Dart Bowl no, Phil’s Icehouse yes
After hearing for years about their fabulous enchiladas, the family and I went to Dart Bowl today for some bowling and dinner. We entered the restaurant area around 6:20, and ordered at 6:25.
At 6:45, still nothing. A customer from another table went to the kitchen and stood in the doorway until someone finally acknowledged him.
At 7:00, the people sitting behind us who sat down a good 20 minutes after we did got their food.
At 7:15, we’d had enough. No food, no eye contact (actually, the waitress was visibly ducking us), no refills, no “your order will be out before midnight,” no nothing. We left five bucks for the drinks and took off.
Their enchiladas may be good, but I won’t know about it.
We headed over to Phil’s Icehouse instead. I adore their Violet Crown burger (patty with grilled onion and bleu cheese on a jalapeno bun). Their onion rings were cooked to a turn, too. It’s just a shame that the patties were so overcooked. The butter rum from Amy’s next door made up for it, though.
February 11th, 2007 at 3:53 am
I originally wrote this on Chowhound and copied it here, but I just saw that it’s been removed over there. Now I’m sad. 🙁
February 12th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Dart Bowl’s service is much better when the owner, Butch, is there. I grew up eating at the old Dart Bowl on Burnet Rd., (Now Basset Furniture) and their food is great. I also used to be an ice cream maker for Amy’s, but I haven’t had the opportunity to eat at Phil’s yet. Thanks for the tip.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
What is the deal with Chowhound? I notice that quite a bit–topics get deleted left and right. I don’t get it.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Good question, Auslunch. I emailed them asking why my post was deleted and got nothing back. I’ve read a lot of stuff about their moderation, but thought it was overreacting people who weren’t telling all the story, figuring no large message board would be able to do stuff like that without losing their membership. This incident indicates that there was more than a grain of truth in the Chowhound moderation horror stories, though.
I’m mad at myself for reading the stories, ignoring them, and allowing myself to get invested in the Chowhound board and having it happen to me.
I wish there were an Austin food community that didn’t continually erupt into flamewars (Usenet) or have useful posts deleted for seemingly no reason (Chowhound). If I had the time or inclination, I’d start one myself. But I don’t.
February 12th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I went ahead and added a forum to my site. Had been thinking about it. What the heck. Check it out! http://auslunch.com/forum/
March 9th, 2007 at 10:13 pm
We have a place like that here in silicon gulch – and when you leave the hostess says “hope you enjoyed your meal!” even though she seated you just 30 minutes before. Earth, what a fun place to visit.