The Great American Pub

This is extraordinarily difficult to write. I have had three experiences here in about 3 or 4 years, so I am not a regular. This place seems to be searching for its purpose: roadhouse tavern or? They definitely improved upon the previous Casey’s, even if they eliminated the excellent crab cakes; they have a genuine smoker out back and apparently somebody knows how to use it. Most recently, I had the pit beef upon recommendation of the waitress and she was spot on. It was superb. The fries, always important, were good too, and the Scotch Ale was first in class in my opinion. However, on all three occasions, it seems that the sit down diners take a back seat to the bar patrons; there is much attention paid to those sitting and standing in the bar area, at the expense of service to the tables. Some waits (for refills, checks, etc…) are prohibitively long. What a shame.

Way too greasy! Ended up throwing more than half the meal away

I went to the great American pub in Paoli for lunch. I had a salad and mac and cheese, I would highly recommend visiting this location for the food, atmosphere and the terrific staff. Even tho the restaurant had other patrons, the staff made me feel as tho my friend and I were the only ones there. Thank you for making my very first experience a wonderful one. We will be back very soon. Marie

Standard Definition of Brunch: A meal between breakfast and lunch
Great American Pub’s Definition: A meal you order during breakfast, and get after lunch
To be fair, we were in a big group (about 2 dozen people) for my brother’s birthday party. The brunch was pre-​booked weeks in advance. The restaurant has a big room in the back, which has two big tables that can sit about 20 apiece (40 total). It seems that they should be prepared under these circumstances, right? They weren’t.
A main selling point of the brunch is the $ 15 all-​you-​can-​drink beverage option, which included bloody marys, mimosas, sangria and screwdrivers, along with non-​alcoholic options. When we arrived in the back room, one of the waitresses asked if we wanted to partake, which we did and ordered a round of bloody marys. The first drink came in a reasonable time, but in a small glass with lots of ice and no straw (I had to ask for one afterwards). Having the back room reserved, we had some time to socialize before eating. The 2^nd drink also came in a reasonable time, still small, still no straw (I had to transplant my straw from the first drink).
To this point, things were a little awkward but not awful. Once it was time to sit down, everything changed.
There were two waitresses working the room. Before taking orders, we were informed that each person would only have one waitress serving them (whichever one took their original drink order). This silly rule didn’t only create an unnecessary bottleneck, it created a series of awkward conversations consisting of:
«Can I please get a refill?»
«It depends, did you order a drink from me or the other girl when you came in?»
«I ordered from you»
«OK, I’ll get you another Bloody Mary»
Two things to note in the above exchange:
1) Even though it was an open bar, you had to order each drink individually, which they would have to retrieve from the bar. Why are you accounting for every single drink? Why is each drink being made on demand? They were able to streamline mimosa operations, but everything else was made-​to-​order. For a group of this size, there should have been making bloody marys by the pitcher. At a bare minimum, serve the drinks in bigger glasses to reduce the need for refills. By the way, the Bloody Marys used Bankers Club vodka (which tasted surprisingly decent); why are you trying to ration bottom shelf booze?
2) When you placed your original drink order, not only were you unknowingly committing to your server for the rest of the meal, but you were also committing to the same drink. If you asked for a different drink, you were told that it wasn’t allowed, but they *might* make an exception for you. Seriously? Again, there should just be pitchers going around that the waitress pours into your cup. Why are you making this into a bigger ordeal than it has to be?
The food service was more of the same. Everybody ordered their $ 10 – 15 menu-​items from their assigned waitress. Considering the group’s size, it was understandable that it took 20 minutes for the food to *begin* coming out; however, it was only a few plates. Afterwards, another 1 – 2 plates would come out every 5 minutes or so. In total, it took more than an hour before the last people were served. By the time the final people got their food, the early-​recipients already finished their meals and had their leftovers boxed. Seriously, if the waitstaff or the kitchen can’t handle a group of this size, just admit defeat and serve a buffet.
In theory, the «assigned» waitress would provide more personalized service. However, neither waitress could remember any orders of their 12 assigned customers (perhaps because the customers were split in the least logical way possible?). When they entered the room with a plate of food, they would indiscriminately yell the menu item and wait for the customer to raise their hand.
Of course, with all of this going on, the drink service suffered even further. The average person was only able to have one or two drinks during the 1.5 hour failure-​theater. Not a single water cup was refilled; everyone had to get a pitcher themselves to refill their own glass. All requests for coffee were met with «I’ll have to get a fresh pot going»; what are the odds that all coffee requests were made immediately after the coffee ran out? By the end, some people acquiesced and walked over to the bar and paid for a beer, even though there was an hour of «open bar» remaining.
The *only* step that they streamlined for a large group was 20% automatic gratuity.

This is my New favorite comfort food spot… As soon as I walked in, I was greeted at the door with a smile & escorted to a booth. They had a band playing which made me enjoy my stay even more. The waitress was very attentive. She explained to me the drink & food specials. I ordered a Stella (which were on special) & my husband ordered a Moscow Mule which let me just say was Excellent!!!
We ordered the Fried Calamari & cheese steak spring rolls for our appetizer. Both which came out perfect & tasted great. For as busy as it was here, all of our food came out great! I ordered the GAP/​Brisket Mac & Cheese sandwich Which was Out Of This World & my husband ordered Crabmeat & Shrimp Linguini. My husband is very picky & he ate everything off of his plate, so that says a lot for this restaurant.
Overall, I am pleased with my experience here. Not only will we be coming back but I will be recommending it to all of our family & friends. Great job!!!

The owners are a couple of trust fund babies that were handed a restaurant to manage and they treat their employees like trash. Kitchen is not sanitary I would never eat there, the meat in the walk in fridge just sits on the ground.

This was our second or third try. Had dinner, service slow, order mixed up, food lukewarm. Ordered turkey with mashed potatoes & gravy. When it came out, not hot & about a teaspoon of gravy, forgot salad. Brisket sandwich came out cold, chips instead of fries when we specifically asked for fries. And that’s after we waited over 30 minutes for our order. Waitress blamed the kitchen & too many tables to wait on. She also failed to give refills on our drinks. This was their last chance. We won’t be back.

Had lunch today and for the price of dinner we had lunch. The food wasn’t bad but the place was empty so maybe they should cut the prices. I’d rather hit a few other places rather than here.

My wife and I came in 2 hours before closing, but the restaurant was empty so we considerately asked if the kitchen was still open. One of the three people behind the bar answered yes. After having seated ourselves, 15 minutes had gone by and we still hadn’t even gotten menus. I attempted to make eye contact with the bar staff to see whether we were being ignored purposely or if it was simple forgetfulness. After failing to make eye contact for about 3 minutes, and not wanting spit or snot in our food courtesy of a vindictive wait staff who clearly did not want us there, we opted just to leave. The icing on the cake was that on our way out, a bartender sarcastically thanked us for coming. We would have been happier if they just lied to us and said the kitchen was closed, rather than to waste our time. I’d say we would never come here again, but technically we haven’t even been here once.

July 29, 2015 will be my last visit to this pub. Kimberly, the waitress with the worst attitude in the universe, gets blatantly rude when asked for separate bills. She rolls her eyes, grabs the check and stomps away like a petulant child. I’ve complained to management about this before, but her behavior does not change and she remains employed. Also, the dining area was fly-​infested. Not sure which was more unpleasant, the fly infestation or Kimberly. Either way, I won’t be back.

I’ve really never had a great experience here. It is always empty, which is nice for quick seating and food delivery. Staff has always been very nice and helpful.
Beer selection is decent, as expected at a pub.
The food is really what brings this establishment down to only two stars for me. GO WITH STRAIGHT PUB FOOD HERE – burgers, fries, mozzarella sticks, etc. otherwise you will be surely disappointed. We ordered the spinach crab dip once and it was a weird yellow cheese with flavorless crab meat, if it was even in there. Crab cake sandwich was decent. My boyfriend got the pulled pork and said he likes it as well. The pizza is not very flavorful – I got the margherita once. It wasn’t bad per se but I’d rather hit up a local pizza joint for probably what would be a third of the cost.

Hadn’t been here in quite a while, since it was Casey’s. My first visit a few weeks ago was pleasant. Service from the bartender was great, burger was good. Went back yesterday — service at the bar was really disappointing. Food was OK. French onion soup was delicious, and seemed home-​made, though the cheese was really thick and difficult to manage. Salad was meh — dressing left a lot to be desired.
I will continue to go back because the food is pretty good and it’s convenient and easy for an ‘older’, single person who doesn’t feel up to the noise of The Flying Pig to grab a meal and a drink.

The fiancée and I have tried the Pub out a few times at this point, and we constantly leave without anything to say but «meh.»
First, the place is large, which is great when they’re busy, but each time we’ve been there it’s been practically empty. Also, it’s definitely a place for the «older» crowd — at 30 and 31, we were the youngest people in the entire establishment, and clearly didn’t fit in with the 50+ year olds starting their weekends with 6+ beers each.
The beer list is good, but served way too cold. I’m not what you would even call a «beer snob,» but their kegs are served right around freezing, which makes excellent beers basically taste like Coors Light.
The food is good, which earns a star: brisket burger was solid (albeit light on the brisket), and the truffle fries and chips are really great.
The staff was friendly and attentive, although with how empty the place was, it would be pretty impossible for her NOT to be checking on us every 5 – 10 minutes.
After giving it a few tries, we’ll probably stick to the Flying Pig (Malvern, just down King Rd) or TJ’s (Paoli, about ½ mile away on Lancaster Ave.). Both places blow TGAP out of the water in nearly every category.

Great American Pub is going downhill. This has always been one of our favorite places to eat but in the last 6 months the food has started getting more expensive an charging extra for everything. The waitresses though very nice have gotten incredibly slow! I never had this issue in the past. if the place was busier I’d understand but slow service when there are only 3 full tables is not ok.

My husband and I are generally easy to please. We went for the first time last night. The Maryland crab fries were way overpriced for not a very large serving and the dipping cheese was gross. My husband’s burger was ok (Cobb burger) but my brisket burger was really tough and dry, I couldn’t eat it. Lots of small thing irritated us, like our snarky waitress, the onions in my burger were sliced way too thick so that I reeked of onions all night, the death-​metal music playing (really???)… Will definitely NOT go back and we live 2 mins away. Drive a few minutes to Landmark in Wayne and get a real burger and the best crab fries ever. .or TJs even closer. I predict this place won’t last long.

We were there for the Eagles/​Dallas game. Food was average to poor, beer was so so. Service: our waitress was a Giants fan and announced it proudly. The only thing worse was that the Eagles lost!

Went to lunch today (Friday ¹¹⁄₇ at 11:40ish) with a group of 7 coworkers from a local, large company. Though we have had many group lunches there before, we were very disappointed in the service and the food today.
First, the place was empty… I saw a tumble weed roll by. We were asked when we walked in to be seated, snottily, by our future waitress, if we had a reservation. We said no, and she grudgingly seated us in a large booth, which was quite comfortable and if anything else was good about our visit, I would have enjoyed it thoroughly.
Then, we asked to have separate checks, which was met with a barely veiled aggressive stare down from our waitress. Like, are you kidding me? At check time, she grudgingly split it EVENLY between the 7 of us, which completely defeated the purpose, and it was not at all what we wanted. Mind you, there are 25+ restaurants in the local area that will provide separate checks to groups without blinking an eye.
And, the 25+ local restaurants that have identical cuisine have MUCH better food. The Palm Beach salad, along with the Tuscan Chicken Wrap (which should have been called the romaine lettuce wrap; chicken was nowhere to be found) were in dire need of dressing or some kind of sauce. The roast beef sandwich was very dry. Italian Pork was OK and the Cobb Burger was fine.
All things being equal, if our server was not passive-​aggressive, we would have tipped generously and would definitely return as this was a place we frequented. Everybody knows that if you give separate checks (and if you provide good service), you get better tips.
We have had group, company-​sponsored lunches there before, but never again!

Under new management. Had the sliced roast beef with aus jus. Stellar. Also had a sample of the beef brisket that was smoked 10 hrs! Will be back again!

Brother CAN COOK! THE best chef I have ever been graced to eat his food! My wife and I went there today for our wedding anniversary. For a starter we had homemade veggie potstickers & cheesesteak spring rolls. Best I’ve ever had. They are not store bought or frozen but FRESH. Beautiful veggies, potato cake with truffle oil, & a side of ghost peppers! THEN the trio of meat: pork chop, ribs & filet! Happy anniversary to us!
We also had great service! Will definitely return.

Went here a few times after work, the food selection is pretty good. Also a good variety of beers. The décor inside is a little fancy, but not overly so. The fish and chips, and a few apps I got were pretty good. However, during busy times (ie; Friday/​Saturday night) don’t expect to be able to even find a parking spot.