D4s L33t B33r P0urs F0rth

or you’ll get a cranky email from me when I show up at your “dining & shopping center” expecting certain locations to be open since your site says they are…

My email sent out this morning:
Good day,
My wife, some friends and I went to Anaheim’s GardenWalk yesterday (21 September)after seeing that some new restaurants had “opened” the previous week. We had our sights set on trying out Bar Louie’s which according to your website stated the location was open. Upon getting to this dining location we were told that they were “soft opening” the bar only at 8pm with no dining at all, while the website states the location was to completely open this past Friday with hours of operation beginning at 11am. Frustrated, we decided to to the upper level to go so San Sai’s instead. Imagine our surprise to see this location too was closed with no signs of life within the location even though you’re site boasted of it opening this past week.
This has become a common occurance… I’ve been curious about Pop the Cork only to see that this location has been closed every time I have gone to GardenWalk.

GardenWalk looks incomplete… feels incomplete… and ultimately is giving out wrong information for those who are visiting your website only to find out upon visiting GardenWalk that certain locations are not open that are reported to be open. Ultimately, my party ended up leaving your location extremely disappointed and hungry. Instead we went to Downdown Disney knowing that there would not be restaurants closed when they should be open. If your goal is to bring in the tourists, it might help to please the locals too as our word of mouth is your cheapest advertising.

Regards,
Niekon

seems they were kind of, uhmm… caught off guard by my email this morning. Not surprising… but it did at least get a response:

Niekon –
I’m so sorry that inaccurate information was communicated to you via our website. We do our best to maintain its accuracy but sometimes due to obstacles out of my control (permits, code issues etc) the dates change and we are not notified in a timely fashion by our tenants. With that said, I appreciate your feedback as this helps me stay on my toes and do a better job communicating with our customers.

Bar Louie will begin full food service on Wednesday. They are having “invite only” practice service today and tomorrow from 11-2 and 5-8 pm. This includes complimentary food. If you would like me to make a reservation for you, please let me know the number in your party and preferred time so you can try out Bar Louie’s food on us. In addition, I would love to provide you with a VIP parking pass for your next visit to Anaheim GardenWalk that will provide you with complimentary parking for the length of your stay.

GardenWalk has been open just over twelve weeks and with each month new stores and aesthetics will be added to complete our look. There will be 50 stores and restaurants open by the end of the year.

Again, my apologies for your disappointment and I hope you will give Anaheim GardenWalk another try in the future and watch us grow.

Please let me know if you would like the reservation at Bar Louie and provide your address if you would like me to mail a VIP parking pass.

Warmest Regards –
K.W.

so not a total loss right? We have a party of five heading over there this evening for this practice service. I’m more interested in the food than anything else… trying to decide if I want to walk in carrying a camera or not ^_~
I will be walking in with a least a print-out of their menu (available on their website) and a notepad. I’ll be at least somewhat nice since we are being allowed into this private “event”.

Speaking of being nice… I know, I need to write up a piece on one my most recent dining experiences on my recent trip. Can I just say, OMG!!!!! Now that’s what BBQ is all about ^_~
Let me tell you… a 5-meat BBQ sampler… killer and a lot of meat.

There’s more too… but I’ll discuss at another time… ^_~

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So this past Sunday a small group of eight of us all went out for lunch and it was decided somewhere beforehand that we would eat over at McCormick & Schmicks Grille at Anaheim’s Garden Walk. How could one possibly go wrong from a restaurant that has eighty locations, right? Wrong… this is the story of one classic fuck-up after another for a restaurant that not been open for very long.

We arrive at 11:30am… they are just opening up for the day. The place is dead… just like the rest of Garden Walk… not bad for a Labor Day weekend, right? :P
We get seated soon after arrival and are handed freshly printed menus that we were told are printed up twice a day depending upon their deliveries that day. At the top of the menu is something that caught my eye… “fresh swordfish harpooned by Captain Lance and his crew near Catalina”… mmm, swordfish. Have not had that in a few years… might as well go for the yummy. But first we have to get drinks and appetizers out of the way.
Drinks are ordered including the “fresh squeezed tea.” What? Okay, it’s early… I’ll give our server a break. Drinks arrive… and shortly after that appetizers. Thus far the food is looking good including Milady’s mango and avocado with crab salad. The thing was stacked high and held it’s form perfectly. It should have… the damn thing was cold. Not frozen… but pretty damn chilled otherwise the entire thing would have fallen apart once the ring mold was removed (there is a photo I took of it that I need to get off of the camera at some point).
So with the first of the food out, it’s time to order entrees. Various foods are being ordered… and I’m on the last leg of the ordering process and I order what else, but the swordfish caught by Capt. Lance with a harpoon.
“We’re out of swordfish”
“Huh?” Didn’t he tell us when we sat down that the menus were printed twice a day to reflect their seafood deliveries? Yeah… I thought he did and yet they were already out of swordfish and I know the lone other table hadn’t ordered it yet since they had just recently sat down themselves.
Server tries to explain… at this point in time I’m annoyed. I wanted swordfish… O_o
Instead I order the mahi-mahi. Orders are placed and the server takes off… only to return a couple of minutes later to inform me that indeed they did have swordfish. I change my order to the swordfish.

Food comes out… my drink is running a bit low. In fact, it’s empty at this point in time. Server asks if I’d like another… “yes, please” and he goes to get me another drink. A few minutes later he returns empty-handed to inform me that it will be a bit longer as they are changing out the keg. *sigh* Okay, but at least I know the first pint is one of the better ones from the keg ^_~
A few minutes later… he again returns… again empty-handed and proceeds to inform me that they are not changing the keg but are completely out of Guinness. Today is Sunday… they just opened and are out of Guinness. Doubtful they will be Guinness on tap for the rest of the day nor probably the next day either.
Fine… order a Sam Adams. Not a favorite but it will do for now. A few more minutes pass… server once again returns empty-handed. Care to guess what he said next? It’s easy… he said it to me just a few minutes prior.
“We’re out of Sam Adams…”
*whimper*
It’s taking a lot from me not to demand the Manager on Duty at this point in time to figure out what kind of ramshackle of a restaurant they were trying to run. Here it is Sunday… on a holiday weekend. Sunday morning/early afternoon at that. And they were out of not one but at least two different beers on tap. How in the hell were they going to make it until Tuesday when most places would be open again after the holiday weekend? Serve “freshly squeezed tea”?
I am beyond frustrated… and send him away. I am without drink… and I have over half of my delicious swordfish to finish still. He returns shortly after carrying a half pint of Guinness. Apparently it was all that was left of the last keg… and it was “on the house”. Sadly this had been sitting out for a while now and had completely settled and was was even losing it’s head. *sigh*

The rest of the meal was uneventful… Milady ordered up another drink for herself that never appeared. and I was too annoyed to look at the bill at the specifics. She did look at it to ensure I wasn’t double-tipping him though. Good girl… had forgotten they like to automatically tack on that 20% gratuity for larger groups even if they don’t totally deserve it. I think he managed to keep everyone else’s drinks filled for most part… just the two of us got boned on our drinks.

What else was there? One of the meals had capers even though no one could figure out why there were capers in it. I think they use capers just to use them… “hey look, I have this huge fuckin’ jar of capers and they must be used before the end of the weekend. Put them into EVERYTHING!!!!” It just did not make sense… but whatever. At least there weren’t any capers in my meal… and no dark brown sauce that made my eyes water and my mouth cuss me out for eating liquid wasabi…

In the end though… for the most part except for the rather shoddy service the food wasn’t that horrible. Scary Teddy’s Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia was delicious. Not sure on the other meals since I didn’t venture that close to the other side of the table.
Would I go back? Don’t know… I tend to think that if I’m going to get crappy service at a restaurant that I’ll continue to get crappy service at that restaurant. And it’s about the individual restaurant even if they are part of a chain. P.F. Chang’s at Garden Walk, good food and good service. P.F. Chang’s at the Irvine Spectrum? Sub-par food and crappy service.

Next time I’d rather subject myself to the horrible theme restaurant a couple of doors down if I’m eating lunch or wait until Roy’s Hawaiian Fusion Restaurant opens it’s doors in the evening.
So lesson to be learned from this? If they run out of the beer of your choice rather quickly, leave immediately because it’s not going to get any better.

Popularity: 11% [?]