I've eaten at Don't Know a few times now. I think the chef's description is quite honest and correct. The food is good, atleast a step above your typical bar food, but still inconsistent. For example, I had a cheesesteak on a previous Monday night that was fantastic. I went back for another the next week and they changed the roll. The first was great, the second was akin to a large store bought hot dog bun. Chef, if you are reading this, go back to the original, amarosso style roll please!

Love this place. I normally loath having to go out in federal hill...as it usually leads to me waiting forever for a drink, and getting shoved all over the place, but this place is quite the opposite: off the beaten path, lots of room, and friendly staff.

When we first went there it was just a normal looking bar, but since they have added leather couches, booths, and tons of LCD tv's for all of your sport viewing needs. They also feature my favorite game ever: cornhole...i am from ohio, what can i say...

Saturday we decided to try the pizza, which was really good for a place that is more of a bar than a restaurant. Almost everyone in our group of 8 mentioned we would have to come back to give them their due in the food category.

The only negative is all the red sox fans...GO TRIBE!

I am surpirsed you haven't yet reviewed the new Cindy Wolf/Tony Forman Cinghiale. It is quite splendid!

My girlfriend and I stopped in Don't Know a few weeks ago to grab a few drinks. The place is big and smoke-free, and very pleasant inside.

We had a look at the menu and saw that it was a little upgrade from your standard "bar food," and they appeared to have some good looking, unique options along with the more standard burgers, steak, crabcakes, etc. We had eaten only a few hours before, but we noticed that everything was served with Mac and Cheese... so we figured that was probably a specialty, so we ordered a side of Mac and Cheese. It did not disappoint. It was served in a bowl and looked more like a soup than Mac and Cheese, but it was very tasty and cheesy.

We definitely said that we'd go back for a full meal but haven't done it yet.

Dear Chef Hammersmith,
The food may be good at your new bar, but I DONT KNOW... because I couldn't get anyone to serve it to us last night! I went there with 2 friends last night at 8:30 to try out the extended menu- and have a few drinks while watching the baseball game. We got there, and it was somewhat populated, but certainly not "busy" by normal bar standards. We sat at one of the 1/2 dozen empty tables and proceeded to wait... and wait... and wait for about 10 minutes. My friends lobbied for just getting up to go to another place to eat, but convinced them to hold on while I asked the bartender (big guy with tatoos all over his neck) for menus. I went up to the bar, asked him for the menus and he looked at the table (2 people sitting) looked at me (1 person standing) and grabbed 2 menu's off the stack and shoved them at me with out saying anything (GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE APPROACH!)
After a minute the other bartender (little guy, spikey hair) came from behind the bar and we all thought "Hey, here we go, we can order!" No... he proeeded to go to one table to talk with a girl, go to another table and talk with the group, look directly at our table and make eye contact and... he walked back behind the bar. I figured hey, maybe he took drink orders from the other tables and he'll get us on the way back, but he just proceeded to serve other customers from behind the bar.
At this point it was 9:00 and my friends decided they had had enough and got up to leave. While agreeing that 1/2 hour was WAY too long to wait to even be greeted by servers, I wanted to let the staff know it wasn't because of the menu- It was solely because they ignored us. When I approached the first bartender, and said we waited but no one came to serve us, he just shrugged and grabbed the menu's back, clearly not caring.
To be successful as a restaurant, it takes more than just "Good food and large drinks." Service is a main point of success (and topic in this Blog). I understand that your " Grand opening is Nov 14" but the reality is your doors will have been open for over 3 months and the kinks SHOULD be worked out by now! You need to either re-train or re- hire more attentive staff if you plan on people enjoying your dining experience. I wish you the best of success, because I would like nothing more than another good restaurant within a 4 blocks walk of my house, but at this point, I DONT KNOW that you are headed in that direction... because your "servers" would not serve us.

Sincerely,

Mather Preston

Mr. Preston

I would like to personally apologize to you and your group for the poor service you received on Thursday. I would like to say only that we do not really have servers right now only bartenders. This is something that we are working on but as of right now the customer may have to draw attention to themselves. We were also short one bartender; we normally have 3 on Thursdays. Further, the bartender who gave you the menus probably thought that you were going to order at the bar since you got your menus at the bar but, as for being passed over in lieu of talking to a girl, well for that I am sincerely sorry. I hope you will give us another try but do me one favor please approach someone upon your arrival and tell them where your group will be sitting. With no servers or hosts a group could be overlooked if they do not alert the staff to their presence, and I do not want that to happen to you. Thank you for your input.

Dustin Hammersmith
Executive Chef
Don't Know Tavern

Chef Hammersmith,

It appears, judging from your comments, that your front of the house skills could use a bit of polishing.

It is not up to the customers to "draw attention to themselves." I'm sure your bartenders would agree they would not like their customers banging their empty beers on the bar when in need of another round, or waving their arms when they are ready to order. In other words, you can't have it both ways.

In addition, bartenders are servers. They generally have more responsibilities, but their number one priority should be making sure the customers are properly taken care of. Standing behind a bar doesn't make their job as much different from a server as some bartenders might think.

I must also add that I appreciate your willingness to defend your staff, that can be a rare thing in a restaurant these days. However my impression of your response was that you were making excuses for their poor service.

As a lifelong resident of this city, I hope that your restaurant is in business for years to come. If you want to continue to operate with only bartenders, I would say a small sign on your tables saying "Please see bartender for service" would help. It should not be up to the customer to figure out how your restaurant is run.

Emily