text: When you are at the August Wilson Center for a pm show and you have a blind lady in tow your choices for dinner within walking distance are extremely limited in this block of downtown So after trying to view options up and down the block without walking in circles we opted to give Tonic a try since it was directly on the opposite corner from August Wilson CenternnWe walked in and were greeted by a friendly staff member and given a seat The atmosphere was rather pleasant or at least the decor It was clean the staff was friendly the seats were fine The background music and conversation downstairs were not obnoxious or overpowering The two giant screen TVs with incessant sports coverage were obnoxious but they always are and seem to be ALWAYS present in da burgh But even with the sound turned off I swear I could feel them trying to leech out as much of my IQ as they couldnnWe perused the menu which seemed to be VERY basic with appetizers sandwiches soups salads and very few meal options and the prices were a tad outrageous for such basic optionsnnWe ordered our sodas thanks goodness Coke product people and I ordered a burger and my friend the fish and chips nnThe service staff was very friendly including the trendy new boy in training who did a little boogie dance in the dining roomhe was in a GOOD mood The gal that was training him was a little more subdued but I gathered that it was one of her last days before moving on to another job Together they provided excellent service And the new boy was kind of adorable in his waynnThen came the food The Gourmet burger boasted of being oz of Kobe beef with mushrooms and cheese bacon and caramelized onions and came with a side of fries I opted to leave off the onions and ordered the burger medium rare The fish and chips was two big blobs of fried fish a mound of fries and a small bowl of cole slawnnThe burger was NOT fresh The difference between fresh meat and frozen meat can be clearly seen with asking for it with any level of rare Fresh meat in a state of rare comes pink frozen comes grey no matter HOW you ask for it and this burger was grey The bun was a little dried out and the burger itself had very little flavor except for the overabundance of artificial garlic or liquid smoke they used to season it It was the kind of fake seasoning that created the cloud of garlic stench that surrounded me and fellow adjacent theater attendees for three hours of play and several hours of a gassy stomach The fries were fine though clearly out of a bag of frozen processed and seasoned fries And the burger did not come with lettuce or tomato This was nnThe fish and chips were also of the freezer bag variety My friend ate one lump of fish and gave the other to me which gave me soggy greasy breading and a rubbery and flavorless fish She had a bigger mound of fries than me but they were the same freezer bag fries and the slaw just looked kind of vinegar based This was nnNow when you can get the best burger in town at Wingharts in Market Square which is real fresh ground beef made truly to order with actual flavor for why would you even try to go all bistroid with a fakey and substandard frozen burger for And this was the least expensive burger on their listnnSame goes for the fish and chips If you are going to pretend to be all uppity then by gosh make it fresh from scratch if you are going to charge a gourmet price for itnnOne thing that I am really starting to notice in the process of writing these reviews is that it truly seems that the higher the price goes in da burgh the more mediocre it becomes and as I have stated in multiple reviews I do not give two hoots about your atmosphere I am going for the food And if the food is overpriced and substandard I am gonennThis was definitely a FTLT first time last time visit