O'Byrne's Irish Pub - Whyte Ave — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

my best friend and i have been here a couple times and we’ve always enjoyed ourselves. we’re two short black women so we don’t quite fit this bars general customer base and while we acknowledge this, it’s never been a problem before. in fact quite the opposite. this is until we had the misfortune of being served by probably the worst bartender i’ve ever encountered in my life.

after ordering tequila shots, the bartender told us “not to order tequila if [we] don’t like it” because of the faces we made right after. she then passive aggressively recommended alternative shots. deciding that we were not interested in giving her any more of our money, we told her that we’d come back later. as we were ready to leave the bar she stated “when you come back we’ll find you guys something.. within your price range.” this isn’t quite verbatim but the sentiment remains.

we paid on card, tipped and remained cordial despite the back-to back micro-aggressions (and we definitely never said anything about a budget). we were dressed like everyone else with the only notable feature being that we’re black. i don’t usually play the race card, but you tell me what she meant by that.

the bartender was a chubby white woman with light brown hair, though i didn’t catch her name. i don’t expect your staff to undergo racial sensitivity training but this woman’s racism was blatant. i don’t quite understand what her problem was but i can’t imagine racist bartenders to be exceptional for business. we usually have a lot of fun here so it’s disheartening to have been treated this way especially in such...

Terrible service. Server was pushy on my table to clear bill before we were finished, she shoved the machine in our faces and then didn’t service us 1.5 hours after while we sat at our table. I asked multiple staff members for service or to send us someone who could take our order before the kitchen closed and still NOTHING, mind you, the security guards are still interacting and having small talk with us. I look at the time and its 20 mins to close and I’ve been waiting for so long that the kitchen closed 40 mins ago and the bar almost closed. so there i am sitting at that table for almost 1.5 hours drinkless and foodless. i go up to the bar to talk to a bartender directly and on my way back to my seat, i get chirped by the security for leaving my seat. then i got myself a triple shot drink to make up for the alcohol that should have destroyed my liver 2 hours prior. also, Security is terrible. imagine this: a duo of old creepy drunk men continuously trying to sit with young 18 year old ladies n using gross pick up lines, during a pandemic, security comes up and asks if they want a bigger table instead of assisting them with the unwanted men... tell me why thats happened twice.

I have had decent experiences here as well but a visit has never gone...

Had the distinct pleasure of visiting this establishment during a friend's birthday pub crawl. As the voluntary sober friend I rue having to apologize for my friends being rambunctious and loud, but upon arrival we were seated almost immediately and then waited on by Taya.

Taya mentioned they had only been there for two weeks but was very knowledgeable about the drinks and menu selections, as well as able to suggest modifications for my friends peculiar tastes.

On top of not forgetting a single drink while we were there, they were very professional but still able to engage + accentuate our vibes and jokes. They talked with us when invited to all while still maintaining excellent service for us and the rest of their tables.

The drinks were amazing but unfortunately we didn't eat anything there, modifications were followed to the letter and even improved upon in some cases in...