The Grill at the Pines

I was hoping this spot would be a gem in the neighborhood but no such luck. We dined here the other night with a party of five. Frankly, It appeared the restaurant was trying to operate with a skeleton crew. One waitress, with occasional help from one manager, was trying to accommodate the entire restaurant. The obvious result was extremely slow service, a flustered server, clientele looking around constantly for a drink order/ refill, appetizers, dinner, their check...etc. Our food was spotty. First, the calamari appetizer was pretty great (thus the 2 star rating) with a wonderful dipping sauce. I took us several tries to order a bottle of wine as the restaurant was out of two different bottles that we tried to order. Not a huge deal. Our salads ranged from lackluster (house salad) to pathetic (Caesar) and dinner was less than wonderful. My husband's walleye looked like it was going to be pretty tasty but after one taste and he said it was bland, overcooked and disappointing. My lamb ragu was equally disappointing with overcooked fettuccine and a dry, pithy and underwhelming ragu. The bison burger was fine, cooked pretty close to ordered and nicely presented. The fish & chips were blah as was the Alfredo. The check was over $200 dollars. In the end, I would say The Grill at the Pines would be fine for cocktails and appetizers or possibly lunch, if you can afford the wait. Otherwise, I would say the inadequate wait staff resulting in slow and harried service is unacceptable, the menu is overpriced for the quality delivered and the whole dinner experience leaves you feeling sorry for the restaurant, sorry for the friendly manager, but mostly sorry that you just spent that much time and money on a less than great dinner out.***Note: the location is attractive and the patio really quite inviting. It's a shame about the rest.

I stood at the front of the nearly empty restaurant, waiting for a host/hostess. Someone finally asked if I'd been helped, I said no, and he told me to hang on. It went downhill from there. I sat on the patio (which is absolutely adorable, a place I'd love to take out-of-town guests) and my husband joined me. Glad he was late because the service was SLOW. No water refills at all. My grilled chicken salad was dry and basic. Husband ordered a burger that was okay.SOOO too bad b/c, while the decor in the place is dated, I love the location and would love to find a reasonably priced local place to eat. But the food isn't good and the service stinks. We won't go back.

My wife and I used to stop in to grab a quick glass or two of wine 2-3 times a week. Occasionally we'd grab dinner as well. Let me get this part out of the way- the food is ok, nothing to rave about, but not bad, and the decor is generic Holiday Inn. At least the bartenders are cool. But... they recently changed their wine list from "not a bad selection" to "completely generic and not that good". As this was our primary motivation for stopping in my wife asked to speak to the manager (tall dude with a goatee) to provide some feedback. After offering some constructive comments about her disappointment with the recent changes, I honestly couldn't believe his response... He started by referring to my wife as "sweetie" (in a completely condescending tone) and continued to explain the exorbitant prices for crap wine as "restaurant mark-up". From there he told her the wine change was due to "people with lots of money living around here, but being to cheap to spend it". Normally, I would have reached across the bar and kicked the crap out of him for being condescending, insulting and, quite frankly, an ass, but I was honestly enjoying the awkwardness of his stupidity. We'll never go back again. Subsequent to this, in talking with some neighbors who have also had bad experiences, the rumor is they are in financial trouble and about to go under (makes perfect sense as they are charging $8/glass for a $6 bottle of wine). Looking forward to a new place rolling in...

I ordered the fried poached egg with green chili and my wife ordered the garden Benedict. The waitress highly recommended the fried poached egg. It was very spicy and the poached egg was a little hard as was the poached egg on the garden Benedict. Service was good as they are trying to build the business after the prior one failed at this location. Supposedly, they now have a chef (can you imagine a restaurant without one). Still have serious reservations (no pun intended) as to whether this new management will make it either.

Expensive food not worth the money. Average pre prepared fare that took 40 minutes to get. Fail.

We tried The Grill at the Pines because I had purchased a Denver Post Deal. We ate outside and it was a nice evening. Our service was good. Unfortunately the food was nothing to write home about. The prices are too high for the quality/quantity that you get. The inside decor also looks pretty outdated. It could be a great place if it wanted to. It's in a great area, but we had never heard of it or the location.

My wife and I purchased a Groupon for this restaurant to use for a nice date night. Before heading out for our dinner, we read some of the less-than-stellar reviews about this place, so we didn't expect much from the start. We debated whether or not the 45 minute drive to the restaurant would even be worth it, but we figured since we already had the Groupon, might as well give it a shot. Upon calling for a reservation, the hostess informed us, "Oh you won't need a reservation at all for tonight...we don't expect to be very busy." Seeing that this is a Saturday night....over Memorial Day weekend...that didn't sound like a very good sign.When we arrived at the restaurant, only one other table in the whole place was filled. Again, not a very good sign. The hostess was nowhere to be seen, but when she did show up she mumbled something about finding a clean table for us (like there weren't enough empty ones around??) then proceeded to seat us at the only crumb-covered, filthy table she could find. The booth appeared to fit about eight people (so why seat a party of two there?), and I'm not sure the restaurant staff has ever swept out the spilled contents from the pitch dark underside of the table. When we first slid into our seats, we had to work hard to find a place to put our feet between the discarded napkins and food remains. I happened to skim my foot over something that felt like a weeks-old dinner roll, but found out later that it was one of a pair of discarded shoes left there by someone named Claire D. (according to the Sharpie mark on the sole). I shudder to think how long they had been there before I stumbled upon them.The stained paper menus we were handed didn't help any of the entrees appear appetizing, so we ordered something safe - a buffalo burger and a BLAT (bacon lettuce avocado tomato). They were out of avocado, so they proceeded to put guacamole on as a replacement. Not quite the same, but nice try. There was only one small slice of tomato on the sandwich.....but I have to admit the bacon was cooked to perfection. The buffalo burger was next to raw and the so-called "steak fries" were nothing but average, thin, soggy fries topped with a fine layer of grease. Oh, we did order an appetizer of Bacon Broccoli Macaroni, and that was fantastic! So thumbs up on the macaroni and bacon! The whole dining experience was amusingly awkward and hilariously unprofessional. The waitress hardly stopped by our table, and when she did it was short and rude. I kept seeing the hostess wandering aimlessly around the restaurant, looking at the ceiling like she was expecting a downpour at any second, and the couple at the table next to us had a 20-minute-long, extremely loud discussion about how both of their feet couldn't actually fit underneath the table at the same time. We actually ended up enjoying our evening because we spent the whole time making observations together about what we could share with others in our review. They say laughter is great for relationships...we must have a stronger relationship than ever before after our experience tonight. If you need a pick-up in your marriage, by all means...this place with bond you like none other. If you're looking for a quality evening out, steer clear. For those of you who purchased the Groupon...please know that if you have to drive more than, like, 10 minutes to get there...it's not going to be worth it. Just eat the 10 dollars you spent on the Groupon and instead spend the evening fasting and praying that nobody else opens a restaurant as poor-quality as this one again.

We definitely liked the food better than the old Rodney's (especially the bar menu) but we are very disappointed that they couldn't keep the old spaghetti which we loved. Also, since there isn't a separate kids menu, it doesn't seem as family friendly. However, our waiter immediately produced some paper and pens for the kids which was very much appreciated. That being said, we are still in search of a local go-to restaurant.

i can't belive this. I called to get the web address. " we don't have a web site".They must want to fail.

I had just moved to the area, and stopped in with my parents for the first time. We have been back 5 times in four months and both the food and the service have been the same on all occasions - good! I've also brought my friends here, too. I understand they have newer ownership. I'm not sure if that was very recent or not...The food is good. It is a solid menu and the taste is definitely good. The offerings are standard grill items, sandwiches, salads, soups, & meats. The thing that keeps me coming back is that all the food is prepared with fresh, whole ingredients. The food tastes clean and fresh and good - like food is supposed to. It doesn't taste like it has been frozen and reheated, nor does it have a bunch of artificial ingredients in it. The food has really good flavor. For what this restaurant offers on its standard grill menu, the food is really good - TOP NOTCH with a gourmet flair.The atmosphere is good too, in the quaint and quiet Castle Pines Village area, you get to see smiling faces in a wholesome environment, where families come to spend time together & friends meet. The restaurant itself is quiet and relaxed - not overly crowded, and is reminiscent of a standard country club environment from the 1980s - not in a bad way - in fact it gives a somewhat nostalgic feeling of the Castle Pines Golf Club. Bar area lets the men settle in for a drink and the game. It is quite nice. Really good. Definitely a quiet country club feel. Staff has always been friendly and helpful.My message to "The Grill" - don't change a thing. Keep the quality food coming! We will come back for more.