There's a new place on the block called Scoreboards- yes, it is what it sounds like- a sports bar and grill.
For my Mauians, it's situated where the infamous Gian Dons and Bocalinos once sat. It has the the flat screens, the immaculate, open space and a well-stocked bar. PLUS What's that one ingredient it's missing? Well, it's the food.
It's pretty hard to mess up bar food right? Well that's what I thought too. I went with two boys who are pretty easy to please, but it didn't even meet their standards.
It was happy hour when we went so we tried their half-off appetizers: there three cheese dip (it's the closest thing to queso we've see!) but it sure didn't taste like it. The cheese was bland and kind of mushy and not creamy. The roasted peppers didn't add any hint of spice or taste for that matter. A big fail there. The boys also tried the potato skins. Which were exactly what they sounded like: greasy potatoes skins, filled with melted cheese and of course bacon. That didn't reach my taste buds but it seem to please the boys.
It's the first month your restaurant is open so you want the first impressions to do just that - impress. Thanks for not doing that, waitress. She actually greeted us but seemed to be annoyed when we asked if we could still order the half-price appetizers. As she looks at her watch(sign of annoyance and something I can't stand when a waitress does) as she proceeds to tells us "ya, you can but if you want to order any others I need to put it in now" no smile on her face or "would you like anything else" TWO MINUS's.
Whenever I go to a bar and actually eat the food, I always try to stay on the light side. I ended up going with the Chicken Casear Wrap. The Ceasar dressing and salad part were excellent but the chicken was not: the creaminess of the dressing balanced out how very dry and tasteless the chicken was. The (small) side macaroni salad had a very funny taste to it. Not sure if it was made with mayo or something else, as the menu didn't state that, our clueless waitress didn't seem to know either. ANOTHER MINUS.
My husband ordered the fish tacos. Come on, how are you a restaurant here on Maui and mess up fish? But that they managed to do. The salsa was bland and watery; and the fish tasted just like it looked. A little on the burned side, once again tasteless and with the after taste of it being FROZEN, not fresh. Boggles my mind! He ate two of the three. Normally he'll eat all three and then some more. That's how I knew it wasn't good. ANOTHER MINUS
His friend had the chicken sandwich. His opinion was "it's a chicken sandwich, not much to it" The sad piece of chicken was very skinny and seemed to get lost in the overload of lettuce, tomatoes and the white bun. Nothing spectacular there. ANOTHER MINUS.
The cocktail prices weren't that bad: $4 beers which put a smile back on the boys faces and my wine was $3.50 which was just ok. ILL GIVE YOU A PLUS ON THAT SIDE.
Back to our bi-polar waitress. And I say bi polar because she was friendly when she greeted us; very annoyed with the appetizers; annoyed again when something went down with the bartender and manager which she felt the urge to share with our table "I'm shaking now"; (rule 55 of working in a restaurant, don't discuss work or personal probs with your table!); and then back to being annoyed when the rest of the food came; and back to happy when it was check time. YOU, MY FRIEND, GET A MINUS.
I know you're not supposed to 'judge a book by it's cover' but this was an exception. You have to impress here on Maui. With tourists here, you don't have that chance and luxury of having mediocre food and terrible wait staff. You have one time to impress people here. If you don't, that will go down in their vacation stories as "the worst bar food restaurant ever" and I know any restaurant doesn't want that.
I never visited Gian Dons for obvious reasons; Bocalinos actually had a great food and service but couldn't handle the rent; and so Scoreboards, if you can handle the high-price and hack it in the neighborhood, then step it up in the food department or one, two, three strikes(if you're lucky) you're outta here too!
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