Iama Critic Rating - Yard House - 3 Stars (due to portion price)
1025 Woodruff Road, Greenville, SC
Our Experience:
No doubt Yard House delivers great flavor and some amazing presentations. I spent very little time preparing and cleaning up my entrees before taking our normal photos. But the prices are bit high and the portions are small compared to other restaurants with similar portion/price/flavor ratios.
For example the jambalaya at Yard House is unique, fantastic and beautifully presented. The entree is cooked to perfection and has a unique flavor mix, but it is also small, and includes only two shrimp. At eighteen bucks it is also some of the most expensive jambalaya I have ever sampled, even in New Orleans!
The Service - 3 Stars (15% tip)
It seems to be harder and harder to find a decent waitress now days, and yet we just keep forking out tips for less and less effort. And when it comes to male waiters, it is even worse. Most men, for whatever reason, are just not as capable at being social! You may be amazed at how often we receive poor service even when we tell them upfront that we are there to review the restaurant! Our critics rate waiters two stars less on average than they rate waitresses. But more often than not we still provide tips beyond their value, out of shear guilt.
Our Yard House waiter was not helpful, social or interactive. He never went beyond the norm of just filling glasses. The poor service made the higher food prices a bit harder to justify. For our waiter's lack of interest in his job, we provided an undeserved 15% $8.00 tip.
We typically provide 20% or more for 5 star service on the pre-tax portion of the bill, 18% for 4, 15% for 3, 12% for 2 and 0% for 1 star service.
The Food:
$2.95 Soda Fountain Drink - 2 Stars
We don't normally rate or even mention drinks, but Yard House charges almost three dollars for soda fountain drinks, and that is getting a bit too expensive.
$9.75 Pizza Combo - 3 Stars
This entree is definitely for light eaters and includes a very small personal pizza that was ordered with a side cup of clam chowder. The pizza toppings were meager, but both the chowder and the pizza were perfectly prepared. The flavors were worthy of four stars, but the price is a bit too much for something that fit so easily on a regular dinner plate.
$10.95 Turkey Melt w/Fries - 3 Stars
The presentation of this small sandwich and fries is really quite impressive. And the fries are the same awesome thin cut style they serve at Steak & Shake. But S&S fries are also awesomely seasoned, where these were plain. The sandwich is no more than six inches and my guest critic finished this sandwich minutes after I completed taking the photos. He is my "Burger Guy" critic, so he is not much for savoring his food bit by bit. And he rarely likes entrees that come with great flavor and matching high prices.
He felt the sandwich was a bit too plain compared to what you get at great sub shops. When I asked for his rating he gave it a two, but I think he is letting his emotions and preferences for cheap food sway his ratings. Which is the very reason I always pay for my guest critics meals.
$10.95 Small Shrimp Rice Bowl - 3 Stars
When Yard House says "small" they mean it. This "bowl" is little more than a cup. But what little you do get is simply perfect. It was wonderfully spicy, beautiful and aromatic. But anytime I start spending this much per ounce, for such a simply dish, stars must fall. Five star flavor at a three star value. I have made this exact dish at Genghis Grill for much less. But then Genghis Grill is a dive compared to Yard House.
$17.85 Jambalaya - 4 Stars
Whenever I order shrimp and grits or jambalaya my guest critics always cringe. This is because they have taken trips with me to New Orleans and have experienced the best of Cajun cooking. Not to mention the fact that we have cooked hundreds of gallons of fabulous Jambalaya ourselves and have served it at events all over the upstate.
But for some reason Upstate restaurants charge a fortune for shrimp and grits, and to a lesser extent for jambalaya. Yard House is no exception. Eighteen buck for a bowl of jambalaya is one of the highest prices I have ever paid anywhere in the country. But like some of the other entrees we ordered, Yard House delivers a gorgeous presentation, fantastic flavor, perfect preparation and a poor value. Despite receiving only two shrimp I would say this Jambalaya has five star flavors and a three star value.
Total Bill:
$65.64 for three adults including tax, an overly generous tip and just one soda fountain drinks.
Final Thoughts:
If price is insignificant to you or you want to treat someone to a rare, special occasion, then Yard House serves fantastically flavorful and gorgeously presented five star entrees. But if price matters to you, then you may find Yard House to be the wrong house for you, because you can easily spend twenty dollars per person as we did and still go home hungry. read more