I have come here for drinks several times and always had an completely unremarkable but satisfactory experience. The place is centrally located and at the times when I go meet people for drinks (e.g. not weekend nights) it's not busy. The service is always mediocre with the entire staff appearing to think themselves far too cool to be working there. The place gives off such a vibe of hipster smugness that this has never surprised me, but it's never impressed me or made me eager to return.
However, the two times I've eaten here were bad. One experience, a while back, was just your standard 'meh.' Given the look and feel of the place, the first time I went in expecting little. The cheese plate I ordered was meager and unimaginative. Brunch today, however, was just a total disaster. We were looking for a place to grab brunch in a bit of a hurry. LFK is one of few places in town I'd not yet tried for brunch, and there were very few people in there, so I thought this was as good a time as any to give it a try.
Let's start with the service: slow and unenthusiastic. The bartender was absurdly loud, taking multiple opportunities to scream to the kitchen at full volume when it was completely unnecessary (because he was standing right in front of the kitchen while screaming). Our server was pleasant enough, but not at all attentive. Never once asked how our food was. Took our credit card after we said we were in a rush and then went and did a bunch of other tasks before processing our check. To her credit this may be because she was, apparently, the only person actually serving the tables. There were, however, two other servers there, bustling about with just the most sour looks on their faces. I'm not one normally bothered by such things, but they seriously looked so unhappy to be there that it made ME unhappy to be there.
Then there was the food. The burger... it wasn't a burger. It was a slider. It was a tiny hunk of meat that was completely overcooked. Two burgers were ordered medium and arrived with not a hint of pink between them. They amount of cheese that came on them suggested that it was meant to compliment a full-size burger, but because the patty was so small, it just made a mess everywhere. The roasted potatoes were limp, soggy and grey and I don't think whatever was done to them could be in any way defined as roasting. A side of greens was a sad, dull grey/green and tasted like it had simply been boiled in vinegar. The poached eggs were cooked all the way through (yolks were almost totally solid) and served cold, despite arriving five minutes before the rest of the food. This sad spread took a half an hour to arrive at our table with almost no one in the place. The quality and speed of the food may have been affected by the fact that the cook spent half the time we were there checking his phone in full view of the restaurant.
Finally the prices... the tiny slider-sized burger was $13. I can think of three different restaurants in walking distance of LFK where I could get a burger at least twice the size, and with far better sides, for less money. The overcooked eggs were $4. I can get a perfectly executed breakfast sandwich at half a dozen place for that price.
Can't say I'll ever go back to this place unless I hear of a huge change in management and/or staffing. read more