to revise them. My friend had ordered one drink at the bar and the bar took her card. This shouldn't have been a big deal, but it evidently was because the waitress returned to say that the bar had lost my friend's card. We were waiting for TWENTY minutes as they scrambled to find it, and of course, the crowd around us only became more drunk and obnoxious.
I almost never tip less than 20%, but the waitress only got a 15% tip from me because of her carelessness and ineptitude. Not sure if it was poor training, but it was unacceptable. One mistake is understandable; we had consistently terrible service from her throughout the night, even before the bar became chaotic. The service would merit a 1 star rating, but because the food was 3 stars, I am going with a 2 star rating. Now that Jackie O's isn't serving food, there are fewer options for good bar food. Broney's is certainly not stepping up to fill the void. read more