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| - There really do need to be two listings for this place: one for service/pricing/food & drink quality, and one for the venue & ambiance. Since there aren't, though, those first few things drag down the venue/ambiance score to a solid 2. I would go with 3, but according to Yelp, that means "A-OK," and a "Meh, I've experienced better" really seems to fit the best here. If service were consistently good here and the drinks were priced more reasonably for a downtown spot, at least a 3 would be warranted.
I never expect a stellar experience here, especially early afternoon when almost no one is there, but it's clear who should be in a customer-facing job and who shouldn't.
Our group of 5 walked in and ordered a few drinks from the bartender, Oscar. My friend asked him if we could also order food with him. He said yes, so she asked for garlic fries, and all five of us heard him repeat it in confirmation. We brought our drinks to a nearby table to wait. Meanwhile, a server came by to give us some menus and see if we wanted to order anything else to eat. A few people did put in orders. A handful of minutes later, the first of their orders (fried mozz & zucchini) started coming out. A couple minutes after that, our friend's sandwich came out, but still no garlic fries. We asked the bartender if he'd heard back about our garlic fries. His answer: "You didn't order any food with me." Really? We would have understood if he had just said, "Oh, did you ask for garlic fries? I'm so sorry, I must have spaced that order, I'll put it in right away." But as it was, he just flat out told us we didn't order food with him, even though all of us heard her order and him give verbal acceptance. Meanwhile, our server, Angelina, was very nice, personable, and accommodating, and apologized on his behalf.
There were was also questionable handling of our drink tab by Oscar and by another female employee who appeared to be at least a shift manager. Our guy friend went to the bar to settle the separate tab we had there and asked Oscar if he could put it on a different card than the one we handed him at the beginning. He didn't know, and the other woman just said "No." We asked again because we'd never been to a bar where you can't transfer your tab to another card when cashing out. After going around in a few verbal circles, the woman explained there would still be a pending charge on the first card that would be there a couple days before disappearing. Great, yes, we know -- we understand how authorizations work. Assuming we didn't, though, why wouldn't you just offer us that caveat to begin with instead of just flat-out saying "No?"
Anyway, this experience isn't necessarily indicative of every one I've had at Gold Spike, but most have been mediocre. Coupled with the over-priced drinks (even during happy hour, which only applies to a few things anyway), even the giant games can't outweigh the "meh"-ness of this place. It's just so damn conveniently located for us, though, that we'll still end up there for random mediocre lunches in the future (the garlic & herb fries still call to us, after all). Hopefully, Angelina will be there to make it that much more bearable.
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