This week we had a night out at the Phoenix Theatre, and here is a look into our night.
Her View
We had purchased tickets to see Elf the Musical and were looking forward to our night out. The weekends for the entire show sold out very quickly so we ended up going on the Thursday night after Thanksgiving.
I have to say that Phoenix Theatre is one of my favorite venues and I love seeing a show there. Let me start by saying they put on a great show! I have not seen a single show that I have not enjoyed, and of course you love some more than others, but they are all pretty darn good! Bonus factors are that they have a very nice bar with food, the seats are comfy and most importantly the seats have drink holders so you can take your drink into the show with you.
I randomly made reservations at the ArtBar + Bistro for dinner knowing that we would need to eat something. We had drinks in the past at the bar and had enjoyed those and the atmosphere, which is friendly and cozy all at the same time as lively. However, dinner was going to be a new experience. We were seated at a two top which was super wobbly so we moved ourselves to a four top that was more stable, also the two top was very tiny and I was not so sure that would accommodate drinks, water and food. The four top just worked better.
My big issue anywhere I go is that I need to be acknowledged. This is just basic customer service and frankly most often there is no reason I should have to wait for water. Drinks I get, but I should never have to wait for water. The young man who seated us certainly had the time to bring water but that is not the system they have in place. So we sit and wait, the young lady who helped us was very busy and a little frantic. It appeared that she was taking drink orders and going to the bar and then waiting for the order to come up. In my mind multitasking is a thing, so I would think it makes sense that you take the drink order, go to another table, take their order, drop off their order and pick up the drinks that are done. But it seemed like a long wait to get a glass of wine, which would totally hold me over until you had a second to take my food order. Just my perspective. She was super nice and once she found a flow seemed to do a bit better, but I feel like she was ill prepared for the number of tables she had. Again the host could have been helping early on with drink orders as the locations only has about 20 tables so he could only sit so many folks before he had nothing to do. The systems they have in play need to be adjusted a bit.
We finally get to order and had the Caprese Stack which was prosciutto, mozzarella, roma tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinegar oil. This was a tasty little guy with lots of flavor, but it literally came in a stack piled high, so we had to cut it in half so we could share it. It fell apart when we cut it and we had to piece it back together. This would make it very difficult to share with friends or more than two people. It is fine since we are married and share everything but, if I was with a co-worker or someone I had just met it would make it a bit awkward. Also it was very small, no more than 3 inches around.
We also ordered the fish and fries and I was underwhelmed by that. The fries were only ok and the fish was ok, not good per say, but not bad either. It was three thin pieces of fish, think like a carrot size around and about 4 inches long. So again, not much food. Derek and I often share our food, but we actually had to order more because the total of the two items we ordered was not enough. So we ordered the bread and butter basket, which they warm in the microwave behind you, but bring solid cold butter to go with it. I was a bit baffled by this since you can just leave the butter out as most restaurants do to get it to room temp. The garlic herb butter tasted fantastic, but I could not get any on my bread because it was so cold. So I ate the bread by itself. All in all not a bad experience but I am hoping that they find a way to adjust some of the processes that they have since I can see us doing that again.
I will say that the wine they offered was great. I had the Austin Hope Merlot, which was FANTASTIC. It was just bold enough, deep colors and had a nice pepper finish, I ended up ordering 2 more glasses throughout the show. Worth the every penny.
As for Elf the Musical, I have not smiled from cheek to cheek from beginning to end of a show in I don’t know how long. The show is energetic, fun, humorous and touching. I enjoyed every second of the show. The cast is fantastic and you can see how much they enjoy what they do. Kudos to them all and thank you for such an enjoyable moment.
— Taunya
His View
We love the Phoenix Theatre. You don’t have to go to LA or New York to see a good quality show. You can find great theater in your own town. We are pretty blessed to live in the Phoenix area, which actually has some great choices for a quality theater experience. Recently the Phoenix Theatre did a remodel, and expanded their bar into a bar and restaurant they have dubbed the Artbar + Bistro. Although we had been to the bar many times before performances and during intermission, this was the first time they had actual entrees, so we decided to make a reservation and try it out when we went to see “Elf: the Musical” this week.
When we first walked into the bistro area we were immediately greeted by the host who showed us to our table. It is fairly small, around 20 tables. Once seated, we were greeted pretty quickly by a gentleman who offered to take a drink order. We needed a minute to look at the wine menu, so he left us to check on another table. At this point we realized that the two top was pretty small, and the more importantly the table was pretty wobbly. All I could see was bumping the table and spilling in my wine, so not wanting a party foul we moved one table over since the bistro was only about a third full. The waiter came over and let us know that Janine would be our server since the new table was in her section. We waited close to 10 minutes for her to come and take our drink order, so to be honest it wasn’t a great start. Knowing the bistro was fairly new, we were a little more lenient on the service.
When she did come to the table, we had plenty of time to peruse the menu, so we ordered our wine (Austin Hope Cabernet), and a Caprese and Prosciutto stack for an appetizer, which is fresh mozzarella, Roma tomatoes and fresh basil topped with thinly-sliced prosciutto, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. For our entree we chose the the beer battered fish and chips. Taunya and I are fairly partial to Central Coast California wines, and generally prefer them to the more well known Napa area wines as a general rule. We were not disappointed, the Austin Hope was a pretty good wine, probably the best red they have on their current menu. She returned to our table fairly soon, and I was really surprised when she brought us paper plates and plastic silverware! The caprese stack was a pretty interesting presentation, the entire dish served on a plate stacked with a wooden skewer holding the tower together. I found it very flavorful, and paired well with the wine. When we received the fish and chips, I was underwhelmed to be honest. I found it to be a bit “meh”, pretty much standard bar food. With the full price tickets at the theater pushing a hundred dollars on average I expected more than standard bar quality fish and picnic dishware and table settings. We realized we did not order enough food based on the portion sizes, so we also ordered the bread and garlic butter. The bread itself was lukewarm, which was not critical, however the butter was cold and hard. Either the rolls should be hot, or the butter should be soft; ideally, it should be both. As served, you couldn’t spread the butter on the rolls to enjoy. During our meal we ordered a second round of wine and I think the waitress forgot because we had to remind her.
The Phoenix Theatre lets you take your bar drinks into the venue as long as they are in plastic glasses, so you just need to let the bartender know and they will serve them in the allowed “glassware” (pun intended). Once nice thing about eating at the bistro was that we were able to order drinks from our server, as well as pre-order intermission drinks and put it all on the same bill which was really nice. So would we do dinner at the Artbar again? Given that fact that they are new and likely still in the growing pains that a lot of new restaurants experience, I think we would give them another try. Looking at the show schedule it will be a few months down the road, the should be past that though and well past the window of being newly opened, so my expectations will be higher. I’ll be sure to give you an update on our next experience.
I should take a second to talk about the show itself. Elf is not my favorite Christmas movie, however I was really impressed with the show. It was done with the normal liberties taken when making a movie into a play, so it was a bit different. I have to say the casting was well done, and I recognized a few of the cast from other performances around town. We really enjoyed the show, it was very well done and full of comedic moments. If you get a chance to see it this holiday season I would highly recommend it.
— Derek
Living, loving, drinking, and traveling through life.
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