DT Kirby's — Restaurant in Lafayette

DT Kirby's is less than the sum of its parts. There were so many elements which could have been done right, or just better, but it's a restaurant of missed opportunities, vainglory, and hubris.

My wife and I went on a Saturday night and waited at the "Please wait to be seated" sign so long we nearly left as no one came by to seat us or even greet us. We had just decided to leave when the hostess came by and saw the small crowd that had gathered by the front door, then led us to our seats.

The aesthetic is pretty cool. The restaurant is in a salvaged and restored space in an old warehouse. I'm not from this area, so I do not know if this is actually what the building used to be or if it has just been designed and decorated this way. Regardless, it's got a neat, industrial vibe. However, it's taken to a comic extreme by the restrooms using portable toilet exteriors as their framing.

The menu is unapologetic about what it is and what it isn't. It's mostly burgers and hot dogs, all of which seem to have embraced and celebrated cholesterol as their main ingredient. Every now and then that's fine, so no judgement here. But the menu, and signage around the restaurant, post various arbitrary and condescending rules about how you might order or eat your food, such as the "No Ketchup Rule" for their hot dogs or that you're not allowed to cut your sandwich in half. Turning away paying customers over personal preferences seems like a bad business model to me, but the place is still open, so maybe I'm wrong.

The menu boasts fresh ingredients and high quality ones at that. This may very well be true! I ordered a burger and my wife had a Philly cheese steak. Hers was outstanding, one of the best either of us has ever eaten outside of Philadelphia. It had a really good ciabatta roll for a bun and some terrific shaved beef, too. My burger, unfortunately, was a greasy mess. Every bite dripped and the bun was soaked through, like the burger had been fished out of a lake. And yet, I could tell that there was good beef in there with some flavorful cheese. It was just so greasy that I might as well have chugged fry oil instead of getting a drink.

Our onion rings were huge. This onion must have been truly enormous before it became onion rings. I could have worn them as bracelets. Sadly, though, they were cooked in oil that badly needed to be changed. That poor onion tasted like burnt grease and nothing else.

Between the burnt onion rings, the overly greasy burger, and the long waits from both the hostess and our waiter (who disappeared for nearly fifteen minutes after dropping off our drinks but before we could order our meals), and a menu which tells grown adults how to eat their food, I can't recommend DT Kirby's to anybody but masochists. If that's your thing, though, you'll have...

I want to emphasize 2 things:

When I go this establishment ALONE, the experience at the bar with the woman bartender with grey hair is alright. BUT whenever I go with my African American friend, the service and experience takes a massive nosedive from alright to disrespectful. (Not accusing anyone of racism but it is a very noticeable change in service when my African American friend is present)

LITERALLY EVERY OTHER BARTENDER THERE HAS TREATED US LIKE NORMAL PAYING CUSTOMERS BESIDES THIS WOMAN.

Every time WE come here, the women bartender with grey hair, uses a demeaning and condescending tone highlighted by her constantly rolling her eyes.

She ignores us for the first 5 minutes of our arrival no matter if it's dead or busy, and constantly makes these rude facial expressions towards us. Literally EVERY TIME we go together, we always catch her giving us some sort of scowl. It is so noticeable, part of me wonders if she even realizes she is doing it. Whoever this bartender is, professionalism is not a word in their vocabulary.

And look I get it, bartenders like to interact with their regulars more than just some random pair of dudes, but at a certain point shouldn't we be afforded some decency instead of being treated worse than an afterthought?

I don't know why, but from the first time we ever went to now, she's always had this weird, rude attitude toward us.

AND ITS JUST HER SPECIFIALLY!!!

The other bartenders there, such as the male who always wears the cap, and the manager have always been very cordial with us. Even the wait staff have always been nice to us, such as the male with the sleeveless T-Shirts, ITS LITERALLY JUST THIS GREY HAIRED WOMAN BARTENDER WHO TREATS US SO NEGITAVELY.

The woman bartender with the grey hair, it's like she has some maliciousness towards us for some reason, ever since the first time we came here. It is so off-putting and almost comical, I just can't believe someone who looks to be in their early 40's could be so immature.

It's disappointing because we love the drink selection and set up of the place, but can we get whoever this bartender is some basic people skills?

In conclusion, this establishment has mediocre food, good drink selection, a nice atmosphere, and serviceable staff, BESIDES THIS GREY HAIRED WOMAN BARTENDER WHO HONESTLY SHOULD PROBABLY BE PULLED ASIDE...

It's unfortunate that experience tonight was AWFUL. We want to support local businesses, so that makes writing this even more difficult. We ordered quite a bit of food for carry out which included 3 different burgers. All the food except the burgers was great. All 3 burgers had a funny taste, not sure if it's a new seasoning (this isn't the first time we've got burgers here), new meat supplier, or maybe meat is just rancid. I can deal with something changing or something beyond the control of the restaurant that makes these things taste like well water. What I don't appreciate at all is the customer service, or lack thereof. Upon calling, I was told the manager couldn't be found (place was half full due to pandemic). Person I spoke with on phone said she talked to kitchen and nothing has changed. And then some MENSA associate in the background exclaimed "to be honest, getting our food carry-out isn't the greatest." To be clear this is at least the third time we've ordered carry out from here during pandemic. And we've always had at least one person order a burger, and food has been fine. Sure, you lose a little bit in the transportation, but that drive home didn't make all 3 burgers taste like the Wabash River. Apparently, DT's has no interest in making this right and that is unfortunate as 3 of our family's main entrees are inedible, and we are out $30+ (burgers alone, at least we got some sides that will do the trick). So, I guess we just made our last trip to DT Kirby's. Kinda...