Ella B.
Yelp
I am a huge lover of tiki bars and have been to many all over the country! I was absolutely thrilled to find out Pineapple Parlor existed and was only 30 minutes from me. We got there Saturday December 8th at around 5:45-6:00 PM and were told it would be about a 35-40 minute wait for our party of 2. I could see the list and it looked like there were just a few parties ahead of us! At around 6:45-7:00 we decided to check back in with the host as it had been about an hour since we originally put our name down. He let us know he was still waiting for a spot to open up but that we were next in line.
So at around 6:45, we were next in line. This is important to remember. We waited for about another hour and during this time we did see 2 people walk in and get sat before us but we would like to hope they were apart of a larger group reservation and did not get sat at the bar which holds only 10 people. At around 7:45, we checked in again and were reassured we were still next in line but nobody had left the bar yet.
At this point we were absolutely starving so decided to go elsewhere to find a snack, then have more food and drinks once we got to the bar. We waited more time after this, but by 8:45, about 3 hours since we originally put our name in, we decided to head home disappointed.
I finally received a call from Pineapple Parlor saying it was our turn, at 9:39 PM about FOUR hours after we originally checked in with the host. I let the host know we had already went home. Since the wait time had been 4 hours, I asked if anything had happened where someone accidentally got sat before us and he said no.
Remember we were next in line at 6:45 PM, so this means for 3 hours, no one out of the ten people at the bar left. I find this very hard to believe. I asked the host on the phone if there was anything Pineapple Parlor could do to help make up for this experience if we wanted to return, I suggested a reservation for 2 people or anything they could offer. I was sadly told there was nothing he could do and that this was "just the nature of this bar."
If it is really true that out of the 10 people, no one left the bar for 3 hours. I have a couple of suggestions for this business. Either implement a max seating time for people at the bar to allow for other guests, go to a reservation system only for the bar seating with maybe 2 seating times per night, or do not take down names for a waiting list at all. Doing one of these things could help an experience like mine be avoided. I really wanted to try this place but sadly don't know if I will be back to try it again. I would love to know if Pineapple Parlor can do anything to make it right.
For now I wouldn't suggest going here if you live some distance away and are hoping to get in. Overall I left extremely disappointed and sad. Going to this place meant a lot to me.