Gerald P.
Google
We made reservations for seven on the Fourth of July, which turned out to be as necessary as an ashtray on a motorcycle. The place was nearly empty. That's not always a bad omen. Empty can mean peace. It can mean solitude. In this case, it mostly meant the staff had no excuse to be so slow.
The place is pleasant enough. Fire pits flickered in the courtyard like the last stubborn lights of a dying universe. There were a few 80s and 90s arcade games humming their low-tech lullabies near the front. Everything was clean. I appreciate clean. Clean means someone still cares.
I ordered the chicken sandwich. It had pepper-jack cheese from Tillamook, pickled onions that were trying their best, a spinach leaf or two doing a little backstroke in a sun-dried tomato aioli. The sourdough was toasted. The sandwich was perfectly sufficient. The fries were fine in the way that a polite Midwestern conversation is fine.
One of our group has a basil allergy. She ordered the Love & Soul Burger with no basil aioli. It arrived with basil aioli. The server asked if the kitchen could just scrape it off. Scrape it off. As if allergens were emotional wounds or jelly from a kid's sandwich. A refire was requested. The server sighed like we'd just asked him to rewrite the Magna Carta.
Speaking of our server. A man of limited patience and zero visible sense of humor. When someone in our group asked if the mushroom burger had mushrooms, he blinked like a fax machine receiving bad news. She was trying to determine if the patty itself was a mushroom or if there were simply mushrooms on the burger. We found the ludicrousness of the conversation hysterical. He was not interested in the nuance.
Still, he did redeem himself in a small and human way. He suggested we walk a few blocks to see the fireworks from the Hawthorne Bridge. He was right. It was a lovely view. That earns him an extra star. Sometimes kindness is as simple as pointing someone toward a better sky.
In conclusion, PLS on 6th is a decent spot if you are staying at the Hotel Zags and want something close, quiet, and just fine. The prices are reasonable. The food is solid. The service is something else. Whether that something is charming or exasperating depends on how long you've been waiting for your drink.
