Honk Honk PUNCH!

We live near a newly-opened bar/restaurant called the Victory Grill.  At first, we were very happy that we were blessed with a bar that is literally walking distance from our house, and that it had all the comforts that a so-called sports bar should have: great food, flat-screen TV’s with the NFL Ticket, and a staff that remembered their regulars and treated them with the kindness that you’d expect from a “neighborhood bar”.  It opened last spring, and we quickly became fans and frequented the establishment on Friday and Saturday, even the occasional Tuesday Bingo tourneys during the summer to escape the freaky steamy Minnesota nights.  We were psyched, and looked forward to the NFL season so that we could watch out-of-market Patriots games at our “neighborhood bar”.  Sadly for us, that dream became a nightmare when fall rolled around.

Let me digress for a second.  If you advertise that your bar/grill has the NFL ticket, you better damn make sure that you not only cater to your local sports teams, you should also make sure that you make the out-of-market fans like us feel welcome as well.  That’s why you got the NFL ticket, right?

Not so with the Victory Grill.  The first game we watched was great, the manager there was over-accommodating and changed one of the three TV’s above the bar to the Pats, albeit without sound.  That was acceptable, since there was a Vikings game on at the same time.  We were happy.  A few weeks later, however, we were treated with the cold shoulder when we tried to watch the Patriots game and get the sound of ANY game when the Vikings were not playing that afternoon.  The reason, we were told, is that this was a “family restaurant with a sports theme” and that the only time they turned up the sound was when the Vikes were on.  We openly wondered why they had spent the money for the NFL ticket if they were only going to televise and announce the Vikings, which could be found on any local TV station.  The answer was still “we are a family restaurant with a sports theme” and that we could watch the game in the private room in the back and have the sound on to our liking.  We reluctantly agreed, and made plans to utilize the offer when the other local, somewhat overcrowded sports bar was not an option.  In fact, we even watched a couple of games there, in the back room, away from the other sports fans, all by ourselves, just because it was the only place to go.  It was nice, the single large room could be split into two smaller rooms with a mechanized divider, each getting their own TV and sound to themselves if there was a conflict of interest. We even met a cool group of Patriots fans there last week, and planned to gather there this week to watch the Patriots/Raiders game.  I wish the story happily ended there, but it didn’t.

We arrived at Victory Grill this week (early, so that we could stake out our spots), headed to the back room, and saw that there were two people already there, waiting to watch the Vikings game.  Not a problem, we thought, since the room was dividable, we would be able to watch the Pats on the other TV if they just closed the divider.  As soon as we suggested that out loud, the two people sitting in the huge room said that they were there to watch the Vikings game and the Gophers hockey game and that the room was “always closed on Sundays”, which we knew was total BS.  As I had mentioned, the room was open to whoever got there first to watch whatever game they desired.  I never thought it would be open to only two people who wanted to watch two sports events at once.   Upon asking if they really needed to watch both events as a twosome, when the (dividable) room clearly holds 60+ people, the response was “I’m an employee, and that is the way it is gonna be”.  After a brief argument, we realized that he was right, it was going to be that way, and the restaurant management was going to back him. We walked away, and headed to Mad Jack’s, another bar a few miles away.

As always, Mad Jack’s was supportive. The manager on duty asked us which TV we would like to watch the Patriots on as soon as we walked in the door (without us even asking, BTW).  See, they have the NFL ticket too, and are more than happy to accommodate non-Vikings fans.  We have since decided to swear off Victory Grill, and only watch the rest of the season there, where we feel more welcome (albeit sans sound when the Vikes are on).

Next year, we are planning to just buy the NFL ticket and avoid this mess, but I really feel that we could have been treated better at our “local bar”.  Shame on you, Victory Grill, and a lot of of praise to Mad Jack’s for making us feel at home while we’re away from home.  I guess that’s why Mad Jack’s has a packed house every Sunday and you are struggling to get customers.   Good luck, I hope that you survive this horrible economy.  You should be trying to garner good paying customers like us, yet you seem to be catering to the likes of employees, who probably are stealing from you, or at the very least, are getting drinks and food at a discount.  In my estimation, you probably lost at least $200 in revenue that our group of Patriots fans could have brought you today.  And that’s just today.  I again say “good luck”.   You have lost yet another gaggle of paying customers.  And I can’t wait to go to Mad Jack’s next weekend.