Fifth Quarter & Press Room Eatery

We have eaten at this bar weekly over the past 3-years.  Typically, the food falls somewhere between acceptable to very good.

Unfortunately, after our horrible experience today, we will not be returning to this establishment.

Two of us ordered the BBQ platter and were served ribs that could not be eaten. Each tasted and looked as if they were stuffed in back of a refrigerator for two weeks.  Hard, chewy, dry and "not" fresh.  Actually they were reheated, as the meat was cold and the bones lukewarm.  No shame in placing such garbage on someone's plate.

After returning the ribs to a middle-aged, brunette waitress, she asked us whether we wanted the ribs replaced with a White Castle's sized pulled pork sandwich.  We told her "no", as it would not have been an equivalent replacement.

They charged us full price and would "not" prorate nor credit the bill for the bad ribs! The waitress stated those are the Owner's rules.

How's that for lack of accountability and non-existent customer appreciation?

Well Owners, I have my own set of rules.  If I have a terrible experience at your restaurant and you fail to make it right, then I will let the public know about it.

For a few bucks, this establishment lost several loyal customers and earned a negative review on Yelp.  That makes a strong statement about how this restaurant is managed, or lack of.

Don't stay away, run away!  They obviously do not care about their "loyal" customers nor what they serve you.  Not loosing a couple of dollars is apparently extremely important to them. I truly hope they do not practice this philosophy behind the closed doors of their kitchen during food preparation.

Their food preparation protocol is certainly in question and should be investigated. This is coming from someone who never tasted "bad" ribs in their entire adult life until today.

It's the Fifth Quarter.

It's nothing special on any front, but it's better than the other neighborhood bars in town by a long shot. If you act like an adult, you'll be treated like an adult while you're here. That's more than you can ask for at many other spots in town.

Decent food, decent people, decent --if random -- prices.

Seems most everyone has to put then two cents into the Yelp Jar about this place. Who am I to be different.

Caveat #1. I don't drink.
Caveat #2. I came with my wife and infant son.
Caveat #3. I tried the 5th Quarter out because we wanted to spend less than if we'd gone to Grady's, and felt like NOT going to Chili's, Applebee's, or BW3s.

Simply put? It's standard bar chow, with a little homespun love for good measure. For $11.95 I got a half a rack of ribs, 4 deep fried shrimp, fries, and corn. The fries were obviously frozen spuds with no seasoning. The corn was more than likely from a can or freezer pack. The ribs though, where fork tender and seasoned well. The shrimp were rocket hot and crunchy as one would hope. Paired with "right outta the jar" cocktail sauce? Cheap-perfection.

My wife had a buffalo chicken sandwich. It was a bit off-putting to see them top it was a literal wedge of iceberg, but my wife was pleased. The fries on the side, as with mine, were luke warn and underwhelming.

All that being said? It's cheap. It's filling. It probably goes well with beer. The atmosphere on a Saturday night was certainly fine by my lame standards. Unlike the faux-foodies frequenting Grady's down the street (me being one of them, most of the time), this had a very 'blue collar' vibe to it. Many patrons nodded hello to one another. Regulars were obviously abound. Our server was attentive as we could have hoped.

Suffice to say we're not rushing back there, but they delivered a positive experience. All that, and I didn't see one former HF classmate or my gym teacher...