I have only being going to Ski Shores for 32 of it's 57 years, but have to say I was astonished by the new owner's transformation of the place. A friendly little burger joint with a cozy waterfront location, cold beer, live music, and a place for the kids to throw a football. How can you mess that up? It's so easy, it's almost a license to print money, but here's what we found on a recent Saturday night...
First a waiting list and a door girl. Actually two door girls, who may (or may not) have been eighteen, but who instead spent all their time giggling and talking with each other. The guests were an afterthought. Do we really need a waiting list for picnic tables? Didn't have one for 56 years, but I guess that is what you call *progress*.
The bar was in total "meltdown" stage with people standing three deep. I haven't spent a half hour trying to get a margarita before, except perhaps on Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras. The bar tender was exhausted, the bar back totally confused. Our order was wrong (twice). He did plop six drinks down in front of me on one occasion and I was tempted just to enjoy that alcoholic smorgasbord, to calm my frustrations, but they finally got them out. A regular told me to order a "Mexican Martini" next time, because it comes with its own plastic tumbler holding a second serving, "You don't want to have to go through that twice." Not surprising, they were so harried and confused behind the bar, no one ever asked for payment, so we took the free drink as compensation for the nightmare.
We finally got our picnic table. The young waiter advised that the kitchen was really backed up, "so order quick." We requested two burgers, fries,and onion rings. The fries and rings came out 20 minutes later. The burgers came out almost an hour later... cold. The burgers were on big doughy buns and stacked tall. The patties were the pre-made kind you can buy in the frozen food aisle, with a sort of rubbery consistency reminiscent of cold shoe leather. It was an utterly unremarkable burger (see Alamo Springs Ice House for what a real burger should be). We took a few bites of each and asked for the check, figuring that would take a half hour to get. To our relief, it didn't.
The bill? $62.00 for two cold burgers, drinks, fries, and onion rings.
The teenaged girls were still giggling with each other when we left. No one said "Thank you," "Good evening," or "Come back soon." If they don't give a flip about the place, why should we?
It's a great location. A local institution. You can't beat the views, the boats, and the people watching. Like I said, I've been going there 32 years, so I will be back, but not so frequently now. Nice thing about a place like this is, if they keep running it the way they did on the night we visited, it will be under new ownership in the next 5 years max, hardly a heartbeat in the timeline of the venerable Ski Shores of Austin.
SUGGESTION TO NEW OWNERS: Double the bar space and bar staff. Get rid of the waiters and hostesses. Let people order at the window, find their own spot, and call their order name out for pick up. They can eat at a table, on a rail, or in their boat, the same way we did it for 56 years without complaint. You get rid of a lot of overhead, payroll, frustrations, and you might actually be able to put a mediocre burger on the menu that doesn't cost $9. read more