Grey's Tavern

This review is for the food, not the bar.  I assume the bar is a pretty typical experience for Greensboro - seemed to have good drink/beer specials.

Time: 5:30 PM on a nice clear Monday night.

One of the absolute worst meals I've ever had.  Utterly terrible, there wasn't a single saving grace - except the baked beans my dining companion said were good, which I'm sure were canned.

I had the special, which was basically a black and blue burger.  The server didn't know what the special was - she had to go look at the sign.  My companion had the pulled pork sandwich, which was recommended.  

Burger was advertised as fresh hand pattied.  Might have been hand pattied, but it wasn't fresh.  Frozen, thawed, and flavorless.  I'd be surprised if the beef grade was Choice - likely Select.  Cooked on a flat grill with no sear, it was grey and bland with little rivulets of grease dripping down the side.  When I say tasteless, I mean tasteless.  I felt like I was filling my stomach with dog food.  

Fries were cold and extremely stale.  Someone actually made a decision to pick up a handful of lukewarm fries that had been under the heat lamp so long they had actually shriveled - and put them on my plate and ask me to pay for it. I asked for more and she brought out hot fresh fries.  The fries are thick cut from real potatoes, and seasoned with cracked pepper and course sea salt, and had a unique opportunity to be good.  Unfortunately the oil isn't hot enough in the fryers, so you wind up with a heavy, hot, soggy, oil soaked french fry with no crunch and a lousy flavor.

The pulled pork sandwich was so bad I considered not paying for it.  Pork was either cooked and frozen then defrosted or had been in the refrigerator so long it had lost all flavor.  I sincerely hope it was the former or she'll be up later.  This one rivaled the burger in overall lack of taste - I could barely discern a hint of smoke flavor...  all flavor had just been zapped out of it by freezing or too long of a shelf life.  

She said the beans were good.

Service was ok.  Nothing outstanding - I tend to get like 'that guy' when I know the meal is shit and I'm about to pay for something I would rather have never ordered, but she handled the table well.  

Don't waste your money on the food.  You want a food and pub experience, go to Natty Greene's next door. I went into this establishment thinking that because it's next to Natty Greene's, it must be somewhat good to compete with them.  I was dead wrong.

Grey's is one of my favorite downtown places to drink and eat. The only thing better than the food is the service. The bartenders are funny, attractive women. Try the pimento grilled chicken sandwich! Drinks are fairly priced and they have shot machines for instantly cold Firefly and Jager. The jukebox has some good stuff. The location is perfect. No parking, but that's downtown for you. They are open late (as in all night) so get there early and drink up!

I love Greys! I stop here at least once a week to grab a blackbird, Awesome mixture of battlefield and hummingbird. The staff is really friendly and is always willing to help you out, they even have a tiny dance floor. The biggest down side is that if there are a lot of people in there the space is too small to do much of anything.