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| - I have a personal rule whenever I visit a restaurant - everything deserves a second try. On my first visit to Kickstand, I went with a friend and we sat outside on the little patio area. The food was decent but not exceptional. The burger itself was pretty plain, but the toppings and bun made up for it. I had sweet potato fries and they were a decent compliment, if not a bit squishy. They were served with a thick sludgy brown sugar syrup that was more sweet than flavorful. Decent service balanced it out, and I was ready to give it a second shot.
On my second trip, the service was beyond great. The wait staff turned our in-booth TV to the Virginia Tech football game because they saw us wearing our school colors. The food on the second trip was... Well, again, mediocre. I got the Hungover Cyclist which is a variant on my personal holy grail of burgers - the grilled-cheese buns hamburger. I've had it in several places that all put their spin on this cheesy miracle. I really hate to say it, but the one in my neighborhood did the worst. The grilled cheeses were enormous Texas toast slices that drowned out any flavor of cheese or burger with gummy bread. In addition, the only topping on the burger was tomato - even though I asked for some lettuce for balance, I didn't get it. Just a meat patty and a tomato slice between two incredibly awkward grilled cheeses.
So I gave it a third shot as a rubber match. I went solo and sat at the bar and left Kickstand completely frustrated. I happened to be there at the same time as another customer that came separately and sat down shortly after. The entire time I was there, the bartender never addressed us individually - he took our orders together, brought our food together, checked in on us at the same time, and brought our checks together. He spent the rest of the time leaning against the bar watching the news. In a complete class-act moment while watching a report about Obama in Indonesia, he remarked that Obama said "It's great to be back in my birth country of Indonesia once again." I'm not a political person, I don't care what your side is, but if you're going to make completely idiotic and aggressive statements then we're done.
I've got better things to do with my time than eat a mediocre burger served by a mediocre staff.
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