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| - A review for the "Aloha Hour" that could use a little island sunshine - a smile and some attention from the bartender, a pineapple garnish, or...even a day-old orchid would have perked things up.
Here's how it looked from the bar, after receiving drinks:
- Bartender doing prep work - stripping an herb - close enough for conversation with us but instead...
- We hear a generously audible exchange with another worker who comes and goes from behind the bar
- Two other servers hanging out at the end of the bar, we can hear rooting for some guests outside, "it's cold out" "don't sit out there"...
- and meanwhile, I'm deciphering the Mai-Tai: a solid 2/3 of a lime sunk in the bottom (and a brown nub on it, I discover while I maneuver it through the ice-field to the surface)
An overlooked lime chunk doesn't the best garnish make - especially while watching the bartender do prep work. Aren't cocktails in general about the lovely mix of alcohols, the perfect pour and the garnish? Hawaiian cocktails are known for their style. Really "needs improvement" on presentation to make a guest feels like this place is on par with even a basic bar.
Let's go from low to high: when two of three food items finally arrive, (delivered by a kitchen runner from behind us) the food was plate-smashingly good! Both the "Ahi Roll" and "Bacon mac and cheese" - excellent textures and flavor combos.
The thing I remember about the third item: its absence. By the time we finished the whole roll and half the mac, we finally summoned the bartender, "this is all very delicious" and he looked over from his work. He didn't mention anything about the Wagyu sliders so I asked about them and he appeared annoyed, hastily went through a door behind the bar and several minutes later (seriously minutes, and we were ready to cancel it) but he appeared...put down a plate and merely stated, "The kitchen burned the first batch." I've worked F&B and easy way out "blame the kitchen." But blame and the kitchen and no apology? Maybe all these people were just having a bad day, but we weren't - and we didn't need to catch theirs.
The sliders were delicious too but insufficiently adequate to overcome the bad taste of a disjointed happy hour as un-aloha as that lime- definitely not on par with memories of Roy's Chicago and Waikiki.
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