Fassler Hall / Dust Bowl

[John]

Ha. The waiter was apparently unaware that community seating has been creeping in for years at places like Big Truck Tacos, Mutts, Back Door Barbecue, Texadelphia and a number of other places. But yeah, it's a little bit more pronounced at Fassler.

Don't forget the big room at Eischen's!

[warreng88]

From the Journal Record:

Serving up jobs: Newly opened restaurants say finding staff not a problem

By: Molly M. Fleming The Journal Record December 22, 2014

OKLAHOMA CITY – In the past year, several new restaurants have opened their doors, including the R&J Supper Club and Lounge, The George steakhouse, Fassler Hall and Slaughter’s Hall. The city has also become home to new hotels such as Aloft and The Ambassador.

Despite continuing growth in the leisure and hospitality industry, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports that the Oklahoma City metro’s industry unemployment rate was at 8.2 percent in 2013, while the state’s overall unemployment rate was approximately 5 percent. In Tulsa, the 2013 industry unemployment rate for the metro area was 11.4 percent, while it was much lower in the city itself at 4.4 percent. The data did not include a city-only statistic for Oklahoma City.

Ninety percent of the industry’s numbers reflect accommodation and food services unemployment, with the other 10 percent representing arts, entertainment and recreation unemployment.

Oklahoma Restaurant Association President and CEO Jim Hopper said he has not heard of any restaurants unable to find staff.

“Most members say it’s a good time to be in business in Oklahoma because of our overall unemployment rate,” he said. “I know they are constantly looking for employees, but haven’t heard anyone threatening to shut down because they can’t hire anyone to work.”

Chef Jonathon Stranger and Russ Johnson co-own R&J Supper Club and Ludivine. Stranger said since the restaurants offer two different types of cuisine, the hiring situations were different as well. He said it was difficult to find people at Ludivine because they were looking for workers with more experience than cooking a chicken breast or serving cold beer.

“In the kitchen (at Ludivine), having everything made from scratch – not a lot of cooks have worked with the product before or understand the amount of work that goes into it,” he said. “We do a lot of prep.”

But at R&J, the situation was different. The menu features classic 1950s and ’60s dishes with a Stranger-Johnson twist. He said they were overwhelmed with applicants.

“We wanted a veteran staff, and we were able to find them,” Stranger said.

At the other new Midtown restaurant, Fassler Hall, General Manager Dusty Freeman said in the beginning he had difficulty finding employees, but the issue has improved and he now has a big resume stack.

“We hire the personality and train the skill,” he said. “I was looking for personality, personal appearance – as in how a person carries themselves. “We’ve gotten some really great candidates. I’m very impressed with this staff.”

[Urbanized]

^^^^^^^

I think this article misses the mark. I made some comments about it in the R&J thread.

[catch22]

It does. It's easy to find people to work. But, in these popular restaurants where execution is key, especially on busy nights -- you need veteran servers and bartenders to deliver that experience. With exponentially growing dining and entertainment options in OKC, one bad experience by a rookie can damage a reputation.

One of the bartenders at Fassler was a bartender at Saints. (Maybe does both?).

[Richard at Remax]

Loved Fassler and will be back, but the bartender we had had a really tough time. Poured the wrong beer multiple times, even after pointing at them. Ill give her a pass though, she seemed overwhelmed, if not annoyed, at how busy it was.

[NWOKCGuy]

I finally tried this place out Friday and it was crazy packed and just about impossible to get a drink. Will definitely have to give it a few months before I try again.

[Pete]

Given the scale of that place and the margin on alcohol, they must be carting money out of there in wheelbarrows.

But good for them. Huge investment and they did things the right way.

[cferguson]

Went to the Dust Bowl Friday night! We had a private room which squeezed about 20 people (it felt a little tight) but not everyone bowled. We had the room for 2 hours. I have to say, I really enjoyed taking score by hand. For some reason, it added a different feel to the whole experience. Our waitress did a great job handling all of our drink orders. The service was excellent! The bar area was absolutely packed and the atmosphere had a great feeling. Fassler Hall/Dust Bowl is bringing so many people to the midtown area for late night entertainment. It was already a great thriving district, but this just really takes to another level. Our group finished bowling at 11:15 and some of them walked over to McNellies for more drinks. I love that OKC is getting more areas where the entire district is the destination, rather than just one place.

[catch22]

Given the scale of that place and the margin on alcohol, they must be carting money out of there in wheelbarrows.

But good for them. Huge investment and they did things the right way.

I'd be willing to help them carry the money out, as long as they don't mind a little skimming. A mover's fee, you know.

[gopokes88]

I just Uber down there. No worries about parking or my BAC.

[jccouger]

I tried to warn you guys about the ability to get a drink here before the place opened. Only 2 bars in a place this massive was asking for it to be a disaster.

[OKCinsomniac]

Violating my own "give them some time to work out the kinks" rule, I went to Fassler a couple weeks ago on a weeknight (the place was somewhat less than half full). I appreciated the communal / casual atmosphere (Thunder game was on), cool views to the south, and friendly waitress -- but we did have to wait quite a while for beers. Nothing to completely sour the experience by any means, though. I'll be giving them another try in a few weeks.

[hfry]

I took some family from Chicago there on Sunday around 4. I was surprised at the crowd for a Sunday before dinner but we easily got a table. It took a few minutes for the waitress to make her way over to us which was fine, but you could tell immediately they didn't have enough staff for how busy the place was. Sadly they were out of the my favorite German beer, she said by Sunday they have been so busy they are out of a lot of beers, but recommend a new one which was equally as great. She got our orders and the food was great, I loved their mustard and the fries fried in duck fat were great and she came back after a few minutes to make sure everything was great yet that was the last time we saw here. We wait and tried to flag her down for about 20 minutes after we got done eating (say 30 mins from when we got our food) and at one point had thought maybe her shift ended and they had just kinda forgot our table in the shuffle but I could tell the tables around us were wanting their checks too. Finally, we just had to add up our orders and left cash on the table for her since we had other places to be. Loved the place and will definitely be going back but hopefully they get some of the kinks of restaurant service figured out cause they have a goldmine of a location, food, beer and building.

[dankrutka]

The good thing about Fassler is that you can order a pint of beer, which means you shouldn't need a waiter/waitress for a while. 😜

[Richard at Remax]

The good thing about Fassler is that you can order a pint of beer, which means you shouldn't need a waiter/waitress for a while. ��

I did this and ordered two pints to drink because I thought it was tough and didn't want to wait in line again. Turns out Im not so tough and had to distribute the majority of the second pint.

[sooner88]

The good thing about Fassler is that you can order a pint of beer, which means you shouldn't need a waiter/waitress for a while. ��

Do you mean liter?

[catch22]

Do you mean liter?

He probably meant a pitcher of beer. Not a pint. Pint = 16 oz, while a pitcher can be 32+ oz.

[sooner88]

He probably meant a pitcher of beer. Not a pint. Pint = 16 oz, while a pitcher can be 32+ oz.

They serve their drafts by the liter or half-liter if I recall.

[bchris02]

They serve their drafts by the liter or half-liter if I recall.

True. He probably ordered two liters and couldn't finish the second. I usually end up getting two half liters of different beers when I go.

[Teo9969]

If you drink quickly, you should order a liter.

It's a Biergarten, not a restaurant…we really need to not expect it to function like a restaurant.

Biergartens are places for groups of any size to get together and socialize with each other and with people from outside of their own circle. Germans are not the kind of people to invite just anybody over to their house, so this is one of the places where intimate friend gatherings happen. That's why you have the communal benches and tight spaces. It's also why you have Liters of beer. You're not supposed to get in and get out, and it's not really a place where you're supposed to be pushed through a dining experience. You go to sit down and have a beer and chill out. Those who like the place will learn how it works and they'll be frequent patrons. Those people will the show the ropes to the people who have never been or don't frequent because they feel weird. We're super used to having our own space, and that's just simply not how a biergarten is supposed to function.

[dankrutka]

Do you mean liter?

Yes. I did.

[Teo9969]

1/2 liter is slightly larger than a pint and it's the smallest beer they serve from the tap.

[hoya]

Just ate there for lunch today. I actually thought it would be bigger inside based upon the comments of people here. It wasn't small, just wasn't as large as I expected. Got a sausage and a 1/2 liter beer. Pretty good all the way around. I will definitely come back.

It wasn't crowded at all for lunch. I like the environment. Very fun.

[Pete]

More than 2/3rds of the seating is outside, so if the doors aren't open and people aren't out there, it's obviously not nearly as big.

[kevinpate]

I just Uber down there. No worries about parking or my BAC.

Smart use of your funds. Kudos your way for protecting yourself, others and helping out an additional person in the process.