If you read my blog at all, you know I’m a bit of a Toby Keith fan.
I was stunned when Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill opened in the local mall.
The chain doesn’t have that many locations, and my poor, rust-belt city isn’t exactly the kind of market I would expect a place like this.
I’d heard rumors about tax issues–as in, the restaurant isn’t paying its taxes and isn’t long for this world here.* So one night, I convinced TV Steve (not a country music fan) to go there for dinner. I mean, I had to experience the place once. Right? Actually, I think TV & I negotiated the outing, with him probably bribing me along the lines of: “If you’ll go to the mall with me, I’ll buy you dinner at Toby Keith’s.”
So we went. It was a Tuesday night. The mall was dead. The restaurant was dead. It’s a huge, echoing barn of a place. Texas line-dancing lessons were happening over by the stage. No one sat at the bar. Only one small section of the dining room was open. It was about half full. There was a twenty minute wait for a table. So we waited.
Once we were seated, another ten minutes passed before anyone asked if we’d like something to drink. I ordered Purple Cowboy wine because of its name. We read the menu. Several times. Another ten minutes passed. Someone asked if we’d been waited on. Um, no. Finally our drinks were delivered and someone–not our assigned waitress–took our food order.
We made the mistake of ordering pulled pork sandwiches. Why was that a mistake? We live in Dinosaur country, home of one of the top barbecue places in the USA. Why did we bother?
Our assigned server eventually found us, but was too late to change our impression that it’s a restaurant on a downhill slide.
Toby Keith: I don’t love your bar & grill. Sorry.
*Rumors only. I have NO idea if they are true or not.