{"id":238530,"date":"2010-01-27T19:29:29","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T00:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.downtownphoenix.com\/blog\/?p=1779"},"modified":"2010-01-27T19:29:29","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T00:29:29","slug":"the-crazies-visit-the-district","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/238530","title":{"rendered":"The Crazies Visit The District"},"content":{"rendered":"

Visually impressive, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown <\/a>is worth a visit.\u00a0 Sleek and chic, the hotel boasts 31 floors of meeting spaces and guest rooms, amazing city views, and tons of amenities.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, we didn\u2019t find that their signature restaurant, The District<\/a>, to be one of their bragging points.<\/p>\n

\"District\"It is unfortunate because the restaurant is stunning in its appointments.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a place where you should want to host your most important lunch meetings, tie up loose ends of business agreements over cocktails and appetizers, or have lingering cocktails, lunches or dinners with great family and friends.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve visited the hotel for a few conferences, and have to say the place is a great meeting place. While this blog isn\u2019t about conferences or meeting spaces, I offer this note because the food and service at the conferences I\u2019ve attended were solid \u2013 hot meals delivered on time, with great service, and pretty delicious at that.<\/p>\n

So, how the Sheraton couldn\u2019t get the good-food-and-great-service bit down to a science in their signature restaurant was a complete conundrum when we lunched at the place.<\/p>\n

When we arrived at The District, there was more than ample seating space available.\u00a0 In fact, the restaurant was probably only about 30 percent full.\u00a0 Yet, the hostess told us we might be better off sitting in the bar area for quicker service.\u00a0 Still, we wanted to sit by a large window area in the restaurant–proper to watch the Downtown foot traffic–and so were seated where we liked.<\/p>\n

That was the best part of the service we received at The District.\u00a0 It went downhill from there.<\/p>\n

The hotel promotes the restaurant as an \u201cAmerican kitchen\u201d with a \u201cdelicious seasonal menu showcasing artisan products and sustainably farmed produce from local growers and merchants<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Helen starts the lunch off with an odd comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s up with these placemats?” Helen asks.\u00a0 \u201cThese rubbery placemats look like tangled hair pulled from a bathroom drain,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Ann and I laugh out loud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean really, how on earth can these hairy looking things be cleaned once people have eaten their food served over them,\u201d she continued.\u00a0 Interesting point. (I should note our placemats were clean, and the entire restaurant sparkles.)<\/p>\n

As far as the menu goes, The District offers American fare \u2013 which seems like staid and true \u201cbar food\u201d fare \u2013 but here, trumped-up with fancy extras.<\/p>\n

Helen orders a salad that sounds yummy, with fabulous basil vinaigrette.\u00a0 Ann orders a burger, medium-well.\u00a0 I order the fish and chips.<\/p>\n

Here is what ruined our lunch experience \u2013 it took a total of 40 minutes from the time we placed our order to the time it arrived.\u00a0 Mind you, the place was not packed with diners, it was not over-burdened by large tables \u2013 it was NOT BUSY.\u00a0 We complained at least two times about the lag in our service, with promises that our food was just about to be served, yet to no avail.<\/p>\n

When the food finally arrives, it comes in a ton of dishes.\u00a0 There are so many dishes on our table, it makes eating a navigating experience.<\/p>\n

Beyond the architecture of dishes housed on our table, Helen\u2019s salad is mediocre, at best, she says. The dressing has little basil flavor, if at all.\u00a0 Ann\u2019s burger is pretty good.\u00a0 The fish and chips are not worthy of ever ordering again.\u00a0 The batter has a burnt flavor and the fish is completely \u2018mush\u2019 on the inside.<\/p>\n

While we complained to our waitress about the slow service, there seems to be a real lack of empathy.\u00a0 Yet, we are met with a manager at the end of our lunch who offers us a free dessert. Pressed for time to get on with our other appointments of the day, we can\u2019t indulge.\u00a0\u00a0In the end, they offer a small discount on our tab.<\/p>\n

Our experience may have been a singular, unfortunate situation.\u00a0 Maybe their service is generally efficient, the basil vinaigrette rocks, and the fish and chips have an amazing golden, crispy batter encasing fresh, delicious and flakey fish inside.<\/p>\n

But first impressions hit hard.\u00a0 The Crazies and I have decided that we will make a visit again soon just to give it a second chance.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not holding my breath,\u201d says Ann.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This place has all the trappings of a great place to hang, dine, and drink, if they could only up the ante on service and quality. Kind of like they do for the huge conferences\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Visually impressive, the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown is worth a visit.\u00a0 Sleek and chic, the hotel boasts 31 floors of meeting spaces and guest rooms, amazing city views, and tons of amenities. Unfortunately, we didn\u2019t find that their signature restaurant, The District, to be one of their bragging points. It is unfortunate because the restaurant is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4049,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4049"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238530\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}