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| - My visit was less than spectacular... I'm evaluating 3 main points: Food, Location/ambiance, and service...
1.This is supposed to be THE place to go for oysters, fish, drinks, etc. The food was NOT impressive. Everything lacked flavor and at the same time everything tasted the same. no distinctive flavors. The fish didn't taste like fish, the fries didn't taste like fries, etc... I went simple thinking i'd better try something "safe" so I had the Fish & chips platter. the fish was mediocre... the batter was thin, not crispy at all. It had no salt, flavor, or seasoning whatsoever. I've actually had better fried fish @ Mimi's Cafe and Tom's BBQ, neither of which specialize in fish and it was 1000 times better. The side dishes were met with the same lack of seasoning. The fries were limp and had absolutely no salt. The coleslaw was dry, had no flavor and was hard for me to even get through one single bite.
2. I was NOT impressed at all with the property or location. The property is just "ok". The only reason it's a big deal is because it is a historic house in the "downtown Tempe area" that has been converted into a bar/restaurant. It just has lots of busy posters, lights,and all the groovy stuff bars normally have. Nothing out of the ordinary... Location - It's not in the heart of Tempe at all..., it's in a neighborhood just around the corner from the "heart of Tempe". Like I mentioned before. It's a converted house, therefore as you can imagine, it is in a residential neighborhood. They have a patio, which is pretty much unbearable to sit out there 9 out of 12 months during the year, and the inside is small, dark and cramped. There isn't much to see outside anyway other than hippies, skateboarders and homeless people coming out of the alley way behind the circle K up the street.
3. The service is not spectacular either. I walked in and was greeted by NO ONE. Since the patio is the first thing you walk in to, you have no idea where to go when you're there! There are people sitting and drinking & eating all around, but no greeter, server or anyone to seat you are even tell you where to go. I did what seemed logical and walked IN to the actual house and you run right into the bar. The bartender pretty much just looked at me and said "grab a menu and sit anywhere"... WOW! It took about 5 minutes for a server to even notice I was there waiting to be attended to.
This was my first visit and needless to say my LAST!!!!
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