Everyone probably knows Ozona Bar and Grill as a common place where fraternities and sororities host parties. But there is more to Ozona than just drinking and dancing.

Located on Greenville Avenue near University Boulevard, it is the prime location for a Thursday night party. But have you ever noticed people eating dinner as you walk in to the party?

Yes, Ozona serves food on its outdoor wood patio and deck. Don’t worry, we were surprised, too.

But last Sunday, when we wanted a place to grab dinner and watch the Cowboys game, we thought we would try it out.

The atmosphere is fun and laid back, but to our disappointment, it was still a bar and thus served bar-quality food and had bar-quality service.

We tried the garden salad with chicken tenders and the steak sandwich. Both were recommended to us, but turned out only decent.

Upon returning, we would order more of the basics, like the Ozona burger or the tacos (which the table next to us appeared to enjoy).

Don’t go to Ozona expecting an energetic and friendly wait staff. The wait staff was bland, unaware of items on their own menu and, quite frankly, very rude.

We were not greeted at our table for at least 15 minutes, and when we were, we only got a “What are y’all having?” The restaurant was not very busy, so that was inexcusable.

We ordered a beer (which the server didn’t know existed) from the menu and the server brought out the wrong one. Our server was unaware that it was happy hour, and forgot to lower the price of drinks and offer free chips and salsa.

When we asked for the correct beer and the free chips and salsa special, we had to point out each item on the menu to our server and prove that it was really happy hour.

Based on the sign outside, Ozona is in the process of hiring new servers. We didn’t let this poor service get us down too much.

We made the best of the night, enjoying the weather and the great atmosphere: the wooden deck adorned with stringed lights and cheerful people.

Ozona has the potential to be a great hangout bar and restaurant. With some changes, it will reach that level soon enough.

The oversized deck and outdoor bar area are too much fun to not make this place a hotspot. Ozona has two flat-screen televisions in the outdoor bar you can see when sitting on the deck.

However, if you are there for the football game, we suggest sitting closer to the bar. The crowd was fantastic, as everyone was outside being loud and enjoying the game.

They had good drink specials and the food was relatively inexpensive. Our bill was about 20 dollars for the two of us, even after ordering a beer or two.

They have happy hour specials and “one dollar off everything behind the bar” specials Sunday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. During these hours they offer free chips and salsa – just make sure to remind the server of this special.

On Saturdays and Sundays, they have a brunch menu and a Bloody Mary bar.

We were not overly pleased with anything about Ozona, except for the large outdoor patio.

If you want a place to be outside and don’t care about the food or the service, try this close-to-campus bar and grill.

As long as you have a good group of people, you can make this place as fun as you want!