Poco's on the Blvd

[chileheadmike]

Those who know me, know that my lovely wife is not much of a foodie. She much prefers Chili's, and On The Boarder to El Taco Nazo or Mariscos Vera Cruz. I can rarely get her out of JoCo for a meal. She agreed to go to Poco's for brunch today.

We walked in and waited at the front desk for a couple minutes before the girl who was to be our waitress turned, while in the middle of taking an order, and asked if she could help us. I said 4, she nodded to an empty table. I should have known to run. We get drinks and order. Then wait. And wait. We were playing hangman with the kids and generally having a good time. But when both pages filled up, we looked around. The dining room was almost empty. All the tables that had come in after us were finishing up. I looked at my empty coffee cup. We waited some more.

When the food got there my wife said, "This is ice cold, I can't eat it". Her eggs with ham were indeed ice cold. My daughter's grilled veggie sandwich was cold and soggy. The steak in my torta was felt like they had just removed it from the walk-in. My other daughter still had to wait for her chicken strips. Once they got there, bingo hot and fresh.

I wasn't into sending it all back and waiting some more. I got up and chased down another waitress, and told her we would pay for our drinks but the food was inedible. She asked me to sit down and she'd have the owner come over to talk to us. After 10 more minutes, I noticed the owner was fawning over another table and their kids. I got up again, tracked down that waitress and said, "That's it, were leaving. We've been here before and we really like this place, but we're leaving. Now". She apologized profusely, offered to buy us our next meal. She was very nice and truly cared. This was the first time we felt like anyone cared, and we were on our way out. We were in there for an hour and a half, oldest daughter said on the way out, "Why is your face all red?"

We ended up at Applebee's where I had an overcooked hamburger. But at least it got there on time, and our waitress there was great.

So, now I'm doubly pissed. I'll never get my wife out chain restaurants. And I have had to listen to "I told you so's" all day.

The kids and I will be back, sadly it won't be with my wife. They have only reinforced her idea that good food can only come from a chain.

[moosnsqrl]

Ah, so my plan worked!

Actually I am really sorry to hear that. I just drove by there Friday and thought "I need to get back there."

[Zeemanb]

Oh man, this is some classic chilehead material! On one hand, it's a terrible thing to have happen to your family. On the other, it's totally hilarious. Don't worry man, I just saw a commercial about the new Applebee's all you can eat riblet/shrimp/chicken dinners......starting at just $9.99! And also, I've had the chicken fingers at Chili's and they aren't too bad. And of course.....bottomless buckets of steak fries at Red Robin!

How screwed are YOU? You should have done more research, man. I know your plight, and I can't even forecast the next time you'll get her away from the chains.

Edited to add: So I'm guessing I can count you two out for dim sum this Sunday...

Edited September 15, 2008 by Zeemanb (log)

[ChefCAG]

I AM NOT TRYING TO PITCH MY PLACE SO DON"T BOOT ME!!!

You should bring her in my place for happy hour and have some fries and a steak. It's cheap and it might change her mind a bit......If not there's a chili's on westport rd

[moosnsqrl]

Be careful what you wish for, dude. She's harder to please than UE

I AM NOT TRYING TO PITCH MY PLACE SO DON"T BOOT ME!!!

You should bring her in my place for happy hour and have some fries and a steak. It's cheap and it might change her mind a bit......If not there's a chili's on westport rd

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[chileheadmike]

Be careful what you wish for, dude.  She's harder to please than UE

I AM NOT TRYING TO PITCH MY PLACE SO DON"T BOOT ME!!!

You should bring her in my place for happy hour and have some fries and a steak. It's cheap and it might change her mind a bit......If not there's a chili's on westport rd

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Tell me about it.

Seriously ChefCAG, thank you for the invite.

Edited September 15, 2008 by chileheadmike (log)

[chileheadmike]

OK, I'm a day removed from this. I like Poco's, its a good place and I'll be back. I'm still pissed that after the ordeal we passed Bell Street Momma's, Jerusalem Cafe, Blue Koi, Jazz, etc looking for someplace to eat. My wife declined all of them. We ate at the Applebee's at Rainbow and SWB. So many good places there.

Why is it that when a large chain screws things up, its somehow forgivable? We've had things go at least this bad, if not worse in corporate restaurants. But somehow they get a pass. Poco's screws up once, and people like my wife are off of locally owned places for months.

[moosnsqrl]

OK, I'm a day removed from this. I like Poco's, its a good place and I'll be back. I'm still pissed that after the ordeal we passed Bell Street Momma's, Jerusalem Cafe, Blue Koi, Jazz, etc looking for someplace to eat. My wife declined all of them. We ate at the Applebee's at Rainbow and SWB. So many good places there.

Why is it that when a large chain screws things up, its somehow forgivable? We've had things go at least this bad, if not worse in corporate restaurants. But somehow they get a pass. Poco's screws up once, and people like my wife are off of locally owned places for months.

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Do you really want to pose that question here? I love ya, man, but . . .

[ulterior epicure]

Be careful what you wish for, dude.  She's harder to please than UE

I AM NOT TRYING TO PITCH MY PLACE SO DON"T BOOT ME!!!

You should bring her in my place for happy hour and have some fries and a steak. It's cheap and it might change her mind a bit......If not there's a chili's on westport rd

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I'm not hard to please. I'm just hard to impress. Keep trying, moosnsqrl.

Seriously, chileheadmike, condolences for the lost opportunity. May the Force be with you.

[boagman]

We walked in and waited at the front desk for a couple minutes before the girl who was to be our waitress turned, while in the middle of taking an order, and asked if she could help us. I said 4, she nodded to an empty table. I should have known to run. We get drinks and order. Then wait. And wait. We were playing hangman with the kids and generally having a good time. But when both pages filled up, we looked around. The dining room was almost empty. All the tables that had come in after us were finishing up. I looked at my empty coffee cup. We waited some more.

We were in there for an hour and a half, oldest daughter said on the way out, "Why is your face all red?"

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This might come off as me being a bit of a twit, but I'm really not trying to be: you do realize that, to a degree, at least part of this is your fault, right? I mean, walking out at the point where you're red-faced, after an hour-and-a-freaking-half...that's not mere patience, that's being walked-on to the point of madness.

Your mistake was, say, after the initial page of hangman was completed...I'm trying to understand why you didn't flag someone down at that point, considering that your empty coffee cup wasn't magically refilling itself, and your food order wasn't magically appearing on its own. Apparently, your table was in a no-man's-land that day, and when that happens, it's best to politely-yet-firmly "help out" a problematic staff by asserting your own existence.

"Hi, we're over there, and my kids and I are really hungry, and I could use a refill...would you be kind enough, as the owner, to see what's happening? I'd hate to think that we've fallen through the cracks, here. Other people that came in after us are eating already..." I realize that it might be a bit embarrassing/condescending to do this, but remember: you're fighting for the right to avoid Olive Garden, for heaven's sake! And that's something that an independent establishment should appreciate!

Should you have had to do this? Absolutely not...I'm not really defending the restaurant. I'm trying to understand why, when your wife isn't keen on good culinary experiences, you'd allow something this horrible to continue for 90-odd minutes, knowing full well that the owner is within easy attention-grabbing distance. Sure, your wife might still be annoyed by this, but if you could light a fire under their collective, uh, "patooties", at least you might have had a chance to have your wife acknowledge that, yes: this food is worth going a bit out of our way for.

Again: not trying to pour lemon juice into the already-painful wound...just wondering why you allowed such a fiasco to endure for so long without stopping the bleeding by going straight to the owner. If he's glad-handing happy customers, *who cares*? You're not happy, and not only that: since it sounds like it'll be harder for you to return, that's got to make *him* unhappy.

Sorry it all went sideways on you...guess you'll be having to spend a couple meals' pennance at the Wasteland of O'Charley's, you poor, poor soul.

[chileheadmike]

We walked in and waited at the front desk for a couple minutes before the girl who was to be our waitress turned, while in the middle of taking an order, and asked if she could help us. I said 4, she nodded to an empty table. I should have known to run. We get drinks and order. Then wait. And wait. We were playing hangman with the kids and generally having a good time. But when both pages filled up, we looked around. The dining room was almost empty. All the tables that had come in after us were finishing up. I looked at my empty coffee cup. We waited some more.

We were in there for an hour and a half, oldest daughter said on the way out, "Why is your face all red?"

←

This might come off as me being a bit of a twit, but I'm really not trying to be: you do realize that, to a degree, at least part of this is your fault, right? I mean, walking out at the point where you're red-faced, after an hour-and-a-freaking-half...that's not mere patience, that's being walked-on to the point of madness.

Your mistake was, say, after the initial page of hangman was completed...I'm trying to understand why you didn't flag someone down at that point, considering that your empty coffee cup wasn't magically refilling itself, and your food order wasn't magically appearing on its own. Apparently, your table was in a no-man's-land that day, and when that happens, it's best to politely-yet-firmly "help out" a problematic staff by asserting your own existence.

"Hi, we're over there, and my kids and I are really hungry, and I could use a refill...would you be kind enough, as the owner, to see what's happening? I'd hate to think that we've fallen through the cracks, here. Other people that came in after us are eating already..." I realize that it might be a bit embarrassing/condescending to do this, but remember: you're fighting for the right to avoid Olive Garden, for heaven's sake! And that's something that an independent establishment should appreciate!

Should you have had to do this? Absolutely not...I'm not really defending the restaurant. I'm trying to understand why, when your wife isn't keen on good culinary experiences, you'd allow something this horrible to continue for 90-odd minutes, knowing full well that the owner is within easy attention-grabbing distance. Sure, your wife might still be annoyed by this, but if you could light a fire under their collective, uh, "patooties", at least you might have had a chance to have your wife acknowledge that, yes: this food is worth going a bit out of our way for.

Again: not trying to pour lemon juice into the already-painful wound...just wondering why you allowed such a fiasco to endure for so long without stopping the bleeding by going straight to the owner. If he's glad-handing happy customers, *who cares*? You're not happy, and not only that: since it sounds like it'll be harder for you to return, that's got to make *him* unhappy.

Sorry it all went sideways on you...guess you'll be having to spend a couple meals' pennance at the Wasteland of O'Charley's, you poor, poor soul.

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Points well taken. It was Sunday brunch, after church. We were in no particular hurry. As much stuff as we have going on (wife works nitghts, kids in sports and band), it was nice to sit and relax together. Frankly, the time got away from me. It was only after the second page filled up that I even noticed. The wait wasn't really the problem. The killer was, when the food did arrive, it was waaay dead. My wife's eggs had to have been sitting in the window for 30 minutes or more.