Lets Play A Game......
So Halloween night is winding down and I have handed out glow bracelets to every kid in SESH...some of em got two! And now we are hungry. Ah. where to go? I look at my watch. It is 8:30 PM, not so late, we can probably still eat in the hood. So we set out. We arrive at a local restaurant and because it is Halloween, it is a bit slow, a fact which pleases us because we are tired and are thinking service will be quick.
So we stand in the entry waiting to be seated. No one comes.
After a bit we found a table in a very visible place, laughing and talking and being fairly self amuse we sat down. We are throughly entertained by the left over glow bracelets which we are busy making into chains and such, while we waited to be waited on.....or at least to be spoken too.....or even just waved at. We were the only people in the area we were in, and there were only two cars, other than our own, in the parking lot.
We waited.
People walked in and out.
We waited.
The bartender tended bar. The waitress was not to be seen.
We waited.
We made jokes about being invisible. Which we weren't. I was wearing devil's horns and a large chain of glow bracelets around my neck. My daughter was wearing a long fuzzy tail, cat ears and fangs. We weren't hard to see. We waited. We were thirsty, and very hungry.
We waited.
Finally!
After about fifteen minutes.....................WE LEFT!
And, no one noticed!
Where were we?
The first person to guess right gets a signed picture of our blog host. (Will be his picture, won't be his real signature)
This post was not approved or even known of by our blog host!
28 comments:
Gotta be The Porch. They're known for that kind of thing.
(We went to Cappy's last night. It was quiet and we got good service).
Damn your good Angelsil! I just posted it and already you got it! Want the pic? Guess what, when we left, we went to Cappy's also. And we also go decent service!
Poor service at The Porch? That's just part of the "Key West feel" they espoused on the news.
The broken sign and sloppy appearance are also part of the "Key West feel."
Hey, I have had poor service there....as have been eating there since the week they opened. But got to say never had NO SERVICE!!!
I wish they would sell it. A clean and friendly place would be a start. Not asking for a 5 star restaurant, just something better.
More moderate prices would help too. The food is pretty good, but it isn't *that* good. Here's my Porch wish list:
1. faster service
2. a bar on the outside
3. open in the mornings serving breakfast, coffee and WiFi
4. more solid and reasonably priced food for neighborhood people, less frou-frou "Iron Chef" specials aimed at DINKs.
5. enlarge the kitchen & start a takeout business.
6. open for lunch (food is good, and it's closer than Nicko's).
I really like the victorian tea-house, and yes we need a good bar/restaraunt evening place, but the building was sooo suited to that tea-room/antique shop atmosphere. How about a place with good, hearty burgers (veggie, turkey, and beef) good beer, great chicken and simple pasta dishes, save the fancy stuff for nightly specials. Keep it reasonably priced and cater to all of the people around here with kids and dogs. The porch is one of the few places with parking - it should catoer to the masses of seminole heights.
When we moved in right around the corner from the Front Porch we had such wonderful hopes for what at first appeared to be a great place for dining and drinks. We've been twice, the food wasn't bad, but not great, and while the first visit the service was average, the 2nd time the service was extremely slow. Combine that with the above average prices and it's kept us from going back.
Like others have mentioned, we're not really looking for the chic, fancy sort of fare, just basic stuff like wings and burgers or maybe a steak or some fresh catch. We're hopeful one day someone will open a family sports bar/restaurant similar to a Beef's. I'm sure it would make a killing.
I just want some home cooking.
How's about it.
Besides NICCO'S ..I mean dumplings and chicken . Stew for dinner or some really well made pot roast.
Is that too much to ask America?
Heh. The Porch comes up a lot in SH conversations, and rarely in a good way.
We ate at the Porch right after opening until the great Pidgeon Wing fiasco where I decided enough was enough. We were there on the Sunday the single, swamped, hostess/waitress/bus-girl worked every hungry table in the place alone WHILE babysitting the owner's daughter. She quit mid-meal. We were there several times as unpermitted work was going on with termite droppings drifting down from the open ceiling. We were there when a *can* of coke cost over $1 and we had to open the darned thing ourselves.
Now our money goes elsewhere (mostly Ybor, ABC Pizza across the river, and Nicos.)
Is that place still open? I didn't notice. ha ha ha
"just basic stuff like wings and burgers or maybe a steak or some fresh catch. "
When we first started going to The Porch they had wings and such on the menu. We'd go there for Happy Hour and have some beer and fries and wings with neighbors. Then the menu got pricier and the service stayed the same or got worse. I'll endure a lot more flaky service and 'decor la rehab' for a $30 happy hour tab than for a $50 dinner.
Seems like you got a personal beef with this place. Didn't I just recently (last week) see you in the Porch enjoying a late dinner with what looked like several friends?? Seemed like your service was good (glasses filled, stuffin' your face) or maybe that wasn't you? I for one recently had enjoyed a great meal with a friend. The ice tea was good, the food was fast, the service was good and the bill was under $30. I say keep up the good work Porch and don't let the naysayers get you down.
"RatsAsss" One must wonder if that's a new menu offering, or one of the items on the health inspection report?
If your comment, Rat, was directed at me, yes, I have, as stated in my post, eaten there since it opened. I, for the most part just put up with the sorry service, inconsistent offerings, menu changes, etc. Once or twice I stopped going and as a compromise, for quite some time, I only went to have wine with friends. Only recently, as in three weeks, did I decide to try it again. This brings us to Halloween night. It will be awhile again before I go. But as it is convenient and an easy place to sit, and sip, I will no doubt go back at some time. And undoubtably, it will not have changed.
Is Viva La Frida still going? And is the food still good?
VlF is still open, you can hear them from blocks away almost every weekend.
I have only been to the Porch once since they opened. The service was attrocious, the check was outrageous and the food was mediocre at best. I am sorry, but I have not been back since, with or without friends. Just because the business is in SH, doesn't mean that I will just look the other way when my dollar isn't well earned. I would rather drive over to Dale Mabry, Ybor or SOHO to have a good meal.
If Rat's comment is directed at me, I can assure you I haven't been to the Porch in quite some time and certainly not in the past few months. The last time I was there the entrees started around $15 and went up. Assuming one had drinks (alcoholic or no) and left a tip, it was very easy to break the $50 barrier.
Somehow this Blog hits on the subject of trash-talking-restaurant reviewing on The Front Porch establishment quite frequently and this time in the guise of “Let’s Play a Game”. Could it be the same folks spreading that same ole message might have an agenda due to confrontation with the owner there in the past? Hummmm?? I could be totally wrong about that although the thought does peek interest whenever I ready this type of bashing comments over and over. Not judging anyone’s personal beliefs or experiences, just observing and finding it interesting.
Nice conclusion Anonymous. Good to see a few out there helping to support a neighborhood business. It's a shame that the 'mouths' that be don't mention that when patrons asked for a happy hour from the Porch, the owner listened and started one (prices are reasonable for a drink after work). Or how about when patrons commented about the run-down bar, the owner listened again and had a beautiful custom made mahoghany bar put in (complete with foot rest & handbag hooks...or manbag given the case). Or how about when patrons asked for fries & wings to be put back on the menu, the owner listened again and now you can enjoy a plate of plump (no pidgeon) chicken wings and hot fries while sipping on suds and watching the game. Or how about when patrons asked that he replace the sign from earlier damage to help with appearance, he listened and the sign was ordered (if I heard correctly, given the design, it will arrive sometime toward the middle of November).
In the realm of small business things sometime just simply can't move as quickly to everybody's liking. Asked if I have always received good service at the Porch...the answer would be no but then again I would give that same answer for Cappy's, Frida's, BoneFish and many other Tampa area restaurants. So for the Porch, I enjoy supporting my backyard restaurant and will enjoy the changes being made.
I've given them one too many chances and will no longer accept poor or nonexistent service. No one gives me my money so I don't feel the need to "give" FP my money for poor service or uneven food quality at their prices. If I have to work for my funds to spend then I will make a wise decision in spending them and I choose not to be disappointed by my vist so there will not be a visit in my future.
Whenever I hear "support the neighborhood business" it grates on me. I always want to ask "why?!" I need a reason other than proximity. Convenience is only worth so much. A quick drive to a bad product or service doesn't pique my interest at all.
I support *good* businesses. A close, good business gets my cash repeatedly because a short drive to a good product or service (or better yet, a WALK!) is worth my money.
When guilt becomes a business strategy that business needs to re-evaluate where it's going. (I'm not saying the Front Porch says this. Viva La Frida's did at one point.)
OMG we forgive what we never would if we drove somewhere else to get it. Listened to the patrons? Please. A restaurateur Pat is not. He should not have to get all his leads from his customers. He should know enough to figure his market and provide what it wants and make money doing so. But if responding to his clientele is how it works then I guess no one has mentioned the crap that has floated down in the food on the table from the ceiling, or the filth and grease that covers tables...the greasy linens of the past, .the chairs that only stay up if they are leaned against the wall....the dirty woodwork everywhere, on and on. Certainly when he changed the menu he was not listening.
I am all about supporting local businesses, I expect them to be good and to go home saying my money, be it for burgers or steak, is well spent. Don't know about you, but when I go to my job I am required by my customers, and my self respect to do the best job possible. To go above and beyond at all times. That is the way it works.
The fact that FP morphed is not an excuse. Really, it did not morph entirely. Just the prices and the offerings. The rest of the joint is still hamburgers all the way!
I have never had a confrontation with the owner of FP, and had no agenda in posting what I did, past the fact that it was a maddening experience. The blog is all about personal experiences some related to the neighbor and opinions. This was mine.
I laughed out loud when I read the part about the owner listening when the patrons asked that he replace the sign...Is that a joke?
You own a restaurant, your sign blows off and you figure you don't need on until a patron requests it?
Now that was funny.
Ok, Ranbar... got your point, very well stated not to offend and I might add; Spoken like a true Politician.
Maria, I have more guts than fingers.
Hey Maria, you need to calm down girl! Geezzzee Loweeze.... the comment was not a political slam, did you hear bitching?? I don't think so. Actually, the comment was meant as a compliment since not everyone can eloquently express themselves without offending either side - hence the politician way. So, before you jump to conclusions maybe you ought to bag your face for awhile before shooting off like a loose cannon.
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