The Brass Tap — Restaurant in Baltimore

I've been going here for years...this evening upon my latest visit I was charged an automatic gratuity of 18% as a single person sitting at the bar.

The only notice they have of this policy is on the menu itself and says they charge automatic gratuity for parties of 6+. I asked about this policy. The waiter who charged me said its always been this way...the other waiter I asked told me Automatic Gratuity was a recent change for ALL parties in the last 3-4 months. I was here less than a month ago and I was NOT charged at that time.

I believe that I was selectively charged the automatic gratuity at a specific waitresses discretion (red dyed hair). The only plausible explanations to explain the massive discrepancy in my experiences here in the last month are;

1. this restaurant desperately needs to update its signs and notices to patrons to ensure that patrons are fully informed of their business policies, as well as train its staff to ensure those policies are enforced consistently by all staff because that is not CURRENTLY the case (in my experience), or

2. this restaurant permits waiters to add automatic gratuity to checks without manager approval and at their own discretion depending upon what they think of the patron.

I mentioned my concerns to another waitress and the Assistant General Manager and they seemed to just shrug it off and claim this was the norm while offering to redo my check.

Do better BrassTap: This isn't the first issue with questionable automatic gratuity practices listed in these reviews (see Linda Walker's review). I only kept coming here out of convenience, despite having seen mice on the premises multiple times in the last year because its very convenient to my school. No more. I can handle mice, but discriminatory business practices are where I...

If I could give 0 stars, I would. My friend and I arrived around 11:00-11:15 PM for some drinks and appetizers. It took us some time to be greeted, and when we were, the bartender was incredibly rude and standoffish, as if my friend and I weren't supposed to be there or were somehow inconveniencing them. We were met with a blank stare after we ordered our (very simple) drinks. The bartender walked away, delivered our drinks with watered down ice and no garnishes. My friend asked for a food menu, and the bartender said the kitchen was closed. Fair enough, right? Wrong. We soon noticed hot food in the window and people around us ordering food and coming in for to-go orders. I decided to ask another (more polite) bartender what time the kitchen closed, and he told us it closed at midnight. So not only did our original bartender give us a stank attitude for ordering drinks, she lied to us about the kitchen being closed. Fuming, we decided to sit and finish our drinks. Our bartender did not check in on us once during our visit and instead was focusing on cleaning, even though the bar closed at 2:00 AM. She was slamming mini fridges and other tools and equipment on the bar in front and around us. We also heard her arguing with the manager and refusing to make simple syrup. It seems as though this attitude is an issue of hers and should be addressed immediately. Due to the lack of service, my friend and I decided to leave (we never received our check) and we will not be returning. I am incredibly disappointed in my experience at this...

Stopped In here with my family because my son wanted to try the food here. I was a party of 5 with my children all under 5 by the way. We ordered the pizza because what boy child doesn’t like pizza anyways when the check comes there is an 18% gratuity added and I’m looking for the sign on the wall or at entrance to tell me that this is policy. So I asked the waitress why this was added automatically and she stated that I didn’t have to pay it and that she wanted to make sure that her staff were paid . Now I’m in shock because how do you just demand extra money from people. Point blank the pizza was awesome nice and fresh . I set a 10 min timer to see when my family would be address which the did about 6 mins after my family set down for the second time because we moved from our original seats in the sun room because there was another party in the area having explicit conversation that I didn’t want my kids to be exposed to.i ended up giving the gratuity for the pizza it self not the service . I most likely will probably never return to this establishment. By the way when I paid my check the waitress tried to short me 7$ but thank god I know math. A free dessert should have been given for all the mistakes and service but of course not it was...