Went out on a Wednesday night to check out the neighborhood's latest & greatest addition. Latest? Yes. Greatest? No. However, it's not without it's redeeming qualities, so let's start there.
PROS:
1) I LOVE the interior - it's trendy without trying too hard, but still feels like it belongs in the "up-and-coming, but not-quite-there" Walker's Point neighborhood
2) I tried 3 of the wines (2 whites and 1 red) - they were all very good. Really like that you can try a small sample, get a 1/2 glass or go balls out and get a full pour. Also, they provide a little 'bio' for those wines that people may not be all too familiar with
CONS:
1) Food
- Pricey for what you get, I mean $10-14 for a hotdog?! And I don't know about you, but hotdogs are indicative of a ballgame, not sitting in a trendy wine bar
- The Calamari was $10 and an ok portion, but it was cooked improperly & felt like I was gnawing on rubber bands. Not good
- No healthy/light food options besides hummus
2) Wine - I know I said I enjoyed it, but it doesn't mean it's without issues
- Again, a little pricey for what you get. I didn't try the smallest pour (which, I believe ranges from $1.75 - $2 something), but if it's smaller than the 1/2 glass option, it must be just a splash
- There were 2 empty bottles in the case, reducing our options for trying different wines. Once again, if this was a weekend, I would understand, but during the week, how hard is it to keep up with?
- Was surprised that we were not offered clean glasses after each "round" - not sure if that is standard or due to the less than desirable service (see below). I personally like to switch between reds & whites and don't necessarily want my red residue permeating my new white selection.
3) The female bartender pretty much ignored our group for our entire visit & on more than one occasion, we had to flail our arms about in order to garner her attention. She seemed to be more concerned with pounding shots with two customers (or maybe they were her friends).
4) Being a new concept, you would think SOMEONE would offer to walk us through the process of self service wine - perhaps it was the bartender who couldn't be bothered to do her job, but I found it terrible that on a Wednesday, when the place was NOT crowded, we were never offered a quick tutorial on how the whole card/self-serve wine thingy works. Thankfully we are all intelligent women & we figured it out, but I can't help but think this place isn't going to last long when people are left to their own devices & end up walking out because of poor service and/or feeling dumb for not intuitively knowing how to work the wine system.
5) Did I mention how bad the service was? Ok, not to harp on it too much longer, but having been in the service industry for many years, this is simply not acceptable. I'm talking specifically about the female bartender (there were two other guys there, but not sure they were supposed to be 'tending' the bar...they may have been the owners). We sat back & watched her do AT LEAST six shots with two female customers (friends?) at the bar.
Honestly I was ready to leave after waiting over 5 minutes from the time we sat at the bar to the time we were acknowledged by the bartender - at a crowded place on a Friday or Saturday night, this is expected, but this was a Wednesday and there couldn't have been more than 8 other people in the entire place. Finally got waited on, she plopped down a black card & a wine glass and walked away...ok, I guess it's up to me to figure out this whole new thing. Got the wine. Want some food. Waiting...why won't she even look over here? Waving my arms, I got the attention of one of the guys/owners & he instructed her to come over. She took our food order & walked away. Some other guy brought the food & we didn't hear from the bartender again for an eternity. In fact, as our dirty dishes sat in front of us, we, once again, had to waive her down to get our check.
I live in Walker's Point and not only LOVE when a new place opens up, but wholeheartedly support my local business. At this time, I simply cannot support Black Sheep, but have a few suggestions
- Alter the menu...you can still be fun, quirky and trendy without charging $14 bucks for a hotdog...or even selling hotdogs. Offer some lighter fare, maybe a nice artisan salad, a Crudités plate, a beautiful fruit plate with some chocolate covered fruit options or fresh bruschetta
- Consider implementing happy hour specials for the after work crowd...you don't have to give away the place, but again, being a Wednesday, I was surprised to see that there weren't any specials
- For the smallest pour, the cards should have 1 or 2 'freebies' so you can truly have a taste before choosing a full glass. Spending $2 on a splash and then another $8 for the full glass puts that glass of wine at a price point more congruous with Chicago or Boston, NOT Walker's Point
Good luck Black Sheep, I hope you can turn things around!! read more