Mantus

I am working at a club at the moment and I truly wish to provide the best service possible. I’d love to hear from everyone here about thing that have made your experience at a bar or club memorable in both positive and negative ways.

I’d say that my best experiences always revolve around bartenders who have time for me especially one’s who remember my drink and name. I also find that the bartenders tend to set the vibe for a club. Everyone in the room interacts with them and a part of their vibe rubs of on everyone. A positive, smiling bartender is such a welcome change.

Cynthetiq

at any of my home bars:
buybacks....bartender buying you a round for every 2-3 you buy.

bartender who made my martini and set my chilled glass in front of my stool before my ass even hit the seat.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

m0rpheus

I have 1 bar and 1 club I frequent. I know the bartenders and they know me. Its nice. The bar is a total townie dive bar but in that good friendly kind of way. The club mainly plays Industrial music and is mostly frequented by people far odder than myself, but I like it.

Worst? There was is a bar that I used to love. Music was great, people were good and I made many friends there. Then it got bought out. The changed the interior to this generic club crap, and changed the music. To be fair it is much busier than it used to be and probably makes more money but I just don't like going in there anymore and every time I do (usually because friends want to go) I feel let down because it just isn't the same.

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"it never got weird enough for me." - Hunter S. Thompson

Glory's Sun

I enjoy a bartender that just knows how to make a drink. Seriously. It's not hard. I understand there's a billion people wanting their piss light, but, as well as I tip.. just make it right.

The worst experiences are mostly the times a "life story" drunk gets next to me and won't shut up. Or the time I tipped this chick over $100 (and I only ordered about 6 drinks at this point) and she tried to come back at me later saying I never tipped her and she wasn't there for people's amusement. Of course this was at Coyote Ugly so naturally, I explained that she was in fact there for my amusement and if she couldn't remember the tip I gave her then she should pay more attention. Suffice it to say me and my g/f at the time were kicked out after my drunk ass g/f tried to punch the bitch in the face. So really that was a worst and best experience all in one.

uncle phil

i've got so many stories from either side of the bar that i can't remember any of them...

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"We were wrong, terribly wrong. (We) should not have tried to fight a guerrilla war with conventional military tactics against a foe willing to absorb enormous casualties...in a country lacking the fundamental political stability necessary to conduct effective military and pacification operations. It could not be done and it was not done."
- Robert S. McNamara
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"We will take our napalm and flame throwers out of the land that scarcely knows the use of matches...
We will leave you your small joys and smaller troubles."
- Eugene McCarthy in "Vietnam Message"
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never wrestle with a pig.
you both get dirty;
the pig likes it.

Tully Mars

My best bar experience was sitting in Capt. Tony's in Key West late one night and Bob Seger walked in and sat down next me. Turns out he was living around the corner on Caroline Street. He looked really old close up, I didn't even know it was him. When he went to the restroom the bar tender asked me if I knew him. "Umm, can't say I do." "Well, you look old enough, you might know some of his songs."

Worst day in a bar? So many nominees and only one envelope? Impossible to choose.

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I used to drink to drown my sorrows, but the damned things have learned how to swim- Frida Kahlo

Vice President Starkizzer Fan Club

Manic_Skafe

Good:

- My g/f at the time was bar tending at this really shitty but nicely stocked bar/ cyber cafe. Who knew booze and computers mixed so well? Me and a few friends finished a bottle of Johnnie blue on the house and I had the greatest bathroom sex in the history of bathroom sex.

- Another was at this shitty place in the Village. Me and the Misses took out a few of her cousins that flew in from California and ended up in NY because of a 30 hour layover. We were a few pitchers in when David Cross walks in with a friend and allows us to buy him a shit load of drinks. We got him so drunk that by the end of the night he wasn't even offended that we couldn't remember any of the movies he was in.

...never really had a bad bar experience worth remembering.

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"Porn is a zoo of exotic animals that becomes boring upon ownership." -Nersesian

inBOIL

This is one of the main reasons I don't go to bars.

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And you believe Bush and the liberals and divorced parents and gays and blacks and the Christian right and fossil fuels and Xbox are all to blame, meanwhile you yourselves create an ad where your kid hits you in the head with a baseball and you don't understand the message that the problem is you.

Kadath

The problem with having a great bar experience that doesn't involve meeting a celebrity is it generally requires you to be a regular at that bar. I was a regular at a bar for a while, but at the end of the day you're just pouring money down your liver and I decided it wasn't worth it.

There is a bar in Little Rock called the Flying Saucer that's pretty decent though.

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it's quiet in here

MSD

My friend Pat and I were regulars at a local bar. Most days when we walked in, the bartender would ask, "the regular?" After a while, it got to the point that I opened the door, waved hello, and before Pat had even gotten in the door behind me the bartender had grabbed a pitcher and started filling it for us.

Another time, another bar, my friend Matt and I were the only ones among a group of regulars who were there frequently. We walked in, each ordered a Bacardi Limon and Sprite, and the bartender opened a new bottle. Later, as he was pouring the third for each of us, (nobody else had been drinking it,) he finished the bottle, ran downstairs, got another bottle, and finished pouring our drinks. Before leaving for the next bar, we got Jager bombs (about three shots of Jager and a splash of Red Bull.) We asked him what we owed, he just shrugged and shook his head.

little_tippler

Best: bars where the bartender is creative and if asked to just surprise me with a drink will serve up something amazing

bars where the music isn't overly loud and I can talk to people I'm with without shouting

Bar with interesting decor and mood

Worst:

women bartenders - most of them look at me over their noses and don't ever smile. They also make me wait forever before taking my order.

Ine time at a club I ordered a drink. The music was pretty loud. The bartender (a woman) serves me the wrong drink. I call her back and she says "what?" like she's going to bite my head off. I basically tell her this isn't what I've ordered. She is very adamant and says that is exactly what I've ordered and that I am going to have to drink it. I am forced to pay for the drink. I am pretty pissed off so under my breath I say something like "what a bitch". As I walk away I feel a glass break at my feet. Basically she threw a glass at me but missed.

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Whether we write or speak or do but look
We are ever unapparent. What we are
Cannot be transfused into word or book.
Our soul from us is infinitely far.
However much we give our thoughts the will
To be our soul and gesture it abroad,
Our hearts are incommunicable still.
In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
By any skill of thought or trick of seeming.
Unto our very selves we are abridged
When we would utter to our thought our being.
We are our dreams of ourselves, souls by gleams,
And each to each other dreams of others' dreams.

Fernando Pessoa, 1918

kurty[B]

Wow tippler, that's amazing. I would never go back to that bar.

I could go off on favorite bar experiences, and worst, but when it comes down to it these are what the difference is between a good and bad bar experience.

Great bartenders, knowing what I drink, or at least knowing to ask "cheap or nice beer, or something different tonight?" as I generally don't order the same thing every time. And knowing that if I'm buying cheap beer that means I'm strapped for cash and just needed to get out for a little bit.

If the place has bouncers, quality bouncers. Ones that know the difference between fun and playful and excessive.

If permitted, outdoor environment I love. One of my favorite places has a large grassy area in front of it. In the Spring they make an ice-bar and open it up for serving (obviously covered in snow), in the summer they have it open where you can play bochi ball out front, and enjoy the sun going down too. I understand the inability of most places to do this considering legal restrictions.

One thing I can't stand, crowded night clubs. Having to push my way to the bar just to have the bartender ignore me for 30 minutes. By the time I've gotten the drink I've lost my buzz and just want to go home.

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In the Absence of Information People Make Things Up.

Rekna

best bar experience:

I was in San Francisco for a conference and went to a little Mexican themed pub for lunch. They had great food and I sat and talked to the Iranian bar tender while I ate. The food was cheap and the drinks were great. I went back for lunch 3 days in a row there because I enjoyed it so much. The bar tender was there each day and we talked about all kinds of things. A year and a half later I was in SF again and decided to stop in and get a margarita. I walked in and the bartender knew my name.....

Clearly this guy was an amazing bartender.

World's King

There's this bar/club in town called the Public House. It's actually a chain from Philly but it's pretty cool.

My friends and I know everyone that works there. We can drink all night long... maybe 15 of us doing shots every half hour, countless beers and cocktails... At the end up the night our tab will never be over $40. I'm not really sure how they make money.

I've gotten blow jobs in bar bathrooms and in alleys behind bars. I'd have to say that beats a free drink any day.


I don't have bad bar experiences. I'm in a bar. How can that be bad?

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

allaboutmusic

I generally hate clubs. I don't drink, the music is invariably too loud and I hate waiting ages and paying three quid for a glass of lemonade.

What REALLY annoys me is the guy in the toilet who wants a tip for turning the tap on for you and handing you a paper towel.

My best experiences with a bar were when I had a weekly residency (I'm a musician) at an upmarket bar in Chelsea that has since closed. Drinks were free all night, and they made the most amazing cocktails I'd ever seen. I got to know the bar staff well, and I always asked for them to create something non-alcoholic and creative. They really enjoyed pulling out all these different flavours out and were great fun... but I'd still never pay seven quid for one.

StanT

Getting whacked over the head by a chick with a pool cue did it for me. First and only time I've ever hit a girl.


Best bar experiences all involve unexpected appearances by musicians. Seen some amazing artists in small settings.

World's King

You hit her back? Nice.

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heavy is the head that wears the crown

snowy

This fits my bartender friend Cloud perfectly. Yes, his name is Cloud, and he is awesome. I was a regular of his when he tended bar at a place called the Crowbar. We showed up every Ladies' Night, my friends and I. His kamikazes are famous around town now; he makes them with infused liquor. Yum yum. My favorite is anything with the grapefruit vodka. He's moved on from the Crowbar, and now owns his own restaurant on the riverfront. But we still go there from time to time, and if he sees us come in, he'll step back behind the bar to make our drinks. Look up Cloud 9 if you're ever in Corvallis, Oregon.

I like a bartender to be friendly, and to have a sense of humor. I like to laugh when I'm drinking.

The worst experiences in a bar are mostly those where I was treated poorly, the drink was bad (my test drink is a Cosmopolitan. If a bartender cannot make a well-balanced Cosmo, he does not pass my muster), or the bartender was an asshole.

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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Molly_Ringworm

I prefer places where there are servers who will bring you your drink and do so with courtesy. (Yes, I tip per trip. So I expect good service.)

The deal breaker for me is if the bathrooms are dirty. When I drink, I have to pee with frequency. I expect a clean and fresh smelling restroom. So usually I will order 1 drink, then check out the loo, If it isn't clean, Or if there is a skank stench. I will leave. No exceptions.

Rekna

There are some clubs here where the mens room turns into a wading pool every night. I don't go to those clubs anymore.

Willravel

I met that man that invented the drink the Pabst Smir (joke on pap smear, gross, right?). Smirnoff bomb in a Pabst Blue Ribbon.

It's basically the most disgusting thing I've ever had. But at least I met the creator.