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Barfly Jason Genegabus |
ROSE'S SPORTS BAR
AND RESTAURANT
Location: 802 Kapahulu Ave.
(on the corner of Kapahulu and Winam)
Hours: Open 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily
Phone: 737-7880
‘Sports’ bar needs to work
on service fundamentals
I'VE NEVER put much serious thought into running my own bar, but every once in a while the idea bubbles up in my head -- usually when I'm enduring an unpleasant drinking experience.Think about this for a second: If a place that serves liquor advertises itself as a "sports bar," one expects to walk inside and catch a game while drinking a beer, right?
And if you advertise $1 draft mugs of beer as a special on the front windows of your establishment, wouldn't you want the stuff you serve to taste better than dirty bathwater?
To the Barfly, these seem like easy questions to answer. But Rose's Sports Bar and Restaurant in Kapahulu could use a bit of help figuring out how to better satisfy their customers, judging by the experience we had there earlier this week.
Back to the term "sports bar" for a minute -- don't be fooled into thinking Rose's is the type of place to catch a game. There is only one television in the place at the moment, and on the night we showed up, it wasn't even turned on. With 10 tables spread throughout the room, there is more than enough space to kick back and enjoy a game here; a big screen television and a few smaller screens would do wonders.
Along with the $1 mugs of beer (that aren't actually served in mugs -- more about that later), there are other drink specials worth checking out from 2 to 7 p.m. When the Barfly, trusty Drinking Buddy and another friend in tow, first arrived at Rose's, we were told to hurry up and order a beer since the happy hour price of $1.50 for domestic bottles would be ending shortly.
At that price, and even at the regular price of $2.25 after 7 p.m., you're much better off sticking with bottles instead of draft beer here. I never thought I would say this about a bar on Oahu, but you're better off staying as far away as possible from taps at Rose's. When we ordered a $4.75 pitcher after happy hour ended, the difference in taste was staggering -- the flat, watered-down excuse for beer that we were served tasted like it had been sitting in a keg for weeks.
THE SERVICE AT Rose's doesn't do much to redeem this place, either. While our server took our drink orders and brought our beers over without us having to wait very long, I did have to hunt the lady down a few minutes later to ask for my change after she walked off with $20 and didn't return.
Maybe she had other things on her mind, or maybe it was just absent-mindedness, but we had to repeatedly ask for things during our visit. A request for napkins needed to be made two or three times before we got anything, and when we ordered a pitcher of beer a bit later, it was brought to our table without anything to pour it in. When the Barfly asked for a few mugs, our server rushed off and brought back three plastic tumblers dripping with soapy water after being washed.
If you're looking for a place to hang out and have a couple cheap beers, Rose's Sports Bar and Restaurant is a decent place to stop by if you're in the Kapahulu area. Unfortunately, that's all that this bar seems to have going for it at the moment; add a few televisions, bulk up the pupu menu and keep the beer on tap as fresh as possible, and this could easily become a regular stomping ground for more people who live nearby.
How much for a Bud Light?
The Barfly drank $1.50 bottles of Bud Light during happy hour at Rose's; the price jumps to $2.25 per bottle after 7 p.m. Draft beer is also available, but I'd recommend staying away from the taps until the bar can promise to serve stuff that doesn't taste like it was drained from a bathtub.
Get things to do?
Two Megatouch game machines, a pool table and a dart machine are available for patrons; a jukebox also sits in one corner of the room. A few more televisions throughout the place would do wonders to make Rose's seem more like an actual sports bar.
What about the grinds?
The good news: Rose's offers a variety of free pupus to customers, including spicy chicken wings, gau gee, Ritz crackers with cheese and fried noodles. The bad news: Rose's stoops to buy-me-drinkie bar-type tactics when it comes to actually buying food. When the Barfly asked about other pupus available, all we were told was that they served kalbi. Going with the flow, I asked how much it would cost for a plate and was told $5. Not a bad deal, right? The Barfly thought so, too, until our server returned with three plates (we had only ordered one) and proceeded to inform us that we owed $19.50, jacking the price of each plate from $5 up to $6.50. Be careful if you order food here; make sure to find out how much the food will cost and how much you're actually ordering before saying yes to anything.
And the help?
The only server on duty the night we visited Rose's didn't look like she had been doing this type of job for very long. Between forgetting to bring back change and serving us a pitcher of beer without the mugs, she wasn't doing a whole lot to earn a tip from us, that's for sure. I should have realized what type of treatment we were in for, however, since she was wearing a cap that expressed her love for our competition up the street.
Barfly appears every Friday in Star-Bulletin Weekend.
E-mail Jason Genegabus at jason@starbulletin.com with suggestions of neighborhood bars to visit.
