Julie "Ladycrim" B.'s Profile

Looking over the reviews already posted here. I note a trend: the high-rated ones tend to review the music, while the low-rated ones review the food and service.  Guess what I'm reviewing...

I went to Don Quixote's recently when I was invited there to hear a band.  Said band was great, but the restaurant was flat-out lousy.

We ran into our first problem when we went to get the tickets from the "Will Call" table.  The guy at the table informed my friend that the tickets were Cash Only.  (There had been nothing anywhere on their website when she reserved the tickets to indicate this, and she didn't happen to have $100 cash with her to cover the 5 tickets.)  She was flustered at being caught off-guard, and the man handling the tickets was pretty snippy about it.  Luckily, there was an ATM.

Once we were seated, it took ages for them to take our order.  I understand they didn't have that much wait staff, but even allowing for that, it was still incredibly slow.  Once they took our order, we waited ... and waited ... and waited.  It wasn't until we flagged down a waiter - the only helpful employee we encountered all night - and inquired about our orders that our food miraculously showed up.  We also had to re-order our drinks.  All told, we were there for nearly an hour before we got our orders.  And of course, it wasn't very good.  The nachos I ordered were soggy, and the ground beef on them tasted burnt.  The others reported that their food was no great shakes, either.  (At least the complimentary chips and salsa were delicious.)

It was incredibly hot and stuffy.  The attached bar has ceiling fans, but for some reason the main room - the one that gets packed crowds for concerts - does not.  It wasn't until the band complained that they finally opened the doors and let some air circulate.

For some reason, despite the fact that this place features concerts almost every night, they've seen fit to wall off the back half of the room - which, of course, is where we were stuck, since apparently people showed up 3 hours before the concert to get the front seats.  Luckily, there are two large doorways that have a view of the stage, and we were sitting by one.  Unluckily, the patrons who WEREN'T sitting by a doorway pulled their chairs in front of us and blocked our view.  Additionally, there aren't speakers in the back half of the room, which made it difficult to hear.   (It didn't help that there was a group loudly talking behind us for half the show, whose response when we asked them to keep it down was to tell us to "get over it".)

The band I saw was wonderful, and I'll be happy to see them again.  But I do not intend to ever return to Don Quixote's.

I went to this Quality Tune-Up when they first opened, simply because I found a coupon for an oil change in the paper and they weren't too far from home.  This was in 2002.  Since then, they have continued to earn my business.  To wit:

- When my car came in with an engine problem, they diagnosed it but couldn't fix it.  Since they couldn't fix it, they didn't charge me for their 30-minute diagnosis.

- I drive a PT Cruiser, which has a very unusual engine placement.  (It's essentially put in sideways.)  This makes repairs more difficult and it often goes over their estimated time.  Nevertheless, I don't believe they have ever charged me more for a longer repair time.  On one occasion, they actually cut their labor cost when a part cost more than expected, even though the repair took them an hour longer than they thought.

- My transmission just needed replacing.  They had it fixed in half the time I'd expected, offered free labor if the new tranny goes out before the warranty expires (the warranty usually only covers the part), and covered the cost of a rental car for three days.

I once heard it said that a good repair shop is the one the dealers take their cars to.  Well, I saw a Porsche with dealer plates in their garage.

All this, plus their always prompt and courteous service for oil changes and other basic tune-ups, are why I always recommend them to my friends and family, and why they get cookies from me at Christmas.