The above photos courtesy of Danny Ponomar at http://www.dapo.ca/



Friday, January 28, 2011

The Stone Opens January 26th, 2011

My opinion/comments.





The Stone opened this past Wednesday and was full to capacity throughout the evening. As a cab driver I hear about many businesses opening before they actually do (especially bars, restaurants, etc.) and I knew relatively nothing about this one until the day they opened.

The former Blarney Stone has been closed for about a year now because of ownership problems and in my opinion unwise business practices which I have written about before.

I am very happy to hear that The Stone is under new ownership. And when I found out they are truly new owners, and not a random non-arms-length transaction between friends and family I was quite thrilled to be honest (although I have some doubts about this because I am unsure of one of the former owners interest in the bar, I have to question whether or not he is an employee or a "stakeholder"), but who cares right.

Either way I believe that this bar will prosper. I walked inside the bar tonight during my shift and gave myself a good tour of the bar. There are definitely some changes that have happened but it has been so long since I have been in the bar that I just can't be sure what was there before and what was changed.

I believe that they have replaced the flooring throughout some of the bar and have added a large step up dance floor/stage area. The tabletops seem to have been replaced (and/or altered) and the booth's reupholstered. There are a couple of new games to play in the bar and they still have the two pool tables  near the kitchen and patio area.

Other than the kitchen and bathrooms I walked throughout the entire bar and the one thing I noticed the most was how clean everything seemed to be and the place looked much nicer and a little less dark than I remembered it, maybe thanks to the big screen TVs and large projector screen in the middle, as you might have remembered it from before.

The bar is right in the middle and is very large (maybe 60 feet+ approximately) and give full viewing pleasure of the game you are interested in. Maybe even the cute bartender. They also have a shooter bar closer to the entrance than the bar (for the busier nights).

I believe that I was the only patron in the bar during this time (11:30pm) and I was greeted immediately by the bartender, I walked around a bit and another woman that worked there appeared out of the kitchen and asked if I needed anything/ a drink . Without any advertising or anything that I have heard about I was surprised this Wednesday was a complete success, I wonder how they did that exactly and if they relied on word of mouth or something else.

I also did not see the menu but I am sure that has changed also. I guess I will have to check it out on a night off to see how things have really changed.


Next Thursday they are going to bring in a mechanical bull (and apparently for every Thursday after that) so come check it out. I am sure you must be interested in a change of scenery. I saw that bull tonight (Feb 3rd) and it was huge. I asked how much the bull weighed and it's handler told me around 800 pounds.



As I was looking over the menu tonight (February 3rd) I noticed and have heard about their Hot Wings Challenge. Apparently after signing a waiver you must eat just 6 Hot Wings and lick your fingers clean within a 15 minute time frame, after that you must wait five minutes before having a drink of water. If you are successful you get a t-shirt and a free beverage and if you lose the challenge you get your picture hung on the wall of shame.

I wonder if it would have been a better idea to get your picture on the wall of success for completing the challenge.


2 comments:

Sure said...

It was announced on facebook like almost everything else these days...

Unknown said...

Yeah I think the Lethbridge Night Life does a good job with that stuff.

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