The Standard Restaurant and Lounge

Main Course: Horrible Service Side Dish: Attitude  

Several of us went to see the live band outside (which were great by the way) and to have a few drinks and appetizers.  We found our own seating as is custom for outdoor patio seating and waited for a waitress. We saw several waitresses come and go neither of which stopped to take our order. After about 25 minutes we flagged someone down and placed our drink order and two orders of nachos.  By the time our drinks and ONE and only ONE of our nacho orders arrived, it had been over an hour.   We confirmed that we had ordered two nachos and the waitress assured us that our second order would be coming out soon.  Meanwhile, a couple that had arrived nearly an hour after us received their nachos.  We were now nearly 1.5 hours and still no nachos.  The rest of our guests had already finished their food and drinks. We never got the opportunity to order a second round of drinks and had to flag someone down again to ask them to remove the second nachos from our ticket since we never received them.  Rather than apologize for the delay (now nearly 2 hours after we ordered our nachos), our waitress proceeds to tell us that the chips were homemade and that is why it takes so long.  Hmmm, so we received one order of homemade chips but had to wait 2 hours for our second order?  Couldn't they have made 30 homemade chips instead of 15 the first time around?  And what about the table that came an hour after us and got their nachos within 15 minutes?  Boo!  I smell bullshit!

fresno is famous for it's douchebag bars, bad food and skank women and men who couldn't dress properly if they were winning an Oscar at the Academy Awards. If you want a good time with class... Stay away from these fresno "hotspots" like The Standard, etc etc.  For a good time, find a great artist playing at The Tower, perhaps Tommy Emmanual... and get a nice but over priced glass of wine at the painted table to drink during the show.... wine is over priced, but you won't have skank douchebags or men with their wallets connected to chains.

The standard is a nice venue. I was only there for a short time, but was there long enough to make some observations.

First off, they have at least four "security" people working. This is a double edged sword. It means if there's trouble, they are ready and staffed for it. Kudos, management. It also means there's a likelihood to be trouble. I saw at least two frosted tips mad dogging every guy who walked in.

Fresno bars are funny. They veer between the cantina from Star Wars to douche festivals. Luckily there's a wide swath of watering holes to choose from.

Additionally, about 70% of the guys in Fresno don't know how to dress. If your girl got dolled up, pull up your pants, and lose the wallet chain and the Skechers.

Minus one star for faux hawks and frosted tips swarming about like locusts and one star for music that's intolerably loud. Any more, you'd need a dry erase board to order drinks.

I'll be back again someday.