Martini's On Water Street

It's really sad because it's such a beautiful place!  There is soooo much potential here, but there are a lot of things that Martini's needs to fix:

1) The music is ridiculously loud inside.  I'm 28 and listen to my music very loud, but this was uncomfortably loud.  Not to mention, there were only 7 of us total in the bar.  LOL  Awkward!  OH!  And this guy kept playing ghetto gangster rap...my 59 year old in-laws really appreciated that....LOL!

2) The cover charge?  Get rid of it.  It's not worth it at this place... They are just hurting their wait staff. We are extremely generous tippers, and that 20 bucks we just spent to get in wont be going to the staff.

3) I have to agree with Jen B's review from a year and a half ago.  I had two martinis and both were not only weak, but wrong and not very good!  Oh, and they were TINY.  I've had shots that were bigger ;)  At first I thought, "$9 for a martini?  Heck yeah!"  But because they were SO small I would consider them expensive.  

4)  Hire better staff.  The staff inside and outside were goofing off nonstop.  It felt very juvenile and extremely unprofessional.  

5) The band outside just sucked.  Sorry.  It was all old people performing older songs... really weird... because most of the people were young/younger.  My in-laws liked the music outside, but the crowd was a little rowdy and we couldn't find a table.

Really our whole experience was just...awkward and uncomfortable.  

I don't think we will go back unless they make a few changes:  

I would like to see the INSIDE treated as a true martini bar with cool, laid back music and dim lighting to match.  Sip a good, strong Martini and chill out...mmmmm....

Keep the OUTSIDE cool/fun/young.  Hire bands that everyone can enjoy, and play music that is current(ish) and makes me want to toss back a few shots and dance.

I'll keep my fingers crossed :)

We used to go a lot for half price Monday but then the prices went up and the strength went down.  They also only have pizza on the menu.  It's a good once in a while place.

Oh Martini's, what is happening to you?? My last two visits here, Wednesday before Thanksgiving and a recent Saturday night, were far, far less than stellar. So far less, I will be taking a long break (read: the winter) from your doors. I have noticed the "martinis" have gotten so weak that I can have 4-5 and not even feel a buzz compared to about 2 mixed drinks down at Kellehers. And at $7 for the mini-glass of fruit juice they are serving me, that really adds up. Not to mention the great service I noticed on a Saturday night that they weren't especially busy: ol' boy behind the bar was sneaking up on people who had set their drinks down and turned their backs and he would swipe them, then dump them out, forcing them to buy more! My friend caught him once and told him knock it off, that a half full glass with unmelted ice was not "abandoned" when she was standing right next to it. I thought that was enough of a warning that I set my fruit juice martini down while we took a picture. Nope, gone in 60 seconds. Closed out my tab, sans tip for that idiot.

Also, my friends went on in ahead of me while I got my phone from my car and they were all charged $5 cover. I came in alone a few minutes later and the door guy just glanced at me. I'm not sure the criteria for charging cover here but maybe consider making it a consistent rule so you don't piss off the patrons. Plus I felt like an idiot for crowing about how we didn't have to pay cover because we came so late. Doh!