I heard a lot of great things about 54^th Street Bar and Grill, but I was not impressed at all.

The restaurant, located in the Alliance shopping center in north Fort Worth, opened up on Jan. 25 and is the chain’s second restaurant in the Metroplex; the other is in Irving.

The place is nicely set up, with a bunch of art on the wall and TVs showing Rangers and Stars games.

Normally at a bar/grill, you just seat yourself, but this one you had to wait while a server came and sat you.

It was a weeknight and I went during happy hour and was surprised that they weren’t busy at all but it still took 15 minutes for a server to come and serve us.

The server finally seated us and told us the waiter would be with us shortly.  Apparently, shortly to them means 15 to 20 minutes, because that’s how long it took us to get service.

The waiter finally came, apologized for taking so long and took my drink order. The place has 54 beers from various places around the world, but only six domestic beers (priced at $4 for 16 ounces) were available during happy hour, which was baffling to me. It started to make sense that the place wasn’t busy.

I ordered a Shiner, because we’re in Texas so why not? It still took almost 20 minutes to get it. I was starting to see a pattern. I was reluctant to order food because, while hungry, I had to wonder how long it would take me to get it.

First I ordered the gringo dip and chips ($7.29), a creamy pepper jack cheese blended with house spices and pico de gallo and served with chips and salsa. That came out real quick, but I wasn’t impressed. The chips were fine, but the salsa tastes like it came from a grocery store. I also ordered a chopped brisket sandwich ($8.99) because I love brisket, but even that wasn’t that good. It tasted dry and plain.

The restaurant was very quiet, but if you’re looking for somewhere to catch up on emails or homework, this isn’t the place because there is no WIFI. The staff was friendly and somewhat attentive, although they seemed too on edge for a place where only three or four tables were being used.

Most bar and grills have music blaring on the speakers no matter what day of the week, but 54^th didn’t.  It seems to appeal more to middle aged folks, although there is occasional live music on the weekends.

54^th Street Bar and Grill is located at 9251 Rain Lily Trail in the Alliance Shopping Center across from Pluckers and Cinemark Movie Theatres. The restaurant serves food 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday; drinks are served 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. For more information call 817-750-5400.