The Upstate Life

Monday, December 22, 2008

F*** Bar Louie

So after a pleasant evening of watching Spike Mendelsohn of Top Chef fame prepare a variety of latkes at Sixth & I Synagogue last night, a few of us went over to nearby Bar Louie to grab some dinner and watch the Giants game.

What a fucking disaster.

It started off well. When we first sat down we promptly received our drinks and appetizer, but after that, it was all downhill.

First off, everyone received their entrée sporadically, while Rachel, well, never received hers at all. And it was a salad. Yeah, a salad.

Two of our friends got their sliders and salad first while the rest of us were left foodless and perplexed. Why did one person get their Pear Salad while Rachel's Oriental Salad never came?

Why did not one but two tables who were seated after us get their all their food before we did?

Why did the waiter just disappear at times, failing to follow-up on what the hell was going on, let alone refill water/drinks?

Why wouldn't the kitchen let Erika substitute fries for broccoli when she ordered her turkey burger? I mean, broccoli was on the menu as a side item for crying out loud.

By the time Rachel received her salad, everyone else was pretty much done with their dinner. Oh, and Rachel called it that her salad would be smothered in dressing instead of it being on the side as ordered. Low and behold, the salad came with dressing all over it.

After eating it, she sadly proclaimed that she has had better salads at McDonalds. Oh, and the one she received was missing nearly half the ingredients listed on the menu.

The waiter apologized and said it was the kitchen that was responsible for the entire mess up and that the manager will void some of the food off the bill and offer us some free desserts.

When we received the check, about half of the entrees were taken off the bill but the manager himself never came over let alone offered us one of those supposed free desserts the waiter talked about.

All and all it was the worst dining experience in my entire life, and coming from a former waiter, Bar Louie failed in every direction possible. The server essentially abandoned us at times, and even though he was nice enough guy, he was awful at the job he was hired for.

I would've given the place more slack had it been more busy but it was pretty tame for a Sunday evening so it's not like the waiter was bombarded with customers.

And so what if he was? We had an excellent dinner at Mark and Orlando's, which was fairly crowded, and there was one waiter for the entire restaurant! And you know what? He handled it beautifully. Granted it's a little more upscale than Bar Louie, but you get the point.

As for Chinatown destinations, I'm sticking with Matchbox and Clyde's from now on.

Posted by Brett at 2:23 PM |