Blackwell's - Vestavia Hills

Nice service and food, but on Tuesday night the music is terrible. People are likely to have ages 30 to 60 but only strange really long songs with guitar that goes on forever. No folk music from the last decades. A star for music on Intercom, 4 to 5 for food and service.

I want Blackwells to be good. It is very close to my house and the food is pretty good. But... The service is consistently slow and has been for years, even under new management. I have been numerous times when they are slow and it's incredible how long it can take to get food. Tonight I ordered a to-go order, they gave a 30 min pickup time which is long to begin with. I waited 25 min and went to pick up order at the bar. Spoke to bartender about my order.... And waited 20 minutes without ever getting an update. Finally asked about it, and oh they didn't box it up it will be just a second. Get food 55 minutes after ordered... Get home and fries are cold and damp. Had obviously been sitting unattended while I sat at bar also unattended...... Good onion rings.

We had heard good things so my family came for dinner after my daughter's school Christmas program (party of 6). First the heat wasn't working so it was freezing. Second the service was slow/nonexistent. We sat with empty cups needing refills for a ridiculously long time. The waitress was nowhere to be found for anything we needed. She dropped off drinks and didn't come back. Third our food took almost an hour to come out. We were the only table waiting on food and the restaurant was not busy. When the food did come out our order was missing items and we were told they were coming but they never did. Our waitress did not deliver our food, and didn't come to check on us, so we had to hunt her down to ask for refills and boxes. We had a very poor experience here. BUT the sweet potato fries and sauce were AMAZING so at least one good thing came from our visit.

At first, I was more than pleased. They give you your money's worth on quantity. There was a lot of food. I never got to my burger. I ate a couple of the huge onion rings. My first mistake. They were practically swimming in grease. The fried mushrooms appetizer was not bad, but again terribly greasy. I will more than likely not order from here again.

I tried to order a cheeseburger and fries (items that are on the menu, nothing weird) and they refused to serve them to me. They said that I had to spend more money in order for them to serve me items that are on their menu. I have never in my entire life seen a restaurant that refuses to sell something on the menu to a paying customer. Blackwell's said that in order for me to order a cheeseburger and fries (which is what I wanted), I also had to purchase an appetizer or another item that I don't want.