Eggstacy has Officially Jumped the Shark.
I can only hope the leadership cares enough to read each and every word of this review.
So I was a BIG fan of Eggstacy in the early months but the last five times I have visited, the service, food and ambiance have imploded. I mourn for the loss of yet another Phoenix restaurant.
I don't know the inner dynamics of what has gone so horribly wrong at this place but just watch the interplay at the open kitchen window between the expediter and wait staff and you can witness that all cylinders are misfiring. The wait staff is victim to the kitchen fails and the kitchen is getting flooded with a failure of the front to professionally manage pacing, menu descriptions and simple bussing of tables.
But you, reader, want details so let's organize and paint the picture from tip to tail.
Reception stand:
Somehow the restaurant industry has managed to carve a special place for pretty young girls with little capacity for common sense. The front desk has become something to suffer rather than welcome. This last visit was for my wife's birthday breakfast. We made a reservation for 8 one week in advance. The weather unexpectedly turned cold, so I called in two hours ahead to inquire if we could ensure an inside table. The desk could not find the reservation at first and later revealed that they kept a separate book for reservations and walk ins. With the reservation now found, they were accommodating on the phone. We arrive 10 minutes early and checked in at the desk. I could recognize the bubbly voice of the gal at the desk from the phone...and again she cannot locate the reservation...until I ask if it may be in the reservation book. At least the table was set and ready. Other people, however, were visibly upset by the desk. It is set just inside the main entrance and creates a choke point. The is no civility in the mob rush of the desk and this crowd mismanagement further impedes the ability of patrons finished with their meal to exit. Additionally, During a lull I asked the hostess how they s at the tables and her answer was simple, "We just seat the next group once the table is set." But when I asked if they consider the load upon the servers in seating 2-3 tables in a section all at once, she replied that she didn't understand what I was asking. I am sure there's an app that could remedy this.
Ambiance:
Just read the better reviews and you can tell the public is keenly aware this place is just too loud. The decibels rival pit row at a NASCAR event. Even at the end of my last visit when I was talking to the manager table side, I found that both she and I were yelling at each other just to be heard three feet away. Perhaps the interior designer is a retired rock star or jackhammer operator with major hearing loss. The tile floors, arabesque tile walls, steel beam ceiling and total absence of soft structures is simply dumb. To the owners, spend a little coin on some heavy drapes to frame the Windows, baffle the ceilings and you will immediately change the decibels to a pleasant range whereby patrons could leave feeling good about the conversation and the food.
At the Table:
Be leery of ordering drinks ahead of your meal. The staff routinely greets you promptly but once that drink order is in, you typically loose sight of your server for 5-10min. On this last visit, four hot chocolates, one coffee, one latte and two mimosas took 15 min to deliver. Made worse, the hot chocolate was missing the "hot" and the coffee was bitter or burned. The second cup of coffee (30min later when the waitress finally brought a pot around for refills) was worse. Also, a simple tip to all those wait staff out there: if you are filling a cup, leave enough room for your diner to add cream or sugar to their liking. Nobody wants a piping hot cup filled to the rim spilling on the table before they can make it the way they like it.
Move on to ordering. Nobody should be set free on the public if they don't know the menu. For at least six months, many of the items on the menu are described one way but now churned out of the kitchen in that manner. This happens from time to time but it is the waiter's responsibility to represent those changes. Once upon a time Eggstacy served a pretzel bun croque madame...that is still inaccurately haunting the menu. For the last six months, they have been "out" of the pretzel buns yet they continue to appear amazed the kitchen serves this flavorless bechemel-drenched mess over flavorless brioche.
So the "Food":
Mehh....perhaps they have changed suppliers or the original owners turn keyed their restaurant to a soulless corporation riding a wave of popularity, no longer resembling quality. With eight people at the table, statistically they couldn't ALL be terrible...could they?
1. The Rueben - I am certain that a Reuben has corned beef and sauerkraut typically on rye. The meat that was served contains approximately 10% of the fla read more