The new restaurant in Legacy Village, Granite City creates an awesome modern restaurant-bar scene. Just don’t expect marvelous service from the employees.

The restaurant has very dim lighting and is designed in a modernized way which gives off a very calming, wonderful ambiance.

The growlers sitting in the walls and the fermentation machines automatically let you know that the restaurant is obviously a brewery.

Granite City is divided into many parts. There’s a big bar in the middle of the restaurant and there are tables surrounding the bar as well as booths in the back section of the restaurant.

The menu is full of delicious American cuisine with really good bar food. Granite City could be seen as an even more modernized version of the restaurant J. Alexander’s.

J. Alexander’s basically contains the same kind of cuisine, except it’s not a brewery and it has obviously been around longer than Granite City.

The food at Granite City is very good, served fresh, delectable and nicely plated.

“The pricing was fair and the portions were perfect, they weren’t too big or too small,” said sophomore Tommy Madden.

The spinach artichoke dip served with ciabatta toast as an appetizer ($9.95) consists of melted cheese with spinach, chunks of artichoke and blended cheeses, along with slices of cibatta bread toasted and garlic baguettes. I thought it was a good idea to give both, allowing people to have different flavors with the dip. The dish was priced well for all they give you.

The spinach artichoke dip was very delicious and appetizing, it makes a great appetizer for spinach dip lovers.

The GC classic burger ($9.95) was very indulging, charbroiled to perfection as they mention in the menu. It was cooked with very little pink and it still had that delicious juicy taste and wasn’t dry at all. Usually a burger comes out a little too dry when you ask for it well-done.

The lettuce was fresh, the tomatoes were perfectly ripe and cherry red and the French fries were very tasty with a hint of salt for flavor and were just as satisfying without any ketchup added. The fries complimented the burger perfectly.

“I thought the food was really good and the atmosphere was modern and really cool. It turned out to be more of a restaurant than a bar, which was unexpected for me,” Madden said.

The service from the beginning was frightening. This restaurant is missing the welcoming, enthusiastic attitude they should have towards customers.

The waitress looked as if someone had forced her to do her job without paying her and she was refraining from walking out of the joint.

The service for the food was also bad, very slow and never once did a staff member check to see how things were going or if anything was needed.

There is nothing outgoing about the staff at Granite City. However they had a lot of knowledge about the menu and specials going on and were willing the share with their straight faces and monotone voices. The staff takes away from the inviting display the restaurant creates.

Although the service is not fantastic, the food and experience is worth going for, everything about the restaurant is inviting except for the staff.