The BackYard at 160 (CLOSED)

After reading some decent reviews of this place on Menupages, a group of us decided to go check it out for dinner. It was definitely not the right choice. The setup is bizarre- there’s a bar or lounge area and then a small main room with a pizzeria and then a sushi place? Make up your mind, what are you? We told our server that we needed another minute to decide what we wanted so he decided to leave us alone for about ten minutes until we finally flagged him down. There was nobody else around, except for the hostess and bartender, who were both on the other side of the place- I believe the owner was outside smoking a cigarette. The wine was great, I must say- HOWEVER, if we wanted good wine, we’d go to a bar. We were there for the food, which was subpar at best. The spaghetti squash was not bad, but we all agreed that everything else was super salty and just OK. Unfortunately, this may be one of those types of places that I can see going way down in a few months. Just by walking by on the weekends, I think that Sunday brunch is the only thing they’ve got going for them. The owner should manage his staff better.

I should have stuck with my original intention which was going to Compass but wanted to give this place another shot...bad move on my part. The food is just not that good. The rice was overcooked in the sushi rolls and they tasted weird. My fiance ordered a pasta dish and it was super salty. My dish was ok, nothing to write home about. The staff seems disorganized. Our other friends felt the same and I felt guilty for bringing everyone here. We will not be back.

Very nice and clean restaurant, good atmosphere,polite service and excellent food cooked with passion. You can tell by the taste of food that the ingredients they use are very fresh. We had grilled asparagus with egg, beef carpaccio, pizza napoletana, soft shelf fried crab, steamed clams, spaghetti squash and cheese cakes. the wine we choose was awesome! Everything was perfectly cooked,the crab was very fresh, juicy inside and crispy outside. I felt in love with spaghetti squash and will definitely be back soon!

I've been to The Yard 5x so far since the winter. Menu is interesting but I'd say it's a work in progress. It seems disjointed and disorganized but the staff are friendly and sincere. In winter, there is a huge windchill throughout the center of the restaurant so be warned especially with children. Yard could put an exterior fabric entrance like other entrances seen on Freedom Place/Riverside Blvd to eliminate this problem. Recently I went for our dinner and the wine we ordered was nowhere to be seen and we had to remind the waitstaff several times. We asked for salt & pepper for our entrees and we got a perplexed look and a long wait until a dish of salt in what looked like an eggcup arrived. We didn't use it as we were concerned for sanitary reasons. Then the pepper finally arrived in a tiny grinder so maybe the have only 1 for the entire place? We never got water either so we had to ask for some as well as the bread which was stale. French fries with truffle oil sounded interesting but it was soggy with oil. When the bill came, I gave my credit card to the waitstaff right away knowing service is slow. After that was a 20 minute wait for the bill to come back for signing. The positive is that the menu is interesting. The Yard can capture a great loyal customer base given it's unique location so if they tighten up a few things and listen to their customers, it can be a great spot.

The market salad is absolutely perfect! The dressing is delicious but still light, the combination of vegetables is varied and unusual. I order it with salmon on top and it is always perfectly cooked and extremely fresh! It just seems to me that they use very high quality ingredients. Also, the heirloom bean salad, spaghetti squash and minestrone soup are delicious. I've eaten there and gotten take out over ten times and the food has been great every time. I don't disagree with the comments on here about the service though... but that is really less important to me than the food.

You can really tell that the ingredients they use are super fresh and it makes everything taste that much better. I've been here numerous times, and so far my favorites on the menu are the Bianca pizza, chicken wings (amazing), and minestrone soup. I imagine that the menu will vary by season, but it's just a guess..

Food was excellent and the service was pretty darn good too... staff could use a bit more training however. I've eaten their no less than 5 times and each time has been great. I've done take out several times too. I've had everything from pasta, steaks, burgers, salads and pizza. You can tell the wine list was chosen by someone who likes wines. Lots of boutique wineries, some of which only made 300 cases! If you only drink name brand wines, this may not be your place. If you like to drink great wine and experiment this place is perfect!