Friday, September 06, 2013

Aloha Bar @ Tropicana

Yesterday evening, Rik and I met up with Wayne and Martijn for pizza and drinks at the Aloha Bar, newly opened in the dilapidated and abandoned swimming pool of Tropicana on the Maasboulevard.





It's a horrible old building that makes me feel like I've caught a few diseases just breathing in the air, but thankfully, the bar is located outdoors, in and around the dried up swimming pool.





I'm not presenting it very well, am I?

I guess there's a reason for that. At the risk of rambling on and on about what I thought, let's put it in bullet points.

What I liked:

  • Fantastic atmosphere with lots of space between patrons.
  • Fantastic weather really helps and it was probably the best day of the year yesterday.





What I disliked:

  • Rik and I grabbed two chairs and sat at a big round table before he went off to get drinks. Two minutes later, while I'm playing on my phone, I see out of the corner of my eye someone grabbing his chair without so much as a "is anyone sitting here?". Well, look at me, idiot! Am I likely to be just sitting here at this big table alone, with an empty chair next to me, in this bar? So, although the idiot is not indicative of all the clientele, it did start getting me annoyed.
  • Rik came back with a beer and said that they didn't have their signature ice tea. A bar that doesn't have their signature drink? Yes, you heard me right. Double idiots. So I went to the bar myself to see what I could get. They only had sodas and alcoholic drinks in bottles, so I just ordered a wine. As I walked away with my drink, a girl behind me ordered a cocktail, which is the most expensive drink on the menu. And the bartender just went: "Sorry, our blender is broken". Now, isn't it common sense that if you open a bar, you would have at least one backup blender, if not more? Besides that, the MediaMarkt is just a 10-minute bike ride away and a blender isn't expensive when the drinks you can sell with that blender are twice as expensive as any other drink.



Right, so that's where I stand. Awesome concept, failed execution, something I've said many times in this country, but that's what pisses me off so much. If they would only work harder and pay attention to the operation of things, they could go a lot further. Wasted potential!

All things said and done, I would recommend anyone to go just for the great atmosphere. They won't be around when the summer's over.