Not all Hooters are the same...

I was alone with my kids last night and downtown and wanted to find a cool, clean and nice place to sit down and eat.  I also wanted a location where I know has food that they will eat as well.  I saw the Hooters downtown and after navigating  the maze of one-way streets, I found a nice spot in front of Kiener Plaza.  My two sons and I were greeting warmly by a server named Nona and we were directed to a booth close to the door.  My kids had a bathroom emergency however, and we ran back to use the bathroom then.  The bathrooms were clean, which is always a plus.

Now after we sat down and were greeted again nicely by the server, she took our drink orders and she left to fill them.  I looked at the menu when my oldest had some questions.  First of all, I think everyone from Gordan Ramsay to Robert Irvine has said this, but you don't put items on the menu that you have no intention of serving!  The Hooters here had "Kid's Liver and Onions.....$22.99" on the menu.  So, it was the bottom item on the kid's menu and at first thinking it was a joke and then doubting myself because why would there be a joke on a menu?

Nona came back to take our order and she was asked by my son about the liver and onions which she replied that it was in fact a joke.  But still, why do that on a menu?  What if someone ordered it and wanted it?  Then that someone would complain because there was something on the menu that wasn't real.  It was not a very good or well placed joke.

So, we ordered boneless wings and went on waiting.  Just like other locations, we had received our food rather quickly and it felt like less than 20 minutes.  Albeit that the restaurant maybe had 10 other people it besides us, so it shouldn't have taken long at all.  But the waiting time wasn't an issue with this; the issue was afterwards.  You see that the service at restaurants has to be consistent and when our server is super nice and greets us and checks in on us every 10 minutes at most and then stops, it sends sense that she doesn't care.  The problem was that from the front door, 3 people came in who appeared to be friends with our server.  These two women and small child, hugged Nona and Nona went and sat down at the first booth with them.  Now, I had finished my food at the time and was waiting for my children to finish their's.  But, I watched our server chat and frolic with the group she sat at the first booth.  One of the older women even grabbed and squeezed her butt in her shorts.

So, now I sit and wait, and wait, and wait as my kids finish and we wait 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes the server, Nona, gets up and walks 4 feet over to our booth and asks if we need anything else.  You know, there is a certain kind of special when you ignore a paying customer for your friends.  I bet her friends will pay and I bet they will tip, as well, but the difference is that I would likely tip more if I had better service.

no contest there...

In the early 80's, a group of business people got together in Florida at an old club house and turned it into a cheeky food establishment.  The waitresses wore short shorts and tight shirts and they called the place Hooters.

Here in St. Louis, in the late 90's a group of people noticed the success of Hooters and tried to make their own version, calling it Show Me's.

Now, the Show Me's restaurant in South County has been there for such a long time that I remember driving past it many times always thinking it was a bar and not knowing what it really was.  On their website, the Show Me girls are shown wearing heels, tight shorts with parts of their ass hanging out and very revealing shirts.  I was told by me brother-in-law that the girls were hotter, the food was better, and the place was cooler.  Maybe the South County store didn't get the memo.

My wife, two kids and father arrived just this past Sunday at the Show Me's on Lemay.  It was a dump.  We walked in and a waitress was sitting down at the bar, next to a customer.  She turned and told us that we could sit wherever and turned back to talk to the guy.  There was a girl behind the bar getting drinks and a single girl working the floor.  We walked in to the place which was dark inside, had the beechwood look that is just so similar to another establishment, there were 2 dirty tables in front of us and one table of people.  We needed a table for 5 and there were only four-tops around so we waiting for someone to clean off another one so we could push two tables together.  After we got our table and sat down, we looked at the menu and it took 10 minutes, before a girl came over and asked us for our drink orders.  10 minutes later, our drinks came and the server walked off again.  We were there for 20 minutes, we just got our drinks, the waitress left before we could order our food. By then, my kids were starving as this was about 1pm and my youngest was crying for food as he was so hungry.  We watched two men come through the door and sit down.  Within 30 seconds a chatty blonde showed up at their table and took their drink order.  About 2 minutes later she came back with their beers and she took their food order.  We watched this take place as we sat in misery, waiting for someone to even talk with us again instead of ignore us.

After those 20 minutes, we couldn't take it.  My family got up to leave and when the girl did see this, I asked for the bill.  She came back saying "I'm sorry I got caught up, I had management problems".  So, badly I wanted to turn to her and say, "No you didn't, I saw you get those guy quick and get their orders in seconds.  You had a problem because there were kids here and you didn't want to work."  I paid the bill for the sodas and left.  

The above experience was so much different that the Hooters, on Lindbergh, just about a mile away.  As we walked in, we were immediately greeted and sat within 2 minutes.  Right when we were sat, a server was right with us asking for drink orders.  I took a second to mention to a manger about how we tried the ugly shack version of Hooters and still Hooters was better.  In fact, my dad and I were joking that as soon as we walked in that Hooters was better because someone acknowledged us.  Hooters is Hooters.  We were greeted, had food, had drinks and had service.

Let's have a scientific comparison:

Hooters                                                                          
Greeted us within 2 minutes                                            
Sat in to minutes                                                             
Kid's menu was given to the kids                                    
Drinks within 2 minutes of ordering                                 
Food came about 7-8 minutes after ordering                   
Server was smiling, nice and talked to the kids                


Show Me's
Greeted us within 5 minutes
Sat in 5 minutes
No kid's menu available
Drinks came 10 minutes after we were sat
Didn't make it this far
Server talked to my father and my wife, no smiles


Finally, the big two things: girls and food.  Since I am married, I will use my dad's opinion on the girls. He definitely thought that the girls at Hooters looked better and more attractive.  The food, was great, as usual, at Hooters and since we never were served at Show Me's, that was an easy win.   This isn't really a review, since every time that I have been at a Hooters restaurant, it has had great food and good service. But it is interesting to note, that like so many other things started in St. Louis, for the purpose of copying off of something more famous in other areas, that the copy sucks compared to the original.  Sure we have the best of many things and the imitators suck, but a lot of time, St. Louis thinks that things outside of it's area are better so it tries to copy.  Our nightclubs and dance clubs are copied from the ones in New York and Las Vegas, but our version sucks.  So, St. Louis, cannot copy Hooters.  We had friendly hostesses, friendly servers and friendly managers.  Food was perfect and tasty and quick.  Everyone was friendly.  That is Hooters.  So, do not go to the bad knock off: show me's.