| rev:text
| - Let me start off by saying this review is not about food quality. It's an average of four star food, two star prices, and other typical dining factors. The food at Firebirds is great, but for what I spent for two steak dinners and a few drinks my last time there with my girlfriend, it cost more than my upcoming tenth anniversary dinner cruise without the cruise.
The waitress was excellent, but nothing special. She was a stereotypical waitress. The restaurant itself is always busy. In fact, last time we went we had to go elsewhere because the wait was an hour and a half. I typically don't mind a half hour wait, which is what we ended up waiting last night, but in that time several staff members stared at us craning our necks to see a spot open at the bar without ever asking is we would like a drink or menu while we waited. Considering how small the bar is, it is just always an issue there.
We did eventually get a table in the bar, which cut down on our wait time, but then we saw other patrons, who were just arriving, getting drinks and appetizers around the big fireplace. Why didn't anybody ask us about doing this while we stood by the door looking rather irritated for a half hour? I am somewhat relieved that they didn't, though, because at either $5 for a beer or $9 for a liquor drink, we could have spent the entire budget at the bar in twenty minutes.
I must sound cheap or like an alcoholic, but that is not it at all. Restaurants with congestion like this need to have options for patrons who will almost definitely have to wait. Those options should include a light cheap appetizer menu, where the average price isn't $12, wait service for the waiting area, which already has tables for drinks, and a drink menu that will not break people before they ever sit down.
I understand that it is near a rich area, but it's still on the fringe, and by a theater and a Wendy's. It's not Ruth's Chris, but they sure want to pretend that it is. In case I am just beginning to sound cheap again, let me reiterate that we could have eaten uptown at McCormick and Schmick's for the same price, and had options like the Belk Theater for dessert as opposed to Front row seats for Jurassic Park 3d across the parking lot.
My suggestion, if you plan to eat at Firebird's, is to have a reservation, be there early, ask about drinks and appetizers while you wait, because they won't offer, budget to spend around $40-$50 on two mixed drinks for two people, order a burger, because it is the only thing priced reasonably on the whole menu, then leave quickly because they don't hide that they want to free up the table after they have gotten $120 out of you.
Bottom line, for me anyway, only go there to get burgers with friends or other couples, don't be starving because you will be starving a lot worse after the wait, and don't go there for drinks or the bar scene.
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