Backbone Restaurant

My first time here about 2 months ago was great. Sat at the bar for lunch waited a little bit but there was only the bar tender taking care of the floor so I understood got my food, that was very very good, and then was comped my beer for the wait that was long but not so long that I was complaining. Now the second time I was there was about two weeks ago for dinner with my husband. The food (I had ordered the same burger as the first since it was so good) did not tasted good and wasn’t cooked right. The waitress was great however and checked on us regularly. I would say good but not consistent for the food. It’s a place now that I might go back to but would never go out of my way to eat at or bring people to.

I tried Backbone Grub because of the convenience but will never return. Ordered ribs and they were so dry we had to send them back (I believe another customer sent another plate of ribs back as well). Ordered the French Onion soup and it tasted like it was made from Au Jus that had evaporated into a salty brine. The Cubano my wife ordered had tasty pulled pork but it was nothing like a Cubano sandwich that should be pressed and made golden brown. The final insult was when I watched the manager go to the cooking line and touch the waiting sandwiches with her bare unwashed hands as she added the sauces. I’m giving one star because the dining room was clean.

Servers need better training. Apparently dropping a item on the floor and placing it back on the table for customer use is acceptable here. Female server must be have a bad day as she seemed apathetic. Good thing the food was fine.

Went here twice while staying at hotel next door. Service was terrible and both times order was wrong. Not going here again.

When we got here for lunch, we were the only customers here. If I’d have never eaten here before, I’d be worried by the lack of patrons.
The burger was flavorful and cooked to perfection (I’m picky and need my meat well done) the sweet potato fries were nothing special, but not nasty.
We had good service and I recommend this restaurant for a casual lunch or dinner.

I stayed at the hotel next door but decided to have my husband pick up our food instead of waiting for room service. We only tried the backbone salad which was good and some fries which were also good. The chicken on the salad was nicely seasoned but there was a slight fishy smell to the dressing. Not sure if it was an ingredient but so far we feel fine… this is a nice convenient choice if you are staying close by.

The food is pretty sub par and the drinks are very pricey. The staff has never been to great either. We had a rehearsal dinner once and the bride and groom were served dead last and the food was cold. It was actually really bad service for us being a 30 top private party. I wouldn’t recommend anyone go there for any reason.

I had lunch there this week, good, friendly service. Excellent ribs and a really good cider. I had no complaints about anything. Gourmet? No, but a good lunch at a good price in a nice atmosphere. I don’t think food that is delivered should be a reason to diss a sit down restaurant.

Had family staying at La Quinta. They were tired and wanted to stay at the hotel so we chose to eat here. Terrible choice. I wish I would’ve spoke up and offered to drive them into town.
No one was thrilled with their food. The décor was not great. Wobbly table, slow service. The food was barely tolerable, but we were hungry. I didn’t feel great after it.
With all the great choices here, I’m sad we wasted a meal here.

UPDATE #2
Just had to knock this place down a star. It was getting a little better but our last visit was bad. The service at the Backbone is consistently horrible. The only reason we keep returning is that it is very near our house. The waitress got half of our orders wrong and never checked in to fill our drinks. She just disappeared in the back. She was rude and just bad at her job. This is common for most of the waitstaff employed at the Backbone. The food was gross as well. I really hope they get some better waitstaff and cooks someday but at this point I have no hope for the Backbone.
(UPDATE
This place is getting better! I bumped it from 1 to 3 starts. Don’t get me wrong it’s far from amazing but I was glad I gave it another shot. The food was good but the service still needs lots of work.
(UPDATE)
This place was right next to our house so we were so excited that we had a restaurant within walking distance!
Don’t think of this place as a restaurant. Think of it as a hotel bar that serves food and you will only be slightly disappointed.
I tried this place 4 times.
First Time: Food was all just frozen, fried and tasteless. We ordered a glass of wine, and it showed up warm, not room temperature but actually warm like it had been stored next to a heater or something. Service sucked.
Second Time: Food was ok but still frozen and fried. Service sucked.
Third Time: Showed up at 9:00pm and was told that they were closing early. The sign clearly stated that the restaurant was open until 10:00pm. We walked there so it was very disappointing to have to walk back and then drive some place to get some food. The wait staff just wanted to go home early. Again the staff sucks.
Forth Time: Like I said this place is really close and we really want it to be good so we keep trying it… The food was better yet but by this time we know what to avoid. The service was still bad. They just talk the whole time at the bar and are never around when you show up to the restaurant.
Like I said this place should really be classified as a hotel bar that serves food. My hope is they shut down soon so another restaurant can give this location a go.
Food specific notes:
Sweet potato fries: Gross
French fries: Ok
Turkey Burger: So nasty
Fried Chicken: Ok, but not as good as KFC like they claim
Fish Sliders: Good
Vegetable Medley: Good, lots of butter and Parmesan so not super healthy
Buffalo Burger: Good
French Dip: Ok
Beer: Amazing Grim Brothers Rocks

I would give this restaurant ZERO stars if I could. DO NOT eat here. I stayed at the La Quinta next door (literally 30 feet away). The food was supposed to be delivered in 20 minutes and it took 45, and it was terrible.
My husband and I ordered the calamari, hot wings, Thai peanut appetizer, and a burger. There was no salt on the meat at all, they forgot toppings, and it was well done when I ordered medium. It was the blandest burger I’ve ever had, and my husband couldn’t eat it either (and he’ll eat ANYTHING). How do you mess up a BURGER!!!
As for the other food, the hot wings had the sauce on the side and were extremely over fried. The sauce, by the way, was a mixture of marinara and tabasco, just terrible. The calamari was the worst, also over fried, and tasted like a tire.
The ONLY thing worth eating was the Thai peanut appetizer, but it was clear that the restaurant just microwaved some sauce and put some cabbage next to the sauce container. And although I’ve said it was worth eating, that’s because I hadn’t eaten since lunch. After about 4 bites I was done.
AVOID THIS DISGUSTING RESTAURANT AT ALL COSTS.

The wait staff is really nice! They make sure you are taken care of and that things are the way you like it. The food however is far from the best. I was a lot nicer with my note on the receipt, but basically it was like eating a salt lick! Everything was over cooked and had WAY too much salt on it. Seemed like they fried everything that they could and over fried it!
If you go, just order a basic appetizer (one of the cheap ones) and beer! The beer is where it is at! Local brew’s so that helps a lot, but the Gourmet «Grub» is the joke of the name! Go down the street to Rock Yard! So much better and worth the «drive!»

The service was good. The steak pear blue salad was good too. The calamari was not bad but nothing to write home about. The fried pickles were interesting and good. The santa fe burger was great! The sweet potato fries would have been good if served hot or even warm. Would go back to try it again.

Beer is great… Stick with beer though.

Great fried pickles and great food!

Hmmm. Grimms Bros beer — yeah baby! Add the good beer with the good service and atmosphere and this place earns three stars. Always willing to support a West Loveland business. I haven’t found a dish I was crazy about… Yet. But I’ll keep trying.

First off, the two star review is not because of the food. The food is good and some of it is even great. The two star review is of the overall experience. We arrived at 11:15 on a Sunday. At most restaurants in town, this would mean long waits due to the «after church crowd» but here, we were the only customers beside something going on it their ballroom downstairs. That alone should have alerted us to the issue we would soon encounter.
We were seated promptly (the waitress had just come out of the kitchen and saw us) and the waitress at first seemed attentive by getting our drink orders and taking our order once she delivered our drinks. Then comes the wait… and the wait… and waiting some more. All said, it took over 30 minutes to get our food delivered to the table (and one meal was on the «quick lunch» menu. For being the only people in there, this was annoying. Then during all the waiting, we go to hear the staff in the back (thru the employee doors), taking about their life and chatting in general. Then a waitress sat at the bar taking loudly on her phone to a friend. I know more about the staff and their love lives than I care too. We saw at least one person walk in and leave because ALL the staff was in the kitchen most of the time except the waitress on her cell phone who didn’t help the guy. A restaurant should ALWAYS have at least a hostess up front. The owners need to watch «Restaurant Stakeout» and take some tips from the show. Their staff needs A LOT of work. These ladies were getting paid to chat and talk on their phones instead of helping the customers. I mean, even an update like «your food is going to be ready soon» would have been nice. Leaving a customer unattended for 30 minutes is not okay.
We were also frigid since it was only low 60’s outside and they had the air conditioner on the entire time. It was chilly in the restaurant. Again, we enjoyed the food (fish and chips and burgers) but due to the service (or lack there of), we most likely will not return. As we were leaving we saw a group of 4 come in and we «wished them luck on their wait». They stared at us with perplexed looks but I’m sure they realized very shortly what we were talking about.

We went to the Grimm Brothers 3-​Course Beer Dinner Benefiting Hearts & Horses meal and had a great time. We loved the beer from Grimm Brothers and the food was good. The staff is a little off with greetings and follow ups, but friendly.

Had a much-​anticipated lunch there yesterday. I will be back hoping for better, but left disappointed. Server was not particularly attentive, and downright slow at times, during a pretty sedate lunch hour rush. I am a fish taco lover, ordered those, grilled, with the homemade potato chips. Chips were good. Tacos were okay — expected something recognizable as flakes/​chunks of fish, but the fish was almost ground-​up looking, and dripping with oil. Only ate 2 of the 3 tacos. Got tea, and water. Finished the tea, and it sat empty for most of the rest of the meal.
There were some other items on the menu that looked appealing, hope to have a better experience next time.

I give this a positive review because one of my best friends bar tends here. But other wise… its okay.
Decent food. Decent ambiance. Has a bizarre feel to it though. Something is just off. Not much to choose from on their menu.
Has only Grimm’s beer (local brewery), so if you are excited about a big selection of beers on tap, you are out of luck