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| - We've been to Juniper Grill twice, and had somewhat different experiences both times. The first time we were with a group of 8 adults and 5 kids celebrating my husband and his twin sisters 30th birthdays. When we arrived we were treated like VIP's, multiple people holding doors for us, greeting us with big welcoming smiles, showing us to our table and engaging in really casual, appropriate conversation. We were in a private, back room which was REALLY nice and cozy. Our server was totally on point! She was super friendly, really efficient, and she was really personable, even with the 5 kids (you could tell she was a mom.. she knew all the right things to say and do, and treated them like little people and not like little nuisances). She made great suggestions and she was totally into our group, which made our experience really memorable, thank you for that!
My husband and I went back a few weeks later by ourselves for dinner on a Saturday evening, and when we got there, we stood at the host stand for about 3 minutes before we were acknowledged by the host who was standing there the entire time. She was very consumed with whatever she was doing or figuring out, and it wasn't until someone else (maybe a manager) came to the host stand and asked her if she had greeted us.. because she obviously hadnt.. that she acted totally surprised to see us and finally noticed us. Because this was totally different than what we experienced last time, we tried not to hold it against her too much, but we were still annoyed and we hadn't even been seated yet. She asked us if we'd prefer a small table in the bar area or to sit at the "Chef's Bar", I think it was called (or something like that).. she explained to us that that particular area was really fun and that people loved sitting there because of the interaction and liveliness of it, so we agreed and decided to give it a try. We were really confused because no one actually seemed to be our server, even though she gave us the name of someone, and people were just rushing by us busy doing their thing - grabbing food, refilling drinks, etc.. we felt kind of invisible and it was a little awkward. So we were finally greeted by someone who did inform us that he was not our server but would get our drinks, so we ordered and waited some more. Eventually we did finally make contact with someone who claimed to be our server, but I think it may just be rotation based and I got the feeling that this particular seating arrangement was sort of an annoyance to whoever was up in the rotation. Turns out it wasn't fun or exciting.. no one engaged in any conversation with us and our POV was cooks, a food expediter, and the hustle and bustle of what other restaurants would hide behind walls in a closed kitchen.. we could see right into the dishwashing area, the dining area and rest of the restaurant was to our backs, and we were the only 2 sitting at this bar area.. it was a little uncomfortable. I was really unimpressed with this set up and regretting not choosing the small bar table. The only redeeming quality was that our server from last time happened to be doing some of her side work while we were sitting there and so we struck up conversation with her for a couple of minutes, but that was really it.
I didn't base my star rating on that experience, because I honestly believe that Juniper Grill is a great place and our first visit was nothing like our second.. it was just an unfortunate chain of events for us. Lesson learned, always choose the "small table in the bar area!" :)
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