I'm going to consider this one another conflicted review, but I REALLY enjoyed my drink and the food was also good, so I feel it would be mean to short-change them. But the negatives just outweighed the good things that happened here, so what would have been a four-star review in a perfect world is actually just a two-star review.
I'll start with the good. I had the berry mojito (or some permutation of that name) and it was fantastic. I want to marry this drink. I really enjoyed the mix of strawberry, mint, lime, and lemon that was in there. I drank it relatively fast, and needed another one.
As with many drinking experiences, it's usually a great idea to grab some food. This is where things started to go downhill... fast.
So... time for the not-so-good.
Our server wasn't very attentive. Despite our sitting in the couch area right near the bar where she'd walk past us frequently... rarely did she stop to ask if we needed anything. We sat and waited for around a half hour to even put in a food order. We were there drinking, so it's not as if we were in a rush, but when you haven't eaten most of the day, that's a LONG time to wait for your order to be placed. And it throws off your food-induced sobriety balance. First you start getting louder, then you knock things over. Utter mayhem. Luckily it took the server so long to even notice our glasses were empty, there was no chance whatsoever to have the scales tip toward inebriation.
Needing to be gluten free, I should have been a little wary of the server's unwillingness to find answers for me. I generally have the rule of thumb that if they can't answer questions, I won't eat there. However, with as long as she was taking I opted for the safest-looking thing I could find on the menu: spinach and artichoke dip with veggie chips.
Prior to ordering the food I asked if the mojitos were gluten free, and if she could just do a quick check for me. Blank stare. OK, so I realize rum should be gluten free, but what if they're using some cheap Christmas Tree Shop mojito mixer? I didn't want to take the chance. But rather than walk the three steps to the bar to ask, she just looked at me and said "it's strawberries, mint, lime, and rum"..... yeah. That doesn't always help. So I asked, found out they were safe.
Again, it took a while for her to even come back after dropping off the menus. I asked if the spinach and artichoke dip was gluten free, and again... blank stare. Like I was completely offending her by asking her questions that are the difference between sickness and health for me. I asked if she knew what was in it, and she said she could take away the pita chips. Good start. But when I asked if she could ask the kitchen, she again reiterated that she could take away the pita chips and it should be OK. Apparently asking the kitchen would have been very inconvenient for her.
Now, actually ordering it AND eating it despite not knowing if it was safe is my fault. The signs were there, and I didn't heed them. So I can't blame the server or Bar 10 for my stupidity or how sick I am and will be the next three days, but I can be upset that that this happened. Again, totally my fault because I ordered without having the answer. I don't blame them for that. I do maybe a little blame them for what I'm interpreting as their not encouraging staff to take customer's food allergies seriously.
That being said, I do wish to impress upon her the importance of actually finding out this information for people with allergies. It might be an extra walk and a pain in the ass, but if you don't know, you REALLY shouldn't guess. If I'm going out of my way to tell you that something as simple as a crumb or cooking something in the same oil as something breaded could make me sick for days, it should be taken seriously. Please, please, please take the extra five minutes to figure it out. Your tip will be bigger, I promise.
Had the service been better as a whole, I would have gone up to the third star. All it would have taken was her popping maybe two more times in as she walked by, asking to fill our water glasses or if we needed another drink. We literally had to flag her down for refills or even to order. And most of the time she told us she'd be back before she'd even take the order.
Had the server actually taken the time to stress the importance of there not being any traces of gluten in, on, or near my food to the people in the kitchen, or had she found out for me that there was no chance for that to happen, I think this visit would have easily been at least four stars for me-- the drink was that good! And for that matter, the food was that good as well!
I just think that the server's lack of attention as a whole was inexcusable. And every time I have to take a break from writing this to puke, I get more and more angry. I'll try again, but only to drink. Not to eat. read more