Canal House - Birmingham

If I could give 0 stars I would. This restaurant hired my group as entertainment for the night, and refused to pay us because we didn 't tell them how to appropriately staff their restaurant. Not my job, I 'm only hired as entertainment. Do your research. I as a business owner myself (outside of entertainment) would never consider asking my clients how many people I should bring to a job site. Asking us how to staff their restaurant also sets the stage for The Canal House to backtrack and say Well we can 't pay you x because we had to staff all these extra people. If I need to make those decisions for you, you should hire me as a manager and pay me appropriately for that too. So instead, they let us show up, set up, and entertain for over three hours just to tell us at the end of the night that they never planned on paying us. Dirty tactics. Oh, and it also took them an hour to make and bring out some mozzarella sticks. Crappy restaurant with even crappier management and owners. This isn 't the first instance of this type of thing happening either, just a first for us (first time we entertained there). We have plenty of entertainer musician friends who have similar stories from this place as well as their partner restaurant bar The Exchange in Rockaway which they own too. I 'd highly recommend that nobody spends their money here.

We Come here often and love the bartenders but a majority of chairs are unsafe because they have legs so bent in people fall off them when the legs give out. One of the sweet bartenders Amy actually pulled me off a chair on NYE fearing for my safety and got me a new chair. Would like to see some new safe chairs added to the bar.

Party of six. Each person's food came 10 minutes apart and took forever. The drinks came one or two at a time and it took about an hour to even get your drink after ordering. It wasn't that busy either. Even after the staff was told several times that both bathrooms were out of soap, nothing happened all night. They need to really focus on efficiency and procedures. This could be a very good place.

I've been frequenting the Canal House for several years now, which started with my attending their Tuesday evening Trivia events. They also feature 50 cent wings on Tuesdays, and $2 Bud/Bud Light drafts as long as the Mets or Yankees are on TV. How can you lose??? Wings are great size, and complimented by zingy hot sauce that doesn't taste like it just came out of a jar. If you're still hungry, the nachos are a huge hit as well. Monster pile of fresh tortilla chips with a blend of cheese, meat as ordered, and guac/sour cream/peppers. It's enough for a group of four, in all honesty, and very reasonably priced. I've heard great things about the burgers and club sandwiches, but I've never tried one. I can say they look fantastic as they pass by being served to other patrons. Ashley is the best bartender you could ask for, very attentive and full of humor and good spirits. Get out and try the great food and spirits at The Canal House. It's tucked away off Main Street, so you can easily pass it by! I do see some very negative older reviews, but I believe they revamped the menu, made some kitchen personnel changes, and are really on the right track.

My wife and I visited the Canal House this past weekend and I really have mixed feelings about the place. The positives...1)The place looks great, especially from the outside. There's a big parking lot which is really convenient. The restaurant is big, plenty of room. 2)We sat at the bar and had drinks and a couple of small plates. The beer selection was great, good IPA's on tap. The crab cake appetizer was also excellent. The negatives...1)The bar was completely unorganized. The girl working there was not supposed to be working the bar and was clearly not happy about it. 2)As other wait staff came in to get drinks, there seemed to be either confusion or at the least uncomfortableness which the patrons at the bar could feel. 3)The small plate of steamers left much to be desired. There was no reason to add bacon to this dish. As we were leaving, other customers mentioned how they were disappointed in the place. It's the kind of place that you want to like, but just wasn't this past weekend. Maybe we'll give it another shot, but probably not.