Brogan's Diner

I attended a private event at Brogan's a few weeks ago.

Great 50's diner decor and a talented singer for the first part of the evening, but almost everything else was definitely sub par.

Cost was $35/person which was to include a space for the group, bartender, live music, dessert bar, and a choice of 1 of 4 menu items. Sounds good right?

Our party of 4 arrived about 30 minutes after everyone else due to work commitments. We were told, very rudely, that we had to sit separately amongst the other guests as the diner had set aside exactly the number of spots booked, no room for accommodating people who wanted to sit together. Eventually we were 'allowed' to sit at a table together but the evening was already off to a bad start.

There was no dedicated bartender which meant drink service was pitiful as one was dependent on wait staff who were rude, slow, unorganized, uncaring, and seemingly ill prepared for a large group. Not having a bartender was a bad business move on the part of the diner as they could have made a killing on drinks.

The live music stopped at 9 pm, supposedly there was another singer booked from 9 to 11 but they did not show.

The food was average at best, leaning more towards poor for most of the menu choices. Food arrived at the table cold. French fries were greasy and limp. The vegetables on the roast beef dinner were frozen and tasteless. There was no point in asking for anything to be remade or even heated up as it took forever for the food to arrive in the first place, the chances of getting anything better if one complained seemed negligible, and wait staff were nowhere to be seen.

The dessert bar was indeed available and choice was good but all items were so sickly sweet as to be inedible. Perhaps that is how it was in the 50s?

The service was very slow, unorganized, hard to come by, in addition to the aforementioned rudeness. We had to get our own napkins, utensils, condiments, etc. as wait staff did not deliver, and were nowhere to be seen. The only person that seemed to care was the sweet girl staffing the dessert bar who was very concerned that everyone would get exactly the dessert they wanted. Kudos to her!

The prices for menu items on the regular menu were somewhere between $15 and $20 which meant we paid a premium of $15 to $20 for each person to bring the charge up to $35/person. That would have been acceptable if we had the promised space, bartender, live music, and good service and acceptable food - which we did not!

In addition to this hefty premium on each person (which works out to at least 75%), the diner automatically added a large party service charge onto each bill. Very cheeky and awfully greedy! The credit card machine at checkout also prompted for an additional tip. Some people did not notice the auto added service charge on their bill, and of course the staff at checkout said nothing, so they ended up tipping an additional percentage at check out.

I cannot think of a single reason that I would return to this establishment. If I could give it zero starts I would.

Find another small business to support!