Neil O.
Yelp
After having a horrible experience at the restaurant across the street I decided to try Zak's because, well, I was born to Yelp.
Their first impression almost mirrored that of "the one across the street": pretty sour. After seating myself the waitress walks up to my table and plops the menu down without saying a word. "Great," I thought, "am I going to have to get used to this crap service in Wrangell?".
I had their special of the day, the porterhouse, medium-rare. It came with a salad with my choice of dressing and another side of the typical choices (fries, baked potato, mashed potatoes, etc.).
The salad was average. It had a few bits of wilted lettuce but the dressing was good. The mashed potatoes had the consistency of the boxed stuff, and the gravy was bland. Didn't quite hit the spot.
I actually enjoyed the steak. It had a slight charbroiled smell and flavor which I like, and it was a bit on the rare side, which I also like.
After finishing my meal my waitress still had not spoken a word to me, but she had conversed with other tables that seemed to be occupied by locals. "The usual, darling?" You know, that kind of talk. So at the end of my meal I decided to conduct an experiment: leave a sizeable tip visible to the waitress before leaving and see if her mood will change.
I'll skip the rest of the details and just say that money talks. Next stop, the Stikine Inn Restaurant.