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I know Carol and I are sad about this news. [V] Saturday at the Big Island Internet Society meeting, Jim from Big Island Pizza announced that Jay's Tapas Restaurant down the street from him is going out of business and that a "Burger Joint" is going in the space. The new place will have 20 different hamburgers on the menu and 20 beers on tap. They will be open 6 days a week and will feature a keiki menu.
I am sad to see Jay's go, but not entirely surprised. They had good food, but never clearly defined what they were doing there. First it was Jay's Tapas, then Jay's Fresh and then Jay's Tapas but they never had a huge Tapas Menu and if they would have done it solidly as a Tapas Place I think it could have grown. It might have taken some educating for those that prefer 2 scoops of rice and mac salad with their protein but Jay's could have been a breath of fresh air for our town. It was clear to see that even after the court house opened, the lunch crowd never appeared. One waitress had the whole room and usually that worked, but if an extra table or two filled up, it was an unpleasantly slow dining experience with water glasses unfilled and people waiting to have their order taken or their bill served.
A really good burger place is a great idea Let's just hope that is what we will get,) though I prefer tapas, Jay's never really had enough tapas to make an evening of them.
Good Bye Jay and good luck in the future.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
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The "burger joint" going in there is with Rhonda Nichols as the proprietor (she owned the restaurant there before Jay's). She is going back to the space she worked so hard on setting up a few years ago but with a reformulated menu, and more important to the local area residents - reformatted hours.
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me."
-Dudley Field Malone
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The "burger joint" should be good. We always enjoyed the food at Nichols Pub. And, more than the food almost, we enjoyed the atmosphere. It was nice to be able to enjoy a true pub-type place. I hate to say it, but it was refreshing to be able to drink a beer in a place devoid of "island" decorations. Fun to pop in there now and then just for a change of scenery.
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One downfall of that location is the parking. Another is visability. I hope that Rhonda Nichols does better this time at staying afloat. The courthouse people could help with that during the lunch hour. I have friends that were distraught when the pub closed
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
I'm not too surprised either after the disastrous meal my husband and I had there. At the time it was new and I hoped for them they would work out the kinks. When I tried to order some white wine, all they had was sweet wine, and when I tried red, it tasted like sherry. I told the bartender that their idea of serving Spanish wines only didn't cut it for me. It's basic that a dinner house should offer Chardonnay and Sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio. and they didn't even have one, much less a choice.
We sat for at least 45 minutes there with neither anything to drink or any food, and that was plain unacceptable. The surf and turf was inedible, tough on both counts, and they didn't even cut the lobster out of the shell. Then we paid over $100 for the experience. That's a good way to lose customers. (It was our wedding anniversary dinner.)
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Oh how boring, another burger joint. How unoriginal. It would be nice to see some variety, and I don't mean 20 variations of the common burger.
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Kathy, It sounds as though you had a horrible experience at Jay's. Anyone who has to sit more than 15 minutes without food or beverages should leave immediately and 45 minutes is completely ridiculous. Furthermore if it was so inedible, I would have refused to eat it and told them why. You are not doing a chef or restaurant owner any favors by not telling them what is so wrong about their establishment. They will never now about what they need to do to improve. I'd say that you experienced more than a few kinks. I guess they were having a difficult time educating the Hilo public about Spanish wines, which are among some of the best in the world. They have some of the crispest and most lovely dry white wines and sherry is far from any of the deep dry rojo wines. Even the grocery store wines in Spain surpass most American palates. Maybe the server did not have an understanding of what they actually had to offer, or maybe they were so new that they had not had a chance to fill the wine cellar. I would say that they certainly deserved to lose you as a customer. It is awful that your special night was ruined by bad food and slow service.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
well, it sounds from my story like I am overly patient, but actually I have low tolerance for goofs. The thing is, my husband starts to tense up when he can see I am going into major annoyance mode, and it was more important on this occasion to suck it up and not ruin his evening than to give Jay's an earful.
You are right that the wine selection was new; they had just gotten their license. The server knew ZERO about wine and got the bartender who was the one ordering all the wine, and she offered me at least two samples of what they had, which were going to be the house wine. Both were awful to my taste, and the new house red did taste more like port or sherry than any red that I drink. Whether or not there are good Spanish wines, these were the ones they had decided to feature.
The reason I didn't complain about the surf and turf was that they didn't have it on the menu that night (I had read about it), and they fixed it by request. Then it sucked, and I didn't have the heart to say quite how much as they did me a favor. I did say something though, because they comped us a dessert. However, the S&T was at least $45, so having a dessert did not make it all better.
I've worked at a few places that serve lobster tails, and we always served the lobster in the tail shell but cut out of it. At one place the protocol was that I, as server, would deftly remove the meat from the shell at the table and take the shell away. But this tail - I had to go to work with a special knife and it turned into a full-on sawing project getting the thing to come loose.
If I had been with someone who can handle complaining when justified, I would have, but my husband gets so unhappy when I do it that I let it go.
Also, I cut them slack for being slammed and that their liquor license was new. But we didn't go back. I had read Jay is a super good chef. Now to say something good, I had the scallops appetizer and it was wonderful, and the soup was tasty too.
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Jay's Tapas is not going out of business, will be reopening soon in their new downtown Hilo location.
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WOW... that is big news! Do you know where? I think if it is a higher profile location and they really focus on Tapas they could do really well! I think Kathy deserves a do over!
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com
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