Saturday, some friends and I went to the Electric Pickle, formerly Circa 28, in the Design District/Wynwood area after a lovely evening at the ECOMB benefit at the MiMo Gardens. There's no polite way to sugar coat the experience. Even by Miami standards, the service was ridiculously bad.
We went in, after paying a cover (reduced to $5) and hit up the bar. My friend orders her drink, a very simple drink really, and it was made badly. Not incorrectly, badly. She asked me to taste it, and even with my compromised sense of taste (I am heavily congested and cannot really taste anything) I could tell it was heavy on the syrup. So she asks the bartender to remake it. He refuses. Now I put the drinks on my card because I didn't want to bitch about a minimum, so I took immediate interest. In between his offering her more lime (which was the problem in the first place) and telling us no, he walks away to take photos with people. Literally in the middle of a sentence. So, let me get this straight. We paid $10 between us, and $26 for two drinks in the bloody design district and you are going to tell me no, you aren't remaking the drink? AND you expect me to tip you? Sorry my friend, that doesn't work for me.
So we go upstairs. Might I add my friend was in a cast? The bartender upstairs says she can't remake the drink since she didn't make it in the first place. Understandable, but seriously? The bar isn't even half full and the music is sucking and I am questioning why we didn't just go to Vagabond in the first place. She sees us annoyed at this point, maybe even magically hears about the terrible reviews we are planning on giving the bar and tells the manager, who was behind the bar the whole time, the situation and he rectifies it. As we walk away, they see my friend is on a crutch and the girl apologizes again.
We go downstairs and listen to the music, which is only ok. My friend asks if they can play an 80s song and the DJ, who has been spinning 80s the entire time, looks at her blankly and tells her nobody would know it. Really? I had more fun at the bloody Denny's on Biscayne Blvd.
This bar, which has changed names and owners more times than I can count already has the odds stacked against it, so what gives? Judging by the emptiness of the club, it won't be around for long. But maybe someone should give them Bar School 101 - Don't charge a cover, play mediocre music, hire ridiculously rude bartenders that can't make a drink and expect to survive. NOT when you have a bad location and places like PS14, Vagabond, White Room, and everything popping up in MiMo.
6 comments:
I couldn't have said it better myself! :-) although luckily we didn't have to deal with the crack head mafia to park the car ... I am happy to see *life* popping up in an otherwise blighted neighborhood but not at the expense of crappy service. In any case, the manager did well, ultimately. But, as you say, it was nothing to write home about. Denny's is way more fun.
Oh yeah, people ... the song in question was Funky Cole Medina ... which the DJ was already playing ... but he refused to play "pure" because I guess everyone was under 18 or something and would never recognize the song if it wasn't all mixed up? LOL!
Duly noted. All places (good or bad) need to remember that word of mouth is a powerful tool. Thank you.
Some energy drink I had at Brad's fiesta, gave me a jolt to dance til 3 AM. But yeah, the music was LAME.
$26 for two drinks? They must think they're South Beach?
It would've been a better idea to hit up Transit Lounge or The Vagabond.
That's a lot to pay for a sucky drink. Hey, is ECOMB related to the art show event that took place at a garden on Saturday? My friend exhibited her photos in that show.
Maria - Denny's was much much more fun. My whole issue was that we shouldn't have spent half an hour to fix the drink! But that's how they roll I suppose.
Mario - I concur
Holly - Yes, the ECOMB thing was also the art thing, which one was your friend?
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