The Avenue — Restaurant in Lansing

This place has by far the WORST bartending service in the city of Lansing. Slow service for one and don't even think about flagging them down for a drink, because that will only further delay your order. Every time we get a drink here, it's been by a bartender named Kelsey. We are polite and we say hi. We put our drink order in and she takes her sweet time getting "two" drinks (one of which, you pop the top aka canned beverage). She then brings them over (all while giving us the death stare the entire time). No "hi" or "hello".... and as I'm saying "thank you", she sets the receipt down and walks away. As a 20% tipper, it pained me to give her zero this time, as I have ZERO tolerance for anyone's attitude as a patron. Personally, I don't get it. Yes, I am not their typical hipster customer, however, I do believe in good customer service which is non-existent at this establishment. Also, let's not forget to mention the second round of drinks that we got. We went to different bartender this time. Kelsey proceeded to come up to the other bartender and start talking to her while making direct eye contact with us. Now, while it can seem rather assumptive, I couldn't help but notice how the other bartender's demeanor completely changed towards us, post talking with Kelsey. It's truly disappointing, because their drinks aren't bad. Not great, but not bad. Everyone we spoke to that night loves their games, karaoke, atmosphere, and especially, the ramen. Essentially, everything outside of the service. We heard complaint after complaint as to how rude the staff are along with extensive wait times to get drinks. I'll add one final grievance. The bartenders that are NOT working, like to stand behind the bar. Which wouldn't be problem if they didn't get mad at you when you ask them for a cocktail. There's simply a lot of attitude here, and I'm not certain as to why. Maybe they are just truly unhappy people. Either way, I'd rather spend my...

First, let start off by saying I used to rave about this place. I worked across the street from age 19-21 and I had alot of fun here on my 21st birthday and the months following. The food has always been great, the drinks great (my fav was the blue free pool drink last summer). I knew a few bartenders and as a fellow service industry worker I always felt welcomed. After the reopening of the place in 2020 the attitude shifted. I think there are many reasons for this. The staff all know each other very personally and I know they have lost people close to them in the past few years. I totally get that. But the energy has shifted in the place and service is no longer very friendly, if at all. I was here last night after not having been in 5 months, the house music bumping was awesome and I was so excited to see some friends. I met my friend at the bar and was ignored even with trying to get peoples attention for 15 mins. I am a bartender and find this weird? Do you not want money? When I am working I ask people right away what they're drinking. When we asked about food the bartender seemed annoyed and checked the time , but we figured she was just having a bad day. We asked another bartender to order and they were friendlier but still double checked the time before accepting our food order at 9:35 pm so we were able to place a food order before the kitchen closed at 10pm. We could've been more timely about it if we had not been ignored for 15 mins? At this point I still had no drink and just thought about skipping it entirely. The third bartender who got my drink was nicer and said he was having a long day. I get it. The bar was not busy so I found the whole situation weird, but the energy which used to be super fun, quirky, and bright has changed, and it makes me not inclined to return for awhile. I know my business makes no difference to them, it's just sad to see a place that I used to love so much change...

I was advised to go to this place by a friend, and was super excited. I thought it was a cafe, but honestly had no idea what this place was. I walked in and saw an arcade, super cool place. I ordered the Chicken bowl, and requested the sauce on the side just in case I didn’t like it. The food arrived and it was delicious, but I didn’t like the sauce so I wanted to see if they had ranch. The waitress never came back to check on us in the beginning. By the time she checked on us the 1st time my 2 friends drinks had been sitting empty for awhile. When she came back I asked for refills for their drinks and 2 ranch cups. She said that they did not have ranch, and because of their Japanese style foods, this was not the place to be asking for Ranch. I was taken back by her rude response and was genuinely confused, but I just said I was sorry I didn’t know that. She came back 30 minutes later only to grab an empty bowl. Didn’t ask if we wanted a box, refills, or our checks. After that we sat for an HOUR waiting. A band was setting up and she seemed busy at the bar, completely understandable, but we saw her checking in on some other people during the same time. After an hour she came back and said she “forgot” we were there. She took out cards and brought them back and said nothing. I have never ever had the need to complain about service, I work in the service industry and am always understanding. I don’t know if I deeply offended her when I asked for ranch in an arcade, cafe, band, bar, Japanese style restaurant, but her attitude was unacceptable. OTHER than the waitress, the place seems amazing and is so so...