A Second Look at Twist 'n Olive in Delafield, Wisconsin

I recently published a review of Twist 'n Olive Martini Lounge located at 2730 Hillside Drive, Delafield, WI, based on a visit to the lounge several months earlier. Since writing this initial review, the article was repeatedly flamed with derogatory comments not based on actual textual inferences, and I even got a few angry e-mails. I'm used to plenty of negative comments along with the positives, but the level of anger present in the Twist 'n Olive disagreements was somewhat frightening. Furthermore, it has become annoying for me to have to log in and get rid of the nonsense cluttering the article and my inbox. I am an ACLU member and strong advocate of free speech, but I don't appreciate irrelevant online spam and angry flaming; it simply degrades my article and limits my free speech by cluttering the page with rudeness and threats not protected by the constitution.

I simply find it perplexing that so many people are utterly in love with Twist 'n Olive to the point of getting angry over a negative review. It's just a martini lounge, and not every patron is going to be smitten by the atmosphere, beverages, and service.

I believe I'm entitled to dislike Twist 'n Olive even if everybody else likes it. In response to my primarily negative review of Twist 'n Olive, I was flamed as "pompous" and insensitive to wait staff trying to cope with a busy Friday night. However, I believe I gave an intellectual, holistic review of the martini lounge-commonly, food and beverage critics are accused of being pretentious for evaluating minor details of locations and picking apart the details that most patrons just "deal with," but that's part of the job. I believe I evaluated some positives and negatives, fairly evaluating my experience at Twist 'n Olive. Also, I gave the wait staff some slack, explaining the service may typically be better on other nights. In every review I write, I make sure to avoid calling out specific employees by name since I know how frustrating and hard the service industry can be. But please note that it was not simply poor service on a busy night that I called out, it was poor comparative service, since all the nearby tables were dealt with much more promptly. Lastly, and maybe most importantly when choosing a tavern, the drinks were not horrible, but not amazing either.

I added a few positive points for balance, but frankly I've returned to Twist 'n Olive since this review on several occasions to give them a fair chance, and each time the experience has been sour. Not everybody loves this place, and I've enumerated some solid reasons for my disliking of Twist 'n Olive. Consider this article an open forum by a frustrated critic dealing with not only comment flaming, but also e-mails that could be described as "hate mail" about this piece. I don't understand the public's strange attachment to Twist 'n Olive; apparently I really touched on a sensitive issue (who knew a martini lounge could be a hot-button issue?). When reviewing this authorial response, please keep your responses to polite, well-founded objections-attack my articles if you much, but don't attack me as a person.

It's simply baffling how enumerating the location's failings could lead to such anger, but I stand by my assessment, even after repeated re-evaluations of the location. The longue definitely has loyal clientele willing to fight for the bar's reputation, so I doubt this one negative article will be the death knell of this popular local business.

For the few people out there who do agree with my assessment, consider walking a few doors down the sidewalk from Twist 'n Olive to Stone Creek Coffee at 2644 Hillside Drive to get settled into a retail outlet that I gave resoundingly high marks.