Woodlands Backyard

This place is bad.  How bad?  Well, like a bar located next to a highway behind a gas station bad.  Do you like concrete?  They have plenty of that.  A cavernous, concrete, soulless sports bar for your average college student.  

Aside from having a good happy hour, this place has nothing to offer.  You can get a few craft beers on tap for cheap ($2)  from 4-8 (I think) but it seems to be a Bud Light kind of place.  On their menu a lot of things are listed as being "INFERNO"--whatever that means.  I think it is a brand name because even the coleslaw is INFERNO.  Sounds like everything is probably cooked to a crisp in molten lava.  Yum.

Actually, it would have been nice to have eaten here because the plan had been to come to this place and watch OSU play in the NCAA tournament, get some wings, drink ourselves silly, and then watch the USMNT play Costa Rica that night.  Unfortunately the management didn't look at a calendar and thought they would staff as though it was a Monday (REMINDER:  this was ON A FRIDAY with OSU men's basketball team playing in a playoff game-- you can't possibly staff enough people).  We had a server--kind of-- that would come by maybe every hour--maybe.  She probably had 10 tables that I could count, each with an average of 7 or more people, so when she came by with our drinks an hour after we ordered them we would order 2 to 3 rounds of drinks just in case we would be thirsty at some point in the night.  I felt bad for her, I really did.  She had no chance.  At one point she just brought a big check and had one of the guys write up all the separate checks, which we did obligingly, because she knew there was no way she had time.  

I went to the bar to try to order some food because by that point the server had given up on trying to come to the table.  I ordered a burger with fries and explained to the bartender that I didn't have a server.  He asked where I was sitting in this crush of people and I tried to explain to him where it was.  He said, "are you going to be looking for me?"  I said yes but who knows how long it was going to take them to bring it out.  After an hour and a half during which I was trying to look for the guy, I went up to the bar and just told him to take it off my card because there was no point now. He said, " I tried looking for you.  Were you looking for me?"  Dude, I would have waited at the food window for my burger if I could have but unfortunately I can't do all your jobs.  Fortunately he knew that I was right and took it off my bill.

Maybe it was just a bad night but when you have management that shoot themselves and all their employees in the foot like that, it seems to say something else.  I obviously won't be going back but I'm sure all the well-vodka and Bud Light drinking crowd will continue to flock by the masses to this place.  Have fun with that.

The Loose Goose was n interesting venture and I want to know the story of how it came to be, expanded, and then sold out to Woodlands. I checked it out tonight for the first time since it changed hands as I wanted to wait for the renovations. Not a whole is different in the interior except for the addition of the bar, which is a nice touch. They also got rid of the Lobster grab machine and the "Goose Nest" VIP area. You get the same great Woodlands Happy Hour (not as many beers on tap) but im sure that will change in the future. Also, once Volleyball season starts, this place will be raging.

My past experience at the Loose Goose was pretty negative, but Woodlands has done a good job of cleaning this place up.  The awesome Woodlands happy hour has been carried over to Backyard, and although there aren't quite as many (or quite as good) beers on tap, there's still a solid selection with some decent craft beer mixed in.  There's a very nice concert venue there that I look forward to checking out, and there are plenty of big screen TVs to watch games.  I like the very long bar, as it makes it all the easier to get a seat there.  Inferno Burger is an inspired choice for providing the food.  There are still some rough edges to smooth out, but the place is vastly improved after its Woodlands makeover.