| rev:text
| - For how great the place looks, I wish the food was much better (especially for the price). I gave this place a few tries before reviewing to try to give it a fair shot. I want very badly to like this restaurant as there aren't many this close to where I live, but I can't say I'll be back anytime soon.
To start, the entryway is a bit confusing. I always felt like I was in the way when trying to get a table as the only place to stand is immediately in front of the door that people are leaving through. It's too close to the seats at the bar and there isn't a clear reception area. It could use at least a host stand.
The restaurant looks great, but is very noisy, especially in the main room with the bar. The room in the back didn't seem as loud. I didn't get a chance to sit outside (the hostess told us there might not be any tables cleaned off yet -??) so I cannot comment on that area.
Each time I went, my server commented on how backed up the bar and kitchen were. While it's nice to know ahead of time that it might be longer than expected, it's a little frustrating to hear every time, especially to be reminded several times in one visit. Service itself otherwise was decent except my table sat with empty drinks for over 10 minutes before anyone came by to offer more.
Margaritas were excellent. There's also a good variety of beer and other drinks. Fried pickles were also quite good.
I'd stay clear of most of the Mexican food. The best comment I heard about it was "It's okay..." Fish tacos were less than exciting. Taco salad was enormous and average tasting at best. Others didn't have much good to say. If you're looking for good Mexican, head up the street less than a mile to Laredo's.
We decided to give the American side a try, hoping for better. I went with the classic cheeseburger and fries, hoping they could at least do the basics well. I was quite disappointed when the food came out. Fries were cold and burger was lukewarm at best. It tasted okay (nothing special - standard issue frozen burger patty from what I could tell) but it had been sitting long enough for the bottom bun to be completely soaked through with grease from the burger. Another at my table had to wait several minutes after the rest of us got our food before hers even came (she got a burger as well).
After our initial feedback, the manager did bring fresh fries out, but they were very crisp and dry inside. It was difficult to even break them in half. We were then checked on no fewer than 5 times between our server and the manager. They took a couple of drinks off of our bill, which we very much appreciated until the server reminded us of this (a bit strongly) when our bill came out.
I really hope they work on improving the quality of the food and simplifying the menu (or at least improving the layout of the menu). The physical menu itself is quite large and I didn't have room to set it down on the table with my party of four. This restaurant could be great if they switch to simple things done well - even a build-your-own burger with options shown instead of listing 10 similar ones. Separate the burgers from the sandwiches. Use clear descriptions (is the cheese curd burger actually a burger or is it smoked ham?) and don't abbreviate (the classic burger comes with leaf and tom, the black & blue comes with a blue cheese dress)
There could also be some improvements with staffing. Even at my most recent visit, there were several empty tables with dirty plates still sitting there. This time, the server was attentive enough to take our plates out of the way (an improvement from a previous visit when we sat with every plate we were given until we left). I also wonder if the kitchen is large enough to handle the size of the restaurant.
Really hoping for better in the future...
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