I’ve always felt that it’s easier for good food to make up for poor restaurant service than it is for good service to make up for poorly prepared food.
However, my recent trips to Hub Restaurant and Ice Creamery are forcing me to rethink.
Walking into Hub, I was first struck by the unique, industrial décor. It blends into the budding young, posh downtown scene nicely, with oversized features, exposed brick and beams, and interesting focal points—such as the collection of upside-down lamps hung at the back of the dining space.
On the weeknight when we visited Hub for dinner, there was a big show at the Rialto Theatre, so downtown parking and dining space were at a premium. The restaurant was bustling, but there were a few scattered two-tops available, and we were seated promptly at one near the back of the restaurant, under the lamps.
During both visits, our dining experiences took a turn for the worse after we were seated. On both visits, a harried busboy roughly clanked water glasses on the table without a greeting, a smile or a “someone will be right with you.” And during both visits, we then sat, sipping water and perusing the menu. And waited. And waited. And waited.
Finally, during our dinner visit, a server came up, apologizing profusely, and took our drink, appetizer and dinner order. Hub has a nice drink menu, with some inventive-looking cocktails, as well as wine and beer on tap. In fact, Hub probably has one of the best draught-beer selections in town.
Anchor Steam pints ($4) arrived a few minutes later, followed soon by the antipasta appetizer skewers ($6) and a teeny, tiny cup of onion soup ($4).
The skewers, which change frequently, featured tomatoes, basil, mozzarella chunks and squares of corned beef, placed over a small pile of greens dressed with mustard vinaigrette. Served cold, the skewers were boring and difficult to eat, as the corned beef was jammed on to the skewer and did not want to be removed. The corned-beef chunks were too large and were extremely tough and chewy, and the greens were way overdressed with an intense mustard vinaigrette.
The onion soup did not fare any better. The cup was far too small and was filled too high, so when the spoon went in, the contents spilled over the side. The broth—or the scant amount that was left, thanks to the spillage and the massive, soggy untoasted chunk of bread that had soaked it all up—was bitter and lacked depth, and was not hot enough to properly melt the cheese, resulting in unappetizing, lukewarm chewy globs of Swiss cheese.
Thankfully, the entrées—which arrived after another long wait—were a much-needed improvement. Ted’s rotisserie prime rib ($17) with sautéed vegetables, potatoes and a cup of au jus was tender, juicy and flavorful, even though it was hovering somewhere between medium and medium-well, rather than the medium-rare that was ordered. The vegetables were well-seasoned and crisp, and the potatoes were quite delicious.
My turkey pot pie ($12) was a huge portion topped with a brown, buttery, flaky crust, and was filled with large, tender turkey chunks and a wealth of crisp vegetables, from the usual carrots and peas to sweet corn and green beans.
As we enjoyed our tasty entrées and waited for water refills (which never arrived), a large party was seated at a neighboring bench, and a large curtain was closed around their table. This would be a neat feature—except that every time a server walked through, or someone got up from or sat down at their table on the side that neighbored ours, the person would bump into our table, sloshing drinks and interrupting our meal.
About 15 minutes after our entrées were finished, and all the glasses on the table had been emptied, our server reappeared to clear plates and drop off a few free samples of their ice cream flavors. The ice cream was spectacular. There were six spoonful-sized bowls of different flavors, but the real standouts were the oatmeal apple cookie, the bananas foster ice cream, and a bourbon-laced ice cream. The samples were enough to satisfy my sweet tooth without ordering a bowl or a cone.
During our weekend lunch visit, the food even was better—but the service was, amazingly, even worse.
The restaurant didn’t seem to be understaffed, since there were several wait-staff members hanging out by the ice cream station and the hostess booth, and it wasn’t an exceptionally busy weekend. We were seated at an awkward two-top at the front window corner of the restaurant, we waited more than 20 minutes before we even saw our server; we saw him only three times during the entire meal. The table that was seated just after us waited even longer, and had to eventually find a manager before getting any service.
The food was all on par with the entrées we had on our previous visit. My porchetta sandwich ($10), filled with rotisserie pork, caramelized onions and greens, was tender, salty, porky deliciousness, all on soft ciabatta. The fries, which come with pretty much all lunch meals, were fantastically crispy on the outside, and hot and flaky on the inside. Ted said his bacon cheeseburger ($11) was filling and tasty, with a soft, buttery bun, but it was also overcooked, well-done instead of medium. He also tried out one of their mixed drinks, the Stubborn Hubster ($8), which was summery and refreshing, with vodka, ginger beer, mint and lime juice.
The second time we saw our lunch server, he took half of my sandwich to box up, and we asked for water refills and a salted caramel ice cream cone to come with the check. After 20 minutes, we finally had to flag down a busser to ask for water and find out where our server—and my sandwich—had gone. The server finally appeared a few minutes later, apologized for the horrible service, gave me a salted caramel ice cream (which was absolutely divine) in a bowl instead of in a cone (single scoop $3, double scoop $4.75), and comped the ice cream.
Good food doesn’t always make up for poor service, because I won’t be back.
This article appears in Jun 2-8, 2011.
This is not the first review of this restaurant that I’ve heard that carries the exact same message. Excellent food, but terrible, terrible service, some of the worst in Tucson. I’ve decided that despite the highly-regarded food, I will not try the restaurant until I’ve heard that the service is at least decent as, like the reviewer, that can ruin an entire meal for me.
I finally tried Hub for the first time over the weekend. The service was fine, the beers good, and the ice cream quite tasty, but many of the entrees were too salty–particularly the vegetarian ones. The vegetable pot pie, in particular, managed to be both bland (it was mostly potatoes, cream, and pie crust) and too salty. I’ll be back for more ice cream, but I probably won’t stay for a meal again until they revise their menu.
I think they’re trying to do better service-wise; I’ve been there twice (dinner on a Friday night and lunch on a weekday) and had excellent service as well as excellent food (fries, pot pies, and ice cream are stand-outs). Maybe it’s about expectations, though? Anyway – give them a chance to work out their kinks. They’ve got a good thing going on, and, along with the brilliant folks at 47 Scott (and from what I hear, Janos’s new place), they have a chance to start really bringing people downtown to eat. We should be supporting them.
Wow – What an honest and brutal review. Finally some truth out of these reviewers. So let me summarize; I’m supposed to drive all the way downtown (22 miles) just to be young and hip, struggle with safe parking, and then end up at what seems to be a glorified ice cream shop…with lousy service, well-done burgers, and no doubt a hipper-than-thou attitude? Guess what! NOT GONNA HAPPEN. Not now, not ever. I can do way better at home, for 1/3 the price and zero aggravation.
Listen up, Kade, & start firing some of these slacker wannabe servers. And fire any Chef / cook who does well-done meat. Gimme a break. This place could be so much better because the owner, Kade, is very sincere, highly-experienced and well-intentioned. I hope he survives this review.
I just hope Ms. Kuder sends a copy of this review to the owner! There are just too many restaurants trying to make it – I’m certainly not going to frequent a place that has such crummy service. Wake up servers – good tips come from good service!!
I thought this article was a bit unfair. Then I realized how young the writer is. I also noticed a theme in the writers articles. She has written the same basic theme at least twice before.
Hub is very very busy. And if the service was all that bad, people would not keep going back. This is not to say there are not kinks to work out, but Kade Mislinski (the owner) took a space that had very little going for it, and made a successful restuarant and fun hangout happen. Cudos Kade. You make a lot happen in a small space and most of us realize there are always kinks in a new restaraunt.
Regarding the comment that the writer is “young”: Jacki has been a Weekly contributor for more than five years now. She’s a veteran of the Tucson restaurant world, and a fine journalist. In journalism or food terms, she is far from “young.”
Tucson Weakly doesn’t have a decent writer within a thousand miles. Yourself included..Jimmy. It’s a podunk nothing of a paper.
At lunchtime back on May 1, I had such a bad experience at the Hub I still can’t bring myself to go back. A server, trying to be funny, insulted and embarrassed me in front of my family. It was so upsetting I lost my appetite and ended up leaving. I still can’t believe it even happened.
It’s too bad, because the concept of the place is neat, and on my previous experience there the food was good. But I’d say what’s wrong with the service goes well beyond “bad.” My rude, arrogant server was probably reflecting a rude, arrogant management. That’s usually how it works. Maybe the Hub is just a little too cool for some of us.
I went there once, dined alone on my way to a downtown show, and was mired there for a very long time. I ordered the vegetarian pot pie, which was delicious on the second try–they had burned the top crust on the first one they made me. They gave me a cup of macaroni and cheese while I waited. I took a bite, it was good, but I didn’t want to spoil my dinner. There was a recurring loop of four different people who came to apologize and ask how my mac n cheese was. I was seated at the counter where the servers hung out and it was just awkward. I really wanted to like the place. To go, maybe, like the reviewer said.
I ate there Friday night; it was crowded, but service was good because I sat at the bar right next to the order computer, and could flag my server down whenever she got near it. Good food, and I’ll be back.
I’m loathe to trust the palate of steak eaters and it doesn’t take much to cook a good slab of meat. Most of ther food at the Hub is sub-par like many eateries in Tucson. I also have yet to experience excellent service at any restaurant here in town. When are we in Tucson going to take a cue from a real city and have something that is above mediocre.
I concur with the Weekly’s assessment. Great food, poor service. The host/hostess/ice cream area is a clusterf*ck and we ended up seating ourselves/grabbing menus after an interminable wait, followed by icy glares from the hostess who had been busily holding up a wall. If my dining companion hadn’t known our server personally, the service would have been practically non-existent. I’d give it another shot for the tasty food, but I’d opt for take-out. We were there for a Saturnalia wine tasting event and the bar had run out of clean wine glasses just as we arrived. Go figure.
From the comments here and other online review sites the message has to be clear to Kade at the Hub- Many people in tucson want you to succeed but im not sure if members of your current serving staff can be counted among those supporters.
I have dined at both the hub and 47 scott and I dont want to be the one to put 47 scott and the hub in opposite corners- but im going to anyway. Service has never been a problem at 47 scott- perhaps the management team at the hub should figure out what the 47 Scott team is doing right and the Hub is doing wrong. Until that happens I dont want to take the chance that the service at the hub will leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Jimmy,
Not to be ageist but, well I am going to be ageist. Hub doesn’t stand out, as a restaurant, any worse in services than any other on the block. And I looked at the writer’s archives. She has written very similar articles (food good but service lacking) several times. Honestly, unless you have worked a considerable time in the industry (and I don’t mean while you were in high school), I think you should be careful to slam a new restaurant.
This isn’t to say that Hub doesn’t have a LOT of work to do. They do. But they started off EXTREMELY busy. And they are probably the busiest restaurant on the block. I also think it isn’t that brave to slam a new restaurant that doesn’t advertise with Weekly. The place has simultaneously handled extremely busy hours while trying to dial in their menu and service.
I will repeat what I said, Hub came to the block and added a hot night hangout and restaurant. Local Tucsonans have taken a struggling location and made a success. If the food and/or service stood out as so bad, why is the place so continually busy? Seems Tucson Weekly is missing something if they overlook this.
Powhaus: This was not in high school when Jacki was in the restaurant business. Also, I’d like to see you address the facts of Jacki’s review; what she says happened, happened. This is not a “slam”; it was very positive when it came to the food. We’re not here to be nice; we’re here to report and say how it is … and that’s how Jacki’s visits were. I also encourage you to read some of the other comments here.
Heck yeah, everyone around here wants the Hub and downtown to succeed. It’s called tough love.
Also, advertising has nothing to do with things. Really. Trust me. If it did, we’d just write nice things about everybody … and we would not have been critical about a Club Crawl participant. To infer that advertising or a lack thereof had some role in this is a serious charge–and it didn’t. That’s low and wrong.
Just curious … what relationship do you have with the Hub, Powhaus?
My co-worker and I went for ice cream this afternoon (the day after the TW review I presume), and while the young woman at the ice cream station had the personality of a zombie – no eye contact, one-word replies to our questions, etc. – we were pleasantly surprised by the service we got once we seated ourselves outside on the patio. A lovely young woman brought us water to drink just moments after we sat down, and joked with us. She came back one or twice more (remember, we were just having ice cream) to check on us, and even a busboy came by to fill our water. I think you scared them straight, TW.
I can appreciate management wanting young, hipster kids working the floor, but they need send the zombie idiots walking, and keep the mature, friendly, professional people. The salted caramel ice cream was pretty good, by the way. I’ve wanted to each lunch there but (a) there’s no delivery service to downtown businesses (BIG mistake – people in my building spell a fortune on the rather bland and limited selections downtown)…and (b) the prices generally don’t support the working schmoe who eats out five days a week and needs some bargains. $12 for a corned beef? Jimmy John’s gives ya something quite satisfying for $5 and delivers it at lightening speed.
Remember, Maynards almost went under the first year they started due to its reputation for their incredibly bad, snooty waitstaff, despite an excellent menu. Word spreads like wildfire and reputation is everything, Hub. Leave the jacked up prices for the dinner and late night crowd, and mass-fire all the pinheads who act like they hate the customers and their job.
Jimmy, I guess I came off as making a serious charge. I don’t mean to suggest that you have it out for Hub, or that you sit around and think, “who can we slam”. I was trying to communicate that this is the way it comes off.
I have had several bad experiences at several spots downtown. And I think what this article lacks is an understanding of what it is like to dine downtown. It’s busy. And economically it’s a rough place to be. You cannot get the sort of high service talent you might find in the foothills, because our income influx is sketchy at best, though steadily improving.
To me the REAL story was totally missed by Tucson Weekly. A local guy developed a great concept and it is very successful. It isn’t enough to say “the food is good”. There is no background, and that is where I make assumptions (and I don’t know the writer, so my assumptions can be totally off). I know she is young. And it seems like her writing lacks a larger perspective I would expect to see in a Tucson Weekly writer.
Her experience is valid, but two visits to the Hub isn’t enough research. The article comes off as a shallow skimming of a story. That is my opinion, and I don’t impose it on anyone else.
Powhaus’ relationship to Hub: I work for Hub as a server. But when I write my defense of Hub, it comes from the perspective of someone who wants to see downtown thrive and has a lot of respect for locals who instead of doing the same old thing, comes up with a new concept and says Tucson is not too small for this. Kade thinks big and sometimes when you push large ideas, it takes a lot of growing pains to get Tucson to follow along. But eventually, despite whatever media reports about such people, these people will be the ones to shape downtown. I have that much confidence in Kade and why I chose to work with his restaurant (the first restaurant job I have bothered to take for over a decade). I am there to support his ideas and he has been very supportive of Powhaus too.
It might not be the intent of the writer or other critics of Hub, but it comes off as Old Tucson having difficulty accepting change. The real story here is Kade has very quickly made major changes (positive ones) to Congress, and you missed that story, Tucson Weekly. If the criticisms made were also coupled with some background, and some commentary on the major changes Hub has made downtown, the story would have had more content.
Powhaus, the problem is, it won’t be successful for very long if the service doesn’t improve. If anything, this article should be a wake-up call. Take a look through the comments here: the reviewer is far from the only person who received terrible service at Hub.
A lot of people who eat at restaurants are also people who have worked at restaurants. Or a lot of people who eat at Hub are people who eat at other restaurants. It is pretty easy to make a comparison.
And to blame the quality of the food on the crappy service is illogical. Yes, a new restaurant that had been around for under a month, sure, crappy service is understandable or even expected. But Hub has had, what, four or five months now to get this right, and by more accounts than not, people have had terrible service there.
(I’ve not heard the same complaints about bad service with other new restaurants, such as Janos’s downtown venture.)
Two visits is the common visit rate in the restaurant reviewing world. If your service is so bad that you can’t even get it right 50% of the time, you need to improve.
And I want to see downtown thrive too. But here’s how you make downtown restaurants successful: you make the experience of visiting them enjoyable enough so that people actually want to come back.
And to wrap up, considering your comments, I really don’t think you understand the point of restaurant reviews. I don’t want a restaurant critic to give a good review to a restaurant merely because the owner tries hard to make downtown good. I want said person to actually make downtown good, and creating a restaurant with one of the worst service records in recent memory is not such a way to do that.
For what it’s worth, the Weekly has covered Hub quite a bit outside of this review, so more of that information about Kade and his vision has come through in the video preview [http://youtu.be/ZM3GPz45qeY] and the other posts, announcements, etc.
For what it’s worth, I’ve worked in restaurants quite a bit, and while I’m not envious of dealing with the crowds seemingly hitting Hub most nights, I think this review gives people a decent idea of what to expect from the experience of eating there. If the place is being taxed by its popularity to the point of gaps in service, shouldn’t people know so they can decide for themselves?
I get where you’re coming from and I think we do a fair amount of Tucson boosterism, but I personally think we have some responsibility to tell the truth as we see it…the good and the bad.
I find it weird for an editor to defend a reviewer — twice. It undercuts the notion that she is experienced — if so, why can’t she stand up for herself or deign not to dignify the comments with a response — or else it’s just patronizing. Either way, it’s off key.
A food review is just that – it’s based on opinion and is not supposed to report the news. A good one will include context – in the Hub’s case, making something out of nothing, hiring an accomplished chef who used to work at the Grill at Hacienda, having a concept that sets it apart from other downtown restaurants – but at the end of the day it is meant to let readers know how their dollars (and time) might be spent at a particular establishment.
The Star gave a similar review, finding the food rather uneven, and personal experience has found the same. But obviously Hub is filling a niche – I’ve been there twice on Tuesday nights and found it packed. I wish them success in seeing criticism as an opportunity to improve. As Jimmy notes, it’s tough love, but a good restaurant is happy to hear ways to be better at what they do.
Well put it this way; regardless of Hub being stellar or not by whomever’s supposed “standards” (whatever those may be), Kade did fill in a large, gaping hole right as you enter Downtown from The East, so kudos to him for trying, double kudos to him for caring!
Because if not, it would have been just another eyesore boarded-up sqautter’s paradise with “Rogues” and “Orphans” spray painted all over the outside for who knows how long!
It’s not just this reviewer. Go look at Urban Spoon and Yelp and you’ll see probably 75% of the reviews mentioning horrendous service and mistakes by the kitchen. Friends who have eaten there report the same thing. I love food. I love downtown. I love the look of Hub. I want to go there and love it so much that I want to be there every night. But I can afford to eat out maybe once a week, so until I hear that it’s better than even odds that I’ll get the level of service I expect for Hub’s prices, I’m not going. I mean, it’s lovely that they end up giving away ice cream or comping half the meals they serve because they’re burned or the wrong item or served 20 minutes after the rest of your table is finished, but I’d rather they get stuff right the first time.