Mcdowell Local - Marion
Mcdowell Local
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Was Alex Skinner at Mcdowell Local a mag?
Casual, family friendly local eatery pub with locally sourced food that has a mountain cuisine influence. (For example, where else can you get a livermush sandwich? Friendly staff and great service, too. We ate outside on the patio, at the counter top the ceiling. Restaurant is right on Main Street, so there was traffic noise, but it was quite pleasant. View all feedback.
What Amanda O'Brien dislikes about Mcdowell Local:
The restaurant itself had a great vibe, and it is decorated in a kitschy and homey style. Unfortunately the service was subpar we weren’t given utensils or plates for our appetizer until we asked, and our server never checked in with us after delivering our food. I ordered the chicken tenders which had very little flavor or seasoning, but the sauce and fries were decent. When we were finished, we had to flag down ano... View all feedback.
I was excited to eat at this locally sourced restaurant. The food looked really good when I looked on TripAdvisor. Unfortunately service was awful. We made a reservation a few days before since we had a party of 7. Right off the bat our server made sure to tell us she was called in on her night off. Having been a server in the past I get it and understand when things get busy and it gets overwhelming. What I don’t understand is her taking our food and drink order and not bothering to check on us at critical points throughout the night. We had 3 kids with us and everyone was hungry. When we got our food we were missing 2 of the parties food (the pizzas) and a few other important things like a steak knife for the steak. We waited for 10 minutes while our food grew cold before finally getting her attention (we had to flag her down) to get these things. The worst part of the night was that she didn’t even notice that two members of our party’s food wasn’t there. We sat there for at least 20 minutes after the rest of the party got their food thinking surely it would be out soon. Finally after getting our servers attention we said that we never got our food and after she checked we found out she never put their order in. My 6 year old was so hungry; It took an hour to get her small pizza and my husband had to get his to go because it was taking so long. Meanwhile our server is chit chatting and laughing with the other servers at the bar while we waited. Just very tacky and unprofessional given our party was right there. Overall, it was probably one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in the past decade. I had to ask that she comp a drink from the bar that my husband got just out of courtesy and professionalism since he never got his meal. Manager never came over. Usually, in my experience this is something management does to offer an apology for such a bad experience and long wait. We were at the restaurant for over 2 hours. Like I said, I’ve been a server so am usually very patient with servers and situations. But in this case our server just didn’t seem to care until we addressed it with HER instead of the other way around. To me it was clear she didn’t want to be there. According to our server it was because another large party without a reservation came in. Maybe they got better service without a reservation but we were very dissatisfied! I can NOT recommend this place.
The food and service were great. A very good variety to choose from. Would definitely recommend and will be going back.
Place is very cool! Neat atmosphere and interesting and local menu which guided us in.The great: pork rinds and pimento cheese, Marion hot chicken sandwich and fries.Not so great: Hour and a half for dinner seemed a little long, steakhouse pizza wasn’t great looked unique so we wanted to try it but it didn’t have a ton of flavor and steak slices were tough and a little too large, service was very slow and not very attentive
Their new subs are amazing. Great service, nice waiters. Service: Dine in Meal type: Lunch Price per person: $10–20 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5
I had told a couple of friends who had never been to the restaurant about the amazing pizzas they serve. They were eager to try them out. We didn't have to wait long for a table, but there was a short wait to be served. Unfortunately, when we looked at the menu, we saw that the pizzas had been replaced with subs, which was disappointing. Two of us decided to go for the chicken tenders as a fallback option. The Local Snack, a popular appetizer, was also unavailable. Our server was not very attentive to our drinks and even forgot to bring one that I had ordered. Despite these issues, we have always enjoyed McDowell Local and have been regular customers. Overall, the service was lacking and we missed the pizzas.
Menu
Items
Tin TwoGrilled Trout MeltSmall Plates & Sharing
Odel's Pickle PlateBlack Bean Hummus Or Roasted Red Pepper HummusCocktails
Local OptionSandwiches
Pimento Cheese & Pork Rinds