BLD

Sat here listening to obscene comments by other patrons. Hmm? Mgmt didn’t do anything to rectify or make things more comfortable. Hmm? Food is ok.

We love this place!
Christina is the best bartender!
Sometimes some sad faces come to the bar who don’t like fun, but most of the time this is a wonderful place to have brunch with friends.
If you are hung over or just down for some good food this is a wonderful place.

The absolute worst excuse for a restaurant breakfast my husband and I have ever been served. THE WORST! We went there at lunch time for breakfast because they tout that they serve it all day until close so we figured it would be cooked to order and fresh. Boy were we wrong!
I ordered biscuits and gravy which came with 2 eggs, bacon and breakfast potatoes. The 2 scrambled eggs were fine but that is where acceptable quality ends. The two biscuits were undercooked and so soggy that they melded into one mushy piece or they sat for hours and got that way. The breakfast potatoes were thick sliced fresh potatoes with no seasoning whatsoever (not even salt, pepper or butter) and had been deep fried to a crisp. Imagine the bland taste of a slice of baked potato with no seasoning, butter or anything on it? They were so dark and overcooked that neither my husband nor I could even cut through many of them and he actually bounced a couple on the table which made a smacking sound so the waitress could really tell how overcooked they were. She tld us «Well, that’s all they have put out right now.» (whatever that meant).
They were also supposed to have onions in them per the menu and because my husband did not want the onions, I made sure she knew that I did want them. Though I did not expect bland, seasonedless potatoes, the onions would have definitely added flavor. But guess what? Neither order had onions. I sent mine back both for being overcooked and because I did want the onions. The new order was not overcooked but was just as bland and seasonedless and again had no onions. The waitress shrugged and said «There’s no onions again and I don’t know why» and just walked away. We could not believe that she accepted them a second time from the cook without the onions.
Then there was the bacon. It was almost black it was so overcooked and was so dry that when you picked it up, it crumbled. Three or four pieces were curled and stuck together. You could not break them apart. When we later spoke to the Manager, she said they bake it all in the over ever day at 7 a.m. Then they apparently throw it in the deep fryer to warm it up when someone orders. (They also deep fry the potatoes). Thus we were served six hour old overcooked bacon at 1 p.m. Pretty disgusting. It appears that they hold all the food they do not sell at breakfast to support their claim to all day breakfast. One can only speculate about whether they are meeting health department standards for the temperature they hold the food at.
My husband could not eat hardly anything on his plate and the manager noted that even his scrambled eggs were overcooked. The burnt bacon he tried to eat resulted in terrible heartburn.
The young bartender-​manager eventually did the right thing but initially was very condescending and patronizing. She refused to accept our description of the bacon as overcooked or burnt and kept interrupting us (we were very courteous) to correct us by calling it «extra-​crispy» and actually rolled her eyes two or three times over our comments which were relayed quietly and very respectfully and constructively. She said she wished she had known about the issues as she perhaps could have done something such as substituting something better to our liking. When we told her that we DID ask the waitress to let the Manager know she brushed it under the table by saying «Oh, well maybe she was too busy» (the restaurant only hand a handful of diners in it at that time). Her attitude remained condescending and non-​apologetic until I asked her about the owners then everything changed. She comped our meal (which we had not asked for), gave us a $ 15 coupon to «try them again», and gave us a business card with the General Manager’s name and email address that she added to it. Thus in the end she did more than enough for us but it was a long road getting there.
I see some good comments here on Unilocal so perhaps this was an aberration but I don’t relish the thought of trying them again even to use the $ 15 coupon knowing that what is served to us may not be freshly cooked. Any chef that would put what we got on our plates in our view is not to be trusted.
We used to dine there a few years ago for lunch or dinner under the previous owners and the food was fine. It is a clean and pleasant atmosphere but we don’t like to look forward to a meal only to be disappointed. If they have a practice of holding food for hours, it is in our opinion to risky to go back both so that we are not disappointed and because of possible health risks.
Check out the two photos I posted here and see for yourself. Ask yourself if you would confidence in a chef that served you that bacon!

This is a great place. We came here for breakfast and all 4 of us had the best food. The Beni was great huevos rancheros were fabulous. Coffee was superb and the service was spot on! Perfect breakfast

Honestly, I don’t know how this place doesn’t have a better rating. As a bartender and manager myself, I am pretty judgmental about my service. Today was memorial day. One of the busier lunch shifts in a restaurant. Everyone has it off and is usually hung over. I sat at the bar by myself and was immediately acknowledged. The bartender, I don’t know her name, was quick on her feet and great with all of the customers. Phenomenal personality, well attentive, and I loved the fact that she took care of the customers for the «slow service». Even though it wasn’t slow for mw. Food is always great there. The atmosphere is nice and welcoming. The service is was does it for me though. Good job whoever you are. I’d hire you in a second!!!

I’ve been here many a times for breakfast and it’s good. However, today we sat on the patio for about 20 minutes without any of the many, many wait staff even acknowledging our presence. The wiener dog mutt friend was with us, but he was behaving amongst all the other patio dogs. It felt like we were actively being ignored when all we wanted were some eggs. After numerous meals here, this very much soured the experience. So strange.

We found this place on Internet because it has a dog friendly patio and we happened to have our dog with us outside during lunch time. Very nice place and friendly waitress. The waitress served the water and dog cookie to our dog before serving us water which I think it’s warm to the fur customer. My daughter had Fish Taco which is tasty, I ordered a Hatch Chili Hash which is yummy too except it’s a bit large portion to me. Will come back again to try other dishes.

Breakfast croissant. It was very yummy and the breakfast potatoes were baked to perfection. The only thing that was not ok was that for those three pieces of bacon I was charged $ 3.75! So keep that in mind if you order a side of bacon. Otherwise everything was awesome! We went in on a Sunday at 12 and they said it was 30 min wait for two people. We sat outside to wait and the wait only ended up being like 1 min! So that was great! Yummy! I will def be back and just not get bacon :)

I have to say this place is awesome. Dog friendly covered patio, huge indoor outdoor bar, great staff, and awesome food. Oh in did I mention breakfast all day.

Came in during lunch asked for the dinner menu they made items on that menu no problem. Service was pretty good and the food was delicious! Ill be back again.

Back at one of our favorite breakfast places. It’s packed to the rafters. Even though it’s a 45 minute wait, the staff is courteous and the restaurant is running like a well organized business.
The manager or owner is very present. Helping clear tables and seat guests. We normally wouldn’t wait this long for a table, but for breakfast here, it’s worth it.

First of all, I love the fact that they have a dog friendly patio! So we got to bring our little furbaby with us for brunch!
I ordered the margarita and the smoked turkey crossiant. This was huge and really good. I really liked the pesto aioli that it came with. My margarita was ok. Nothing special.
They also have happy hour every day which is great. 7 – 11 Monday to Friday and 3 – 7 everyday. I’ll definitely be back!

Great find!
Customer service was on point. We had a large party come through this place. Water was waiting for us when we arrived. The waitress was very knowledgable about the menu. She knew how everything tastes, how it was prepared, and could remind to the T what everyone was looking for. We had 18 people this night. Most restraints need several waitresses. We o let needed one. She kept a glasses full and was around a lot to help with whatever we needed.
Food.
Out of 18 people, not a single person had a bad item. I had the BLD burger. It was a little messier then expected, but really good. Cooked medium the way I like it with green chile pork, bacon, pepper jack cheese, and a pretzel bun. The cheesecake at the end was a huge hit as well. It had Carmel, pretzel, and health bar on top. So good. I heard many times from our group that they would all be back and it was a great place.
Go check it out!

The girlfriend and I went here for brunch. She had the omelet and customized it while I had steak burrito. Both were good and the service was decent. The sweet potato fries were amazing. I would say they were the best part of my meal. For dessert we went with the «good stuff» which was good.

BLD has been really, really good the last few times coming here, I’ve been really converted to the good side of the force.
The omelets are great, I choose the Build your own, or a southwest style. Cheese is gooey and hot, onions great, fresh and fluffy. This is a great breakfast!
Sweet potato fries are great, serving sizes are hearty, I just cannot complain one bit. I love coming here now.

Finally, I’ve found a breakfast place in Chandler that I really enjoy.
The restaurant is well decorated. The seats were comfy and spacious. I ordered a latte instead of regular coffee. It was a bit bitter even after adding sugar. Nevertheless, I was glad that I tried something different. For entrée, I ordered a Hawaiian french toast. It was fluffy, soft, covered with fine powder and slices of bananas. The syrup that they served it with was still warm. I really enjoyed it a lot. I took a bite of another order — biscuits and gravy. It was very delicious and took another 5 bites after that :)
Our server was great. She gave us refill for ice tea without asking and was super attentive. Even though she didn’t come by much towards the end of our meal, it was only because she was super busy. Overall, I think it was outstanding. I’ll definitely come back here again to try their breakfast special or dinner.

I received a giftcard for BLD and immediately looked up the menu. True to their name, they do breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The menu has a wide variety of items that all sound really good. However, I’ve only been here twice and both times for breakfast. For my first visit, I used the drive-​thru. The drive-​thru allows you to order drinks or call ahead and pick-​up your meal. I was unaware of the call ahead portion, so I just ordered their signature iced coffee and was on my way.
On my second visit, I brought my husband and his sister for breakfast. The place was extremely busy inside, so instead of waiting 15+ minutes as the hostess advised, we asked if we could sit outside. We were seated immediately and our waitress was quick to come over for drink orders. I ordered a hot vanilla latte and my sister-​in-​law asked for an iced caramel macchiato. The waitress was quick to quip that BLD’s macchiatos were nothing like Starbucks. My sister-​in-​law assured the waitress that was fine. Shortly after, the waitress came back with an iced drink and an apology that she doesn’t know how to make a macchiato and was waiting for the barista. Confused, we all thought the drink she brought might be the macchiato but it turned out to be my drink. Somehow my hot latte became an iced latte. Seeing the waitress was already frazzled, I didn’t say anything. It still tasted good. Finally, 10 minutes later, my sister-in-law’s drink arrived. It was basically a latte with tons of caramel sauce. My sister-​in-​law said it tasted bitter since the caramel wasn’t mixed in well but she liked it nonetheless. For breakfast, I ordered the chicken and waffles, my husband ordered short rib eggs benedict, and his sister ordered the chicken fried steak with no cheese on the potatoes. My fried chicken was a little dry but the waffle was delicious drench in syrup. (We had to grab syrup from another table — the waitress never brought any nor did she offer it.) My husband enjoyed his short rib eggs benedict — no real complaints. My sister-​in-​law liked her chicken fried steak, but the potatoes came with cheese despite her asking for no cheese. Near the end of the meal, the waitress finally checked in on us and our food. We asked for to-​go boxes and the check. Another 10 minutes roll by as our waitress stops by her other table and finally gets back to us. We paid using my gift card and cash.
On the drive home, my sister-​in-​law commented that she would never go back and I agreed. The food was decent, but the waitress was really inattentive and messed up several items we ordered. To be honest, the waitress acted like we weren’t worth the time and left us feeling neglected. Maybe it was an off day, but after seeing how the waitress treated her other table much better, it definitely felt deliberate. Additionally, the restaurant is more than 30 minutes away from where we live and definitely not worth the drive.

It’s a shame that I felt the need to update my review after our last visit to BLD. We used to live close by, so we’d come for happy hour quite often. I still love the sangria, although I didn’t notice it advertised on the menu anymore. I had to ask the bartender to make sure they still had it.
This time, we ordered the chorizo chili fries. We had ordered this previously and loved it. It used to come with a dollop of sour cream, green onions and tomatoes on top. It now just comes with the chili. It was super disappointing because it needs that bit of cool creaminess and crunch on top to really make this a dish worth ordering again.

We also ordered the seared ahi tuna, which we had also ordered here previously. It had about 6 slices of tuna and a blob of hummus with roasted red peppers on top. The tuna was sitting on a tasty wasabi cream sauce. When we had ordered this item before, it came with pita chips to eat the hummus with. This time, there were no pita chips in sight and the bartender told us they didn’t have them anymore at all. What is the point of wasting money by putting hummus on a plate when there is no medium by which to scoop it up? They might as well lower the food cost of the menu item and delete the hummus all together. I think if they added a sesame slaw or something on the side, it would go much better and it would actually look like a cohesive dish.
I think the problem with BLD is that they have too extensive of a menu. If they narrowed it down and concentrated on making fewer items into more stellar dishes, people would be more likely to return. That’s just my hospitality degree talking.

Brunch: Making morning binge drinking seem classy since forever.
I woke up this morning, checked my texts, and suddenly I’m at brunch with the guys and a boy [the cutest 4-​month old baby boy at that!]. Everybody ordered their food, some bussers knocked over a huge trashcan, and suddenly champagne bottles were rolling across the floor. Surprisingly, the baby doesn’t cry. Phew. Our hostess was pretty unfriendly but the waitress was a peach!
I had ordered The Cali Eggs Benedict [bacon, grilled tomato, avocado, topped with hollandaise, and includes breakfast potatoes. $ 12.25] and it was alright. The hollandaise was creamy and smooth but lacking that lemon juice tangy tartness. Still though, those eggs were poached beautifully. The bacon was also pretty fantabulous and cooked perfectly. As for a random wedge of avocado on the side, it kind of felt like they forgot to put the avocados on top and just stuck it there. Oh well. The bites I had of the House Made Biscuits and Sausage Gravy [two eggs, apple wood smoked bacon with breakfast potatoes. $ 12.75] were super flavorful. You can tastes the fat in that sausage gravy. I can see myself gaining 5lbs just eating that. Oh man. As for breakfast potatoes, there’s not much you can say about them. They’re crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and needed some ketchup love.
Overall, I had a decent brunch with great company. Perhaps with all my attention on making faces at the baby, my meal wasn’t too note-​worthy. I wouldn’t mind coming back for brunch though!

For the Women’s Cup Final, 14 of us went to BLD to watch the game and to have a drink. There were 3 parties there. Our big party, 2 women in a booth and a sad lady at the bar. We arrived a little late and it looked like my friends had ordered drinks and snacks and when the US scored, we cheered! How exciting! We loved watching sports @ BLD. Then… the female bartender «shushed» us. She shushed us? For cheering in a bar/​restaurant? In a very, very empty bar I might add. This is not a library, my friend.
Game over.
My girlfriends saw that terrible act and gesture as well and said the other bartender was giving them sass so that was the final straw. He said something along the lines of, «You guys need to be more quiet since there are other patrons here.» Right, ONE other patron. Give me a freaking break.
We asked for checks and left. The sad lady at the bar seemed to be the female bartender’s friend. She looked like a hot mess and was visibly frazzled. Sorry, not my problem. She was still drinking champagne though so it couldn’t have been THAT bad. The two girls in the booth left by the time we got our checks. They were most likely not impressed by the staff as well. It was appalling. Did something change? Ownership? Management? BLD just lost a TON of business. Yesterday and the future. It was convenient since we all work at Intel and live within a few miles. BLD you have lost patrons that used to love going to your place to watch a game. But this type of service has unraveled the fact that your menu is mediocre and over priced. We found out later that evening from a friend that BLD has had a number of food code violations. No wonder the place is empty. Link for last year’s article:
BLD — Below average, Low quality Dining. I’ll be going to The Ivy Mediterranean Lounge right next door from now on and so should all of you.