Went last night (Saturday) for the first time in a while to catch the UFC fights. We arrived just as the prelims (free on FX) were starting and were able to get a seat right in front of the main screen so that was nice. It did end up filling up by the time the main events (on PPV) started but it wasn't overly crowded, probably due to the fact that I wouldn't consider this bout a huge crowd-drawer (Dos Santos v. Velasquez).
We had dinner and drinks (lots of drinks!) and our server Kara was attentive and very friendly. Food was decent: the usual bar fare, but portions were large, fries were good and love that they soak their pickles in habanero juice. Not only was it really yummy (don't listen to them when they say it has "a little kick"-- that thing was hot as hell!) but it kind of set them apart from other restaurants and personally, I appreciate their effort!
Overall, not a bad place to go and watch a sporting event, but it pretty much clears completely out after it's over when everyone heads next door to Luckies.
Well, if you read all the other reviews they are right. Â Just an awful place, a dump is the proper term. Â Food is horrible, service is non-existent, and they just flat out try to deceive their few customers. Â
Stay away, it is not worth your time, there are plenty of other places way better, Â this is a corporate bar mall gone bad...just terrible.
Albeit I was drinking here for about three hours before ordering food, I must say it was all pretty delectable. The wings were very crispy and the sauce was as unique as it was tasty (I got the Special Grille Sauce). The bar was huge. Two massive projectors painted the walls with sports as dozens of other flat panels provided various other forms of entertainment. There was cornhole and billiards to accompany your drinking and the service was fine to say the least.
Review Source:The staff is great, but management is pretty indifferent to the customers.
If you're planning on watching the Super Bowl there make reservations early and expect to pay $20 per seat. Not sure about other major sporting events; call ahead.
Nice area in the back for live music. Food is pretty much standard bar fare. Altogether one of the better places along "bar row" on power plant.
Though I'm late in writing this review, I'm writing it as a public service. Â I've visited this establishment multiple times, over the past year. Â Though the theme and atmosphere is great for watching sports, most of the major menu offerings (burgers, nachos, ect) are not fresh tasting and ruined my experience. Â Hopefully, this will be addressed in the future, and I look forward to that day. Â I do not recommend this grille for dining at this time.
Review Source:You know it's going to be a rough night when you haven't even gotten your food and you're already thinking "this is going to be a long (bad) review on Yelp..."
I went here to watch the Big West championship game on a Saturday night. Â I usually go to B-Dubs in Newport News, but wanted to try this place out because I'm from California and this Nascar thing seemed like the Virginian thing to do. Â
The TVs are and set-up of the restaurant are nice, but that' the only good things I have to say about this place. Â Here's what went wrong:
1. Â The crowd. Â I was here from 8:00 until about 11:30 and there were barely any people in the restaurant- like not even 20% full. Â It was a Saturday night and it was play-offs time! Â There were more people in the back, closed off area (i.e. smoking area), listening to some crappy band. Â Â Â Â
2. Â The game. Â I had to talk to three different people to get my game on- ESPN2, Long Beach State vs. UC Santa Barbara, Big West championships. Â I first talked to a guy who disappeared to the back and came back telling me that another girl was going to "look into it." Â About 10 minutes later, I asked again because I was tempted to leave. Â Not only did it take way longer than it should have, we had to go all the way up to the manager to get the channel changed. Â I was in the middle of telling him the game I wanted when he interrupted, pointed to the San Diego State vs. BYU game and said "it's playing right there." Â No buddy...try something called listening.
3. Â Cover charge. Â My friend got here a little past 8:30 and had to pay a $5 cover charge. Â The door guy said a band was playing at 9:30, my friend asked when the cover starts and the guy said 9:00. Â But the guy still made my friend pay cover...what sense does this make?! Â We talked to the server about it to get the $5 back, which she said "can't do that" and pretty much walked away. Â So then we talked to the manager, who did give us the money back. Â His excuse was that indeed the cover does start at 8:30, but the staff was not trained on the proper time to start charging it. Â
4. Service. Â Service with an attitude. Â She was good with drinks, but seemed to get pissed when I inquired about my missing grilled onions on my sliders. Â She told me that the onions don't come on the brisket sliders, only the regular burger-style sliders. Â When I pointed it out on the menu, she got all huffy about it. Â She pretty much neglected my friend the entire night (the one that asked her about the cover charge), so he ended up going to the bar to get his stuff. Â And, even though I was with two guys, she decided to put me and my buddy's food on the same check. Â Didn't even ask whether we wanted separate checks- she just handed my buddy the bill.
5. Â Food. Â I got the brisket sliders. Â Despite what the menu states, the brisket is not thinly sliced (two tiny, dry pieces of meat per slider) and does not come with grilled onions. Â My buddies got the chicken quesadilla (with barely there chicken) and nachos...both of them only ate like half of their food because it was that bad.
In the long list of sports throughout the world, I'll be honest here and say that "watching left turns" (1) is just not my thing. So when I rolled by the Nascar Sports Grill in lovely Hampton, Virginia, I had to laugh to myself. We just don't see this sort of thing on the West Coast, which made it a tad more interesting. Laziness has hit me this trip and I've been passing out in the hotel really, really early. The kind of early that leads me to wake up at 10pm (or later) starving. I'm not trying to hit up Micky D's, if you know what I mean, so I drove out of the parking lot and the lights were on within the sports grill. Destiny was sealed.
As you might expect, they've got all the NASCAR nick-nackery within the restaurant, and even three replica cars out front at the entrance. There are massive projection screens on one side of the restaurant and normal size TV's everywhere else. They've got love for the SEC football teams as well, as shown by banners and flags for each lined up on the back wall. I never made it out to the back area. It looked like it might be a patio. They were serving folks who were out there beers in plastic cups instead of glass, and it looked like there were was an abundance of bar games including pool, and some bean bag tossing going on out there....
The food is pretty damned mediocre, just judging by my chili burger on the late night menu to fill up my hungry stomach. Really bland chili, really boring burger. Run of the mill fries. Bar food, I suppose. I'm not asking for culinary magic in a Virginia suburb at 10pm. They've got one local brew on tap that's brewed in Richmond (and of course the name escapes me now). Nice bartenders....etc.
If you're a NASCAR fan, be warned. The bartender told me that, even though the place is called the NASCAR Sports Grill, they will show football games at a higher priority than NASCAR on the huge projection screens. While it makes little sense to me to alienate the customers drawn in by the name of the business, I don't have all that much sympathy. I watch soccer. A whopping one bar in my city shows matches on the regular. Others are special occasion which means yours truly is often streaming games off the internet and enjoying a beer in my computer chair. At least you have a bar that shows NASCAR some of the time. So quit whining.
(1) Yes, I realize there is more to it than making left turns. But in the interests of stereotyping it into something short enough to complete my sentence, that statement will stand.
Total disappointment. I'm not a NASCAR fan myself, but when my NASCAR addict friend came down to Virginia to visit me, it was a MUST that I take them to this restaurant and show them a good time!
The outside was all NASCAR-ish but the inside was more of a college football theme :( Â Pictures of V-Tech football fields and college football flags everywhere. There where tons of large tv screens but they had every sport showing except racing. They were showing golf, skiing, old wrestling WTH?!?!
Then the restaurant gave us a nasty look and explained that the restaurant is only open to people ages 21 and over after 10PM (It was 9PM and we had a 5 month old baby with us)
When we got our food we weren't impressed. I ordered BBQ sliders and the buns were so soggy they turned to mush, they were inedible.
The only good thing I can say about that place is that the manager is awesome. When he heard about my soggy sandwiches, he took my whole meal off the tab and offered me a free replacement meal. I respectfully declined since I wasn't in the mood to eat anymore but I really appreciate how concerned he was.
I'm a sucker for themed restaurants! I guess it's because I get all nostalgic and I'm reminded of the other themed things that I enjoyed as a youngster, like theme parks and themed parties. That's why I give this place 3 stars. It's Nascar themed; there's a replica car posted outside and when you get inside there are Nascar-related items everywhere! A big plus is the seating area with multiple large screens for viewing the races or any other sporting event that's going on.
What about the food, you say? I was there on travel back in March and it's May now. So, two months has passed and I can't say that I really remember the food. I do know that I ordered sliders, but I can't tell you that they were amazing.
3 stars: just for being another awesomely themed restaurant.