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| - There's so many things to love about all the Great Danes. The size, style, beers and menus. I want to make this place work, want to love the food and service I keep giving another chance but now I'm done. All my general comments refer to visits at the Cottage Grove location on Jupiter as well as this one in Fitchburg.
First of all, clean the bathrooms. I don't want to feel like I'm at a campground latrine. I've gone when it's not busy and watched the hostess, bartenders, servers and managers having a bit of downtime, and yet the bathrooms aren't touched for hours at a time. Once at the Cottage Grove location I pointed this out to the bartender, that it's dead and workers aren't busy and the bathroom has been dirty for hours. His response, "There's an outside service we hire to clean up every night after close.... It's not as if this is like any fast food restaurant that has a schedule for checking the bathrooms periodically throughout the night." He said this with a straight face, with no awareness that he was actually making a case that Taco Bell has higher standards. Anyways I've never seen a clean bathroom. What other hygiene shortcuts are being taken where the customers can't see them?
Service at the bar. Once my beer seemed flatter and a bit cloudier than I wanted. Maybe my expectations were wrong for that beer? I asked the bartender. He agreed that the lager I was drinking should be more fizzy and clear, and explained that if it's from the end of an old barrel, the last pull could come out like that. I told him I ordered that style because I wanted a beer that was light, clear and crisp. He nodded in agreement, then left me hanging. Basically, letting me know, "sorry the beer we served you was old, stale and flat. Too bad so sad. Ciao." Great job!
I've always found the server staff to be excellent. Not always perfect. At my last visit in Fburg my server had that annoying habit of squatting down to get at eye level with us. Would you like to slide into our booth and spoon a bit, too? Sorry, we ain't cool like that. Stand up and do your JOB.
The menu looks amazing but he food rarely lives up. A few positive points first. The pilsner cheddar sauce on the Black and Tan burger is representative of what this place is all about: upgraded pub food with their unique twist. Bratwurst is good. When hot the pub fries are very simple but excellent. The produce for their salads is really fresh, and the recipes for their salads have well balanced flavors and are surprisingly satisfying.
One of my favorite things about their menu is that you can order smaller bargain plates if the usual dinner is just too big. It's called the Pub Picnic section and you can get half of any sandwich with a couple small sides for $10 or less, for example, and other nicely sized listings.
Now the bad...
RED ALERT: AVOID THE SHREDDED PORK AT ALL COSTS. This is not the tender, juicy, flavorful carnitas you're hoping for. I have no reason to doubt that it is derived from some sort of swine species. All the fat, flavor, juice and anything 'pork' about it is processed and cooked out of it, leaving tough dry, fibrous, meat-like threads soaked with water and then whatever mediocre bbq sauce.
I asked for my burger to be medium rare it came out blood raw. For the rest of the day I couldn't shake the memory of that mushy, raw meat mouth feel. The fries on that plate were cold. The restaurant was dead at that time and every time the kitchen door swung open there appeared to be no shortage of kitchen staff.
The ahi is grocery-store-sushi grade fish, bland and limp, with an overly thick and powerful crust and a sear that goes way too deep.
One of the big problems I've consistently have no matter when I visit either location is getting all the food out in an orderly fashion, all ingredients fresh and hot. For example, it could take a long time to get an appetizer and then moments later out comes the entrees. Or the entrees don't come out all together. Or one food item will have signs that it was prepared long ago (burnt, cold, microwaved, etc) while another item on the same plate will be too hot to eat.
I always enter optimistic and hopeful. I'm not overly picky or looking for a fight. I just want a clean environment, good service and good food. Again, servers: great job; bartenders hit or miss; managers alternate between running around putting out fires or standing around looking lost. The kitchen is a disaster.
One final good note: management is always very responsive and willing to own the issues and make an offer to satisfy disappointed customers. I don't want to get comped items or coupons for a next visit, I just want things to go right. Any establishment can have a bad day and one of my pet peeves is encountering service staff or managers that are more concerned about going into cya mode or blaming others. In this respect they do a great job.
But in the end it's just empty potential
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