The Brass Monkey — Restaurant in Zhongshan District

Extremely poor service, mediocre food no vibe.

Just like the other critical reviews have said, avoid this restaurant if you’re looking for a good time, which involves good food backed up by good service.

Was here today on Friday, after the typhoon, around 8:30pm. Place is very sparsely populated, but has an abundance of “waiters.” (in quotes because I don’t think they understand the meaning of waiting on tables)

Let’s see how it went: Waiter (male). I ask him about the beers and order one. 0 enthusiasm to explain anything about the craft beers ( you know, so that your place could earn more money) Beer isn’t cold enough. Strike 1

Table Waitress (the name on the receipt if fake. Her name ends in something like “…ana”. I asked for “chicken quesadillas” and she’s shocked. Asking me to point it out on the menu. Seriously? I also ask for a glass of water, she nods and goes away.

10 minutes later, no water served. Food comes with only a fork. No one bothers to give me a fork till I have to ask for one. Is this how you train your staff? Please demonstrate how you expect patrons to eat that with just a fork. Strike 2

(Kitchen staff seems to have changed about a year ago maybe? Food was way, way better 3-4 years ago. Today the quesadillas were mediocre)

After finishing with this “starter”, I’m sitting there literally looking at the waiters crowded around near the bar for like 15 minutes. They’re more interested in talking amongst themselves rather than coming over and asking if I’d like something more. Strike 3

Eventually after staring at them for like 20 minutes, the table waitress comes over and asks me if I’d like a refill. Doesn’t ask if I’d like to order more food, hand me a food menu. (She does ask me that, after I show her in Chinese, on my phone, that that is your job - how you actually ask patrons )

I explain to her in English and Chinese (on my phone ) about the bad service, and leave.

(Apparently some guy named Johnny was the manager on duty. Wonder what that duty is, exactly. )

So GM Alex (or whoever you are) - this is completely the owners fault and the GM’s fault. The Canadian in you should try and take some classes in hospitality, restaurant service and actually train your employees to demonstrate even a smidgen of customer service next time. It’s obvious from the multitude of complaints, exactly like this, that you don’t care about it. Guess what - you lose money since I didn’t (and won’t in the future) order more food today. Or desserts. Or drinks.

Enjoy your don’t care attitude. People will go elsewhere. It’s sad to see this once god business go down so bad. There was absolutely ZERO effort from the staff to make you feel...

Went there and got the christmas dinner meal set thing. Pretty average for $850 + $200 for 2 drinks which are just bottled beers or house wine (which isnt great). But that's whatever. The issue we had with this place was the manager. At least I assumed she was the manager given the way she was talking to the other staff and her general presence. We had gone outside to smoke and my girlfriend left her bag inside by mistake, so she went in to get it and decided to pay for our tab while she was in there. When she went to pay, the manager was like: "Why didn't you get your boyfriend to pay?" to which my girlfriend replied, oh I usually pay by card and then he gives me cash later. This is how we usually pay for meals as it's much easier for the wait staff to process a single card payment rather than splitting the bill and doing 1 card and 1 cash payment. To this, the manager replied "Oh I can wait if you wanna go out and make him pay for you."

To be honest I found this pretty rude, and frankly a little sexist. First of all, mind your own business when someone is just trying to pay for their meal. Secondly, even if my girlfriend had been the one paying for the entire tab, what's wrong with that? Do you assume she can't afford it because she is a woman? It was a really strange thing to say.

All the other wait staff were totally fine. Oh also, the individual in question wasn't wearing a mask, while every other staff member was. Not really very cool to ask all patrons and staff to wear a mask and the manager...

Great food, great drinks and most of all... great people. It's the most popular bar in the country. Food, drinks, sports games, happy hour, monkey hour, ladies night, games to play and the list goes on. I've been to million different bars and Brass Monkey is by far the most strategically managed and planned through bar/ restaurant. It's the bar i always love going back to see my good old friend and former colleague Johnny. I was used to work in Brass Monkey long long time ago. Brass Monkey was one of my favorite work places and I had the best time on my life. I did become a pit of a alcoholic and I did get laid off in a bit of a dishonest and selfish manner by the previous manager. But that aside, I'm very grateful for him to give me the opportunity to experience life in this iconic bar. I love this place and the people who work there. I had a chance to meet the current manager and he seemed like a very nice guy. I've been to so many bars and I feel like thanks to the opportunity to work in Brass Monkey and the things that I learned from those people and the company... I could start my bar and be more lively and popular than 99.9% of the bars I've been to in Taiwan. The catchy marketing and sports games, ladies night and the location... That bar is the masterpiece.

It's a shame that the location where I was used to work was discontinued. It was a great place. Now the place is called Fake Drunk or sth.... They seem to...