Maizie's Cafe & Bistro\nMy girlfriend had just finished auditioning for the Phoenix Choir so I wanted to treat her to a meal. We like to try new things and especially local venues and since we go to Lux occasionally had noticed a few new spots just north of there. One of them is Maizie's Cafe & Bistro.\n\nI should have gotten a sense that something was strange with this place when I called to make sure they were open. The woman on the other end seemed taken aback by this simple question. I then asked if they were any good and once again there was a hesitation.\n\nWe arrived at around 645 to a fairly packed restaurant which is always a good sign especially on a Monday night, right? However i was immediately surprised to see Three big screen televisions on each wall save the back one, presumably because this had a wine rack on it... I dont know about you but when a room that is at best 20' X 20' has three 42 inch TV's in it I call that a Sports Bar, and they had American Football on one and what the rest of the world call Football on the other. To offset this they did have the third TV set to the Food Network.\n\nOur table was somewhat sticky and when our drinks arrived the coaster for the tea got stuck to the table and eventually peeled away. Troubling but I wanted to keep positive since this was a celebration. We ordered wine and a cheese plate and almost immediately were approached by another waitress wondering if we were ready to order. Very confusing.\n\nThe cheese plate was straight out of Home Economics. They could have gone to Safeway and put a better selection of cheeses together. I would go easier on them except that the ambience and prices are asking for the quality to be better than presented.\n\nMy girlfriend ordered the Tuna Salad and I got the Fresh Basil Pasta with Marinara. Now I know that one of the hip things to do is have eclectic dinnerware to set your restaurant apart from the rest but serving salads in mixing bowls that dont match the decor is very awkward. Throwing a few veggies in said bowl and then a heaping scoop of tuna mix is not an entree, its a lunch item. Same goes with the Marinara dish. This cacophony of salad items sauteed up and mixed with pasta and a decent Marinara sauce is once again lunch fare, not a $12 dinner entree.\n\nThroughout the course of this dinner we had both waitresses coming up to us about every 5 minutes to make sure everything was okay. A little hint to good serving: if someone is in the middle of a sentence dont ask if everything is okay. This became very annoying and when I mentioned it to my party we were approached once again, as if they were trying to push the point.\n\nAnother feature of Maize's is that it has Free Wifi and posts this fact on its doorway. So we are also trying to be a Coffee Shop/Internet Cafe. So to add to the glow of Plasma screens all around a group of students sit next to our table and launch up three laptops, very romantic indeed.\n\nThe piece de resistance thought was when the florescent lighting from the outside awning kicked in halfway through the entrees and we were bathed in a brilliant glow of blandness. At this point we both broke down into laughter at the whole spectacle. The effect was a perfect way to end this experience.\n\nOverall Maize's is a horribly confused concept with incredibly schitzophrenic tendencies. It wants to be everything to everyone. The look says it wants to be a wine bar, but the TV's confuse that aspect. The menu talks gourmet but the reality is that they are serving lunch fare, which has its place. The free wifi means you will be getting non diners which will only make the diners more uncomfortable. I get a sense of what they are trying to do which is a Cafe/Bistro, but in order to do that you need to scale down the ultra modern look of the place. From the outside it says dinner but the reality is that its a hangout.\n\nTo its credit it was close to full on a Monday evening so there seems to be some appeal.