Fleur: Fail.

This image from here

So last Saturday night a group of us went out on the town for my friend Emmie's bachelorette party. After going out to dinner we thought Fleur (owned by Roopan Dey of C Magazine ), the new champagne and dessert bar (their description, not mine) would be an appropriate next stop. Instead it was terribly disappointing. I'm not even sure where to begin describing the nonsense that passed for service in this "bar." Perhaps I'll start by showing you just how empty it was when we arrived. This is important.

empty.

really empty.

Pardon the bad photos...my phone camera wasn't cooperating... The place is decorated really nicely actually. Crisp white's and lots of pops of orange. There was a pretty good DJ too (no idea who it was) who was inexplicably outside...

When we arrived and took over a booth near the back the bartender promptly brought us menus and and then as she was handing them to us asked if we knew what we wanted to order (strange...seeing as how we hadn't had the menus for more than 4 seconds). We told her, no, not yet and said we'd wait for the rest of our party. She then vanished. Permanently.


After sitting around and waiting for her to pop back over and take our drink orders for 10 or 15 minutes, I finally went to the bar and asked if I had misunderstood and perhaps we should order there. The bartender..a new girl, said that because another group had just arrived she didn't have any more menus. (At this point that puts the total capacity at about 15). Who doesn't have 15 + menus? (Also, no mention of deserts anywhere and no menus of this sort provided. No desert to be found.) I told her that not only did we have menus but we were ready to order and she followed me back to our seats for the orders. The consensus from the group was that the drinks were just ok. The glass of wine ordered was a generous pour and a good quality wine. The mixed drink was just fine. The bride-to-be had a champagne cocktail that tasted like mostly water.

After a little while we moved outside to be near the music and to watch a very large party that was clearly not on their first stop of the evening arrive...it was really good people watching.

The bar staff must have thought so too because we never saw them again. Not a single person came back to see if we wanted another drink. Someone did walk by at one point and "clear our table" of my half full water glass which was weird and unappreciated. Normally I'd just continue to go to the bar if I wanted to order another round but the table behind us was being served and when we originally ordered she said, I'll be back to check on you. I took that as meaning we had a server...so I didn't go into the bar...so as not to complicate checks/tipping etc.

Finally after attempting to get the servers attention 4 times and on the last time finally getting into her path and asking if we could please have our checks she asked, "Do you want them all separate?" There were only 4 drinks ordered. Total. So yeah, we didn't think it would be a big deal to have them separate. About 20 minutes later she brings out our checks and they have 18 % gratuity added to them. Now I have no problem with tipping. I always tip. Always. I was a server and a bar back once. I get it. I do. Really. But, seriously? There were 6 of us total in the party and only 4 of us had a drink. I've never seen a BAR add 18% gratuity to a check with one drink each for a group of four. I thought it was a little.....audacious...

After waiting another 20 minutes for her to come back to collect our cards/cash I asked the server what the cut off was for automatically adding gratuity to a check and her response was lame and unprofessional beyond belief. "I don't know, I just work here." Right...

Too bad. When we first arrived I was super excited about the place and the concept. Champagne and Dessert? So fun, and girly and festive. It would have made a great place for all kinds of parties and/or girls nights. Too bad it was a huge flop and I can't imagine a scenario where I'd return.

Anyways, later in the evening walking back by we had a nice little laugh. This is how the evening ended at Fleur:

There were 3 cop cars there. Champagne does make people crazy...