It's All Bad at the All Good. I went last night with two friends, to have dinner and listen to some live music. I'd been once before over the Christmas holiday and enjoyed myself, primarily because of the music. Last night, my friends had called in advance to confirm that the band started at eight p.m. and no mention was nade of a cover. We arrived on time and we were told that the band would be at least an hour late..and would start after nine. We went down to Monica's and had a cocktail before returning to the All Good to get our table. We got settled at our table and ordered dinner just before the kitchen closed at nine. Fifteen minutes later the owner announced that he would come around with a bucket so everyone could ""donate"" ten dollars to the band. This was pretty suprising, as the server didn't mention this at any point that we would have to pay thirty dollars, in addition to our foood / drinks bill. When the owner came around to collect, we expressed our dismay at having to pay thirty dollars when we had not been told in advance. He responded by telling us that we would have to eat quickly and leave....that we couldn't stay and listen to the music. They brought our check at the same time our food was served, essentially saying get out! When I asked to ordered dessert, the owner told me no. \r
The cafe appears to be casual and cool, but it's clearly not. They could have easily made an awkward situation better by apologizing for not telling us at the door about the cover, or when we were seated, and confirming that in the future, we would have to pay to listen to the music. The owner clearly had a good concept for music, but he knows nothing of how to service customers or encourage people to come back. There are too many great places to be subjected to such bad service. OBTW - The food and menu is a mediocre attempt at home style cooking. Try any other restaurant in Deep Ellum before eating at this place.
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