Photo by Keven Reed/Special to Knoxville.com Emma Garret is bookended by Peter Vance, left, and Timmy Vance at The Hill.
Photo by Keven Reed/Special to Knoxville.com Hal Gruetzemacher and Lynzi Archibald soak in the scene at The Hill.
Photo by Keven Reed/Special to Knoxville.com Emma Garret is bookended by Peter Vance, left, and Timmy Vance at The Hill.
New bars are exciting to me. It isn’t so much that I’m excited to find out what specials they have or what beer they might have on tap, but how well the bar attempts to stand out above multitudes of other bars throughout Knoxville. You might be able to imagine how excited I became when I heard a new bar had opened up just a few blocks down from where I live in the Fort Sanders neighborhood.
Located at 12th Street and Forest Avenue in what had been a fairly abandoned area of the Fort, The Hill just recently opened its doors for business. With only a couple of months left until I leave the Fort Sanders area in favor of more “reasonable” housing out west, I couldn’t help but picture myself stopping into The Hill every now and then to grab an afternoon drink. It is just down the road, after all. The chance to use worn-out Cheers references on a daily basis filled me with a kind of hope I haven’t felt since the last election.
I feel that I tend to be fairly kind when I review a bar, particularly one that just opened. It doesn’t take a whole lot to please me when I visit a bar either. There are three things I see that a bar needs to be successful: affordable drinks, competent bartenders and something unique that adds to the overall atmosphere of the bar. If you have these three things it is probable that at least a small crowd will be back time and time again.
I’ll start with what The Hill did right. The location is great for the eastern Fort-dwellers who don’t want to make the trip down to the Strip. I appreciate the fact that The Hill picked an interesting location, infiltrating the heart of the 21-and-up student body. The building is an accommodating two stories with mostly seating downstairs and billiards upstairs. There is also a spacious patio that would make a great place to hang out during the summer if it had a bit more seating.
The Hill also succeeds with some decent drink specials. Tall boys are $2 and there are quite a bit of specials throughout the week including half-priced wine on Wednesday and various $2 beer specials on Tuesdays and Sundays. They also have quite a few cocktail specials during the week, however even these aren’t worth the money.
We decided to check out The Hill on Friday night on our way home from a night at The Bijou. To our surprise there were a few drink specials, including $4 Long Island Iced Teas. My friend Brian decided to try one out and for his four bucks he got a small cup mostly consisting of sweet and sour mix.
However, we gave that bartender the benefit of the doubt and ordered a couple of beers before our group went outside to the patio. Service continued to be slow throughout the night.
I ordered our final round myself. Not only did it take me 10 minutes to even get the bartender’s attention away from his frat-ster friends yelling insults from across the bar, but after placing my order he walked off and completely forgot about my order. After finally getting the attention of another bartender, who was also caught up in the “Your mom” joking going on, I was told it was last call. Already frustrated, I got my tab and decided to go on my merry way. Not only was the service terrible, but I was also overcharged for the drinks I attempted to order twice but never received. Not looking forward to spending another 15 minutes waiting and then arguing with the bartender, I signed my tab and left.
We walked home disappointed and under the firm belief that we probably won’t come back. Sure The Hill is close by, but I’d rather take the extra time and make my way out to just about any other bar in Knoxville.
© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Comments » 1
msnyder4018#660533 writes:
Come on man,
Are you sure you weren't just drunk and the bartenders were dram shop shy. I mean what were you doing at the Bijou? Sounds like you have something against people in the greek system too. It's a bar, not a four star restaurant, black tie service. You gotta warm up to the servers and bartenders before you expect to get hooked up. And let me just say, writing a bad review is not a good start.
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