My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

I went to Hooters in Bristol

124 replies

MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 11:45

So many debates about this place say words to the effect of "how can you comment when you've never been there?" Simple answer: easily. However, to speak with some authority I went there with another like-minded soul. Setting aside any predisposition to find the place repellent, the keys issues here are how does the place apparently score on:

  1. The sexism quotient.
  2. The standard of the food.
  3. Other facilities.


The sexism quotient is everything and more you would believe it to be. Too little space to do justice here. Obvious matters: "girls" dressed as well all know and apparently many goose-pimples through lack of warmth; signs everywhere reflecting upon the female form of course (caution bumps; caution blondes thinking - hung upside down; dangerous curves etc); material on sale as can be found by searching the product pages on their website, but let's just pick out for these purposes a pair of male boxer shorts (a snip at £14.95) bearing the words "more than a mouthful" and finally the menus themselves bedecked in girly calendar adverts etc. Oh, and I should add, the system of the mainly male cooks shouting across the whole restaurant for service and the clapping of hands to get the "girls" to come running. Charmless. Sexism quotient: 100%.

Food: Now look, it would be really easy to slag this off just to spoil the place and, after all, the food could be perfectly all right. But it was not. It was awful and utterly overpriced. I ordered nachos, at £8, they were cheap and nasty (as in something you could get from a supermarket for 50p for a huge bag) and covered in some kind of processed cheese sauce which resembled mustard out of a squeezy bottle. There was literally no fresh cheese on the menu so far as I could see in any product - it's all a "cheese" sauce thing. My companion had curly fries, minimum price £3. These were not in any sense cooked or created for Hooters. They were simply the same as above, namely something to be bought in any cheap supermarket. Whilst not ordering burgers or shrimp etc, it is to be noted that nearly everything did NOT come with fries, so you had to add £3 on to nearly every other order. I reckoned that if you wanted a burger with a few bits on it plus fries, you'd be shifting £11 at least. Bear in mind also, no special lunch menu so all prices the same as evening fare. The food was simply dreadfully poor and demonstrably over-priced. Final note: 10 chicken wings (and you know how small those are, just the little wing bit, that's all) cost £7.49 or £7.99 without fries. It is genuinely scandalous and just awful. There would be, as I mentioned above, no reason for the place, whatever its other faults, to actually have moderately good food - but I'm afraid the food mark must be an overly generous 10%. I'm not quite sure what the ten per cent is for other than that there was nothing obviously disgusting about the sour cream and guacamole on the nachos I suppose.

Finally, other facilities. I went to the toilets in expectation of awful things within. Now there were posters of such sporting greats as Tyson (convicted rapist) and Tiger Woods ('nuff said) on the way to the toilets, but within the toilet itself the facilities were clean, modern, perfectly hygienice and unadorned by other materials - both in the men's and women's. So to prove that this is nothing other than a balanced perspective, I give the toilets 100%. Problem is, you'd have much more fun and pleasure spending an hour in there than in the rest of the place. Perhaps that could become a unique selling point?

Will I be back? I might run in there for cover if being chased by an axe-wielding psychopath, but even then I would consider other strategies.
OP posts:
Report
earwicga · 03/11/2010 11:53

Excellent OP. Thanks for posting this. Are these prices much higher than other eating places in the area? If so then this breasturant won't last long :)

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 11:59

Yes they are higher. You would not pay that kind of money for a lunch in much better places. For example, I quite like ordering nachos (with real cheese) and would pay £4.99 or maybe £5.99. These were £7.99.

You can get really nice burgers with fries or chips in numerous places for about £6 so something like £5 cheaper than my estimation of equivalent cost.

And as for the chicken, well it would be easier to go to a KFC for all its faults at half the price.

It really was bad! I am trying so hard not to exaggerate to make a point!

OP posts:
Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 12:19

Thanks for the review, Mitzi. I will probably give Hooters a miss now....!

However, can I just check? Are you sure you're not just jealous that it's not you wearing a pair of orange hotpants in November? Too many nachos perhaps?!*

The Hooters in Birmingham shut down within 6 months, according to mumsnetters. Too much overpriced unappealing food in an inappropriate location (not that there is an appropriate location for Hooters though).

I happened to see a menu from Hooters last night and was horrified at the photo of the Hooters girls calendar on it. Surely no parent would want their child to look at a menu with that on?
JIA

*Sorry! Had to throw that in there as anyone who dislikes Hooters is called "jealous".

Report
MumofRachel · 03/11/2010 12:20

That sounds grim. I went to Hooters Bristol recently too - just to see what it was like after all the fuss that's been made, and it was every bit as unpleasant as everyone said.

Quite agree with your review of the place Mitzie, the food was so grim. I'm no prude, but I don't want to see cold-looking young ladies wearing tiny clothes while I'm trying to shovel grease in my mouth. It's very off-putting. I want good quality food at a good value price - Hooters was neither. Grim, grim, grim. I certainly wouldn't take my three -year-old there either. Not a chance.

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:24

"Probably" not go Jess? Go on, treat yourself. You probably saw my menu, shamelessly stolen. My kids did see the menu and went "urgh" but then they do that when their parents give each other a peck on the cheek, so it's anybody's guess.Wink

OP posts:
Report
Decorhate · 03/11/2010 12:24

I bet they'll do a roaring trade coming up to Christmas with male office parties though...

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:27

MumofRachel, it is to be hoped that even the Neanderthal clientele may realise that it's just a rip-off and that they could do better elsewhere. They just might. I defy anyone to think it's worth going back to for the food and they may start working out that it ain't worth however much a head each time just to see chilly HootersGirls (TM) buzzing around. It could just die on its arse - we live in hope.

OP posts:
Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:30

Decorhate: not so sure. The offices around there are fairly mixed and professional and there are simply loads of places to go in the area. It is hard to say, but I was re-assured to be told the other day that the place was half-empty at 10pm last Friday, which is kind of peak time and seems some comfort. It has got a lot of competition and I really think that the novelty will wear off, as is so often the case. Well, I hope anyway!

OP posts:
Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 12:32

If the food?s that bad, then hopefully it will go the same way as the Birmingham franchise. I like to think that Bristol is more enlightened than that anyway. But we?ll see.

Was it busy when you were in, Mitzi and MumofRachel?

Thanks for taking one for the team for us, Mitzi. Did you have to buy something else to eat afterwards?

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:33

Oh and by the way Jess, if you so much as imagine me in Orange HooterPants (TM) for a nano-second then I guarantee you'll be well put off your lunch, whether in Hooters or elsewhere.

OP posts:
Report
DuelingFanjo · 03/11/2010 12:36

What are their baby changing facilities like?

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:42

Do you you know what, Jess, I did! I walked across the centre and bought a nutritious bag of Co-OP jelly beans (41p) to take the taste away.

No, it was not busy. Given that they have a seating area wholly unused at the moment, then you could say it was 1/10th full. Or maybe 1/6th of what was open at the time. I think that's fair comment. It was also peak lunch, namely between 1pm and 2pm.

I never mentioned in my review the appalling "hellooooooo" welcome given to people at the doormat by a brace of HG's. That alone would ordinarily turn me to stone and prohibit entry, had I not, as you rightly indicate, been on a mission.Blush

OP posts:
Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:44

OK, DuelingFanjo, but I think they recycle the contents for the nachos etc. You can of course buy bibs and babygrows with wonderful slogans. Check out the merhcandise on their website - all your Xmas shopping worries sorted in one hit.

OP posts:
Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 12:47

So I take it you won't be putting the Orange HooterPants (TM) on your Christmas list for your other half to buy for you then?

A friend of mine showed me a video she took of her entry into Hooters when she was welcomed by a cheering crowd of HGs. I don't think she hung about though. It all looked a bit excruciating.

What about the drinks? And I hope you didn't drink yours vertically because that's against the rules, you know!!

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 12:55

And neither will I be buying my other half the "More than a Mouthful"(TM)boxers. Drinks were £3.60 for just about any beer and £1.95 for a refillable lemonade etc. Can't remember the rest except they were selling Piper Heidsieck champagne (which is pretty standard in any supermarket at about 17.99) for sixty pounds per bottle.

If you want to know more, Jess, then you will simply HAVE to go there.

Our HG(TM)wearing OHPs(TM) did tell us that plenty of people just go in there to drink and not order food. That came about because we apologised for one of us only wanting a bowl of curly fries. Although they spell it on the menu "curley".

Didn't see anyone vertical as such. In that sense. As it were.

OP posts:
Report
MumofRachel · 03/11/2010 12:57

I didn't see any baby changing facilities, DF.

The toilets - or ladies, as I didn't go in the men's!) were clean (though one hadn't been flushed..Sad, which wasn't very nice!).

They had nice signs on the doors to know which was male and female - the women's one had a woman sitting on the toilet, with an enormous puddle (of what?!!) around her feet. Lovely.

And I reached the toilets by following a huge sign to the 'John Crapper' - Angry.

Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 13:02

You know Mitzi, I have considered going in so that, like MumofRachel, I can say that I have been in. But, on reflection, I honestly don't think that I would be able to stomach it - either the place or the food.

Even the doormat that I saw through the window before it was open made me feel ill. Did you notice it? It was a huge owl with breasts for eyes that you could trample all over on your way in.

I don't eat meat and it didn't appear, from my quick glance at the menu last night, that there were any vegetarian options. Even the salad had chicken in as far as I could see. As for the nachos with the plastic cheese....well, even just your description of it makes me feel a little queasy.

Thankfully, my office is going to a very nice mezze restaurant for our Christmas party so I won't be dragged along then either.

Report
GingerCursedEeeee · 03/11/2010 13:02

Well done OP and can I just applaud the use of the term breastaurant - love it! Grin

Report
GingerCursedEeeee · 03/11/2010 13:03

Actually I might reclaim breastaurant myself, previously referred to in this house as The Milk Bar - a totally different concept!!!

Report
MitziRosie · 03/11/2010 13:06

Salad for 4.99 was advertised as tomato, lettuce and cucumber. Sophisticated veggie fare. My nachos were veggie I think, although I cannot guarantee that no animals suffered in the creation of that "cheese", or indeed might have been in it. Hard to tell.

OP posts:
Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 13:07

Hi Ginger
I first came across the term when I was googling Hooters. It was used by Hooters Inc own lawyers when they were suing a company for starting up a similar breast themed restaurant. The Hooters Inc lawyers claimed that they had the USP on "breastaurants".

But as Coby Brooks, President and CEO of Hooters Inc, said in the Undercover Boss USA programme, "It's all about respect"!

Report
MumofRachel · 03/11/2010 13:07

Sadly, Ginger, 'breastaurant' must be fully accredited to Hooters - whose own lawyers use the term to discuss their business. Sad

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

MumofRachel · 03/11/2010 13:09

Tomato, lettuce and cucumber for £4.99? I could go in Tesco now and buy the ingredients to make that for about 80p!!!

Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 13:09

You've sold me Mitzi. I'm off for a £4.99 salad and a refillable lemonade. Yum.

Report
JessinAvalon · 03/11/2010 13:11

What about the desserts? Any cheesecake? I didn't look at the desserts on the menu last night. My eyes were too busy popping out at the photo of the girlie calendar plastered on the back, which is where I presume the desserts were listed.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.