I ordered the gumbo (which the menu warned had no okra) and received a bowl of soft rice in a thin broth with bits of shredded chicken and tiny wedges of sausage. I thought there was onions but not sure if there were peppers or celery, which is troubling in a gumbo. I had never seen gumbo served all stirred together like that. Normally it is a mixture of seafood, meat and some vegetables served over rice, not a thin soup.
After just a few mushy bites I bit into something hard. Really hard, it felt like a rock and clanked against my teeth. When I told the waitress, a second waitress (because I couldn't find our waitress at first) and then the manager, they all seemed completely unconcerned. The second waitress said she thought it must be a part of the sausage, but I have to say, I have never once found a rock in sausage before. The manager, when finally summonded, didn't even bother to apologize, just asking if I had saved the rock (I had daintily spit it out into a spoon and returned the whole mess to the "gumbo") and took it away. Our waitress finally did take it off the bill but still...rocks in mediocre soup? No concern from the staff? Not what I would expect from a new local business trying to stay afloat. It wasn't as if I was being rude or demanding, I just quietly pointed out what happened and the manager didn't even bother to make eye contact with me.
Matt didn't fare much better-his "Tuscan chicken" open-faced sandwich could be charitably described as a homemade french bread pizza (think chicken and peppers with lots of red sauce and covered in cheese served on thick, tasteless bread) and was served with an "antipasto" salad which contained what appeared to be long, flat Asian noodles and a creamy sauce. The sauce on the sandwich tasted like it came from the jar and the the 3 mushrooms we were told about were missing. Matt said the sandwich reminded him of something he would have made as a hungry teenager with leftovers from the fridge.
The food was amateurish at best, the staff apathetic and the menu is rather overpriced for what you get. I just didn't get the impression that the chef or the staff was very interested in or familiar with food which, for a restaurant, is pretty shocking. Perhaps the Parkside should refocus what they want to be a kiddy destination? a bar? a sandwich shop? a bakery? a market? a full service restaurant? because it is pretty clear they can't handle doing it all. I think what I was most surprised about was not the appalling food but their total lack of interest or care in their customers.
I love to support local businesses and I love our neighborhood but it is just not good. If you go there, I would recommend just sticking to drinks or the risotto cake which was bland, but not bad.
We are going to be taking all of our business to the delightful Hamilton Tavern where the food, staff and drink have all been top notch no matter when we've been there.
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It's so terribly disappointing when you go to a restaurant and you just get apathy, isn't it?
I had a local Indian restaurant that I adored. I always had prompt, attentive service. The manager remembered a few favorite dishes I had enjoyed from the specials and would have them made for me.
Then, one day as I was sipping my Diet Coke, I saw something in the glass. A roach. I nearly vomited and barely prevented a full-on panic attack. My friend got the attention of the manager, and what happened? NOTHING. He brought another drink. No apology, nothing comped - nothing.
I never went back. And now, they are closed. Ha!
I walked in there a few weeks after it opened to order lunch to take back to work. I stood there for what seemed a life time before the finally cleared my throat and the gal behind the bar turned around. By this time I was put off some and just asked for a lunch menu to take with me (I changed my mind and wanted Red Canoe). They didn't have any menus I could take with me and was told to look online. The place gave me a very unwelcome feel and it was not very appealing to me in there- I felt there was too much open space! I told myself I would go back sometime and try the food but I haven't yet. I will say I wrote them an email after they opened to get some history on the place and was impressed but not after going there myself and I didn't even try the food.
Well, that blows! I have been so happy that more restaurants are opening in our neighborhood... but if this is the quality, then I'd rather go back to vacant storefronts and dangerous bars, I guess.
I can sort of forgive mediocre food or at least give a new place a couple of chances, but I don't tolerate bad service at all. When someone is rude to me (or one of my friends) you had better believe I will tell everyone.
I have had several similar experiences. Maybe I'm a slow learner, maybe I am willing to support neighborhood businesses despite their flaws, but I've been to Parkside 3 times and I think each meal was worst than the last.
I must absolutely agree that the staff seems apathetic, and that the service is borderline terrible, with one exception, the delightful pink-haired Kristen.
Every single time we go, my wife ends up completely unsatisfied with/uninterested in her meal. I'm happy with the gumbo, and looking forward to trying their "pizzas", and our kids love the play area... but each visit has us saying to each other "Why didn't we go to Clementine? The food is light years better and the prices are the same"
On a positive note, our kids seem to really like everything they've ordered there, which is more than I can say for the Tavern or Clementine.
Oh, that's awful. I love supporting community businesses too. I had a bad experience at our local meat market last Tuesday when I went to pick up my turkey breast. The lack of concern in that situation was appalling as well.
Oh, Haley Suzanne, I would have been sick on the spot. Ugh
This is disappointing, but I have to say I'm relieved to see other people with the same experience.
We've gone 3 times. The food has been mostly a miss. The smoked trout appetizer is pretty delicious.
Gumbo. Ick. Thought my exp. was bad but at least there were no rocks. We got the last bowl, and I thought all the bad stuff about it was explained by that. I thought they were scraping the bottom and tried to fill the bowl with rice but it looks like that's just how they serve it. (Maybe they're confused with jambalaya?)
The okra thing bothers me. What's the point of having a house soup if you're not always going to put out the best version of it? Really, either put okra in (frozen or fresh) or make gumbo a special only when you can get fresh okra. (I'm aware of the two main variations of gumbo but this one is meant to have okra.)
We had a problem with service on our last visit and it was bad. I sent an email over a week ago and no response. Another disappointment. I could write a book about all the bad service that night but that would be boring. (Give me 40+ minutes without a server and I can pick the place apart very easily.) We were surprised because the server we had the first 2 times was very attentive and engaging.
Except for two of the servers, no one seems to be comfortable with being there, and being in food service. Maybe they want to do the food, drink, bakery part but they should've brought in another owner to do the people/customer part.
We want local businesses to succeed (who doesn't want their neighborhood to get better?), but I can't justify continuing to pay for that food.
Has anyone enjoyed the potato wedges? Maybe mine were off? (Dry, flavorless, way too big.)
They might keep us coming in if they keep Hop Devil pints at $3, but we'll probably eat before we go.
Their menu and atmosphere suffers from a lack of focus, perhaps caused by the visions of too many owners.
While I am sad to hear that the restaurant really is as awful as we thought, it is good not be alone! It really was the worst restuarant experience I have ever had and I have had some doozies!
Well -
It is 2009 and I am here to report: The mediocre food and bad service has not changed. SO - I guess we can all agree they are consistent.
It was my fiance's birthday and his parents came to town so we could go to the Red Canoe. He had heard positive things about the Parkside, so we thought to give it a go.
We walk in and a young lady said "Four?" Yes, four "Okay, you can seat yourselves.. no..okay..okay" She literally stutter stepped then finally decided to seat us.
Before we got to touch our chairs she asked if we would like something to drink. Myself being a server knew this was going to be bad. But I wanted to be positive - it was my dude's day.
It was a Sunday and it turns out they serve brunch ALL DAY. Okay - it is 2pm and I want a sandwich. We turn to the "lunch side", and there is ONE salad, 2 meat sandwiches, trout platter (which I read in blog written in 2008 was an appetizer - but they now have it as a LUNCH option, what a rip) Bagels and lox - (bagels? Realllly? lunch?) And a cheese platter. Guess who is a vegetarian? (I do eat fish) Me. Guess who does not say "What's for din din tonight? I know! A crap load of cheese on a plate that should clearly be an appetizer!" Me again. I know what their retort may be "We have a Veggie night" Well I happen to eat 7 days a week, so I am not going to make an effort to go out once a week for you to cook what I can eat... once a week.
So that is all they got for us: A Cesar salad and a veggie night. Even on the breakfast menu, with omelets, you get a potato side and "A choice of meat".
If you see the clientele, you know there are some veg heads coming in.
I digress:
All four of us are flipping the menu over and over, trying to figure out what to chose from the 12 (to us) items on the menu. Hoping we would see something we would like to eat or perhaps something new we had missed. Nope same boring stuff. Everyone was uneasy because there we not much for me to eat, but we are trying to be polite for the bday boy. I got the trout "lunch", two people got the only two sandwiches you can order, and the last person got a chicken Cesar. We waited for the food while admiring the venue and uncomfortably watching the women beside us try to wave to get the attention of their waitress. Our food came:
Trout - was obviously an appetizer, the trout was served flaked into a pile and cold with a side of toast (SO hard I had to bite with my molars to break it - not exaggeration) I finally had to ask for bread, it comes with a salad (well, lettuce with no dressing, I asked for a side and it was a side with oil with some vinegar in it) and a good sauce. The toast was half of a half of a triangle of bread. So I had to compile the small portion of fish onto this small piece of bread.
The Cesar salad? It came with a piece of chicken on it that was the color of a Hollywood star who used that Orange tanning solution one too many times? You know, the ones people make fun of? It was the color of that, then it looked like it was rolled flat for some reason. It was so tough my mom in law had to pick it up and snap it off in her teeth like slim jim.
We all ate in silence smiling up at one another shyly - trying not to complain. My guy was not impressed with his food and when we got home said "They cannot grill a red pepper and onion for you or anything? How cheap is a vegetarian sandwich to make? He said this while I was fumbling through the fridge STARVED from coming back from the restaurant.
And I was hungry after I ate all of my food because 1) I was SO hungry 2) there we no other options for me.
We all wished we went to the Red Canoe (they tuna fish sandwich is to DIE for)
In these economic times, I would not risk another dime at this establishment.
Clementines, Homewood Tavern - worth every dime and bite!
It looks great inside, but 4 out of 4 people who wanted the food to be good would never come back.
I am glad I am not the only one! I brought two friends there for brunch one Sunday. There were maybe 3 tables occupied in the place. After waiting to be seated (not sure why there was a wait) we received probably the most aloof service I have ever experienced. I am the most forgiving person in the world if there is a problem. I spent 12 years waiting tables, but the service here was pathetic. It took them 45 minutes to produce three egg sandwiches. I will never eat here again and it sucks because I could walk here from my house!
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