4 years ago
My wife and I have given this venue at least one t...
My wife and I have given this venue at least one try, under each new owner, for a couple reasons. It is close to our home and it is a beautiful building inside and out. As we have learned, beautiful building and great ambiance does not always equate to great food and great service.
If you haven't tried it yourself, let me save you some money and a waste of your time. The Laughing Fox was a big disappointment.
After being seated in a booth that was very close to the kitchen doors even though the place was quite empty, we discovered that we were not able to enjoy happy hour drink pricing due to the fact that we were sitting in the dining room and not the lounge or bar area. Why would some people in the restaurant be availed to cheaper drinks and have a better experience when others who want to sit in a booth are deprived and charged more. That's strike one.
So as you can imagine we packed up and moved into an area where the drinks are cheaper. During this transition our waitress knew that we were going to be ordering drinks and food but she, (Amanda), stood way down at the kitchen with two other waitresses looking at their phones again while the place was almost completely empty. (exception for 50s plus gentleman at the bar).
When she decided to wander over to us, we ordered a dirty martini and a Coors light draft along with the crispy calamari appetizer and a Laughing Fox Burger (medium) to split.
I noticed our drinks sitting at the bar for over a minute and only when I walked up to retrieve them myself did our inattentive waitress waltz over and try to bring them to us.
Meanwhile it seems like everyone in this business was walking around in a daze the restaurant manager in sneakers and dirty jeans. No one seemed to care.
When the calamari came out it turned out to be delightful and one of the best calamari dishes I've ever had drizzled with the balsalmic glaze and with a side of sriracha aioli mayonnaise, it tasted great. The burger however was cooked like shoe leather not medium not enjoyable and the fries in a cute little basket that came with it were 90% burnt.
We had to practically flag down the waitress again to try to get a second beverage. Still hanging out with her cronies on their phones not paying attention and walking up with it pretentious look on her face until she got clothes and then put on her Signature Smile.
Well that's about it I did tip her as I feel walking out without tipping is quite rude even if the service is bad but I daresay we will not give it another try. If the ownership of the Laughing Fox is in any way interested in having this business succeed they should take a covert trip down to Racks in Turnersville and see how they do things...
I have no affiliation with them but I do eat there and thepeople who run it truly know what they are doing. It is always packed with happy eaters and drinkers.