I unfortunately must say I just CANNOT love this place. Very upsetting to me as it has all the elements that I usually like. A quaint location, exceptional quaffed cocktails, a wine cellar just opened last summer, $5 Monday night no menu to feature local chefs and a $5 Tuesday drink special to go along with it and their innovative forward thinking 'no tipping' policy.
Every event I attend in the city they serve the most fabulous food bites which always makes me want to come back.
BUT!!!
Each time I do I just cannot get passed the cloud of arrogance that surrounds the wait and barstaff! It is beyond frustrating. I have tried this multiple times, with my happy hour group, with my best friend and her husband [who were beyond excited to try this place - more on this later] or as a social event for a CMU end of Semester celebration.
For some of the experiences:
The party was a rigamarole. Back and forth 5 thousand times for the date and the space, despite being helping from a few good friends of the restaurant. The space was delightful but practically out of my Social Chair budget. I negotiated hard but ended up footing a lot of the bill on my own [I don't blame the restaurant for this - that was the fault of my attendees] However, the staff was flippant as if it pained them to wait on us. And the food they served us was mediocre. Apparently your dollar here is judged as if this was NYC. The mood rubbed off majorly on my guests despite the highly anticipated experience.
The visit with my couple friends was disappointing in another way. The reservation policy is very strict and the small space makes the wait long and they are booked quickly. I had been asked to join my friends after they had a delightful experience with one of the staff member who also works at Rock Bottom and they sincerely excited to go. I held my tongue on previous experiences and joined them. I had not known they had not made a reservation [this was not passed along] so the waiter promptly told us that we had to wait but were welcome to occupy the standing space until something became available. We ordered a drink which took a good 10 minutes to arrive [it wasn't THAT packed] and again seemed upset when we had to remind him about our order. The rambled off a custom drink which was was nowhere near the sour types that I usually drink [preferred style - bitter does not equal sour]. We eventually sat at very low tables and when asked for a refill received a look of disgust when my friend's husband declined for driving reasons. Instead of a reorder we decided to leave.
I am beyond upset about continued disappointment from this restaurant. Note - this is just this particular barstaff when they 'rotate' to their sister location at the Livermore [see other review] they magically transform. The wait is still there [this has other reasons] but the attitude simmers away. I will continue to wait for a decent experience.