TL;DR - service and ribs made up for underwhelming aspects of an overall satisfying visit…read more
This is a nice place - probably a 3 star, but it had enough redeeming qualities that it earned a four star.
Upon entry, it was confusing: half the place is a bar, and half is family-friendly; however, there's no signage to indicate whether you seat yourself or wait to be seated. We got there around the same time as a large family got there, so we were just waiting around on the door mat, waiting dumbly. We had to wait for quite a while and there were plenty of empty tables that we could see.
Once seated, however, it was nice. Our server was the paramount of cheery welcome.
The beer samples are very affordable (like 0.50), so I got one of each beer on tap - all from Vernal Brewing Company (which was closed because Sunday). That said, there were only 3 sampling glasses - I think our server decided not to charge us for the 8 samples. Then, we got grilled cheese and Mac and cheese meals for the kids, 1/4 rack of ribs with side salad and fries.
The grilled cheese came on Texas toast (read: thick), the Mac and cheese looked a lot like Kraft white cheddar. The fries were tough (either overcooked or stale before cooked), but they tasted really good, so they ended up being a highlight. The side salad was a bowl full of lettuce with an assortment of toppings sectioned on top (sliced tomatoes, whole olives, cheese, onions, cucumber, pepperoncini) overall, not bad, but without the space to mix the greens and/or mix it with the dressing, it was unwieldy. We ended up deconstructing and taking bites of lettuce dipped in blue cheese.
The ribs were phenomenal - well cooked (juicy and tender but falling off the bone). The price we paid, however was less than optimal for a somewhat underwhelming salad and overdone fries (also, kids meals got more fries than the quarter rack of ribs).
Overall, we had a big hiking day before evening rain, so it hit the spot. Would try again, though there may be other, more value-for-the-dollar places to check out if you're in Vernal on a Sunday.