Clutch

Way overpriced beers.  Same beers for $1-2 less at Twisted Spoke, 1 block away!

The waitress was slow and distracted- my dining companion thought she was stoned. The food came out cold. Our beer glasses were empty for ten minutes without the waitress coming by. We ended up leaving without paying after sending our food back. I've never done that before or since. This was absolutely terrible.

I'm coming in at about 2.5 stars.  Yeah, we really wanted to like Clutch. And we kinda sorta do, but not really enough to make it a good nearby home default option. I even told them I wouldn't write a review but now I'm wondering if I did them a disservice by saying that.  Not that my opinion is The Word, but maybe they'll start to think about some stuff before it's too late, especially since I'm not the only one with a smaller star rating.

We went a couple of times and I dunno, I just don't think we'll be back. The staff was nice. Probably because they're all new or new enough.

I dunno....Here's where things fall apart:

Food does take a long time (it even says on the menu that it will which sends up a red flag to me), it arrived lukewarm to cold after taking so long, and it's really pretty pricey. I get that ingredients are costly, running a restaurant/bar is costly, but $15 for a small so-so burger cooked to dried out well despite asking for medium is harsh.  One burger shouldn't cover the cost of the ingredients for the next 10 burgers or to cover any potential loss going on due to paper tickets.

Beverages are very pricey.  Not sit and linger kind of pricing.

Decor.  While it's interesting and there's a lot to look at, there's something not quite right going on.  It feels sterile plus it has too many themes.  Maybe it's the lighting, I dunno.  Props for all the artwork though.  Oh and yes, the bathrooms are NSF kids at all.  Like, not at all.

We kept hearing the staff say "we're out of this" or "we're out of that" to customers.  One woman asked for at least 6 different things, all of which were not available.  Or no one knew what was in the specialty drinks and had to read the menu to make one.  One night we showed up and the cook had quit so we couldn't get food.  Yes, they only have one person in the kitchen at a time.

Our own personal issue:  we didn't enjoy the clientele.  Every single guy was hitting on the staff in kind of a gross, dumb caveman sort of way.  

On the plus side, I'm sure the patio is nice during warmer weather.  And as always, it being dog friendly is a major plus in my book.  The place does have a sense of humor about it which is appreciated.  And as I said, the staff was really pleasant to us.  

This place does have the whiff of death about it, sadly.  It's fine to have a "my way or the highway" position about things, but everything better be beyond top notch.  I don't mean that as an insult; a lot of places start with this line of thinking but come to realize that it's important to make changes based on feedback from customers in order to be viable.  It could be a really cool place (and would likely stay open) if a few things were tweaked.  

Jeez, now I feel like one of those Mystery Diners on tv.