My friend and I were excited to try this new place as we had seen it mentioned in some of the local articles and seen it being built in the center of town. As we walked in, we were both excited and happy to see that the interior, former a hot dog joint, had been entirely revamped and modernized. At 4:50pm, the place was empty, excluding one middle-aged man and his son. The rest of the people in the restaurant were either the owners or the employees.
After taking a seat by the window, the waitress walked over to the table and asked what we would like to drink. Both my friend and I ordered waters to start, as we began to scour over the menu to see all that this place had to offer. Immediately I was shocked when I turned over the paper menu to see that the burgers, quoted as "premium", started at $16. There was a build-your-own option that started at $14, but each topping was an additional charge. While the burger options seemed nice and well-crafted, I have to admit that these options were not something completely new or unheard of in the industry.
At the same time, I spoke to the waitress and told her that I thought the prices were a tad too high for the options they had as well as the primary customers they were targeting in Poquoson.The waitress argued a bit with me, but she left it alone with the mindset of "to each their own" and went to fix our drinks. In the process, the waitress called the owner over to our table to speak with me about my concerns. He walked over to our table and greeted me with a smile and a firm handshake before sitting down at the table next to ours.
I proceeded to tell him my thoughts on the pricing and offering my perspective on why the pricing was too high for the area and clientele.With each of my criticisms, he became more and more disgruntled and displeased with me. When I asked him questions, he tried to divert the conversation to questions like these:
- "Why should you care? You don't even live here!"
- "What do you know? Have you ever owned or managed a restaurant?"
- "What are you trying to sell me?" (Honestly, I'm not sure why he made this comment. It still baffles me)
I responded to him with cold hard facts. What was his response?
"You can go across the street and get a $5 burger! You can go down to TJ's and get $13 burger! I'm not competing with them, because I'm selling gourmet burgers! I'd put my workers and burgers up against theirs any day!"
I again responded with more facts about the common consumer in Poquoson and he became more and more belligerent. He even made a hurtful comment about the fact that I was "just a teacher", as if I knew nothing about restaurants or management.
However, he crossed the line when he decided to say the following phrase:
"I don't need your fucking business. Take your stupid bullshit somewhere else!"
All in all, I will NEVER go back to this place as long as it is open, which I suspect will not be long. I truly urge all of my friends in Poquoson and Hampton Roads to stay away from this place and avoid its unruly owner at all costs. What he did was tasteless, rude, and unprofessional from an owner to a potential customer who was simply providing feedback based on my knowledge and experience as an avid restaurant-goer and Yelper. I would advise you to avoid this place, and especially it's owner at all costs. Save your money and get a better burger at one of the other local options.
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Below, you can see a breakdown of my major concerns:
1) Claimed to be "gourmet" and "premium" but served drinks in plastic cups.
2) Prices were high for products and options. Burgers ranged from $16-22 and only came with POTATO CHIPS! If you wanted another side option, you had to pay an up-charge (ranged from $3-6)
3) Offered no specials or incentives to come in on off nights (I.e. Monday)
4) Unprofessional, disrespectful, and rude owner
5) Small portion burgers -- 6oz patty
6) Serving expensive burgers without high-quality, included side options.
7) Seating people without tableware or napkins
8 ) No printed drink menu or list of available bourbon choices
9) Overcrowded, tight table spaces.
10) Lack of vision, direction, and cohesion in concept of the restaurant. (I.e. No published history about name or theming) read more