LATEST NEWSRECENT REVIEWSRECENT COMMENTSLATEST POSTSOTHER STUFF
Last Update: Feb 9th, 2017
Tilted Kilt Fort Lauderdale

Tilted Kilt

219 Andrews Avenue
Fort Lauderdale FL, 33301
(954) 763-5458
Overall Rating
2.2
Food
Service
Ambiance
Value
Last Review
10/25/2015

Details

Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-2am, Fri-Sat 11am-3am, Sun 11am-2am
Parking: Valet only: $3 Lunch, $5 Dinner
CC: Yes
Alcohol: Full Bar
Outside Dining: Yes
Delivery: No

Pros

Big Place with lots of TVs
Great for Watching Dolphins and Local College Games

Cons

Difficult Parking if you don't want to Valet
Mediocre, Corporate Menu
Outdoor Space is Useless for non-smokers
Odd "Tweener" Location
Dudes in Kilts
Not good for Watching out of market Games
Poorly organized and some games not even Showing

Insider Tips

Stick to the wings and burgers, and don't let them seat you by the sidewalk if smoke bothers you.

Critic's Review

Super Bowl LI was the last game to be seen at The Tilted Kilt Fort Lauderdale. It's Officially Closed.

The Restaurant People plan to open a "beerhall concept" here called Township.

*********************

Tilted Kilt empty at 1:30

1:30 on a Wednesday; dead Empty.

Review 10/25/15

With the NY Giants playing a 4:25pm game that was being shown on regular TV, I wanted to be home by 4, so I couldn't wander too far. I decided to see what was going on at Tilted Kilt. The Dolphins were playing at 1pm, so it would be a good test.

From the road it was difficult to tell if there was much of a crowd; they had the doors closed to the big room; probably because it had been raining earlier. I got there just after 3pm. I'd stay for 1 beer and then back to watch the Giants.

The place was less than 2/3 full. Lots and lots of empty tables. Also lots of tables for 4 with 1 or 2 people.

Tilted Kilt Sunday at 3pm

The "patio" bar was very sparse, with a dude bartender who showed no interest in serving me. Nobody outside as usual.

Tilted Kilt Patio Bar

Something that's become a trend in bad restaurants/bars is the beer alcohol percentage menus. Instead of prices, they tell us the amount of alcohol. Do people really choose a beer based on how much alcohol it has in it?

Tilted Kilt Wall

I got better service at the main bar. The girls have cute little outfits that they only wear on game days; much better than the standard outfits.

Tilted Kilt Girls in their

They're all number 03 however, so you can't identify your server by number. Overall, I think they have a nicer crew of girls than they did last year, when they had too many rough looking chicks. They still don't measure up to Twin Peaks; and the little football outfits are more appealing than the regular outfits.

I ordered a Guinness and the girl seemed to know how to pour it; of course she had plenty of time due to the lack of customers. I got a chance to talk to her a bit; they wear the alternate outfits on Saturday and Sundays. She wasn't sure how they decided what days they could wear it or why they had different outfits; only that the owner had lots of ideas. I suggested that he needed some ideas on how to get more people into the place. She seemed to think that Davie would do better and that the location was the reason that this place was dead, to which I expressed my doubts.

Another reason people don't come are the prices.

Tilted Kilt Guinness in a Plastic Cup

$7.42 for a Guinness in a plastic cup. Why am I paying over $7 for a tap beer again? I asked why I got a plastic cup when it's not even crowded; apparently they don't have enough glasses for everyone when it's busy, and if some people get glass and others don't people get mad, so they don't give glass to anyone. How is this place even still open at all?

I hung around to watch the end of the Jets / Patriots game and it really started emptying out at 4pm.

Another great idea they have is that they play house/dance music during the dolphins commercials. As I scanned the crowd, I wondered why they thought that the generally middle-aged crowd wants to hear that kind of music.

Tilted Kilt Bar at 4pm

The only saving grace of this place is the big collage TV on the wall. It's a lot easier to get a seat right in front this year than last.

Tilted Kilt Big Wall TV

My one and only visit for the year. With no specials and TVs way up in the rafters there's nothing to get me here again.

Review 5/2/15 Fight Night: Mayweather vs Pacquiao

I haven't seen a PPV fight for a long time; I went to see one at Duffy's a few years ago but rarely is there one that compels me to spend a Saturday night in a sports bar. This fight was another level of hype, and TK was showing it with no admission, so I figured I'd walk down at 10:30 and if I could get in, I'd watch the fight.

As I approached the place, I saw what appeared to be a massive line down the block.

Tilted Kilt Fight Night

At this point I figured it was time to turn around and forget about the fight. But as I got closer, it was clear that this was just a crowd of people that were "looking into" the bar to watch the fight from the sidewalk. I expected someone at the door to stop me as I entered to control the size of the crowd, but there were no bouncers or anyone else on duty; I just walked right in and began to wend my way through the crowd.

The bar was 4 deep; getting drinks wasn't going to be very pleasant. I got myself into the corner of the bar and grabbed a $20 bill.

Tilted Kilt Fight Night Bar

Unfortunately the bartenders here don't know how to handle a big crowd. You have to have a plan so people are served in some reasonable order. There was one dude doing 80% of the work, but only 2 registers to handle 100s of people. They spent more time punching in codes and paging through looking for tabs than they did serving. Then a manager came over to make an adjustment and all service would stop for minutes at a time. "How about serving some beers while you're waiting, I have cash?" It took me 15 minutes to get a drink; a single Corona Light that would have to last me for the duration of the fight.

The next task was to secure a spot to watch the fight. I made my way to the edge of the tables where I figured that no-one would be able to stand between me and the big TV. There's only about 8 feet in between columns and rows of tables, and the place was jam packed. It was 10:50 and the fight was "supposed" to start "no later" than 11pm ET. The undercard fight was in the 9th round. So fat chance of that.

Bad Policies Explained

As I waited 1/2 hour for the fight to actually start, I had plenty of time to assess the situation. The first problem was the "free admission". You learn in Eco 100 that when something is free, there is potentially unlimited demand. This place was packed with riff-raff and hoards of people who had no intention of paying for anything. It was like they ran Shuttle busses from Sistrunk or something. While this might make the owners think that they have a really hot sports bar, it ruined the experience for people who were perfectly willing to pay. It was impossible to get food or drink, and there was nothing enjoyable about people pushing to get through constantly.

Secondly, I hate to accuse the fire marshall of being on the take, but there is no way that this is allowed to happen without some cash being exchanged somewhere. This place is right on the main drag; there's no way that some authority doesn't see what's going on here. This is irresponsible, frankly. There was nobody anywhere trying to keep order in the place; nobody at the door; this was just a massive, totally unmonitored crowd.

Tilted Kilt Fight Night Inside

Next, it appears that the owners still have no idea how to run a sports bar; I understand why every set is on the fight for the main event, but why is every set on the undercard fights? There's hockey and NBA playoffs going on and lots of baseball, and there was nothing to do here except to watch an undercard fight that exactly ZERO people in the place wanted to watch. There's 1/2 hour between the last undercard fight being over and the main event, so there's plenty of time to get all of the TVs on the fight. They could have been showing other sports for hours. Having 147 TVs on the undercard fights is just plain stupid.

Joey, Pauly and Pauly

So as the fight is just starting, the A-holes that wander into free events were trying to squeeze in front of people who had secured their positions an hour ago. I had a good angle, but I was getting pushed into a table as I tried not to be in front of anyone who was sitting down. I was lucky enough to have Joey Walnuts in front of me, with his friend Short Pauly and other friend Taller Pauly. They were with a couple of girls from da hood, so they were trying to be particularly cool. They were planted between two tables in such a way that they were obscuring the view of one of the girls who was sitting down at a table with 2 couples.

We all know how bold women are when they're with guys, so the other girl gets up and asks Joey Walnuts to move, because they paid $100 for the table and they were entitled to see the fight. Seems logical, but Joey was having no part of it. Joey, Pauly and Pauly basically said "No", they weren't moving.

So now the 2 dorky dudes at the table were chirping in, trying to make their case. Joey was getting really ticked, and finally just looked at one of the dorky dudes and blurted out "Why don't you Shut the F**k Up?". Being from Long Island, where I used to witness this every weekend, I recognized that this wasn't good. This was one of those guys who spends his time looking for a confrontation.

Of course this type of situation is exasperated because the Tilted Kilt is run by amateurs, and they didn't bother to hire any security for the evening. So there was no-one to arbitrate the situation. I had a good spot and I didn't want to move, but I didn't want to be in the middle of this either.

Tilted Kilt Main Screen

So the tension continued as the fight went on, and I could see Joey Walnuts seething and just waiting for an opportunity to throw a punch. Meanwhile, these guys were so tough that they wouldn't even let the waitress pass by them to do her job. She tried to push by, they wouldn't budge and she had to go around the other way.

About mid way through the fight, the dude who Joey wanted to punch switched seats with the girl who couldn't see the fight, and I was just thinking that this was a really bad idea. So now the dorky guy was an uppercut away from Joey. Joey spent the rest of the fight glaring at him. Luckily nothing happened, at least not before the fight was over. Just as the 12th round was over I bolted the joint, knowing the outcome so no reason to wait for the reading of the scorecards.

Anyone who saw the fight knows what a waste of time and energy it was. I hope that the owners of this place learned something from this experience. This was a disaster that could have been a lot worse if guys like Joey Walnuts were able to get enough drinks to lose his cool.

Thought of the Day

Why would anyone pay $100 for a table to see a fight in a bar full of A-holes when they could buy the fight at home and have a party on their own?

Review 12/28/14

For those of you whining about too many sports bars reviews, here's the skinny: Due to the NY Giants suckitude, their games haven't been on TV, so I've had to go out. And the games have almost all been on at 1pm, which means I'm not driving an hour to watch the game. Add to that a massive head cold that makes me want to stay within 5 minutes of home; The Tilted Kilt got yet-another nod this weekend. With all games on regular TV from now on; this is probably the last of my sports bar reviews for the foreseeable future.

The deal-maker was they they now have Sunday Brunch; yes, now just about every restaurant has Sunday Brunch with the unlimited mimosa/bloody mary deal. Why should the idealess dudes at the Tilted Kilt be any different?

At 1:05, there were plenty of seats and empty tables. Apparently there were some Eagles fans at the bar, so the Giants vs Eagles game was on. I don't think people knew about the brunch, because virtually everyone was drinking beer and eating from the regular menu; a brunch menu wasn't given to me until I asked for it. I ordered coffee, which initially came out without a saucer; eventually they got it together.

Coffee in mini-cup

I ordered the "Big Kilt Breakfast": 3 eggs, sausage links, "crispy bacon", "country" potatoes and toast. I went with the marble rye, and asked for extra butter. It's here that you know that this isn't a real scottish pub, because you'd have blood sausage and baked beans in a real scottish breakfast. But I knew that coming in.

Coffee is served in a micro-cup, which is a bad thing since they don't have coffee at the bar or on the floor. So each time I finished the 4 mouthfuls in the cup, they had to get a bar back to go into the kitchen to bring out another cup.

Once again, the vantage here isn't ideal; a medium size TV way, way up on a high ceiling; I could see the game but not very well.

Vantage Point from Bar

One thing different was that there was a girl working; 4 dudes and one babe.

A Tilted Kilt Girl

The food came out fairly quickly.

The Big Kilt Breakfast

The first thing that struck me was the tiny eggs. Runny eggs, potatoes that were roasted without any onions or peppers, undercooked bacon. Instead of "extra butter", they gave me butter on the side; the toast was unbuttered. Everything was actually decent; I liked the potatoes, but the bread was kind of sweet for a marble rye. I would have preferred actually crispy bacon, but overall it was a decent plate of food.

Undercooked Bacon

The guy sitting next to me had spin dip and lamb stew; what I had looked way better than either of those.

They posted a picture on their FB page touting a "packed house", but calling this a packed house would be a stretch. Seats at the bar at halftime, tables for 6 with 2 people sitting at them; maybe half the number of people that they had week 1 and 2 after the opening.

Crowd at halftime on 12/28/14

One thing that's happened is that the crowd has gotten older. One thing about focusing on Local teams like the Dolphins, is that people don't HAVE to go to a sports bar to watch the Dolphins; they can stay home or watch at any restaurant in town.

Conclusion

Brunch ends at 2pm, and let's just say that I wouldn't come here for it without a game on. I suspect that next week you'll have no trouble getting a table.

The Tilted Kilted said they'd be a "well oiled machine" in a month, but they're still not. They're just another option in town with a lot of TVs, with food that falls in line with other Sports Bar food. You're probably not coming here for the girls; although the cretin sitting next to me couldn't make it through without hitting on the bartender.

Review 12/7/14

Anyone want to buy a big Sports Bar? I went to the Tilted Kilt on Sunday to watch the Giants game, and there are many signs that the wheels are coming off of the place.

Something that I wonder about is why are the For Rent signs still up on District and the Tilted kilt? I'd think that it would be fairly easy to take them down.

Tilted Kilt For Rent Signs

So I walk into the place at 1:05 and the main room is half empty. Considering that the Dolphins were playing, it was a marked difference from 2 weeks ago. I got to the bar and there were plenty of seats. Small tables, anything I wanted. I walked through the entire place, and the Giants game wasn't on 1 TV. How many TVs do they have here? So I see a guy in a Tilted Kilt shirt and ask where the Giants game is. "Where are you sitting"? So I get a seat at the bar and wait for them to put the game on. I didn't want to order any food yet, because who knew where they'd put it on. I ordered tea and waited.

Tilted Kilt Iced Tea

I see the game go on way over on the far wall. Really, you can't put it on a bar set? I can' t watch a set that's 40 feel away. I point at the set I want to watch, that was on some infomercial. Finally the game came on.

Once the game was on, I started looking around. The first thing I noticed is that the bar was staffed with 5 dudes. The tilted kilt, home of scantily clad chicks, has no female bartenders.

Tilted Kilt All Dude Bartending Staff

The guys were good bartenders, but c'mon now. The floor servers were all female; some of them were real beasts and looked ridiculous in the outfit. I can't imagine that they fired all of the girls, no matter how bad they were, so I can only surmise that they quit.

I'd had the wings at the now defunct Hallandale location and they weren't bad, so I ordered me some football watching food.

The place has very high ceiling, and the sets are on the opposite side of the bar. It's not an optimal watching experience.

Tilted Kilt Viewing at the Bar

The wings came out pretty quickly.

Tilted Killt Grilled Medium Wings

I ordered the "grilled wings" with Tilted Sauce, which is purported to be medium heat. The wings didn't look very grilled to me. It's definitely a half-assed grilling. Good blue cheese, no carrots, overall I enjoyed the wings. They don't have good napkins here; they need better napkins for finger food. The cloth napkins don't do the job, and they only have black cocktail napkins in paper.

A dude that was sitting next to me ate and ran and then 2 other guys came and sat down, looking for the Tampa Bay Bucs game, which wasn't on any set in the complex. So the bartender signals over to the guy who was working the A/V room, and of course he changes the set I'm watching to the Buc's game. "No, Nooooo, I'm watching that game". Ooops, so after another 5 minutes they straighten it out; I missed a 50 yard run for a Giants Touchdown. Just fantastic.

I left at halftime, and the bar still had plenty of seats.

Tilted Kilt Back Bar

The main room had filled up a bit, but there were still tables available.

Tilted Kilt 12/7/14

As I was leaving, I saw this sign outside the front door, which made me laugh in a disgusted sort of way:

Tilted Kilt Sign

Talk about misleading advertising! Girls? What girls?

Conclusion

When I heard they were opening this place, I kind of scratched my head. Tilted Kilt isn't a big draw brand; it's not like tourists are going to flock to the Tilted Kilt. So why pay the franchise fees? And second was that the place was going to have trouble finding enough good looking females who would be willing to wear the outfit.

My feeling it that if they can't fill the place for Sunday Football when the Dolphins are playing they're in big trouble. Lucky for them that FSU is in the playoffs, so they'll get 2 more big days. But what about after that?

They've established themselves as completely incompetent in terms of running a Sports bar; 2000 TVs and there are games not on at all? What they hell are they doing all morning, polishing the wood trim? Their "system" is that when someone sits down, they put the game on for them. Which means that they have no system.

And if they can't get any girls to work here, then they're just going to be the town joke. They're getting pretty close to that already.

Review 11/16/14

Another weekend, and another couple of visits to the new Tilted Kilt. Saturday night there was a Florida State vs Miami game, and I also went late Sunday, on a day when Miami wasn't playing. I now have a pretty solid opinion of the place, based on multiple visits.

First, this is not the Las Olas Crowd. I'm not sure where the people come from. Of course for College games you're going to get a young crowd. A lot of tattoos and untrimmed beards. It's not a place you come to meet babes, that's for sure.

I'd hoped that with only 4 late games on and no local team playing, I'd be able to get a seat at the bar and get something to eat. But there were no seats. It occurred to me that for a big place, there weren't a lot of bar seats. There's a few seats at the indoor/outdoor bar (with smoke blowing in from the patio), and the one big bar. But that's it. They have 3 big bars at Bokamper's. You can get a seat at 5pm on a Sunday there.

Also, service is literally comical. The girls behind the bar are simply not bartenders. While I was waiting to order, it took the "bartender" 10 minutes to serve 3 people. While the bar was full, most people were nursing beers, so it wasn't like 20 people were ordering. She was just pitifully slow. There was also a dude working, but he was useless. He was a Joey Numb-nuts guy; you know, the kind of guy who feels compelled to tell every female at the bar that he's Italian. Memories of Long Island. Finally, I got a Corona, which is $4.24.

Tilted Kilt Corona on Filthy Bar

As you can see, the bar has empty bottles, used napkins and hasn't been wiped down in an hour or so; who wants to sit at this bar? I got $16 change from my $20, which means that the bar is picking up the tax for me, which is a nice touch. Maybe they just don't want the girls to have to do the math to make change?

After a short while, a seat sort of opened up; it was between 2 dudes and I would have had to ask them to move a bit to squeeze in. Looking up, I kind of snickered as all of the TVs were on the same game.

Tilted Kilt TVs all on Same Game

Not the game I wanted to watch, so I passed. It "appeared" that most people weren't actually watching the games. Just a bunch of guys drinking beer at the new bar that just opened.

Saturday night and Sunday afternoon featured 0 NBA games. All of the TVs were on 2 college games on Saturday night and it was all football on Sunday. So if you were hoping to catch your NBA team while watching football, this isn't the place.

Conclusion

Maybe things will change, but initially, this is your typical bar opened by some rich guy who didn't really have any ideas other than he wanted to open a sports bar. My impression is that the people running it don't really know anything about sports; like the "sports bar" that has every screen on ESPN when the Heat or Dophins aren't playing, because it's too much trouble to find out what games are on.

On Saturday night there were exactly 0 girls that I wanted to walk close by me. The outfits are really a negative, because some of the girls just look so bad that it's got to be embarrassing for them. On Sunday there were a couple of girls with really nice figures; but I stand by my assessment that most of them would look better in jeans and tee shirts. I will disclose that I'm not a fan of big torso tattoos (in fact, they just make me shake my head) so others may have a different opinion.

It's 1/3 mile from downtown, so it's too far to walk to find out that the knicks game isn't going to be on and that I'm not going to be able to eat. When you go to a sports bar, by the time you get a seat and get someone to figure out what channel a game is on and to change a TV, you've missed half the game. It needs to be on when you get there.

Review 11/9/14

The Tilted Kilt opened this weekend, and I checked it out on Saturday night and also on Sunday during the Dolphins' game. While I heard people spreading the rumor that it was a "packed house", I'd categorize it as "well attended". It wasn't nearly as crowded as Bokampers opening, when you couldn't park within a mile of the place. All of the seats were taken in the restaurant, but it was easy to get to the bar and to get a drink. I even sat down to eat something on Saturday night at 11pm. So it was far from being "Slammed".

This is a franchise operation, so Tilted Kilt Corporate was on the scene, and things are running smoothly. Once they're gone, things may change, so next weekend could be a different story.

Saturday NIght, 11/8/14

The first thing I realized on the way over is that this place is just a wee bit out of the circuit. If you're parked near YOLO or the Royal Pig trekking up the this place won't feel like bar-hopping. It's 1/3 of a mile, with nothing going on in-between.

Upon entry, there's an indoor/outdoor bar to the right, and it's not entirely obvious how big the place is. Girls wearing the plaid outfits are everywhere.

Tilted Kilt Fort Lauderdale

There were a couple of seats at the patio bar, but I could smell the smoke from outside, so I wasn't sitting here.

Tilted Kilt Indoor/Outdoor Bar

There's a patio, but unlike BoKampers, it's not for everyone. Bad viewing angles unless you're against the rail, and you won't be able to escape the smoke.

Tilted Kilt Patio

Past the hostess stand and you enter a huge room with a big bar and a big open room. There's a big, mosaic TV on the wall. To me these are gimmicky; I don't like the lines right where the clock is so I can't tell how much time is left in the game.

Tilted Kilt Big Screen

The back bar is the place to be; the girls in kilts are walking by and you get lots of good angle views.

Tilted Kilt Back Bar

They have a ton of beers on tap, so naturally I ordered a Bud light bottle. I was standing at the bar and the dude sitting next to me had a really nice looking guinness, so I ordered one of those after I finished the bud.

Tilted Kilt Guiness

Guinness is fantastic when the lines are nice and clean in a new bar. $6.50 for the beer. I paid cash so I'm not sure if it includes tax or if they're rounding and it's $6 plus tax.

With Florida State playing, the place was fairly crowded; there were no seats but it wasn't 2 or 3 deep at the bar. Once the game ended about half of the crowd left, and I got the idea to try the Beer-Cheese soup. The stuff at Big Bear Brewing Co

Big Bear Brewing Company Beer Cheese Soup
is fantastic and good beer cheese soup is very soothing. I asked if it would come out right away and the bartender said it would, so I ordered a cup. I was hungry and thought about ordering a bowl, but figured I'd better try a cup first.

It came out in less than 5 minutes.

Tilted Kilt Cup of Beer Cheese Soup ($4)

The soup had a very cheesy taste, but it was loaded with carrots and celery, which I didn't like. Beer-Cheese soup should be smooth; it's fine to flavor it with vegetables but they should be strained out. It's weird eating crunchy beer-cheese soup. I'm glad I just got a cup. This was like eating cheese dip.

The music they were playing was very un-irish pubish, although they did play "Santeria". While the game was playing they'd launch loud techno music, which just ruins it for me. Tove Lo & The Chainsmokers is not pub music, nor is "Juicy". Later on they mixed in some Bob Marley; but this place is a classic example of a Bar that doesn't really know what they are.

The danger of calling yourself a Sports Bar in South Florida is that once the Florida St and Dolphins game is over, people are going to go somewhere else. You can't have a place this size emptying out at 10:30 on Saturday night. Duffy's has to have perpetual specials to keep people in the place, and there's still nobody there at lunch time in the summer.

Something that I noticed is that almost nobody was eating. Lots of tables with buckets, but not a lot of food. I saw 1 spin-dip and 1 plate of Mozzarella sticks, but no burgers or even fries. It was very strange, actually.

Something else here is that this place is going to look really empty on Tuesday nights, when there will be more workers than patrons.

Conclusion

I think that my impression of the Tilted Kilt is about the same as it was when I visited the Hallandale location. As a sports bar, it could stand alone; this is a nice, big venue with lots of big TVs. I don't see why you need to pay $75,000 up front and 6% of sales to have an irish pub with girls in skimpy outfits, while also getting stuck with a chain menu. Particularly when the Franchisor doesn't even have your hours or phone number on their web site after you've opened; nor do they provide a menu with prices, which is the most important piece of marketing material a restaurant has. Heck, if Briny's can run an Irish Pub anyone can.

As for the girls; the outfit is very difficult to pull off. I'd say that 90% of the girls weren't pulling it off; having your waist and hips exposed with a less than perfect body can be very revealing. Every 1/2 inch of love layer shows.

I initially said that they'd have trouble finding enough bathing beauties to work here in this town, and I stand by that statement. *Most* of the girls simply don't look good in the outfit. In fact I only thought there was 1 that really, really looked good.

That being said, it's a helluva lot better than the Copacabana.

Sunday Football, Sunday 11/9/14

The Giants were playing at 4:25 today, so I figured I'd check out the early games. With my team almost out of it already, I don't have much incentive to drive down to Bokampers. Plus I wanted to see how they do in terms of allocating TVs for watching multiple games.

On a cool, drizzly Sunday, the patio was only for smoking, and the Patio Bar inexplicably had 2 dudes working. Really, I came to the Tilted Kilt to watch football and be served by dudes in kilts? Forgetabout this bar.

Tilted Kilt Patio Bar

The big room was fairly crowded; all tables were filled by there weren't that many people standing. Girls could pass by without jamming their boobs into my back, which is the litmus test for "really crowded". There were quite a few kids, which is kind of awkward.

Tilted Kilt NFL Sunday Crowd

They did have the sound on, which is great if you're watching the Dolphins game. They didn't blast stupid music during commercials, a practice that I find very annoying and which they do at both Bru's and Bokamper's.

One thing a bit different here was that the vast majority of fans were Dolphin fans. One thing cool about South Florida is that people living here are from all over, and sports bars tend to have a good mix of people from different parts of the country. This was largely a locals crowd. In the big room, half of the TVs were on the Dolphins game and 2 were on the Jets / Steelers game. Other games were hard to find. I couldn't find the Cowboys game at all, nor did I find the Bills game. One of the biggest games, SF vs NO, was on a couple of sets on side walls that weren't convenient to watch if you were standing.

Another thing about the big room is that it's difficult to see the games on the "smaller" TVs up on the walls. So unless you're sitting right in front of it, you can't see the game too well. If you're in the middle of the big room, you'd best be a Dolphin's fan.

Turning to look at the main bar, notice that virtually all TVs within view are on the Dolphin's game. So much for the concept of watching multiple games.

Tilted Kilt Main Bar

On a positive note, they had a new set of girls working, and at least 3 of them looked really good in the outfit. I saw a bit more food today, but still not a lot of eating. Most of the people sitting at the bar weren't eating. I saw a few sandwiches; a cheesesteak looked good, but the pulled pork not so much.

To further illustrate the "too many TVs on the Dolphins game" narrative, I present the rear wall:

Tilted Kilt Football out of sync

Not only are all 3 sets on the same game, but the projection TV was ahead of the other sets by about a second. It's always fun watching a TV when the set next to it is out of sync; and also when you're watching a set that's behind sync on the other side of the room, and you hear people cheering while the quarterback still has the ball in his hands. These are little things that sports bars must figure out.

I had to leave as I wanted to watch the Giants game at home, so I didn't see the fallout after the Dolphins game was over.

Conclusion

On their first Sunday open, they failed to impress me as an organized sports bar. As a non-Dolphins fan, I don't really want to go to a sports bar that only has a fleeting interest in showing other games. After all, I can watch the Dolphins game at home. Fort Lauderdale is a diverse community; particularly residents of down town, and if you overly cow-tow to Dolphin's fans then you'll only have 3 hours a week of enthusiastic sports fans buying your food and drink.

When Sports bars don't have a plan (that is, predetermined TVs allocated to different games, to ensure that all games are on with reasonable distribution), you simply can't go to the place, because you don't know if you'll be able to comfortably watch your game.

$4 for a bud light bottle isn't bad. ($3.75 plus tax). I'll have to come during the week to eat something.

Comment Policy Add Comment
Rita
Reply
I must have read your Joey Walnuts story 10 times. Totally hilarious.
Josh
Reply
Completely empty with literally 2 cars in their lot at noon on Sunday. Just about all 1 and 2 star reviews. Tilted Kilts folding all over the country. How long can they hang on?
Ed
Reply
$16.50 for a Makers on the rocks. Are you kidding me?
Tim
Reply
They're "casting" for girls again, calling themselves the "hottest new pub in South Florida". Sure.
Stephen
Reply
I've enjoyed going to the Tilted Kilt, so far. I work right across the street at Museum Plaza and the location for me is very convenient. I have been to the Kilt now on two Sundays to watch the 1pm games, and I've had really good service. I'm glad to see such a lively, packed place on Sundays in this part of downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Bob
Reply
Well based on these reviews I won't waste the gas going there. It's funny because they had one in Hallandale and it closed after a year of being open. I visited once and found that it was really crappy. The food was mediocre and the service was also. The girls they hired looked like they just got of rehab.
Administrator
Reply
Just for the record, these are not the same owners that ran Hallandale. But your assessment of that place was about right.
John
Reply
So sorry to see all that some of the people here had a mediocre time at Tilted Kilt. The pub aims to be a fun, lively place, high aims for a new restaurant, and the waitstaff has only been there for a few weeks. It will be a well-oiled machine by the time December rolls in!
Garry
Reply
So John you must be a stockholder or your sister works at TK, that place is an unorganized mess, note to Restaurant Owners: Even though John will give you a chance don't open your business until it's a well-oiled machine because those of us who go to the poor machine early won't come back by the time you're up to speed!
Carmine
Reply
Tilted Kilt is a crap organization. I signed up for the mailing list 2 weeks ago; they say you'll get a free gift. I haven't gotten 1 email yet. Not even a welcome. The web site is a joke.
Administrator
Reply
I didn't get any "gift" either. Nothing like starting out on the wrong foot with a fake promise to get you to join their list. They also don't have an unsubscribe link.
James
Reply
They have an unsubscribe now. I got an email to buy some "gear". I used the link. Never got any gift.
Todd
Reply
Kind of a delusional view of the world. A franchise operation with an inexperienced owner is going to be a "well-oiled machine" in a month?
Administrator
Reply
A lot of people have been Googling for the owner of Tilted Kilt, so I thought I'd add a comment. Local Attorney Jeff Ostrow owns the franchise rights to the Tilted Kilt for all of Broward and Dade Counties. He also owns the lot on the corner of Las Olas and Andrews (in between the Tilted Kilt and what used to be Automatic Slims), which is going to be an office building. The building with the tilted kilt is owned by Halmos Properties
Un-named
Reply
Well you are sort of right. I want to remain un-named because I currently work there! From what I understand Jeff owns the franchise rights to all the Tilted Kilts in South Florida! The owner of the one in Boca pays him a percentage of sales for the rights to use the name.
Also I know that there are three partners in the restaurant and from what I have seen, none of them have a clue of what's going on!
The managers are also clueless. They are more interested in keeping costs low (so their bonus is high) that many times we run out of things like "to-go boxes and cups", and the kitchen is stressed to cut corners to keep the food going out of the kitchen.
I have been in the restaurant business for many years and unfortunately I have seen many places run poorly but this one is embarrassing to me (that is part of why I want to remain un-named and I'm currently seeking other employment).
I have seen some people, both front and back of the house, that can get away with anything while other people have to pull their weight as well. If you are "in" with one of the managers then your OK, if your not then you will do all the work. A perfect example is when some of the cooks are scheduled almost nothing gets done. I have seen several cooks back in the kitchen playing cards while everyone else does their work, but saying anything would only make things harder for the people who say anything to do their job (if you keep it at all), because they knew the kitchen manager for many years! One of them even leaves (on the clock) and goes to the store to buy lottery tickets!! WTF! And the worst part is the General Manager knows it and doesn't say anything to the kitchen manager.
Like I said the owners (Larry, Moe, and Curly) have no idea and let the incompetent management team unknowingly screw them with their pants still up. The place has much potential but no direction.
So to sum it up from someone that has been in the business many, many years I don't think it will survive like anything else that has been in that location!!
A co-worker has mentioned many negative reviews (and sadly I have seen them too and cannot argue with them) and mentioned it to the General Manager and he said that all of them were from competing businesses trying to trash us.
Like I said no clue on owners/management! Go figure.
Administrator
Reply
Denial is always the first reason for ultimate failure. Dismiss the criticism because we're just so great and everyone else is jealous.

Im surprised that someone would re-license a franchise. You're paying 5% of sales to the Tilted Kilt franchise and you're going to pay another couple of points to Jeff? How much do they think they're going to make? Don't they KNOW that the outfits aren't that cute?
Chris
Reply
You nailed it. Bring Milk Bones.
Rob
Reply
The newest ugly bar in Fort Lauderdale.
Ken
Reply
Good call on 2 many sets on the Dolphin game. Not a real sports bar.
Administrator
Reply
Updated including Sunday Football
Local
Reply
Went for grand opening, SO FREAKING LOUD INSIDE! they had a DJ, TV and Outside patio music all going at the same, walk right in and right out. Sat at the bar, had some so so food, look at a bunch of Hooter rejects that look fat on their quilt and had enough. Didn't the Hallandale location already close? I think they need a quality control manager walking around asking people what they think, it will probably save the business before it is too late.

Also they have like 20 bartenders! REALLY is that necessary? No one is going to make any money there...

just my 2 cents
Administrator
Reply
Let's give them more than a day. When a new franchise operation opens, they send corporate trainers from other Tilted Kilts. Part of the franchise deal is a week of training after opening, so there will be a crowd for a week.
FTLWalker
Reply
Any idea when this will open? Looks nearly completed?
Administrator
Reply
They're licensed. But they haven't announced a date. It's going to be jittery at first. A first time restaurant owner with a GM that has no experience in Fort Lauderdale.
Ally
Reply
Actually the pub is Scottish, English with an American twist. Dont knock it down so quick, try something new with a positive outlook
Administrator
Reply
I went to the one in Hallandale so it's not something "new". I don't think the outfits are very appealing, and they'll have trouble finding enough hot girls to wear them in this small town. VIBE tried the cheerleaders thing as did Rare, and both concepts flopped massively.
Ron
Reply
OK - so I had heard St Patrick's day...nothing still...and the published tel # doesn't exist. Any updates on your end?
Liz
Reply
They closed the one in Hallandale already. Didn't even last a year. Your probably know that but I thought i would pass it along.
I heard they are opening a Whiskey Tango down that way too. Big things happening downtown.
Mitchell
Reply
Wouldn't it be known as a Scottish bar? The Irish don't wear kilts. Just saying.....
Celtic Pride
Reply
We Irish wear kilts...

Next: Temple Street Eatery