I went to Rockwell's Tavern yesterday, Sunday to check it out. I was underwhelmed. It is more like a bar and grill than a tavern. The bar is very small. The beer selection is predominately in bottles and is hit or miss. They only have about 12 or so on tap. The ambiance reminds me of the tables you see in some of the gas station and convenience/Subway stores. More cafeteria than pub or tavern. The definitely did not spend much money on the buildout of this place. The burgers were good, but what will prevent me from ever going back and not recommending it to anyone is the service...it SUCKS!
My wife and I arrived and there were probably only 4 other tables occupied if that, and only three people at the bar. There appeared to be 4 employees working. One sat us in a booth, took our beer order and left. Tic-tock...tic-tock. 20 minutes later, I needed another beer and we still had not seen the return of our waitress to place an order. I went to the bar to get another beer. Not a bar tender in sight. Since the whole staff were women, I began to wonder if they weren't engaged in some X rated fun in the kitchen. My wife corraled a waitress and sent her to the bar...she must have seen the back of my neck coloring from the table...the gal said she would bring our beers and take our food order.
She was true to her word. We placed our order and 10 minutes later my Bubba burger and my wife's mushroom burger arrived in time for me to order another beer.
After bringing our check...Abracadabra...our second waitress dissapeared. So I took our empties and our check to the bar and we left.
Being a former bar owner and having waited tables in college something was painfully obvious. There was no one in charge and the place was hopelessly disorganized.
As we left, our original waitress reappeared from the kitchen. I surmised one of several things...1) she went on a extended break just after bringing us our first beer, 2) she was actually the cook, or 3) she was on the bottom of the lesbian dog pile in the kitchen.
There appeared to be no discernable organization of the staff. The waitresses didn't have assigned zones or tables and everyone just did their own thing. One table who arrived after us recieved their food before we had even placed our order!
I will not be returning to Rockwells and cannot recommend it to anyone.
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