Hopkins Icehouse — Restaurant in Texarkana

I along with my daughter, daughter-in-law, 2 grandchildren (both teenagers) and a friend of my daughters from New Orleans, went to this establishment Mother’s Day. We were greeted by a young lady( the hostess) and was told it would be a 15-20minute wait. There were people waiting before us, so we patiently waited. After about 40 minutes everyone of the original waiting guests had been seated so our party of 6 was next on the list . A group of 5 came in and some others came in. A person from the group of 5 preceded to speak with the hostess, then a male employee came up to the hostess station and started talking with her , she explained that we were next , he told her to go ahead and seat the party of 5 , she looked at us as if she was really uncomfortable in doing that but followed his order and the 5 walked past us to their table , they had been there less than 10 minutes and we had waited for 40 minutes. I walked to the guy and asked why had he seated a party of 5 when my party of 6 should have been next . He had no answer except “ I didn’t know “ which was a big fat lie since we had heard the hostess tell him we were next . They seated us after about 10 more minutes along with another party of about 8 that had come in. I asked to speak to the manager and a young lady same over and asked if she could help me,I ask if she was the manager she said no but sometimes she helps out, I ask again to see the manager if she was there and the lady said ok. The manager finally came to our table and I explained what happened. Her response “ I have mixed raced kids so I hope that wasn’t the case.” She did say she would speak with him. To add insult to injury the table of 8 got their order taken and food served before us. When our food did come , I had to go get silverware because we had none and my granddaughter who ordered 6 jalapeño poppers after eating 4 had a hair in the 5th one . The waitress was shown and informed and brought her 2 new ones. At the end of the meal , I paid the check in its entirety without even an offer of any discount, not even for hair being in my granddaughters food. Needless to say no monetary tip was left but I do have a written one ... All customers should be treated equally with courtesy, dignity, and respect. I feel the manager failed after the male employee failed and the hostess failed in doing what she knew was right. I don’t know the owner of this establishment but I do intend on making him/her aware of how badly we were treated. I don’t usually complain , but this was a bit much. Oh, I do want to say the guy after telling the bold face lie , followed by saying” if you want an appetizer you can have one”. Lol, well that makes everything alright doesn’t it? And yes...we declined, not all people are pacified by the offer of a morsel of free food thrown to us as if we were dogs. Hopefully this post will cause all involved to reflect on a more effective customer service approach. Perturbed yet Respectfully submitted...

Ok... lemme see if I can break this down for everyone... Saturday night.. 730pm arrive at restaurant. Parking lot isn't too full and when I go inside I notice that there are only around 4-5 groups of 2-4 people seated (should have been a red flag). I'm seated in the bar area and provided with a drink menu after I ask, which is no big deal. The waiter takes our drink order and brings us our drinks in around 10 minutes.. kind of long but not just an end all.

ONE HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES LATER.. well we finished our first drink around 105 minutes ago and NO ONE has even asked if we needed anything. Approximately the entire wait staff has walked by us (seriously around 6 waiters/waitress) numerous times and we have been equipped with only transparent glasses filled with distorted, melted ice cubes left after our drinks were finished. Thankfully the gods show us mercy and a co-worker of ours walks in who knows a waitress. She tells her waitress our dilemma after my wife text her and her waitress walks over and apologies. She asks if we want another drink and we say no thank you we just want our check. She responds with ok I will find you check....

HALF AN HOUR LATER

Still have yet to receive a check for TWO GOD D%#* DRINKS.... hunger and desperation have begun to set in. The only thing I am thankful for is that I didn't order food... if you want good food and good drinks just go to freaking roadhouse this place will hopefully go out of business and creep back into whatever pit it oozed from in a few months. Until then if you are ever trapped in Hopkins.. just waiting for the darkness to take you.. fear no fellow drinker.. you are not alone.. I know too that this place sucks total a$$ and am with you in spirit.. Godspeed.

Edit** we finally received our check after I battled the host in mortal combat, and they did comp our drinks, BUT I would have readily paid double the price just to...

If you're a mixed couple and go here, get ready to step back in time to the 60's. The days of good old segregation. Upon entering you'll be comfortably seated in the back away from literally all other customers. You'll be right next to the kitchen as far out of sight as possible. Even with a completely empty area they go out of their way to make sure you're comfortable next to the kitchen. While seated in this magical area, you'll be serenaded by beautiful sounds from the kitchen. These hit sounds include, "Slam Those Dishes" and "Swing That Door Off the Hinges". Get ready for the best of the hand me down items such as the menus that have clearly served their purpose in times past. You'll enjoy the refurbished vision of menus as they get there second chance at life. Upon placing your order be ready for a mistake or two. Then to make you feel comfortable at the end of your meal the waiteress politely asks is the ticket together? Mind you they seen you getting out of the same car, walking in together, with big eye catching wedding rings. I guess they get alot of cheating bi-racial couples?? This may have been why the waiters was so comfortable asking such questions. When I asked her why she asked that she walked off, coughed, and ignored me. Overall the best part was walking out the doors and stepping back into modern times. Next time the history channel does a documentary about the 60's, I'll be sure to recommend filming there.They would definitely get the most authentic shots. The best part would be they won't have to ask the waitresses to act since clearly it...