THE JAZZ SPOON — Restaurant in Forest Park

Second visit. We scoped this place out 2 weeks before a jazz group we wanted to hear was appearing. The first visit was OK, not stellar, but OK. The second visit was a big disappointment. We had 14 people in our party at 2 different tables. The lack of organization and poor service was evident immediately. The wait staff were lovely people, but they do not work as a team, and none appear to do things with any kind of planned service. Training needed. Company policies needed. Drinks were taking over 1/2 hour. Some finally got drinks along with a burrito, all at once, maybe 40 minutes after ordering. The bar staff obviously needs training. The food is overpriced and on both occasions mine was charred... as in "burnt." I can imagine it getting away from the cook once, but not twice in a row. More training is obviously needed for kitchen staff. But the worst situation was that my friend, the one who organized this group meeting to listen to the live music, ordered a bottle of wine. He and his wife had partaken of one half the bottle when the barkeep came out and insisted he be paid for the bottle right away. My friend was really offended, but also upset because his food had never arrived. Due to this encounter, he decided he no longer wanted the food, and stood up to leave after he paid for the wine, AND even tipped the rude bartender $5, which he absolutely did not deserve. I was going to cancel my order as a show of support, but I decided to take it as carryout instead, since I felt sorry for the waitress. I paid my tab and tipped the waitress, but I explained to her what a bonehead mistake that it was to offend the customer as they did. She said it was not something she could do anything about, and I get that. But my friend will never go back and spend a lot of money or take a crowd there ever again. It was, as another in our group said, a slap in his face to not explain a policy, if there was one.... which there was not... and then infer that he might run off without paying for the bottle of wine. Perhaps that is the type of clientele who frequent The Jazz Spoon Cantina, but mybfriend is obviously a man who had come to spend time eating and enjoying the company and music, so they were quite rude to him and the rest of us. The party broke up. Won't go back. Won't recommend.

Reply: I have worked in restaurants and have dealt with large parties. Ours was not very demanding, at all. The folks in our party arrived at different times and at least 3 separate orders were placed with 2 different waitresses as we were at different tables. The first group of four or five seemed to get their food a bit quicker, but 2 orders were wrong. Reorders do mess things up, for real.

Until the wine fiasco, only one complained about the wait. She was at a table separate from the one where I sat. The rest of us were socializing and enjoying the music while awaiting our food. However, there is no excuse for the amount of time it takes to deliver a drink. 30 plus minutes? This happened on our first visit as well when there were only 3 of us. A restaurant should be serving as quickly as possible to encourage reorders in order to make money. A burrito should not take over 40 minutes for a 2 person check. Over 40 minutes for fajitas that cost 20 bucks, and then arrive burnt. I imagined that the kitchen must be understaffed, undersized or the grill is very small because only one item seemed to come out of the kitchen at a time. Another odd practice: silverware is not given until the food comes out, so no napkins available while eating salsa and chips. My first visit, the food was good, altho burnt. I am also a musician and understand the need to pay the entertainment. But the food needs to be timely and not burnt, and the customers should not be ill-treated. I am glad you reached out to my friend. He is an amazing person with a huge following and hundreds of local friends. He reviews his food and visits to restaurants DAILY as he eats out twice a day several times per week. I hope you did something to encourage him...

I see that management watches these reviews closely, so I will choose my words carefully. First the good: food flavor - two thumbs up. Jazz musicians: 100%, and a passionate performance it was all around. Staff: super friendly, loved the vibe and all the welcoming smiles. Drinks: creative menu, enhanced the jazz aesthetic. Food choices: enough to satisfy most palates. Now, sorry to say, on the downside, the sound volume and mix was entirely inappropriate for the venue and the material. Even a 16 year old jazz musician would want his notes to shine thorugh. What we experienced though, was a 16 year old headbanger mix. The volume could not have been louder or cloudier. The poor girl singing - with all of her amazing vocal ability - could not even hear herself, and I know this because she sang off key when she wasn't at the top of the mix. And it wasn't for lack of trying. But suffering through the 11/10 on-stage volume - mushy monitors, voratious drummer with a painful snare shot and an ace on bass that boomed like a brontosaurus, well, she didn't stand a chance. Now I know they all have day jobs, but people, this is advertised as a JAZZ club. I want to enjoy the notes they're playing and singing, not struggle to imagine them. Now I think I'm totally spoiled by living close enough to Rudy's Jazz Room in Nashville where the jazz - AND THE SOUND - is pristine. That band last night was great. But I could not enjoy it because of the acoustic volumetric assault. Please invite the sound guy up from Rudy's for a couple of nights to learn how good your venue could sound. You have good enough equipment. He might even come for free if you pay his travel - who knows? Jazz is a small, friendly scene. But I had to strike you from my list because of the aural abuse. Jazz should be clean and clear - not distorted blasting like a teen age garage rave. If you don't get the chance to have a professional come to help, here's a quick punch list: #1: get a sound man, and he has final say, not the band. #2: cut the volume by 50%, then work from there as the baseline. #3 - and this is the most important: for JAZZ, the drums and bass should be the quietest part of the mix, not the loudest as it was last night. Sorry, if you want to blast it then advertise yourself accordingly. That means that they have to purposefully play quietly. #4 - cut the on-stage monitors by at least 75% - this lets the house PA take over and supply the main sound, not back fill what's washing off the stage. If you want to blast, get earbuds and blast yourself to deaf, we don't care as long as you're not taking us with you. #5. Once those are out of the way, you can actually tune the vocals and the instruments from the mixing board for a good tone and balance. I hope this helps. Would love to come back once the sound issue has been...

I wanted to like this restaurant so bad—especially after hearing so many great things—but after my experience yesterday, I won’t be back.

Let me start by saying our waitress was very sweet, and she was new, so this isn’t about her. But no one was helping her. She didn’t know much about the menu, and when I asked about the drinks, she wasn’t sure either. So I told her I’d just go to the bar to order. She kept having to go ask questions which extended the ordering process.

When I got to the bar, the bartender was super nonchalant and told me to order through my waitress. I let her know the waitress didn’t know about the drinks, and only then did she say I could order there.

The food came and it was actually good except My son’s chicken tenders were fried hard and they were paper thin. They had live music playing and there were maybe four people in the whole restaurant. We had two kids with us, and they got up to dance near our table. They weren’t being disruptive, they weren’t running around—they were just dancing to the music.

Then the bartender comes over and says, “We like to be quiet when the musicians are playing,” and asked if the kids could sit down. At that point, I immediately asked for the check. We felt completely unwelcome. The music was loud, no one could hear each other talk anyway, so I know we weren’t bothering anybody.

Then came the bill… I ordered tacos and added a few toppings—$6 for onions and $3 for cheese. Nickle and dime for literally everything. I didn’t even argue. I just paid and left.

All in all, the food was good, but the vibe? The service? The extra charges we weren’t told upfront t about?...