Blue Rose Cafe

[Conan71]

Blue Rose was mentioned over on the REI thread and it made me think of my last visit there a few weeks ago.

What a disgusting smile hole.  It was nasty.  The bathrooms, patio, main dining room...all gross.

It reminded me of the bathrooms in the old Blue Rose on Brookside.

And I know nasty...I worked for Full Moon in the '90's.

We had one beer and left...and I questioned the cleanliness of that bottle.

Seems to have been going downhill over the last year.  Coincidentally, Tom left about a year ago.  No clue what he's doing now.  Breadburner, any idea?

[cannon_fodder]

I was there Sunday. Sat on the back patio. Used the restroom. I noticed nothing bad about the back patio, the bathroom needed some TLC but was no where near River's Edge level of nasty. Food was the same as it has always been - OK.

I admit to not being there enough to really judge. But I thought it was OK for what it is - a modern diner. Good vibe. Staff was friendly. Food was quick and reasonably priced.

Maybe I have my expectations set low and they were met?

[davideinstein]

Went a couple of weeks ago for happy hour and sat on the patio. Enjoyed it.

[Townsend]

It was a Sunday...there must've been one hell of a Saturday night.

I looked for an eyeball on the floor.

[Conan71]

I was there Sunday. Sat on the back patio. Used the restroom. I noticed nothing bad about the back patio, the bathroom needed some TLC but was no where near River's Edge level of nasty. Food was the same as it has always been - OK.

I admit to not being there enough to really judge. But I thought it was OK for what it is - a modern diner. Good vibe. Staff was friendly. Food was quick and reasonably priced.

Maybe I have my expectations set low and they were met?

There's little doubt the place is still quite popular and I'm pretty sure location has more to do with it than anything.  We tried to get a seat on the patio about 1pm on Sunday when we were out riding and were told it was a 45 minute wait.  We decided to pedal on to Crow Creek instead for a "meh fest" there.  We had to find some place on a patio where we could keep an eye on the bikes.  Speaking of getting nasty around the edges, Crow Creek has gotten there.

The few times I've eaten at the Blue Rose in the last year have been at the bar during lunch so service is really never an issue though I do hear service complaints from others.  What I have noticed is prices have gone up with no improvement in quality and it's still very pedestrian bar food.  I had their prime rib sandwich (basically a Philly) for $15 a few months ago and was incredibly underwhelmed especially for the price I paid.

Along the lines of open-air establishments, for about the same price points, R-Bar seems to be head and shoulders above the crowd but they were packed as well on Sunday so we couldn't go there.

Admittedly, I've become somewhat of a food snob in recent years.  Common bar food just doesn't trip my trigger like it used to.  You can tell almost immediately if the people in the kitchen have a passion for what they do or if they are merely sucking a paycheck and slapping food on the plate.

[Ibanez]

My wife and I have been there twice. We won't be going back.

[Breadburner]

Seems to have been going downhill over the last year.  Coincidentally, Tom left about a year ago.  No clue what he's doing now.  Breadburner, any idea?

I do not....

[Susansooner]

Went there today with the intention for a drink at the bar. I was surprised at how slow it was on a nice Sunday afternoon. No hostess to great us, no one behind the bar and waitstaff hard to be found. We wanted to sit outside but the river was pretty smelly today so had a seat at the bar inside. We quickly noticed the 2 guys sitting at the bar were so high on drugs one was literally drooling with his eyes closed. We left immediately.

I have to say it seems to be going downhill the past few times we've been there. It's a shame because it's always been one of my favorites.