Backporch Cafe

The Good: The atmosphere, the bread, and friendly manager
The Bad: See The Ugly...
The Ugly: The waitress/service

If you are in for a long breakfast you picked the right place.  The service was awful!  The bloody mary had too much tomato and not enough vodka.  The food was cold!  The waitress was new, but seriously get the order in and bring the food in a decent amount of time.  At least greet your customer within the first 5 minutes.  We had to ask another waitress after 15-20 minutes of waiting who our waitress was.  When she finally came over instead of greeting us and asking what we'd have to drink she said, "Are you ready to order?"  We knew we were in for a rough breakfast.  We had no drinks on the table so we decided to place our full order.  We finally got our drinks another 15 minutes later, come on how hard is it to fill up a glass of water???  She only had one other table outside and brought our drinks to a table she wasn't even serving.  We continued to wait what felt like an eternity for the food.  She finally came and brought the food after we debated just paying for drinks and leaving this disaster.  The service BLEW!  We got our food and the waitress never checked to see if we were ok.  One of us got the wrong food and decided it was not worth it to inform the waitress of her mistake because of her awesome time management skills.  After we asked for more drinks she finally DID bring refills.  Amy went inside and asked the hostess for the manager.  The manager came over to our table to apologize for the service.  He explained that the waitress was new and obviously struggling.  The manager generously offered to pick up the tab.  So, we did not end up paying for the slowest meal in the world, thanks friendly manager!

Rating: Two ENORMOUS Thumbs Down!!! 

Town Pump

The Good: Sweet local bar, good beer, and Everclear cherries
The Bad: Size when too crowded
The Ugly: Cash only

The Town Pump is what it is: local, friendly enough, great location, spot to sit, feel welcome and enjoy a cold beer.  This is not one of those Caribbean island themed lame college bars like we see sprouting up all over Old Town.  The Town Pump offers a great local bar with a fun easy-going attitude.  Every time we have been to Town Pump we have been satisfied and delighted with the beer, service, and atmosphere.  Our only complaints include: when the Town Pump is too crowded and cash only.  We love the small, warm atmosphere but hate when we can't get in or if our chest is pressed up against a random stranger. Also our generation never carries cash.  Get with the times and accept Visa.

Rating: Two Thumbs Up!

Recycled Cycles

The Good: The idea of buying and using a used bike for a decent price.
The Bad: Customer service
The Ugly: Way over priced bikes!

We had been exploring the idea of purchasing a cruiser bicycle for weeks.  After visiting Target, Walmart, and various bike shops around town we stumbled across Recycled Cycles.  Kate, being the environmentally friendly person she is, quickly fell in love with the idea of recycling a used bike. Upon entering the store we were immediately greeted and started a friendly conversation with an employee. After noticing that they carried the same exact model of a Schwinn cruiser on sale for $100 more than Walmart, Amy politely asked the employee why there was such a difference in price.  There was an immediate change in the tone of the conversation.  The defensive employee first tried to tell us that they were different models, then changed his story to tell us they were the same but a bike technician put them together making them better quality than those purchased from a store like Walmart.  He then proceeded to tell a story about riding the bike at Walmart and the seat falling off in the middle of the store due to Walmart's poor assembly.  We suddenly had a flash back to an experience at Walmart when an employee had told us that Recycled Cycles buys already assembled bikes from Walmart and sells them at their store for an increased price.  So basically... at Recycled Cycles you can pay $100 more because they possibly tightened a few nuts and bolts.

Kate did find a used bike to purchase so our encounter with the pretentious employee continued.  Both of us noticed the employee rolling his eyes and laughing to his co-workers every time we turned around.  We tried to keep the conversation light and friendly but the employee's interaction continued in a downward spiral until he was just down right RUDE! Kate left the store happy with her new recycled bike but extremely dissatisfied with the employee's attitude.  Amy left wanting to tip over all the rows of bikes.
If you'd like to purchase an overpriced bike from a rude employee make sure to visit Recycled Cycles.

Rating: Two Thumbs Down!!!!

Our mutual dissatisfaction  of our experience gave us inspiration to inform others of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Fort Collins.  We hope you enjoy our blog!