I have a personal rule whenever I visit a restaurant - everything deserves a second try. On my first visit to Kickstand, I went with a friend and we sat outside on the little patio area. The food was decent but not exceptional. The burger itself was pretty plain, but the toppings and bun made up for it. I had sweet potato fries and they were a decent compliment, if not a bit squishy. They were served with a thick sludgy brown sugar syrup that was more sweet than flavorful. Decent service balanced it out, and I was ready to give it a second shot. On my second trip, the service was beyond great. The wait staff turned our in-booth TV to the Virginia Tech football game because they saw us wearing our school colors. The food on the second trip was... Well, again, mediocre. I got the Hungover Cyclist which is a variant on my personal holy grail of burgers - the grilled-cheese buns hamburger. I've had it in several places that all put their spin on this cheesy miracle. I really hate to say it, but the one in my neighborhood did the worst. The grilled cheeses were enormous Texas toast slices that drowned out any flavor of cheese or burger with gummy bread. In addition, the only topping on the burger was tomato - even though I asked for some lettuce for balance, I didn't get it. Just a meat patty and a tomato slice between two incredibly awkward grilled cheeses. So I gave it a third shot as a rubber match. I went solo and sat at the bar and left Kickstand completely frustrated. I happened to be there at the same time as another customer that came separately and sat down shortly after. The entire time I was there, the bartender never addressed us individually - he took our orders together, brought our food together, checked in on us at the same time, and brought our checks together. He spent the rest of the time leaning against the bar watching the news. In a complete class-act moment while watching a report about Obama in Indonesia, he remarked that Obama said "It's great to be back in my birth country of Indonesia once again." I'm not a political person, I don't care what your side is, but if you're going to make completely idiotic and aggressive statements then we're done. I've got better things to do with my time than eat a mediocre burger served by a mediocre staff.

negative

Glad I took the small detour to head over here today. It was a solid 4, maybe a 4.5. Sorry, I couldn't give it 5 stars. I think I've been spoiled with Charleston Beer Exchange and The Vintage Cellar. Why is it not a 5 for me? The number of selection. While there was a small number of beers that I couldn't find in Charleston, there was still a lot more that I could. The quality of the selection was decent enough, but not 5 star for me. The owner was pretty cool, once he got away from talking to the hoards of people lined up talking to him. That's probably a good thing though, because he knew a lot of the people coming in. The owner asked us if it was our first time there, which it was, and he said go ahead and take any glass you want. I double checked to make sure if I heard him right and he said yep. So, that was a cool added bonus for coming in. I'll definitely have to stop by next time I come up this way.

positive

I was told the pie is amazing and since I was on my way to the Grand Canyon from Phoenix thought a quick stop wouldn't hurt. They serve up a slew of made from scratch pies in all sorts of flavors. As a historic location, Rock Springs Cafe gained its international notoriety over 30 years ago when it started selling pies and the legend of the cafe's pastries was born. The legend continues to grow to this day. It's not uncommon to sell thousands of pies in one weekend. I settled for crumbly peach pie a la mode. The pie was delicious, no doubt. The crust flaky. The ice cream was NOT necessary and almost too sweet. I guess I'm spoiled but for a little ol' country Missouri girl like me, this pie didn't seem too out of this world compared to the many homemade pies I've had the fortune of eating. Its a neat touristy stop for a good piece of pie. There's tons of other crap to buy, a restaurant, bathrooms.

negative

Went Saturday, September 13th around lunch time. Walked in with family and sat. Restaurant part was empty. We were the only patrons. Bar had a few people watching football. Sat for 10 minutes. Nobody came over to our table. I watched the bar tender lady instead talk to another girl. We left. Will not be back.
negative