My partner and I arrived at the Irv with the magical mix of high hopes, great moods and middling expectations that make for a truly delicious night. We wandered in from the street expecting nothing but cheap beer and acceptable burgers, but alas the Irv ultimately delivered a difficult to swallow mix of rapid, delicious and beer discounted expectation growth and followed by dry, slow disappointment.
When we arrived, the place was busy and pleasantly loud--- there was catchy, live music in the front bar, a packed patio with perfect weather and a booked solid back room from some sort of large party happening. Our server was funny, friendly and immediately pointed out great cheap drink specials. We snapped these up alongside a delicious goat cheese/chickpea fritter appetizer that set us up for a night of big joy and mild to moderate drunkenness.
But then, alas, we were forgotten by the staff. I think our waiter (and the kitchen) were overwhelmed by the big party, as a long stretch (a good 25 min) passed without service, food or refills. No biggie. Really. Our server showed up eventually and offered us a pitcher of beer on the house, and I was immediately back to high flying goat cheese joy.
In theory.
The free beer never came! I waited in cotton mouthed anguish for another 20 minutes (still no service) until a decent but somewhat dry half chicken (and my partner's similarly decent but dry Cobb salad) arrived to simply mock our empty beer glasses. The bill came brusquely and without commentary an hour later, no free beer, paid for beer or even water had arrived, and we left saddened and full, but thirsty.
Such high hopes!