SODA BURGER = 2 Hour wait!!!!! every time.

ihatesodabar

GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

The waiter ignored us after we politely asked about our food.

Seems to happen every time... It's too bad 'cause the burgers

are pretty good. No more soda for me.

leeho

Good! That place has sucked for a couple of years now. It's a coldplay crowd there. Coldplay=Dave Matthews-SigmaPsiSweats

smokin joe

aha! i think i've figured this out.

soda is owned by the same guy who owns puebla cocina, where dh'ers have reported sitting for hours and getting nothing. i had assumed this was some mistake, just some kinks to be worked out in a new venture, but now i think it get it and he may be on to something.

think about it: if new yorkers flock to expensive restaurants with rude service. . . and they're willing to waste hours in rope lines for clubs that aren't going to let them in. . . this may just be the next big thing: no service, and maybe not even any food.

i'd only offer one suggestion for improvement: he should charge more. only if the prices are really extravagant do customers appreciate being kicked around.

idlewild

Those owners are taking over huh? They own Soda, Puebla, Noona and La Gamin. They rival the same Han family who own Fuji-san, Lemongrass, Miracle, etc in the Slope. All they need is a sushi place to make their empire complete.

brookfetish

I've harped about the poor service at Soda since I moved into the 'hood. Fortunately for the owners, people still go - perhaps out of sheer laziness? I'm not sure. I guess that's why I go every now and then.

I can say that, if the staff were even CLOSE to being as friendly as a SERVICE staff should be, I'd be there a hell of a lot more. Instead, they act priveleged. They remind me of the "too cool" staff at the older record stores (i.e. High Fidelity).

brookfetish

I'll also use this time to suggest Beast. My fiance and I love to go there for drinks. John (Jon?) and Mike are two of the friendliest bartenders in the city.

Also, pretty much every bartender at Tavern on Dean is crazy good. Especially Terrance.

prospect high

The wait is long but the kielbasa sandwich is sooooo goooood. And the pierogies aren't too shabby either.

sevenoneeighty

They must have gone to the same restaurant management school as "The Islands" on Washington Ave.

vanilla

i have only been to soda a few times, but everytime they have 1.) forgotten my drink and made me wait forever, 2.) served me the wrong drink or beer from a flat tap, and then 3.) overcharged me or added things on the bill that were not mine.

imunderpressure

Wow, i had no idea the service was so poor there! Every experience I have had at SODA has been a good one. Maybe it has something to do with how you approach the situation? All I know is that my roommate and I have introduced ourselves to Phil, the bartender, and have had nothing but great service since. Just gotta be friendly, people.

whyfi

It's the table service that draws our ire. Dealing with the bartender is always easier, but when you've got several people in your group, it's rarely feasible to sit at the bar. If I don't plan on having food when I'm there, I don't even order drinks through the servers. I know that it's a bit of a no-no to circumvent the servers, but I have no problem dealing with their glares if their service is that poor, and actually, really bad servers don't even bother getting indignant - they know that they're doing a piss poor job.

brookfetish

imunderpressure wrote: Wow, i had no idea the service was so poor there! Every experience I have had at SODA has been a good one. Maybe it has something to do with how you approach the situation? All I know is that my roommate and I have introduced ourselves to Phil, the bartender, and have had nothing but great service since. Just gotta be friendly, people.

If only it WAS about how the patrons approached the situation. Search "Soda" on these boards, and you'll find a significant number of complaints.

I can only speak for myself, but having worked in a restaurant, I am always very pleasant and reasonable with service staff at bars/restaurants (in fact, my fiance has way more waiting experience than I do).

The sad part about this: we know that the owners and the staff read these boards, and, in turn, can assume they see these posts. However, because they have a bar full of people who just don't care about and/or notice the poor service (or whatever reason folks may have)....Soda won't change.

I just hope that the poor service doesn't catch up with them. I'd REALLY like to see it stay open, but I won't be going there too often until the service staff changes their attitude.

oneasternparkway

imunderpressure wrote: Wow, i had no idea the service was so poor there! Every experience I have had at SODA has been a good one. Maybe it has something to do with how you approach the situation? All I know is that my roommate and I have introduced ourselves to Phil, the bartender, and have had nothing but great service since. Just gotta be friendly, people.

I'm all for making friends, but I don't go to a bar to make friends with the employees. My level of personal communication with the wait staff should not affect how they serve me. If anything, the amount of time the Soda staff seems to spend shooting the bull at the end of the bar is a likely contributor to the long waits.

And yes, it's probably useless to complain when the bar is often full. Nothing's going to force change in this situation other than some healthy competition in the immediate area.

alafairnadia

I've talked to the bartenders about the situation previously (as some of them are good friends of mine) and have been told the same thing over and over: if you have a problem with the server, go tell the bartender. the bartender is the defacto manager. but (s)he's behind the bar and has no clue what's going on at the tables, sofas, etc. they assume everything is going fine. I've seen them hustle servers when drinks/food pile up at the end of the bar, but if a server is sitting on an order, the bartender won't know. if the server is getting surly to customers, or forgetting to submit an order, the bartender won't know.

I also know that one of the people who was a server there that a lot of folks from the board had trouble with has (not recently) been let go.

so, if you're like me, and you like going to soda for food and drinks, and sometimes end up needing table service, be pleasant. if that doesn't get you anywhere, complain to the bartender.

brookfetish

alafairnadia wrote: I also know that one of the people who was a server there that a lot of folks from the board had trouble with has (not recently) been let go.

guy or girl?

smokin joe

alafairnadia wrote: if you have a problem with the server, go tell the bartender.

not my job.

brookfetish

Smokin' Joe wrote: [quote=alafairnadia]if you have a problem with the server, go tell the bartender.

not my job.

bingo.

ugarte

SevenOneEighty wrote: They must have gone to the same restaurant management school as "The Islands" on Washington Ave.

No fair. The Islands has, most of the time, a staff of one plus (sometimes) a guy doing deliveries. And while slow, she is very polite and kind.

I hate being sincere but I love that place. I just don't go when I'm in a hurry.

alafairnadia

BrookFetish wrote: [quote=Smokin' Joe][quote=alafairnadia]if you have a problem with the server, go tell the bartender.

not my job.

bingo.

okay ... if you have a problem with a server at a normal restaurant, and the server is not responsive do you ... tell the manager? tell the maitre d? what do you do? if the server is being unprofessional, and you don't tell ANYONE, then I do hope you're not going back again and again and just complaining here. that's pretty passive aggressive. and yes, while the management may read this message board, they don't trust it. the vast majority of comments on the board are negative, but the board does not represent a significant percentage of their business: if this board really represented everyone's opinion or even a majority opinion in PH and PS, the burrito bar wouldn't be in business.

I know management at Soda takes everything posted here with a massive grain of salt - to them, you're just the whiners who can't bother to complain in real life. meanwhile, they're making money hand over fist. they will fire and warn employees for all sorts of infractions, including being a shitty server, but they need and want and, quite frankly, if you really expect them to take YOUR complaint seriously, deserve to hear that complaint to their face.

if I have a problem at Babbo, you better believe I'm telling my server. if my server is a jerk, you better believe I'm telling someone higher up on the chain of command. either that, or I'm never going back. but guh. beef cheek ravioli. so complain in person it is. chances are, I'll get the problem rectified or get something for my trouble. (for the record, I've never had any problems at Babbo, aside from the obnoxious tourists crowding the front).

now, please bear in mind that I'm commenting on your complaints but that I do comprehend that sometimes people just want to let off some steam and complain about a crappy situation without doing anything about it. in that case, I think this horse (the OMG Soda's service sux horse) is ded.

lp1378

Agreed. I don't talk shit about Soda anymore. I just refuse to go in there altogether. I don't care to "do anything" about it because its a private business and they have the right to run it however they like. Clearly its not hurting them. I just want no parts of it.

sevenoneeighty

Re: the islands.

If there are several people in line all waiting to make an order:

They take and order, turn around and make it. then when that order is finished, they take another order, turn around and make it. All the while IGNORING everyone who is standing there waiting to order...its really silly.

Any restaurant worth its weight in salt, has the ability to take more than one order at a time - especially when you have NO staff and especially when everyone simply orders the jerked chicken anyway....Get a ticket carousel or a ticket line!! It is possible to make 2 jerked chicken orders at the same time.....its laughable and why I no longer go there. Grand Castillo is my spot now.

yikespjk

Subject: Best Burger Period

the best burger around is at Tavern on Dean...with all the fixings. truly cannot be beat! mounds of fries with it. And cheap.
They don't call me the Biurger King for nothing. I know burgers!

alafairnadia

Subject: Re: Best Burger Period

yikespjk wrote: the best burger around is at Tavern on Dean...with all the fixings. truly cannot be beat! mounds of fries with it. And cheap.
They don't call me the Biurger King for nothing. I know burgers!

in terms of the burger throwdown, I really think Bonnie's can't be beat. in PH, the Soda burger wins every time. I know it's a long wait, I know people hate the place. but I'm sorry - it just can't be beat.

best burger when you're tipsy: albaz.

carnivore

Albaz?

alafairnadia

Carnivore wrote: Albaz?

did I just make that up? isn't that the name of the deli by brownstone billiards?

carnivore

alafairnadia wrote: [quote=Carnivore]Albaz?

did I just make that up? isn't that the name of the deli by brownstone billiards?
No, that's it. My bad- I missed that you had mentioned it at the end of your post and I was offering it as a contender for best neighborhood burger.

alafairnadia

Carnivore wrote: [quote=alafairnadia][quote=Carnivore]Albaz?

did I just make that up? isn't that the name of the deli by brownstone billiards?
No, that's it. My bad- I missed that you had mentioned it at the end of your post and I was offering it as a contender for best neighborhood burger.

oh. HURRAH!!!

brookfetish

Best burger in PH, by far, is Beast.

izisharp

prospect high wrote: The wait is long but the kielbasa sandwich is sooooo goooood.

I ate at Soda for the first time on Friday and had the Kielbasa sandwich. It was f**kin delicious =P~ , but not substantial for a bar food meal. Should come with fries or a bigger kielbasa or sumthin'.

erikka

BrookFetish wrote: [quote=Smokin' Joe][quote=alafairnadia]if you have a problem with the server, go tell the bartender.

not my job.

bingo.

Have done, no help. I shouldn't have to go tattle to get a pint in under an hour. Something better will pop up eventually and that hand-over-fist money won't last.

whyfi

erikka wrote: Have done, no help. I shouldn't have to go tattle to get a pint in under an hour. Something better will pop up eventually and that hand-over-fist money won't last.

Maybe we should make a statement and have Festivus at Mooney's instead...

I'm only half joking...

Really...

We'll take over the whole damn place for the night...

And we'll send a copy of the tab(s) to Soda!!!