Candace M.
Yelp
I have rarely offered a low star review. I generally appreciate the work that goes into making a restaurant and service- it's all forgivable to me. I always look w optimism.
I was really looking forward to this place. It looked cheap-ish and really there is very little in that neighborhood if you want to eat before grabbing a show at the Dynasty Typewriter. They have a little outdoor patio overlooking the park, so perfect because contrary to everyone's behavior, the pandemic rates are just as high as they were in delta! Anyways...
I know the food would be more in line for my partner who eats meat, but from reviews I knew they could I whip up a vegan plate. It's a very casual type place with some various items for sale inside like oil or canned goods.
He got the carne asada plate (14.99 as marked on the menu). I asked for a vegan plate (rice, beans, plantains) - no price on menu since I made it up, but based on other menu items I don't know how it could have been priced at more than $10, but let's just go with 14.99 to be extremely generous. We drank water (not bottled).
I should have know something was weird when the person we ordered from said we could pay after ... that don't make much sense, since it's an order-sit-bring it to your table type place. But since we wanted to sit on the patio, we knew we would need to pass the register on the way back out, so seemed fine.
Service was good. I took pics thinking this would be an excellent review. It's super tranquil overlooking the park, and it wasn't hot.
Food was fine. Mine was exactly as expected - simple and vegan. My partner had what looked like a large dish, he said the meat quality was ok but it wasn't his favorite.
So, all in all at this point it was exactly as expected - a supposed to be cheap meal near a venue that otherwise has very limited food options nearby. We were not looking for more that that.
Except when we checked out, I could have gone to a trendy hip neighborhood place in my usual neighborhood for the price - $42. Mathematically you can't do it. They simply added a charge or ripped us off as new folks to this establishment. At first I didn't protest because I thought maybe service fee/tip was included. My partner was paying and I just looked over his shoulder, saw $42 and grabbed the menu. There was just no way. Either they ripped us off, added charges, or the menu prices are way off. Then the tip screen popped up, so no, tip not included. My partner didn't ask for a receipt- I don't know what he was thinking. I was actually pretty sad he didn't as I HATE being ripped off. If you are at a stupid arena show and they are charging $14 for aBud Light, at least you know that. But to have someone try to charge you $42 for what could have only been at the extreme highest $30 meal left an extremely bad taste in my mouth.
Which is unfortunate because the Dynasty is a cool venue and there are just so few options nearby - if you're like us where you try to eat/drink near where a show you are going to is. Suffice to say, I'll never be back here.