One of my all time favorite places in the world is Four Peaks Brewery, in Tempe, Arizona. I’ve been going there for years and years. I haven’t found a suitable replacement here in San Francisco since I moved.
I just read a disturbing article over at tian.cc, that says Four Peaks now has valet parking. In all fairness to Four Peaks, they did have a pretty bad parking problem, but that doesn’t mean I wanted them to turn the hidden ‘locals-only’ parking in the back alley into a paid valet lot. Four Peaks just isn’t a valet kind of place.
A quick visit over to he Four Peaks site, reveals they have also opened a new location since I left, in North Scottsdale. That’s a little disturbing in itself. North Scottsdale is a little too fuffy.
Oh well… I guess these things happen. By the way, that’s me in the middle. On the left is my friend that I just went camping with. On the right is ‘The Kiltlifter’, he’s part owner of the brewery and was the namesake for my favorite beer at Four Peaks.
I always wondered what you looked like Paul!
Now we all know woohoo! : )
Craig
so you are not a big scottsdale fan either. Reason I still live in Tempe!
Last week I was in Four Peaks in Scottsdale. I had ordered a black and tan. Their beers do not make for a good black and tan, so I exchanged it for a heffe. I notified the server who was waiting on our table, that I had switched out the beers. I let him know so if he had to change the cost he could. I ordered two more beers from him and said please and thank you when I ordered. I am well mannered with people in customer service, because I am in customer service and I know how difficult their jobs can be sometimes. When our tab came one of my friends noticed that the black and tan was still on the tab. When the server came back around I pointed it out to him. His actual response was “I knew you were going to give me shit about this. If you notice they are they same price. So give it up mate.” I guess mate is tough talk for little aussie punks. I looked up at him and said “you are a pretty confrontational aren’t you?” He just looked at me with a smug look and said I had been rude to the whole staff that night. Not once did I have any problems with one server, bartender or even a patron in the bar. He said I needed to learn how to ask for things. He then walked away from our table and proceeded to call me a wanker to people I don’t even think he knew they knew me. Now by law that is call defamation of character. I could very easily file a law suit for that move on his part. Not one person at our table was pleased with his actions in any way shape or form. Nobody wanted to even pay the $46.75 tab we had, more or less tip this sad excuse for a server. One of my friends went upto him and handed him a five dollar bill and said, “even though you don’t deserve this, here it is.” He came around to pick up our money for the tab and asked if we needed change. I stated to him that change wasn’t going to be his issue tonight. He sat right in front of all of us and counted the money. He then threatened to banned ME from the bar for not tipping him, even though he got a thousand percent more than he had deserved. Now I am not sure how things are done “down under”, but even if a customer isn’t being as pleasant as you would like, you NEVER EVER become confrontational with them. I will never spend another cent in a Four Peaks as long as I live. He also turned of about four other people who frequent that Four Peaks. Speaking with other people at my office I found out they have had issues with the same server. This “mate” needs to find a different line of work. He has no tact or people skills in the least. It is sad one person has to ruin a good place for a lot of people.