Mcdowell Local - Marion

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 re... read more 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. read more 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... read more 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

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... read more 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.

Unfortunately, I have to say this. We came in around 6:30 pm tonight, not too terribly busy, was told to sit down at a table (the three of us, boyfriend, little... read more Unfortunately, I have to say this. We came in around 6:30 pm tonight, not too terribly busy, was told to sit down at a table (the three of us, boyfriend, little brother and me) and we had waters down pretty quickly. Our server was decent with keeping up with waters and took our orders quickly. We didn 't see food until 7:20 but that 's not terrible as we weren 't in a hurry. My brother and I both ordered the Titan burgers, him with two patties and mine with one and they were all three raw when we ordered medium. I did not get a picture of my little brothers but my first one was the first raw patty picture. The bun was soggy from a runny white but still had a firm yolk from the egg which made things a little more unappetizing after we had the patties sent back. Now comments can go either way but it felt like it was directed towards me but when she came to collect the patties she said must 've been a misunderstanding of definitions. I 'm a cook, baker, and server, I know to always give the front of house a second shot as kitchen is their own thing and what happens is not them. I also know what it means to say the right things with clarification without making comments to guest or kitchen. This comment did not come across well. The meat could be smeared and squished and all three patties were vaguely warm in the middle. She brought new patties and my little brother who is 14 and diabetic was excited to eat but when he cut his open, it was still way more rare than medium as you can see in the third and fourth pictures. Again, patties were steaming but it was kind of warm in the middle, nowhere close to hot enough, and I could smear the meat. I chose to just take the check and damage and go somewhere else as my little brother lost all appetite and we went to Wendy 's instead for him. I hate to see this on restaurants and I am always on the server and the cooks side on giving them a second shot but this was not what I was expecting. I was offered something else on the menu but I was no longer hungry. My little brothers burger was taken off of the check even though he ate more of the toppings and fries than I did but I 'm not pushing for money back or such, it 's just important to know what your definitions are, how comments come across, and too check your temperature when there have been E. Coli breakouts with ground beef recently. Be careful out there and maybe let these guys fix some things for a minute.