12. we aren't all on the same page here

a few weeks ago fork in the market posted a photo on instagram promoting their upcoming t.v commercial shoot. the post showed a small picture including a time for the event, encouragement to come out, specials on beer & cocktails and mention of live music. for me this was an automatic saturday afternoon activity, duh, they have a patio.

the thoughts that come to me when describing fork in the market are... tree house, comfy, homey, dark, alley and lastly, more potential. not one of these words has anything do with service or food, merely just infrastructure and personal opinion. i'm really not trying to be harsh or "knock" too much, but i'll give a few examples. throughout my rant.

i hate showing up places late, the anxiety creeps up on me thinking about it now. so why in the hell would i be late for my local television debut? with that said, the event started at 4:00. coming in at 3:00 allowed plenty of time for me to drink a cocktail and see where the perfect lighting would be (this is a joke, guys). i asked the bartender and several servers what they were doing for the event. to say the least, no one had a clue what i was talking about. apparently the outdoor bar would not be opening and specials... deer in headlights. a few of the inside tables were dirty, employees were even rolling silverware at tables customers were waiting to sit. to be blunt the restaurant as a whole, lacked pride.

on another note, the food at the bar was good and price points were great. the chicken and mushroom wrap was put together well & the gumbo was pretty much what you would imagine. the most mention-able thing were the fried green beans and dipping sauce. the ranch, f*** yaaas. pretty sure i'm just gonna go ahead and have a roanoke ranch-off.

there was a bit of confusion with the drink i order, which happens in most places...let's go over this for anyone who has bar tended longer than 2 weeks... keep in mind, this is exactly how i say it every time... "double tito's and water, tall, shaken, with a lemon and lime...but if you have fresh oranges sub that out"... i used to say a squirt of agave, but all hell broke loose. it's just like f***, can someone give me the right thing. i didn't tell you to get on all four's , why are you mouth breathing and looking so exhausted. ugh, i'm stopping. i'll be ok. again, the lack of training and "pride" showed again.

curtains opened at 4:00 so it was time to get to the outdoor patio (yes 30 minutes later we got the memo that it was the place to be) live music was starting, fires were blazin, the grill was going. things were looking up! the band, everyone loved. score, i suppose. um, they had titos pickle juice shots on tap? kinda cool, ashamed i have never seen this. behind the bar was totally empty, i mean i saw some empty cans? hopefully the film guys didn't catch that in combo with jackbenimble pouting behind the bar aka the bartender had zero personality. no clue what the heck was even going on at that point.

it could have been more, more fun, more hype, positive and knowledgeable staff, reps... by the way, where were the liquor and beer reps? even at my old age i'll stay out late, i was home 5:30. didn't seem like there were too many reasons to stick around, that's the worst! like i said, the pride wasn't there, the love wasn't there. a lot of people aren't as fortunate to own their own business or manage a place, just seems pretty sad.

i'll go back for the food only because of the potential greatness of the outdoor seating. otherwise i would say pass on the $85.00 spent.