terrible service. i went to the house of blues at mandalay bay this past weekend with two friends. we were looking for a snack and a couple drinks and thought their happy hour sounded good. it ended up being one of the most frustrating dining experiences i've ever had, and i doubt that i will ever go back to this or any other hob location.
first off, their happy hour menu advertises "call cocktails" for $5. the term "call" has a generally accepted definition in the bartending world; it means name-brand booze that people would ask for by name, but not including top-shelf stuff (think jack, captain, tanqueray, bacardi, etc.).
my girlfriend ordered a tanqueray and tonic, and the waiter told her that didn't count as a "call cocktail." i protested, but he was fairly condescending and insisted the happy hour promo only applied to well drinks. she said fine, and he brought her a well g&t.
my other friend ordered an old fashioned. the waiter said he had never heard of it, and didn't think the bartender would know how to make it. i explained the basic concept and told him it was a common cocktail that the bartender should know, but he insisted that i detail the recipe so that the apparently incompetent bartender could figure it out.
we got our drinks, and they were tasty and pretty strong. the bartender was not as incompetent as the waiter had assumed.
the waiter came back about 20 minutes later to ask if we wanted anything else. i asked for my check, but my friend said, "don't bring mine yet, i think i'll order another drink," meaning that the waiter should hold off on his check until he had decided what he wanted. a few minutes later, the waiter came back with one check. he had charged me for one happy hour drink, my beer and food, and two old fashioneds at $8.75 apiece.
the next time i saw the waiter (which was several minutes later) i asked him why a) he had charged us for another of when my friend had clearly stated that he didn't know what he wanted yet, and b) why the ofs were $9 a pop. he replied that the drink had to be muddled (a fact he had apparently learned in the time since we had ordered it) and so it did not count as a "well drink." i asked why he had not explained this earlier (since he was quick to point out that tanqueray and tonic was not a happy hour drink), and he just shrugged.
i asked to speak to the manager, but the waiter took the check and disappeared for several more minutes. when he came back, he said the manager would "make an exception" and only charge us $5 for the ofs since he hadn't told us. what generosity.
rather than wait for the waiter to split the checks, i just paid the whole thing and left.
the waiter definitely ruined the whole experience for me. he was rude, condescending, and didn't seem to know what he was doing. he would disappear for several minutes at a time, despite only having a couple tables occupied. twice during our brief visit, he placed drinks on the table by very conspicuously leaning right across my friend's face, which i found awkward, rude, and lazy. i realize that these are fairly minor complaints in the grand scheme of things, but the waiter's attitude throughout the process made it stick in my craw so badly that i came home and posted my first-ever online restaurant review.
the drinks and food were pretty good, and the atmosphere of theplacewas exactly what i expected. however, if you go to this location, beware the servers and the wording of the menus.