The Amarillo Restaurant and Tavern

We don't live in Monroe and were there for an out of town flag football game, met some family there that live in Duvall and saw this place on main street and decided to give it a try as we love BBQ. We had 6 adults and 4 kids. I entered with my husband and 2 boys first as the rest of our group was parking. It seemed like it was a find your own table place and there was one large table so I was headed towards it and the young girl at the counter handed me a number and asked how many and I told her 10. She asked "Oh do you have reservations?" and I said no. She then told me it would be 30-45 minutes. The restaurant only had 5 tables occupied. So i was shocked it would be that long. I told her we could split our group, we didn't need to sit together and she said that was not possible as there wasn't anywhere that would accomodate us. There was a large 6 person table open and a bunch of 4 person or 2 person ones, so not sure why we couldn't sit there. The people behind us, a couple (only 2 people) sat at the large table that could have accommodated us but instead of asking them if they would mind to sit at any of the other 6 tables that would have fit them, there was no effort made to accommodate us. I told her that was fine then and we would wait, and she seemed very annoyed we were still wanting to eat there. We were fine waiting as it was 60 degrees out and a beautiful night. And we know that most places have a wait for a group our size. So we wait and its only about 25 minutes and a large group leaves. A nice lady from the bar comes up and asks if i have been helped and i told her we were a large group of 10, and she then went right away and started cleaning the table for us. She was very kind. We were all good then and started ordering at the counter as you have to order first. And the first thing the young girl says to me is "Next time we need reservations for parties your size." I was like ok... and responded with, "i'm sorry we are from out of town and will probably not be back anyways." and she said, "It doesn't matter, you will need a reservation." And then my mom responded with, "we don't have to eat here if you don't want us here." and the server responded with "well your table is already ready." I am literally never confrontational and a very easy going person, and we had done nothing but wait like she asked. We never made any comments or anything besides asking if our group could be split. The attitude from the server was disappointing. We were visiting and no where did it say we needed reservations if we were a large party. We understand that they were short staffed. But we seemed like an inconvenience to them. A while after being seated a man from the back came and asked if i could talk to him and took me over by the register. He said his server said i wasn't happy and said i would never come back. I explained to him what had happened and he was very kind. He seemed understanding. The food was fantastic and would be 5 stars if we would have felt like they wanted our business. It was embarrassing and we probably won't return. They kids kept asking why the employees didn't want us there. It's not a great feeling when you are in a restaurant and they don't want you there. We will try out the Duvall one when it opens as the food was amazing. And the women at the bar and the man that served us were very kind. Its unfortunate the front counter server didn't treat us well. I would recommend this if you want to order to go. Food was amazing. Kids loved the french fries and the brisket was so tender. Overall would have been 5 stars if we hadn't been embarrassed by the front server.
Mar 21st, 2023

Great food, love it so much they're catering my wedding. Food : 5/5 | Service : 5/5 | Atmosphere : 5/5 More
Mar 13th, 2023

Cool place and had great Mac and cheese.  Nice outdoor seating.   Open very short hours though.
Feb 27th, 2023

Great food! Great service! We had a big group and it was all hands on deck to make sure we got served! Well done everyone! We will have to come back and try more!!!
Feb 22nd, 2023

We are monroe locals that come here often. Great happy hour and even better food. Ordering is a bit odd as it feels like a sit down restaurant but you order at the front.. but you get used to it. Food : 5/5 | Service : 3/5 | Atmosphere : 5/5 More
Feb 21st, 2023