Mad River Bar & Grille Chicago New Years

Good morning,

I am not in any way a restaurant critic, so my views are just from a customers point of view, not a professional food journalist.  I do believe though what I have to say, needs to be said, for Mad River really "Dropped the Ball" on New Years. 

A little background on the situation.  Mad River Bar and Grille is located in Chicago, IL on Sheffield Ave.  My girlfriend and I came up for New Years (From Kokomo, IN) and visited a fraternity brother of mine.  He booked the tickets for the New Years Eve Party.

This is what Mad River promised their customers for a ticket:
$90 New Years Eve Ticket

• All you can Drink (top Shelf)
• Elegant Dinner Buffet from 9pm - 2am
• hor dourves
• Champagne Toast at Midnight
• Coat Check $3

Click to enlarge

Some of you are asking why would I pay $90 for a New Years Eve event.  Well, one can justify if what they are promising is what you are getting.  The drinks, if I went to a regular bar in Chicago are about $5 a drink, so lets say I drink 8 drinks the whole night; that would equal $40.  If I go to a restaurant and order food, guarantee another $20-30 just on food; lets go in the middle, $25.  Then the hor dourves and Champagne toast, lets say $10.  We are up to $75 out of the $90.  Ok, I guess I can pay $15 for the entertainment of being around people and having a great DJ performing.

Now what did I receive for my ticket?  We got their about 9:30ish and Mad River had a line going about half a block.  It took us about 30 min to get in, ok not bad but not good.  Then when we get in, we looked for the coat check, which was upstairs.  When we got there, they said that they were "full", couldn't take anymore coats.  WHAT?!?!  How do you have a coat check and not know what your capacity is or know that about everyone that is coming is bringing a coat to check, because we are in Chicago and it gets cold up there.  So we had to hold onto our coats for about 20-30 min until we tried again where they magically had room to take our coats for $3.

Now where was the elegant buffet?  So we went off looking for this buffet.  It didn't even exist.  They had a, uno, one; folding table with two platters of hor dourves!!  That was their version of the elegant buffet and hor dourves coming in ONE!  Lets just say, thoroughly disappointed.  Oh yea, and that table was folded up by 11 pm, even when their website said that food would be available until 2 am.

So here comes mid-night.  Where was the champagne toast at?  It didn't exist, we didn't get one!  Oh yea, and the DJ was off the countdown because my cell phone already said 12:00 about a min before he started the 10 second countdown.

Now did anything happen good that night at Mad River?  The bartenders were nice and courteous for a night when they are extremely busy.  The drinks were good, in my opinion.  The DJ played good music. 

So did we have a fun time?  Yes, because we are not going to let these things ruin a night, but will I ever go back to Mad River, NO.  That is just my opinion of a customer, not a professional food journalist. 

Thanks for reading and hopefully Mad River sees this, and adjusts their advertising to what they actually deliver in product/service.

Mark

Friendly Reminder - Indy Auto Show Bonus

Good Morning everyone,

Just a friendly reminder that the Indy Auto Show has Bonus Cash for select Chevy vehicles:

2011 - 2012 Malibu, Traverse
$500


2011-2012 Avalanche, Corvette, Silverado 1500, Suburban, Tahoe
$1,000




This current incentive is good THRU 1/3/12
For full details, call me at 765-457-8333

Thanks again,


Mark

What are your 2012 Goals??

Good morning everyone,

I stumbled across a great article this morning from USAA.  It was talking about the word, GOAL; what it means to make a goal and follow through with one. 

To me, this is a very important article that you should read because, even though its nothing new...if we don't take the time out to write down our goals, we most likely wont get there.  It is important to write down your goals and be accountable.  When you do that, you will succeed and be a very successful person.

Enjoy,

USAA - The Word Goal

Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Mark

2013 Malibu Engine Info

Just read this article about the 2013 Malibu and wanted to pass it on to you guys.
This article came from the blog Car and Driver.

What are your thoughts about eliminating the V-6 engine option and going with a turbocharged 4 cylinder?


Mark

Mark Hemmerly
Eriks Chevrolet
Sales & Leasing Consultant
Phone: (765)457-8333
mhemmerly@erikschevrolet.com
Follow on Twitter: @MarkHChevySales

P.S. $50 Referral Check can be yours by referring me to a friend and they purchase a new or pre-own vehicle.

A look into the Future

I just received an e-mail from my brother about a company called Corning and it had a video attached to it.  The key point to the e-mail was about the future and we are not that far off.  I watched the video and was stunned by it, it's a pretty cool video and here is the link for it: A Day Made of Glass. 
  
I hope we are not that far off; it is an interesting concept that I hope Corning is very close to achieving.  I wonder what this will do to the car industry and how GM approaches this concept.  Here is a link to Corning website: Corning Incorporated.

What are your thoughts about this?

Thanks for reading,


Mark H.

Who is ready for the 2013 Malibu?!?!

It's just around the corner, the launch of the 2013 Chevy Malibu.  I am very excited for this new model/body style.  Here is a little video to get you excited: 2013 Chevy Malibu

Oh yea, the Malibu will have over ONE MILLION test miles!!

Enjoy,


Mark

GM Employee Eligible 2012 Chevy Impala Incentives Through 1/3/12

The 2012 Chevrolet Impala has a GREAT additional incentive on it.  You now receive an additional $1,000 on top of your $2,500 EVA for a total of $3,500 EVA.  It's called the emp or Employee vehicle allowance program and it is good through the end of the year.  That is a total of $3,500 off BEFORE TAX, plus your $4,000 factory REBATE on select models!!  So let's take a look at the price of a LT 2012 Chevy Impala:

Stock # 7489

MSRP: $28,065.00

Prefer: $27,442.34

EVA: <2,500.00>
empEVA: <1,000.00>

_______________

$ 23,942.34

REBATE: <$4,000.00>

_________________

$19,942.34 Plus Tax and Doc Fee ($75)

That price is $8,122.66 off the STICKER!!

Just wanted to pass along that info to GM employee buyers because many of them did not know that this program is going on RIGHT NOW!

Thanks for reading,

Mark

Mark Hemmerly
Eriks Chevrolet
Sales & Leasing Consultant
Phone: (765)457-8333
mhemmerly@erikschevrolet.com
Follow on Twitter: @MarkHChevySales

P.S. $50 Referral Check can be yours by referring me to a friend and they purchase a new or pre-own vehicle.