rev:text
| - Okay. I really, really wanted to like the Willow House. When I moved here from Tucson, I was looking for an establishment that would replace the coffee shop that I grew up with, called The Safehouse. Most people told me that the Willow House was the place to go.
Now, this might have been unfair for the Willow House, because of my enduring, unrequited love for the Safehouse, but I still tried so very hard to enjoy it.
The coffee is, truthfully, substandard. Anything requiring more complex preparation then a cup of hot water not only takes exceptionally long to prepare, but then is prepared without any thought to quality. I don't expect coffee to stand up and assault my taste buds, but I usually expect it to stand out in some fashion. A local establishment without any redeeming qualities against a Starbucks isn't someplace that I'd recommend for a cup o' joe.
I didn't sample much of the food, only a sandwich or two, but what I did order was adequate. The portions were good, although a little overpriced for what you receive, but still tasty and filling.
But the main clencher for me was, you guessed it, the clientele. Swarming with a variety of age groups and earning brackets, it really seemed like a good place to mingle and try to meet people. I was ready to overlook it's other downfalls in favor of this one redeeming quality, until I actually met some of them.
I'm not a snob, but I prefer intelligent conversation. If you sit down to play chess with someone who is sitting there with a chess set, I'd hope that you'd bring something to the table other then an easy victory for me. Even if you do lose, that doesn't give you leave to pick up my king side bishop and toss it under a couch. Also, bathing is nice.
These could've been isolated incidents, but I couldn't go here without something of this ilk happening. Maybe I'm just outgrowing establishments like this. But still, in my honest opinion, Willow House doesn't deserve more than a two of five.
|