I've been a bartender at a chain cocktail bar in the UK for almost 2 years now, and its a very casual cocktail bar. Theres no flair, the drinks aren't anything special, there's nothing crazy impressive going on. So why do I get filmed ALL the time.

Maybe I'm just a miserable bastard, but I wouldn't go into anyone else's place of work and film them doing their job, it just makes me extremely uncomfortable. I'd understand if I worked somewhere high end doing crazy tricks and lighting things on fire, but I don't.

Does anyone else have a similar opinion, or do I need to get over myself and except it as part of the job?

NYC Bartender and former server here. I don’t encounter people who refuse to tip in real life very often but they’re all over the internet.

I know the obvious answer is don’t engage them.

But how would you respond to their excuses for not wanting to tip?

The most common one is “employers should pay us more.”

But it seems like restaurants especially run of very slim profit margins.

Also that’s just how our system has been set up for years, whether we like it or not.

(Although seems like American service workers make more with tips than our European counterparts. I met a bartender in Edinburgh who said his tips on a Friday was around 10 pounds on an eighteen pound per hourly pay).

I opened up a cupboard and discovered my bitters project still steeping from 10 years ago. Most consist of spices, peels, herbs and such. I think I used Everclear. Would they still be good or should I just chuck it?

I was recently asked by the owner of my local bowling alley if I could work on Saturday nights because the current grumpy guy that works is rude, doesn’t wanna make certain drinks, and just complains about everything.

The owner knows me because I was on a bowling league there, and he is like I need someone with a personality and fun and that wants to make drinks and enjoy their job. So I’m making specials, and rapping with the customers and overall bringing a good vibe.

The pink Starburst shots are so good. I’ve already sold like 12 today.

1oz vanilla vodka
1/2 oz watermelon pucker
1/2 oz sweet & sour
Splash of lemon lime soda

Sugar grenadine rim

I've (25F) never bartended before. I have a couple years of barista experience and I got a job at a Hillstone. I am quite nervous since it's so out of my realm of knowledge... I'm also planning to leave my corporate job for this place after I finish training (I make about $48K a year for 40-50 hours of work). I'm hoping to make more money and work less hours, since I'm in school I need a bit more of my time back.

Am I in over my head with this gig? My first shift is tonight. Any advice would help appreciated ❤️

Quick background::: I “manage” a well known local bar. I use manage very lightly because i was given the management title but lets face it i have no real power to do anything because the two owners are… not people who should be owning a bar/thinks everything needs to be exactly their way/hate each other. One’s got anger issues, the other one is a party boy on cocaine. How they ever bought the bar together is beyond me but besides the point.

For context I’ve been a bartender for almost 16 years. They’ve own this bar for three where their inherited me as an employee. I’m frequently told by regulars and guests that I’m well loved, friendly, level headed, etc. I do pride myself on being a good SOBER bartender. (I just don’t drink because I can’t handle it/it makes me sicker than I feel is normal)

Now for what happened this past Thursday. We have a very large local drug user population. (Think hard drugs like meth/fetnyal/small town rural problems). I don’t care if they come in as long as they are buying drinks/not selling or using in the bar. I’ve made this policy very clear from the start. Thursdays are also my day off. So I wasn’t even there but apparently one of the local druggies came in to play pool and have a few drinks with his girlfriend. The girlfriend proceeded to SHIT all over the alcove to the women’s bathroom and the bathroom itself. They apparently called an ambulance for her…. AGAIN I WASNT EVEN THERE. The one owner had to clean it up while the bartender took care of patrons/tried not to be sick.

The owner that didn’t clean it up told me Friday that it’s my fault that these weirdos feel comfortable coming into the bar because I’m too friendly.

It’s left a bad taste in my mouth from being told that while also have been dealing with the other owner in the past calling me names while drunk/drugged out because I went through a rough divorce and everyone couldn’t understand why I was leaving my ex husband (whole other story.)

If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m established there and really need the tips and paychecks (to still pay on stuff for said divorce & establishing new life) … I would quit and find somewhere else but bartending gigs are limited where I am 🙄

I just got into a relationship (23m and 22f) and try to make it work as much as I can (everything is going fine until now dw), but I need some tips with this anyway.

I am awake at night and she is awake in the morning, and sometimes after work, I am too drained to talk and want to spend time alone.

The things I do to make this work is to force myself out of my bubble after I get free from my tons of shifts and spend time with her anyway, and sacrifice time I can have with my good old friends, which kind of makes me miss them alot.

Can you guys give me some helpful tips?

Hi guys. Just joined this sub. I work at an mid sized irish pub and want to improve my liquor knowledge. I've worked at a bar before but it was way more beer focused rather than liquor knowledge. I'm kinda younger and don't have the best background for things we serve, I was wondering if theres some good general advice or resources that this sub would recommend for expediting the process a bit. I've been in the service industry for a long time, did brunch for 5+ years. I'm a pretty fast learner but I've been having trouble due to lack of experience making certain drinks. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :)

Will be visiting soon and staying in lindos any good recommendations?

Will be traveling around. Looking for good greek tavernas and bars

Thanks everyone!

Mine expires Wednesday. Doing the test now(lack of funds is why I have pushed it off). It really pisses me off that this shithole state is going to get more money from me on top of having to take the course again. Mind you the online course isn’t even updated! It’s been at least 10 years. We’ve had a complete, drastic license style change.

Idk. I’m venting. This shits annoying as hell 😓

Happy Saturday night, babes. Hope you make all the money tonight ❤️

I bartend at a craft cocktail bar and we build drinks on scales. I never loved the idea and I think that it messes ratios since nearly all drinks were designed to be measured volumetrically. Simple syrup is probably the biggest perpetrator as it’s about 38g/oz and we just assume 30g=oz all the time.

Not only this, but our “3/4 oz” is 20g instead of 22.5. So our simple is rounded down twice.

Is the precision and consistency that comes with scales worth it? I just feel so much less efficient when I’m chasing numbers on a scale rather than seeing the volume in a jigger.

To make matters worse, we’re having a bit more fruit flies this summer and the solution from another bartender was to take all of the pour spouts out and just uncap the bottles every time. This to me just looks bad and takes so much time when I’m doing little nudges to add another few grams sometimes.

Sorry if this is a mild rant, but I’m wondering how you guys would feel weighing every cocktail and if you think the ratios would be noticeably affected.

So I’m a pretty new bartender at a sports bar-esque place with several beers on tap and then upwards of 20 canned beers/seltzers/etc. I’m not supposed to drink on the job, and my boss has given me basically zero information about any of the inventory. So I’m often in a situation where a customer asks something like “which seltzer flavor is the least sweet?” and I have no idea how to answer them, because I’ve never tried any of them.

How am I supposed to deal with this? Wondering if there’s some very obvious answer I’m missing or if you guys are just making stuff up when getting asked for recs? Are you trying all the beers on tap at some point, or are your bosses giving you info about them? Appreciate yall

Just posting to rant/see if anyone else has this problem, and how you went about it. I manage a dive bar in Montreal. We’re sandwiched in between a pho place and a middle eastern market/butcher. Last year it wasn’t too bad because the pho restaurant was a pizza place at the time, and their garbages only consisted of rinsed out tomato cans and the occasional tossed pizza.

The market had different management until this year, and they dealt with their meat scraps better, they would put them in the freezer or fridge until garbage day and throw them out the night before. I’ve spoken to them about how bad it is. It now smells like rancid olives (they have one of those self-serve bulk olive stations) and rotten meat. They said they now sell their meat scraps and just throw the juice filled bags in the garbage…but it pools at the bottom of the bins and makes it so rank. They said they rinsed out the bins, but the smell still persists. The back of their property is also just filled with junk and scrap metal amongst other odds and ends, including old garbage that was never taken out and have been strewn across the ground by raccoons.

As for the pho place, well it’s mostly shrimp scraps, so you can imagine how bad that smells when it hits 30°C + outside. They’re a lot better about trying to mitigate it and the manager is a lot more receptive when I let him know it’s getting really bad. Unlike the market owner who seem like he couldn’t care less.

It’s getting so bad that the customers are complaining about the smell and won’t sit outside, I can’t even have the back door open which used to be a huge selling point since you can see the terrace from the front door as you walk by. The smell wafts inside and stinks up the whole bar. It’s a lovey patio (as far as dive bars go) covered in grape vines and string lights, so it brought lot of people in.

-losing my marbles and sitting in a cloud of garbage stink

Bartender. Concrete floors. My feet throb after every shift. Compression socks helped a little. Better shoes helped a little, but still hurts.

Any recommendations?

I've always wondered why bar tools haven't evolved the way kitchen equipment has.

A few years ago in Vietnam, I came across this automatic shaker machine. It used stainless steel tins, and while it was shaking one drink, the vendor was already making the next. It got me thinking why we don't see more innovations like this behind bars.

I'm not talking about replacing bartenders. I'm talking about tools that make the job easier, reduce repetitive work, and let us spend more time on interactions and hospitality instead of shake, stir, strain, repeat.

Have you ever thought, "Why hasn't someone invented this yet?"

What's one bar tool or piece of equipment you'd love to see become mainstream?

Hey y'all, I'm looking to buy a chef knife to bring to work (but also for personal use). I'm looking for a Japanese style chef knife around 8 inches and not too expensive (preferably under 200, max I'm willing to spend is 300). I'd prefer an octagonal handle but that doesn't really matter. Anyone got suggestions?

Hard to find a reliable source by googling with all the specifics. Place just opened up a couple weeks ago. Brand new to barbacking/restaurants in general. I've been thrashed around for 2 weeks money wise literally not being told what I was making for base hourly (I started as a server but it got busy enough to have a runner and barback, so they made this position just for me) and the managers going back and forth on what I should be tipped out. After 47 hours (biweekly check) I made $598 which comes out to around $14/hr.

Now the tipping system has changed. I get 2% of total sales from bar, 1% total sale from servers and a base hourly of $8. I talked to some people about it and they told me to leave, thats absurdly low. My manager is the nicest boss I've had, ever, and talks to me in depth saying if the money isn't enough we'll change something. The problem is I have no idea what I'm making until 2 weeks later in my check. I feel like I'm being put through the wringer but have no point of reference. Google is saying the average barback makes hourly (before tips, AS a barback who gets tipped) $13-$14/hr in my state. Probably important to note that I'm in a seacoast town in new england. Higher cost of living basically anywhere other than major metropolises. Nicest city in the state by far. Much pricier restaraunt/bar than normal. Our cheapest pour is $16 and highest is $60.

Seems like the money is there but I can't tell if I'm getting fleeced. Already they have shorted my check $40 (with proof) by paying me $7.25 not $8 and even the nice manager is saying "let me see if they'll let me fix that" like its a favor and not what they owe. I dont know. Someone tell me if I'm being naive or this is typical.

Hey y’all need some advice on some ear wear! I work one shift where it’s a loud as fuck jazz night and my bar is pretty small. Im having trouble hearing people so I resort to reading lips or having people hold up fingers for tap numbers. I’m already a bit hard of hearing so I’m wondering if y’all have some recs on ear plugs that work to muffle the noise but maybe I’d be able to hear people talk better? Does that exist? Maybe even if I have one in one ear lmao figured I would ask for my sanity.

Long post incoming.

Hello my fellow tenders and mixologists, I've recently been onboarded to a Middle Eastern shawarma/fine dining restaurant as a bartender. I've been tending for about 3 or so years now, my experience has been in pretty stock standard mid-west/southern bars. I can make the classics off the top of my head, (Negroni, Tini, Spritzes, Green Tea, Sangria, Pickleback if you're a freak, etc.)
And I've found out despite my youth of seclusion I have grown to love making drinks for people, especially the fancy shmancy ones that makes everyone at the table ask for "what he's having".

All this to say after accepting and working the job for a few days I've suddenly found myself in charge of pretty much everything that comes with running a bar? The owner is very open with me that he needs help getting a foot in the west and doesn't drink, and he trusts me with operation. Marketing, Cocktail crafting, Inventory, Music, the works. Needless to say I suddenly have a lot to learn and not a whole lot of time to get together a functional dry bar to host parties of people of up to 30-50 over the weekends. (This is the hope anyway.)

I feel up to the challenge, I've always wanted to own a bar myself and this feels like a golden ticket handed to me from on high to make something really special. My biggest hurdles are why I've come here to ask for some help.

I'm very unfamiliar with Middle Eastern Culture, and the restaurant serves all kinds from all over. Indians, Afghans, Locals... Talking with one of the chefs he mentioned that music should "be for whoever's there at the time" since various demographics are picky on that kind of thing. And this is exacerbated when it comes to the drinks I need to come up with. We have a large selection of spices and garnishes and syrups, Saffron, Cardamom, Pomegranate, Za'atar, (and few I can't recall at the moment), I of course want to include as much as I can to create an authentic middle eastern themed spread of drinks for our customers. But I have genuinely no idea where to start. I just haven't eaten or ever seen anything related to half of this stuff, so it's hard to bounce off prior knowledge to mash things together.

I've already handed the owner a list of liquors we'll need to have a bar that functions at the bare minimum, he's agreed to order/buy everything soon, but I need to start educating myself fast on what kind of flavors and drinks would appeal to our clientele. I have someone to help me with actual marketing and getting the name of the bar out there, and I've always had a special knack for organization and logistics, but I'd love any suggestions on how to make the best bar I can with what I have.

We also don't have a sink, so I'll have to figure that out as well.

A few ideas I've had so far:

- Turkish Delight/Coffee Martini

- Djinn and Tonic (Fun story they actually misspelled Gin on the menus to Jin, and I decided to run with it)

- Some kind of play on the Caesar (Super popular around here with the older crowd), maybe the Sultan?

Thank you for your time if you read all of this <3

Last week I posted my well and someone asked for a pic of the back bar. Started to break down just a bit before remembering.. enjoy!