The Stand

Very good food and service. I went here today with some coworkers for Birmingham Restaurant Week; I had never been before, but had plans to go last year for BRW that were subsequently canceled due to weather (therefore, I was excited to check this place out).
I ordered the Chop Chop salad (an Asian-​type salad with wontons, peanuts, and a peanutty dressing), the burger, and the chocolate mousse. One coworker and I agreed that the standout was the chocolate mousse, but I enjoyed all three courses. The salad was very good — Panera has one that’s similar, but this one was definitely more gourmet — and the burger was thick and juicy. I don’t usually eat burgers (mostly chicken, pork, etc.) so it was very tasty; they also brand THE STAND into the bun which was a neat touch. The chocolate mousse was rich but not overindulgent, and had more substance than your typical «fluffy» mouse which I really liked. The fries with my burger were also nice and crispy.
Presentation was also very nice here — one coworker ordered some bottled water and they set it in a stand (no pun intended …) on the table for you; the waitress also refilled all of our glasses when she came by one time. The chocolate mousse was in a champagne glass of sorts which was also very nice.
At first I thought this restaurant was really small, but when I went to use the restroom later in the meal it’s actually much larger than I thought — pretty much the entire west corner of Maple and Woodward. I know they do a happy hour (bar only, I believe) too so I want to check that out at some point. Hoping to come back here another time although it’s definitely a bit out of my price range normally.

Had lunch for the second time this week! The service staff was terrific. The food was amazing and I feel the best lunch value in the city hands down.
Some friends and I all ate at The Stand on Tuesday to participate in restaurant week. Everyone had rave reviews of their food items. Burgers were cooked perfectly (medium), roasted chicken sandwich was outstanding, soups were fantastic and the perfect temp, smoked turkey sandwich was great… and the chop chop salad was as good as it always is!
Today another friend and I went back to try another menu item. The Birmingham pastrami sandwich (house smoked and seasoned) with house made citrus slaw is the best pastrami I have had! My friend ordered the veggie panini and said it is a terrific vegetarian option and that the roasted peppers were her favorite. We then tried the chocolate mousse… SO decadent but airy and oh so chocolatey! We had a different waiter than on my first visit and he was just as sweet, pleasant and friendly as the server on Tuesday!
This is a true gem of a place! We love the fact that the owner promotes local artists (great artwork for sale) and local farms. All around terrific restaurant.

Just now reading the comment from John K. Apparently on top of unimpressive food and inconsistent décor, they have hostile customer service. I get that it’s out of passion, John, you clearly were hurt by my original review but I am entitled to my opinion. When in customer service, «kill them with kindness» is usually a better strategy than being passive aggressive seeing as you only have a 3.5 star rating a year later, what do you have to lose?

I personally would not go back for the food. My friend and i I went here last night for happy hour and dinner. Their happy hour selection was far too limited. We ordered a bottle of wine from their regular drink menu. The wine was good, however, im accustomed to receiving some sort of bar service & attention. We received none. The barstaff was shootin the shit while we were trying to flag them down. Once we got their attention we ordered truffle fries that never came. In regards to dining i was extremely disappointed with the soggy sweet brussel sprouts i was served as well as the hunk of iceburg with a nubbin of dressing and bacon bits i was served. The mac & cheese was more like mac & cream. Overall, will not be dining here in the future.

Great service, good food. I had an excellent burger and my companion had a delicious salad.

I was looking forward to my dinner at The Stand as I was celebrating my birthday with my family, including my 86 year-​old father. The actual experience was a disappointment.
The food was fine — nothing extraordinary for a $ 500 dinner (seven people) but not bad. The service, however, was embarrassingly poor. Our reservations were for 6:45 but we were seated at about 7. Six of the seven people in our party ordered appetizers/​soup/​salad. Four were brought fairly promptly; the other two were not served until over 20 minutes later. My wife waited for me to be served while her dish turned cold. I would have brought this to the attention of our waiter, Brad, but he was absent.
I finally asked one of the owners, John Kelly, to address the issue. He apologized and then we waited another 10+ minutes for our appetizers to be served. At no time did Mr. Kelly offer to re-​serve all six appetizers so that the table would be synchronized and all the dishes would be the correct temperature. He did not comp the first course (or, for that matter, anything). It was shortly after 8 pm – over one hour after we had been seated — that all the dishes for the first course arrived at the table.
As we left the restaurant, we had to wait again for our coats because the coat-​check person was absent. Mr. Kelly was nearby but did not offer to help. My parents then had to wait yet more time for the overwhelmed valet attendant to get their car.
What should have been a great dining experience was ruined by abysmally bad service. When I complained to Mr. Kelly on the way out, his response was: «In this day and age, an apology is enough.» Sometimes, however, an apology is not enough, Mr. Kelly — especially a not particularly genuine one. In this day and age, actions speak louder than words.

I went here with my husband and did the tasting menu. The menu was extremely reasonably priced for what was delivered. We loved everything that we ate and that we had a conversation with the chef and front row seat to the food. I also loved their attention to trying to have local food sourced by farmers. I will definitely try this place again!

What a difference! After our last experience, we were contacted by the owner and given a gift certificate to return. The 6 of us came in for dinner. It was remarkable!
Our server was incredibly professional and knowledgeable and helped us order progressive style to fit our timing needs. We had the charcuterie tray and mussels to start, which were amazing. Each of us had a different entrée and shared several sides. There is not one thing we would not re-​order again. My husband says he dreams about the burger!
I am so happy we returned to try this restaurant again and had such a lovely experience.

The two stars I gave are because my chop chop salad actually tasted good.
Let me start with my actual review of everything else though, Thursday’s in Birmingham are a popular night so walking in this large establishment with so much seating and ambiance you’d think it would be packed right? NOPE literally thought I walked in the wrong place at first. Soon figured out why this has come to be.
So we are a party of about 20 and the only people there. You’d think the wait staff would be more than happy to pitch in seeing as they had nothing better to do. Don’t worry they found something better to do which is move their dining room around to accommodate an event there the next day, right in the middle of our dinner party. So just imagine 20 people no other tables seated with 7 wait staff members all around moving tables and basically interrupting our dinner.
HERES THE KICKER! We had 1 waitress for our whole party who brought out each dish herself which took about 15 min to serve us all it was horrendous and ridiculous to see THAT many people working on something else and her walking back and forth to the kitchen to bring 1 – 2 plates out at a time. Needless to say there was no point of asking for anything extra bc she was already overwhelmed. You’d think the manager would have never allowed something like that to occur but the MANAGER WAS THE ONE HAVING THEM ALL WORK ON MOVING DINING ROOM FURNITURE AND HAVING 1 WAITRESS HELP US.
What a shit experience. Sucks because the LONGGGGG awaited food was actually decent.
NEVER EVER again though. Sorry not sorry.

Had a group of five people out for dinner. As the price of a restaurant goes up, my expectations of culinary happiness go up as well. The entrees were good but definitely over priced. $ 30+ for 3 scallops… Delicious, but not exactly $ 30 worth what I paid. The sous-​vide filet was very good, but not worth $ 45 for 6 oz of meat that you couldn’t distinguish from a filet that was prepared any other way. The drinks were excellent however dessert was a bit hit or miss. Apps were very good.
Overall food was good enough, service excellent, but priced a bit too high. Maybe because it’s Birmingham. I wish I could give just under four stars because it’s definitely better than three.

Went for brunch yesterday. The food was great. The ambience was great. The service was great. I look forward to going here again.

It’s a really nice place
The food is very delicious
We had the halibut dish and a steak dish
Three trio side dishes (Brussels sprout, mashed potato, quinoa)
The ginger ice cream was amazing
Excellent service friendly waiter/

A little pricey but decent food. Good happy hour drink specials. Opentable made our reservation easy.

This place has been open since September 2013 & we discovered it in May 2014 Transferring this review from my old Unilocal account. Outstanding — «OUR kind of place.» Very classy w/​cozy & intimate corners. Fabulous craft cocktails, extensive wine & microbrew lists. Dual menus — bar/​restaurant — are a perk, with interesting selections. We opted to try a variety with a few from each menu. Seafood sausage, toasted oysters, scallop sandwich (FABULOUS!), burger & «sides» — Brussels sprouts, Mac & cheese, spaghetti squash were standouts. Our server Rudy was actually a master crafter of cocktails behind the bar & extremely knowledgable, friendly & accommodating. Owner John Kelly stopped by to check on us. GREAT overall experience — highly recommended!

Their claim of having a separate «vegan menu» is a bit of false advertising, and is kind of obnoxious. We chose this place for a large gathering partially because of their claim of a such a menu. When we arrived and inquired about getting the menu, the waiter pointed to the bottom of the page of the regular menu, where you will find a handful of vegetarian side dishes. That’s all. Most of these options are available at any steakhouse, without the advertising tactic.
Aside from the fact that none of the carnivores were very wowed, or that the service was cloying, it is an a-​ok place, albeit pretty expensive.

Sigh… There are about half a dozen Birmingham restaurants about on par with this one: good ambience, cool bar, great drink selection… So why the sigh?
The food at all of these places is decent but uninspired; at a price point that leaves me wanting something more.
The meal– meat board, cheese plate, Brussels sprouts salad. The meat board was decent, reasonable selection but a LOT of pâté. Good thing I like that stuff. The cheese board had some big chunks of cheese, but all of it was rather bland I-​can-​get-​more-​interesting-​cheese-​at-​Costco stuff.
Finally the Brussels sprout salad was steamed. Dude, it’s 2015, everyone knows that you pan fry the B sprouts because it tastes about 1 billion times better. Plus, the dressing was sweet, a bit more than I care for on a salad. In fact we steered clear of a number of menu items due to implied/​stated sweetness. Now if that’s your thing, eat and be merry. I’ll look for my savory elsewhere.
The highs: cocktails, bar, liquor selection
The lows: food vs price
The bottom line: I’ll come for a drink pre/​post eating elsewhere.

We went for a Valentine’s Day dinner. There were some great highlights and a few items leaving something to be desired, hence the only 4 stars.
My pre-​dinner Maker Mark’s Old Fashioned was one of the best I have ever had. The whole ice ball is a great touch. Started with the baked brie app and it was just ok, nothing special. Also tried the trio tasting of soups, with the pheasant soup being my favorite. My date had the chop salad which was good. We had the duck and the tenderloin for entrees. Both were stellar, with the duck being amazing. The breast had a thick layer of fat which I love and was perfectly cooked. We had the thyme roasted pineapple ice cream for desert, which was great! It had a combo of flavors that was unique and really interesting, in a good way.
Overall, it was a really good meal.

Thanks to the professionalism of the GM John, we paid The Stand a second visit and it was Great. This time there was just the two of us, I had the Wagyu and he had the filet. Each entrée were good although we both agreed mine was better :) The asparagus was plump and colorful plus the mushroom mirepoix accompanying my entrée was perfect.
The wine list is fulfilling catering to Napa wines which are my favorite. There were two stars this evening, the desserts and warm oysters. Crème Brûlée and mulled wine sorbet
This place has potential because the ambiance is perfect, noise level is low (which is rare in busy restaurants), there’s obviously passionate management and a love for good food in the kitchen.
The only downside was again service. Slow for drinks. When we were leaving our waitress took our valet ticket saying she would have the car pulled around while we finished our bottle of wine. Car wasn’t there and the valet said she never gave him the ticket.

Located on Woodward one block from downtown Birmingham, the restaurant is within short walking distance from the shops. The large restaurant includes several dining areas and each is uniquely and beautifully appointed.
Service was amazing — from the first greeting to the final good-​bye, and every moment in between — it enhanced the overall experience. My waiter was incredibly gracious and provided helpful suggestions.
At a recent lunch, the meal began with fragrant and flavorful curry onion bread. Baked on the premises, the bread was creative and delicious and complemented my entrée, Wagyu sirloin. The steak was cooked perfectly, boldly seasoned, and served with green beans and Brussels sprouts. The latter was a much-​appreciated substitute. Other items on the lunch menu include soups, sandwiches, salads, and several vegan options.
There were several tempting items on the dessert menu and the carrot cake sounded good. The multi-​layer cake with cream cheese frosting, flavored with lime, was moist and delicious.
After such a great experience, I am already planning a return visit. Both the Matinée and dinner menus look amazing.

New place, new owners, new menu, and better food than the former restaurant at this location. The server was very nice and explained that the meats are all smoked in house and recommended the Grilled Pastrami.
The sandwich really was quite delicious. The meat did have a smokey flavor, you didn’t have to search to much. You’ll taste it quickly. The smokey flavor has a good balance to it and the creamy slaw compliments it well. The smokey flavor gives the sandwich it’s uniqueness since the meat traditionally isn’t smoked.
If you’re curious about their soups, they offer a soup sampler that includes all three: Italian Wedding, Lobster Broth, and Corn Chowder. Each one is uniquely different from each other in flavor and texture. The Italian Wedding is light with a delicious broth and featuring fresh vegetables and hearty Italian meatballs. In contrast, the lobster broth is very silky and smooth, heavier than the Italian Wedding, and rich with lobster flavor and chunks of lobster meat. Lastly to the furthest in contrast, the corn chowder that is heavy and think with a cream base and extremely textured with corn and cuts of ham.
I was also very excited to see attention and an effort made in having a vegetarian/​vegan menu. The items sounded absolutely delicious, but all the entrees lacked a crucial component, protein. None of them had any protein in the dish, therefore, I would bet the dish tastes outstanding, but I would also bet you’ll be hungry in an hour. I mentioned it to my server who discussed it with one of the chefs who said they would review the ingredients to improve it. It has so much potential.