I want to be very fair and polite here because I have been somewhat of a regular here for the past year, and I’ve only ever had good/decent experiences up until now. The bartender was very rude to my friends and I. My friend, who was not drunk, went to the bar and asked the bartender for a drink, and he said, “absolutely not,” and walked away. She waited for a minute because she thought he might’ve been joking because she’s been here many times and been served by him many times and she was essentially sober (she had only one drink previously and was clearly fine). She walked back to our table and told us what happened, so when I went up to get another drink, she came with me and very politely asked the bartender why he refused to serve her. He raised his voice at her to the point where my friend sitting at the table by the door heard him. She asked if it was because she hadn’t tipped on her last drink and explained that she was intending to tip him at the end of the night when we were ready to go. He refused to explain and was so rude to her that she left the restaurant in tears. I asked him, again, very politely, to please explain to me what had happened because at this point I was, honestly, just very concerned. He essentially said, “I cut her off, and I don’t need to explain why to you.” I asked a couple who was sitting at the bar when this all happened if they had seen anything that could help me to piece this together and understand the situation, and they told me that he had just told my friend “absolutely not” when she ordered her second drink, and that they were also shocked and confused when it happened because she seemed to be acting perfectly normal from their perspective. I asked to close my tab, and once I had my receipt, I found a bar back and tried to explain the situation to him while my friend was outside crying because this guy literally yelled at her in public, in front of people, for absolutely no reason. The barback wasn’t super helpful and just told me: “if he chooses to cut someone off I can’t do anything about that”. I understand that, but, because nothing was done to remedy the situation, I didn’t leave a tip because I was just so shocked by how poorly we were all treated. I’m really upset and disappointed because this is a go to spot for me and my friends. I’ve been here at least five times within the past four months, and it’s always where I recommend when my friends want to go to Hampden. I like the food, I like the drinks, I like the decor, and I like the music, but I am honestly so shocked and very upset that my friends and I were spoken to that way when none of us were anything but polite and trying to be understanding. I really believe that the bartender acted that way because my friend didn’t tip on her first drink, which is unacceptable to begin with, but even more egregious because she was planning to tip at the end of the night.