Baumhower's Downtown

This restaurant is located in the RSA Headquarters building in downtown Montgomery and caters to state employees and other downtown workers and visitors Monday through Friday. As a state employee in the building I ate there several times a week for years, which afforded me the opportunity to see the good and bad. The good: For the most part, the food was usually good. And the staff, in most cases, tried very hard to provide good customer service. As a regular I got to know the management and staff and came to the conclusion that their biggest problem was the owners. The bad: The owners are cheap. The portions were consistently small, but the prices kept going up. The military discount was no longer honored on lunch "specials," which is disgusting since they sell t-shirts there supposedly honoring the military but they cheap them out on their discount. The "loyalty card" was only punched for people dining in and taking up a table, not those of us getting our food to go. Even if we ate there EVERY SINGLE DAY. I even tried to call their offices in Tuscaloosa to complain about this but no one would answer their phone or return messages. My grilled chicken salad had exactly 3 ounces of lettuce, 3 ounces of chicken, 3 circles of purple onions, 3 slices of tomato, a tablespoon of cheese and (sometimes) a sprinkle of croutons. It took a lot of crackers and extra dressing to make this a full meal. I witnessed other diners looking in their to-go boxes and asking the staff if they could have more lettuce on their salads. A co-worker's wife was charged extra for asking for a bit more cheese on her salad. Cheap. The quality of the food was wildly inconsistent. Some days the salad was delicious. Some days the chicken was raw on the inside, or overcooked to rubber. Near the end (yes, I gave up eating there) the chicken was terribly overspiced and there was a puddle of grease from it in the salad box. Sometimes I would take the salad back and have it remade. After a while I just gave up. The only advantage to the restaurant was the convenience of not having to leave the building to eat. But I became so annoyed I decided going out was better.

Very Bad experience right off the bat! One of the people with me ordered a Michelob Ultra in draft or a bottle. They had neither, he then asked for a draft bear list, all the Draft Beer taps where not working. No explanation as to why. This is a sports BAR right? Just saying! I hope you correct your issue soon for others. He then asked for a vodka club, waitress had to go ask if they had it. She came back and said yes they do. When she brought the drink it was over powered by club soda and didnt even have a lime. Sad info. Also this location does not show up on Google Maps.

Server made great suggestions and carried on some general conversation with us. Made us feel very welcome. We had a couple of questions and she didn't have an answer, so she immediately got another waitress to address our questions about the menu items, because she had not tried those items before. Food was hot, came out quick. Our drinks never got low. The atmosphere is very nice and could be for individual dining or several people.

Let me first say that I am not one to leave a bad review. It is very rare. That said, I sat at the bar for 15 minutes, tried to get served, even called out to a few employees walking by only to be ignored. I couldn’t find a bartender or waitress that could serve me. When I asked other customers, they agreed that there seem to be no one working the bar and they all seemed to be annoyed. This was at noon on a Wednesday, and while they were busy, that’s not an excuse to leave your bar unattended. Not to mention, at a downtown business oriented location, people expect prompt service on their lunch break. Its been years since I have been to this location, but my experience was very similar. I doubt I’ll go back. Live Baumhower’s but I guess I’ll have to stick to other locations.

I had the unfortunate opportunity to experience this restaurant today. The food was not bad…once we finally got it. I hate writing scathing reviews but when it has to be done, I do it. If you want anything other than fried foods, make a different choice. And don't go on a Tuesday. During the week. At any time around open or close because you won't be served in a timely manner. The conclusion is that it took way too long to prepare the items on their very simple menu and deliver them to us. We even paid for our food BEFORE it got to the table. Only to be met with disappointment over the simplicity of the items without explanation as to the ridiculously long wait!