Barking Dog Bar & Grill

User Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

We met another couple at the Barking Dog last Saturday. I called on Friday. They said no reservations but call-aheads by 1 hour were acceptable. We called an hour before we planned to eat. They mentioned it was very busy and suggested it may be a little longer than 1 hour but that was fine. We entered through the back where there is sufficient parking. Immediately the young lady who was the hostess greeted us. We told her our name and said we had called ahead. She said they didn't have our name. I then advised we called about 1/2 hour before we arrived and planned to have a beer with our friends. She again said she didn't have our name but said our friends put their name in? I said well we did call. Then she said well who did you speak with. I said I don't know I just gave our name. She said well you didn't speak with me or I would have wrote it down. This went on for a few more minutes. My wife finally said I'm confused, we called ahead and want to have dinner hear can we get a table or not? She then says well I put your friends name in and your 2nd on the list for a table??? Are you kidding me? This girl argued with us for 3-4 minutes about something that didn't matter anyway! Note to Hostess....when a customer plans on spending money in your restaurant, don't argue. Assuming someone forgot to write our name in the call ahead log....just apologize and advise the best you can do. Most people understand this! When she came to seat us about 20 minutes later, she had cleared a table in the Bar. It was quite crowded and noisy. We asked if we could have a seat in the dining area. She said if we wanted to wait another 20 minutes! A table of about 10 people was clearing out the dining room...we said how about part of that table? She said no. We said OK and sat down at the bar table. 3 minutes later she came and told us she had converted the big table into 2 smaller tables and we could now sit in the dining area. First thing she did right!!!

Now to the Food. The Mac and cheese was very good. We tried this as an appetizer. The mushroom soup was also very good. The Flank steak didn't seem like the best cut but was I wrong....this was very good. The rice was bland and the Spinach was pretty good. My wife had a scallop special which she didn't care for. The other couple had the filet and reported it was good.
We all split their famous cinnamon bun desert which tasted very good with ice cream and caramel.

Overall the restaurant/bar is fairly noisy. Our waitresses were great (both in bar and restaurant). The hostess was almost horrible.....she did get us into the dining room eventually....that was her only save! The food appears to be hit or miss. I would say 3 out 4 is not bad. The prices were not too bad. We spent $75/couple with 1 drink each in the restaurant. There is a very good beer selection. I would have gone to four stars except for the horrible hostess. Skip her and you may have a better experience! Take the bark out of the hostess and try this on a weeknight would be my recommendation!

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User Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

having been living in town for quite a while i usually go to portsmouth but lately i find myself staying in town and going to the barking dog. the staff there is first rate and friendly . paul is a great mgr. as well as humourous . the food is reasonably priced and the drinks are really great. the bartenders are friendly and fun to talk to. great place to watch a game on a saturday.over all the staff is great.

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

great family restaur...: great family restaurant, one of our kids' favorites.

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