Bust at Billy's
Let me preface this review of Billy’s in Downtown Roanoke with two things. First, my family ended up having this meal comp’d because of our experience. After complaining to the manager, he let us know that everything was on the house. Second, this review (as all my reviews are) is based on the experience I had while eating at Billy’s with my family. I honestly wish I could write something positive but that’s not the experience we had.
We decided to have lunch at Billy’s for Father’s Day. Our dining party included my wife and I, my parents, and my grandparents. We had reservations for 12:30 and didn’t have any problem getting seated. From what I could tell, I’d say the restaurant was about half-full.
Because it was Sunday, we had two different menus to choose from. Billy’s offers a Sunday brunch and the regular dinner menu. Both menus featured items that looked delicious and it was tough to decide what to order. My mom and grandfather ordered the fried chicken biscuits & gravy, my grandmother ordered the club breakfast, my dad ordered the shrimp & grits, Nicole ordered the ahi tuna with a house salad, and I ordered the Shrimp Taco Salad and a side of sweet potato fries.
In one word - terrible.
We decided to have lunch at Billy’s for Father’s Day. Our dining party included my wife and I, my parents, and my grandparents. We had reservations for 12:30 and didn’t have any problem getting seated. From what I could tell, I’d say the restaurant was about half-full.
Because it was Sunday, we had two different menus to choose from. Billy’s offers a Sunday brunch and the regular dinner menu. Both menus featured items that looked delicious and it was tough to decide what to order. My mom and grandfather ordered the fried chicken biscuits & gravy, my grandmother ordered the club breakfast, my dad ordered the shrimp & grits, Nicole ordered the ahi tuna with a house salad, and I ordered the Shrimp Taco Salad and a side of sweet potato fries.
In one word - terrible.
| | When our food was served, everyone’s food was brought out except my dad’s shrimp & grits. Five minutes later - his food came out. In those five minutes, my mom and grandfather both took bites of their chicken and said it was cold. My grandmother’s food was also cold but she decided to keep it anyway. They told the waitress, who apologized and took the food back to the kitchen. She returned a few minutes later to inform us that the restaurant was out of the chicken & biscuits dish because they ran out of gravy. Huh? Out of gravy? You’re a restaurant - make more. How do you run out of sausage gravy at 12:45 when you opened for brunch at 11:00 am and you’re not even busy? Were people lined up at the door prior to 11:00 so they could pick up orders of biscuits and gravy? And how can you not prepare more of something that only requires three basic ingredients: sausage, flour, & milk. It’s a pathetic reflection of a business that calls itself a restaurant. Because they were no longer able to get the chicken & biscuits, my mom and grandfather ordered two different things on the menu. My mom chose the shrimp & grits and my grandfather ordered the pecan chicken salad. They were served 15 minutes later, which is when the rest of us had given up on our own food. |
In the most ridiculous moment of the entire experience - while my mom and grandfather were waiting for their new food, the table beside us had their food served, which included two orders of the chicken & biscuits Billy’s had supposedly run out of. I guess they were able to find a couple extras in the refrigerator that they could microwave.
Nicole’s house salad was a giant wedge of iceberg lettuce that was covered in cheese. It was one of the laziest displays of a salad I’ve ever seen. You’re better off getting a side salad at almost any fast food restaurant in town. Along with her salad, the ahi tuna didn’t have any flavor and it was a strange texture, making us wonder whether or not the fish was even fresh and safe to eat.
And my shrimp taco salad was a great example of a menu description being nothing like what actually was served.
The menu description:
“Grilled shrimp tossed in cilantro lime sauce over mixed greens with heirloom tomato, avocado, sliced jalapeno, smoked cheddar, black bean & corn relish, tortilla strips & lime wedges”
What was plated:
Tiny shrimp that were overcooked and tough with no flavor on mixed greens that were covered in cheddar cheese, tomatoes that would be an insult to true heirloom tomatoes and some black beans & pieces of corn in the bottom of the bowl.
And that side of sweet potato fries I ordered? Who knows? They never made it out to the table.
There’s so much about this entire meal that frustrates me. It’s poor management and execution by the people in the kitchen. For a restaurant to run out of something after only being open for an hour and half is ridiculous. For a restaurant to describe a dish one way on the menu and then serve it a different way is disappointing. And when someone questions whether or not they can eat what they’ve been served because they worry it might make them ill, you might as well give up.
I doubt Billy’s has any intentions of giving up anytime soon, but after that experience, I’ve certainly given up on them.
Nicole’s house salad was a giant wedge of iceberg lettuce that was covered in cheese. It was one of the laziest displays of a salad I’ve ever seen. You’re better off getting a side salad at almost any fast food restaurant in town. Along with her salad, the ahi tuna didn’t have any flavor and it was a strange texture, making us wonder whether or not the fish was even fresh and safe to eat.
And my shrimp taco salad was a great example of a menu description being nothing like what actually was served.
The menu description:
“Grilled shrimp tossed in cilantro lime sauce over mixed greens with heirloom tomato, avocado, sliced jalapeno, smoked cheddar, black bean & corn relish, tortilla strips & lime wedges”
What was plated:
Tiny shrimp that were overcooked and tough with no flavor on mixed greens that were covered in cheddar cheese, tomatoes that would be an insult to true heirloom tomatoes and some black beans & pieces of corn in the bottom of the bowl.
And that side of sweet potato fries I ordered? Who knows? They never made it out to the table.
There’s so much about this entire meal that frustrates me. It’s poor management and execution by the people in the kitchen. For a restaurant to run out of something after only being open for an hour and half is ridiculous. For a restaurant to describe a dish one way on the menu and then serve it a different way is disappointing. And when someone questions whether or not they can eat what they’ve been served because they worry it might make them ill, you might as well give up.
I doubt Billy’s has any intentions of giving up anytime soon, but after that experience, I’ve certainly given up on them.
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