Shady restaurants....

[FlashPuppy]

I went to downtown San Diego on Friday night. My girlfriend, her sister, my one good friend and myself went to a bar/grill called Dick's Last Resort. Decent food, good beer selection. I ordered a MM manhattan from our waiter. It didn't taste right to me when I got it, I thought that perhaps it was a real low quality vermouth or something. I went to the bar when the drink was empty, lo and behold, no MM in their bar. Only WT101 and JB white.

Want to know the best part? When the chack came I was charged for a "premium spirit". $9 dollar manhattan with WT?!?!

What else have you guys experienced like this?

[kbuzbee]

Binny's has Makers listed at $23 and WT at $20 so I wouldn't feel badly about that substitution, pricewise. You seem to be implying that you were cheated out of a great, high end spirit and given rot gut instead. I completely disagree. I would rate the quality of the two as roughly equivalent. If you were willing to pay $9 for a drink from one the price difference of the other would be nominal.... Now as to taste, well, they are quite different and the right thing for the waiter to have done would be explain they are currently out of MM but offer WT as a substitute and left the decision with you....

JMO

As to equivalent stories.... I almost never order a drink out..... I want what I want when I want it and whatever that is isn't generally available "out". It was different when I was traveling a lot for work and I was more accommodating back then.

Ken

[FlashPuppy]

No no no. Please don't misunderstand me. I really enjoy WT. I have a bottle of everything they make open (except the tribute, and gold foil). it is just that when i order something, and am told that it is something, that is what i expect, ya know? I am not trying to put WT down, ir just made me mad that i was lied to.

[bluesbassdad]

F.P.,

This is not quite the sort of thing you are asking about; the only similarity is that it involved bourbon and annoyance.

Since moving to the Prescott, AZ area two years ago, I've eaten at establishments where ranch clothes and sweaty baseball caps are frowned upon fewer than a dozen times. Accordingly, my wife and I value such outings all the more.

Our first visit to what is either "northern Arizona's finest supper club" or a Mobil two-star-rated dive, depending upon one's source, was notable in that I had the best whiskey sour I can recall. In fact, I had three of them, an almost unheard of event. When I ordered, I made a special request for Wild Turkey 101, and then I half-jokingly added ". . . and please make sure it's at least four-to-one." Perhaps the bartender honored my request. All I know is that they tasted like bourbon with traces of other flavors added. Just as I like them.

Upon our second visit, when son and D-I-L were visiting over Independence Day, I made the same request, except that I left out the part about the ratio. (I try hard not to embarrass D-I-L with uncouth behavior in public.)

That drink barely qualified as such. The flavor of bourbon was barely detectable. Even the lemon flavor was weak. The dominant flavor was sugar. Had we not been entertaining the kids, I would have sent it back.

The next time we visit that establishment, probably several months from now, I will skip the whiskey sour. To me inconsistency is almost as bad as skullduggery.

On a side note, I wonder how many people have formed a lasting, negative impression of a particular cocktail based on an initial, mediocre example. That probably belongs in a different thread.

Yours truly,
Dave Morefield

[BSS]

We're they all a bunch of dicks? I went to the one in San Antonio and thought that most of the workers were A holes. Then when I got back, someone told me they do that on purpose, its all a part of eating at Dicks Last Resort. They all act like dicks, but their not being serious. I probably would have enjoyed my meal a lot more if I would have known that before hand.

[kbuzbee]

it is just that when i order something, and am told that it is something, that is what i expect, ya know?

I fully understand that. I would have felt really bad had the receipt said it was actually Makers! Premium Spirits is pretty undefined.... But, again, the right thing would have been to tell you!

Ken

[kbuzbee]

We're they all a bunch of dicks?

We have (had? Who knows?) one of those here and that was my understanding of how they work. Never really sounded like an enjoyable evening to me.....

Ken

[FlashPuppy]

yeah, they act like assholes, kinda throw your silverwear at you, flatware is a piece of white paper. i don't mind that, i knew what kind of service was there before we went. it is kind of fun once-in-a-while. if you're out of water or need a napkin or something, you can just yell at any waiter, "get it now or watch your tip go bye-bye!"

[ratcheer]

I can't imagine why a place like that would have any customers.

Tim

[Str8RYE]

Variety is the spice of life. I bartend and I watch everybody here rip bartenders because they make crappy whiskey drinks. If I make 1 whiskey cocktail to 100 non whiskey cocktails a night, I would say I'm being nice to whiskey. I work at a trendy club and its the best $$ by far for a bartender. I've worked at classy restaurants and local bars, maybe the ratio there was 1 out of 50 cocktails were whiskey drinks. All the people I work with are 20 somethings and they all have a ton of shooters and cocktails in their catalog. They are all very good bartenders BUT they know almost nothing about whiskey. Heres the thing now, it just doesnt matter anymore. We (us bourbon drinkers) are a tiny group in the world of bars and clubs. If you dont believe me, go to every bar and rest. in your area , even your local liquor store and look at the selection of whiskey. We are in a free-market and if it sold it would be there, wouldn't it. I can find every vodka everywhere I go because it sells.
I'm the goto guy when it comes to whiskey with my crew but I dont look down on them because the owner of the bars and rest. could care less about whiskey drinkers when vodka and rum cocktails and shooters make them a fortune as it is. WOW did I go off on a tangent. Heres my point. Whiskey cocktails arent the craze We ( us whiskey nuts here) think they are. When you go to a bar or rest. most every bartender will never frown upon a guest teaching them a new cocktail and how to make it. Instead of looking down on the bartender because he doesnt know our version of a whiskey cocktail we love, stop and tell him how you would like it made. Do like Dave and give ratios.


Steve