Raleigh Times Bar - no thanks.

UPDATE! UPDATE! UPDATE!

2/09/12 - Arno Halna, Manager at Raleigh Times Bar is absolutely amazing. He has completely made sure that I am satisfied. Blog or not, his dedication to making customer service his priority could lead to a part two. I plan to give it another try soon... Stay tuned.

2/05/12 - Friday night Nicole and I went to Raleigh Times Bar located at 14 E. Hargett St. I was really excited about going to the Times since I hadn't been there in about a year. My first experience was one for the books, little did I know - the atmosphere had changed drastically.

There was absolutely no hostess to sit you - it's a seat yourself kind of place and don't expect the waitresses to stop and come to your rescue if you look completely lost. I forgot that if you don't show up really early, you will not be sitting inside. Lastly and most importantly, I forgot that if you don't sit at the bar, you weren't going to get anything that resembles decent service - I remembered this way too late.

At 7:30 on a Friday night there is absolutely no place to sit - especially at the bar. Nicole and I decided we'd sit outside. After about 15 minutes of sitting outside (in the cold) a waitress finally showed up to give us our menus. Before we could even mumble a word she was already walking away.

Another 15 minutes or so later another server came around and asked us if the other server had gotten us drinks. We replied with a polite "no" and she brought us two waters about 10 minutes later. She asked us what we'd like to eat and without writing it down she used her apparent amazing memory skills and nodding ability to let us know that she got our order down exactly as we were saying it. 

We proceeded to tell her that we wanted the nachos with absolutely no jalapenos for an appetizer along with loaded fries and a burger with ONLY mayo, ketchup and cheddar cheese. She nodded and left us with the confidence that she was good at her job.

We got our nachos in a semi-timely manner but they came out all wrong. 

Jalapenos are NOT fun.

After a while our burger and fries came out and they were absolutely not the way we ordered it - go figure.

That is not mayo/ketchup only.

I thought it looked delicious, too.

The burger patty itself was okay and the bun seemed a little stale. The burger overall was plain and I'm not talking about just the condiments. There was nothing special and WOW about this burger. I've had better burger and fry combinations at fast-food restaurants and in the same breath, I have paid a lot less.
After we got our food, there was no sign of our waitress. Especially one that was asking if we needed any refills on our drinks or how our food was. She finally showed up when it came time to put the bill down on our table. 

On the receipt our server's name was listed as "I'll never tell!!!!" and towards the bottom there seemed to be a separate tagline or description of the bar in which they seemed particularly proud of - it read:

"The Most Arrogant Bar in America"

Around $25.00 later with tip included - they certainly lived up to that title!

Arrogance, for me is certainly not palatable.

2/06/12 - UPDATE: I gave feedback on the Raleigh Times Website and a manager, Arno Halna, got back to me that same afternoon. He apologized for everything. He was very friendly, receptive and wanted to know exactly what happened and how he could help. He wanted to make it up to me and let me know that a gift card was on it's way to my house.