242 Pub & Grill — Restaurant in Texas

I went to this establishment for the first time back in October. We had a great time... However, when I visited a 2nd time on 4/14/19, it was quite the opposite. I arrived at 20 before 6. I was alone and just wanted to watch the NHL Playoffs. I first walked the entire restaurant and bar to see where it was playing: It wasn't on. That's okay, I'm a Texan who has lived many places. I also bartended / bar-managed for 13 years in my youth. I understand that Houston - my place of birth - isn't as big on hockey as other places that I've lived. So I sat at the inside bar and waited for somone to greet me. After 5 minutes a young man asks me if I would like a beverage. I'd heard him talking with THE ONLY OTHER PERSON sitting throughout the entire length of the bar. He repeated the same to me, i.e., he's waiting for the other bartender and a drawer because it's shift-change, etc. I'm the easiest bar patron that a bartender could have, and I didn't mind how long it took as long as I had my beverage. But I had only 1 request, and all that I had asked him was if they would put the NHL on one of the screens ANYWHERE in the restaurant. I didn't mind where. He said that he would do what he could. It was a 'yes' or 'no' question. I sat there for over 30 minutes before anyone said another word to me, and I had to start that conversation. Suffice it to simply say that as I drank my beer, waiting and watching numerous bar staff move about and never even making eye contact, as I sat and enjoyed my beer and decided what I was going to eat. During the last 5 minutes that I was there, I watched this kid hang with a manager and the other bartender changing the channels. 1/2 of the screens weren't even showing anything but news, etc. I found it odd that no one was even looking at me. Then it was obvious: Instead of putting The Stanley Cup Playoffs on even 1 screen, they put the Longhorns Orange ane White game on, and then they all walked around me as if I wasn't there. It was very clear that this kid was not going to engage me, so I simply said, "So I guess this is a No Hockey establishment." He then sheepishly said something like oh, yeah, we're changing shifts, mumble mumble, to tell you the truth I didn't even ask... This was a lie, thier collective behavior was "ignore the dude in the hat," or so it seemed. I mean, seriously, it was as if they were collectively ignoring me, & that has never happened to me anywhere that I have ever been. The whole 35 minutes was so insulting that after I had to ask for my check AFTER that conversation, with an empty glass, he gave it to me... He never made eye contact while he was mumbling his excuses. I mean, they should just put a sign on the door that says "If we don't know you, go screw." Or "No NHL..." There were regulars that were sitting directly behind me, and the staff was very welcoming and very attentive. The oncoming bartender was standing in front of me, and completely ignorig me as she talked through me to those regulars who came in long after I had arrived, still NEVER even acknowledging me, as she shared a story with them: Their daughter, Mandy?, had asked her if "they had 'Braces' back when she grew up, and of course she laughed and was saying, I'm only 32, lol, it's not like..." And I heard her father behind me says yep, that's my girl, I raised her right, lol!" I sat there long enough to hear everything that was going on and still NO ONE EVEN LOOKED AT ME.

After I was finally given my nonanswer-answer and my check, I did something that I have never done in my life: I stiffed him... Zero tip. And ironically, the 32 year old 'non-tending bartender' whose conversations I was apparently so privileged to hear, was the same one that I had tipped about 40% the only other time I was there, with my sister, back in October... I am the nicest, most understanding and generous customer these people could ever hope to have as a regular, but I will never go to that place again. It was insulting to the point of embarrassment. So as I make this neighborhood home again, this is the...

Service was horrible!!!!!!!! The worst service I've ever had!! I'm a server myself, I know how it goes and usually I'm very patient and not picky at all but these two girls were just flat out horrible. The first waitress we had took about 15 minutes to give me a water. Then once she took our order never came back to even check on us, even though she passed by us several times, she didn't even acknowledge us or even think to ask if we were okay. It was about 30 minutes if not more before we got our food. Then another waitress started taking over and she was just as bad and EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL. She (second waitress) talked bad about her own coworker and even told us that she was always having to pick up the other waitress' slack and didn't know why she hadnt been fired yet. Then once she brought out our food , our friend told her that she was missing an extra side, and she said she would get it out for us. She brings out the missing food and then goes on to complain to us that it was an inconvenience for the cooks to have to make our food since they were already done shutting down the kitchen, that next time that we wanted to order something else we had to do it before the kitchen closed (mind you they NEVER even came by to do last call for food orders) and then said that she had to get her "ASS CHEWED by then cooks" for us ordering after the kitChen closed, even though we ordered our food before it even closed to begin with. Did she ever think how much of an inconvenience it was for us not to get what we order and have to wait even more for our food orDer to be right. Every decent server should know at what time the kitchen closes and should have common courtesy to atleast ask their tables if they want anything else, we told her we watched the other waitress write down or food order and ordered our food BEFORE the kitchen was closed, it's wasn't our fault that she didn't think to double check and asked us what we ordered. If her coworker was so bad, she should have made sure that we had everything and that everything was right when she decided to start to take care of us. After that she took forever to bring us silverware and I had to wait atleast 5-10 minutes before getting to taste my food. The only other time she thought to check on us was to pay us out and once she saw that we tipped her more then what she deserved (about $40) she started to apologize and began to ask if we needed anything else. Absolutely horrible and unprofessional, no integrity what so ever. Sucks because they actually have good food and great location, I just hope they get...

Usually I just let a bad experience go, tell friends not to go there and leave it at that.

I can't do that with this place.

We only came to this place because we had another similarly comical situation at the bar at our hotel and just left. Less than five minutes in we wanted to do the same thing but had been driving all day and just needed to eat and didn't want fast food. This definitely wasn't fast. We had a waitress come to us almost right away, but then she disappeared. We're pretty sure she ended up being the cook because she was replaced by a woman who said it was her first day and later saw the first server popping in and out of the kitchen with questions. Ok, it's your first day, and I've waited tables, so I get it, but she's not going to be there very long. It's one thing to be new, but if your memory sucks you're in a lot of trouble. I asked if the first server if they had ginger ale or ginger beer and she said yes so I ordered a whisky ginger. She never came back and the new server came over and said that they "don't serve mules, or whatever." I just thought she was the bartender and was just letting us know, because she didn't explain that she was now our new server, but then she came back with our drinks and took our order. I took a drink and it was weak. There was hardly any whisky in it at all. I wasn't going to pay money for another weak pour so I asked her what they had on tap when she returned. She said she didn't know so she would get me a list. Several minutes later there was no list so I walked to the bar to see about fifteen or twenty taps with at least ten beers I didn't know and the rest was Coors, Miller, Bud and the rest of the water that has a beer label on it. I knew our server wasn't going to be able to tell me anything about the other beers so I just decided to order a neat bourbon. She had no idea what that meant. I told her just a shot of bourbon. I ordered this when she delivered our food. She passed our table about eight times then stopped and stared at us until she finally said "oh yeah!" and hurried away like she finally remembered my shot. But she didn't. She still didn't. We were almost done with our food when she came over and asked how everything was and I reminded her. She returned with the saddest, smallest most inappropriate shot I've ever seen. I can't believe I paid money for that pathetic offering.

Also, the onion rings were terrible. Just terrible. The highlight of the night was my Santa Fe wrap which I'm proud of them for. It was...