“Wow... Really?”
I have never in my life written a review of any place I've ever been to. I am going out of my way to prevent false hopes about this RIP-OFF restaurant. Going to Whiskey Row quite a bit I was excited to read the awesome reviews about this "Gem" but maybe we hit them on a off night. Let me start off by saying that the Firehouse has a great atmosphere and would be a great place to open a restaurant, let me explain...
We were seated right away for a party of 6, the atmosphere is great and it was well decorated. We were greeted by what appeared to be the owner, she assured us that everything was made from scratch, we were EXCITED!
My husband is pretty finicky about "foo-foo" food so after getting the "specials" menu he was excited to see fish and chips. After waiting quite a while for water, and then waiting longer for a bottle of water that was ordered approx. 10 mins. (we were told by the owner not to be mad at the waitress it was here fault, it's cool it happens!) we got to order.
My husband tried to order a "safe" appetizer, onion straws. We got a chuckle from the waitress and said that they were out of those. He then goes on to order his main course, the fish and chips special, another chuckle, we are out of that as well. FINALLY we all find something they weren't out of.
15 long mins. after ordering, the people that had cold slaw as their entree side were told that they were out of it as well. (including my husband he's a lucky guy). After we all got our salads, one of the people who had slaw realized that the waitress didn't ask what dressing she wanted for her replacement, the waitress forgot that her meal had slaw, the salad was quickly brought out, the salads were great! Loved the cornbread croutons but most of us picked out the dried cranberries!
The appetizers were mediocre at best. The Pot of garlic cloves were served with very stale bread. I couldn't try the brushetta, but between the 6 of us nobody was fighting to finish off the last two slices. At $6 a pop we felt a bit ripped off.
Finally our food arrived. I have a hard time chewing (yay braces!) so I ordered the fuel-like priced Mac and Cheese ($12!). The menu described this dish to be cooked golden brown on top. This was FAR from golden brown, it almost seemed to be microwaved, it was dry on top and the noodles hard as a rock, not baked at all. The dish was very shallow, just a small layer of overpriced mac and cheese, which was fine since I left the majority of it. It was way to complicated and rich. The garlic bread that was served with it had to be the worst garlic bread I've ever had in my life. It could have been used to scrub the pretend baking dish that they "cooked" it in. I gave the bread to my husband and he couldn't even take a bite out of it, it was stale and pathetic in size.
From what I gathered from everyone we sat with about the quality of the bbq sauce was all summed up in a single facial expressing, almost like giving a 2 year old a lemon. Super sweet yet peppery and way overdone. The people that had the beans swore that Bushes finally did give away their secret or they were straight from the can.
Each one of us had to swing by our hotel room to dispose of the evidence that made us all feel like test monkeys for Ramseys Kitchen Nightmares.
I honestly don't see how this place got such great reviews. Everything on the menu is outrageously overpriced and the food was mediocre at best. Is Prescott really desperate for a nice atmosphere like this place has that they will overlook the actual quality of the food? Don't be fooled or ripped off by this place.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Management Response
azrune, owner
(Management representative)
Jul 24, 2008
As the owner, I would like to apologize to Tempetwo. We pride ourselves on our guests having a 5 star experience. Obviously, Tempetwo did not. I did go back to the night that Tempetwo ate at the Firehouse (Saturday, July,11). Interestingly, this happened to be the busiest night that we have experienced in the 9 months that we have been open. I do remember this group of guests. They came in at the end of the evening, shortly before we closed. And yes, we were out of several items. We try our best not to run out of food, but unfortunately, it does happen.
I would like to explain about the bottled water. All of the water and ice in the restaurant goes through reverse osmosis. In our bar upstairs, we do not have this system, so we sell bottled water upstairs. We do not have bottled water on the menu in the restaurant. When this guest asked if they could get bottled water, the server asked me if I could go get it upstairs from the bar. At the time, we were very busy, and it did take me 10 minutes to get it back to the table. In the future, we will keep a supply on hand in the restaurant.
As for the way the food tastes (and craisins in the salad), all that I can say is that everyone has there own personal sense of taste. What tastes good to one person, may not appeal to the next person. Our BBQ sauce is made from scratch and there isn’t any pepper in the recipe. So, I am not sure why Tempetwo experienced a sauce that tasted peppery. As for the Mac and Cheese, we have served over 1800 bowls. 3 people (including 2 via tripadvisor) have let us know that they did not care for it and approximately 1400 have let us know that they thought it was the best they ever had. I don’t know about the other 397!
We have fresh bread coming out of the oven throughout the night. I am sorry that Tempetwo‘s bread was not up to our usual standards. Had they told us, we would have been happy to get fresh bread to the table.
Lastly, I would like to address the price issue. Our appetizers are priced at $5 and $6. Our entrees range from $12 - $37 (that $37 being for a certified angus beef filet) and our desserts are $5. Pricing is based on cost of ingredients; ours being, free range natural chicken, certified angus beef - which is guaranteed hormone and antibiotic free 90 days before slaughter, fresh fish, organic bread, and 70% of our produce is organic. Cooking from scratch costs more (more labor intensive). 90% of our guests complain that the portions are too big and take leftovers home. The bill for these 6 guests came to $108.08. This included some drinks (non alcoholic), 2 appetizers and entrees. This comes to $18 per person. Other than a Denny’s type restaurant, I can’t think of a restaurant in town where one could eat for much less if not more.
Everyone at the Firehouse Kitchen cares greatly about our guests, and as we move forward in the future we hope to always provide a 5 star experience to everyone.
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
