Martin's Tavern  

    In 1998, we started going to Martin's Tavern in Garrett. There, I discovered how a hot-pepper cheeseburger should be made. The owner, Paul Muzzillo made the best cheeseburger I have ever tasted. While the theme of his establishment was Rock & Roll on weekends (motto - If It's Too Loud...You're Too Old! ), we went there for burgers. Paul was the perfect host. We were greeted when we walked in, our beer was ready before we sat down, and the burgers were delicious. If we worked anywhere near Garrett, Martin's was where we stopped for lunch.

    In 2000 Paul sold Martin's. I went back a few times, but the kids who bought it don't seem to understand the concept of service. The last time we went there the lights in the kitchen were turned off. When we finally got the attention of the bartender, (he was very busy chatting with the one other person in there), we asked if he was serving lunch. 

"Uh yeah.. I guess"

"We'll take a couple of hot pepper cheeseburgers."

"Uh we've only got 1 slice of cheese"

"Well I'll take it, along with an order of fries."

"We're out of fries"

"Fuggitt, we'll just finish our beers & be out of here"

A minute later, the wife of the owner walked in. Without even acknowledging we were there, she asked the bartender where so-and-so was. 

"That F**'er better be working cause I'm tired of his shit. Blah Blah........."

    After a few minutes of this conversation, she finally came over to us to see if we needed anything else. When we told her we had expected to get lunch, she responded that they ran out that weekend and "someone" needs to get to the store. No apology. Obviously she felt that she wasn't the "someone" that needed to make sure the kitchen was stocked.  Perhaps we should have called ahead and asked if they wanted us to shop for them before we got there.

    We each paid for our beer with a $20 bill. Rather than saying the beers were on the house and please come back, she could only ask, "Your paying individually?" sigh.....

We will never go back.