A Bar Above — Restaurant in Colorado

Went here for the Friday night live music and ended up with a mixed experience of enjoyable food and good entertainment undone by unforgettably bad service.

One of the bartenders, Jonathan, felt my tip on our bill didn’t meet his expectations. Rather than address me directly, he yelled out across the bar in a mocking voice how much he “appreciated me”.

Here are facts to put this middle school level behavior in perspective:

He didn’t even take my order! Not for drinks or food and did nothing to assist us in any way.

This is a place where you have to go to the bar to order. There is no table service. You even have to get your own water at a station by the door. Want forks & knives? Go get them yourself next to the water. Nothing unusual, just it’s a do-it-yourself kind of place.

The two drinks ($10 beer & $8 glass of boxed wine - no hate, just looking for a basic drink) we ordered from the other bartender, who was pleasant and who also rang up the food, totaled $18, so a $5 tip felt reasonable. It hardly seems that 27% gratuity to pop a top on a can & 10-seconds of squeezing a button should be considered miserly.

The food, which totaled $85, was actually brought out to the table by yet another pleasant barback, which was again not Jonathan.

After the verbal shout down across the bar, I walked back to my table, enjoyed the food and music and wondered if I had really heard what I thought he had yelled out - that my tip wasn’t enough for the service?

Before I left, I stopped by the bar to make sure I didn’t miss something in translation.

Nope. He felt entitled to more and wasn’t willing to address me directly. Instead, announcing his displeasure to the bar and attempting to embarrass me publicly was his big boy approach.

Does just showing up to work, without actually doing any work, suffice for customer service these days? Is the manager of this bar so desperate for help that indignant bartenders trying to belittle customers is the norm?

As long as Jonathan works at this bar, I will recommend to everyone to stay away. I encourage you to not just go to another bartender as they split tips and the ones that actually do the work deserve better than him as a fellow employee.

If there is an owner to this place that cares, reply to this review and I’ll happily call you and fill in any details you are interested in knowing.

But if you’ve wondered why the rest of your staff is uneasy about Jonathan’s demeanor toward customers, listen to them and cut the bad apples loose before they run off...

Overall nice experience - great live music on a Friday night. Limited menu food options but full bar. I can only speak for the pizza because it’s all I ordered, but it was unfortunately only half cooked? The bottom and top was warm but the inside was strangely cool, colder than room temp. They also make their pepperoni pizza standard with crust, sauce, cheese, pepperoni - but they then add an extra layer of sauce, which was overwhelming for myself and my date so we scraped it off. Ate 3/8 pieces and left the rest. The beers were pleasant. I would come again but not...

Great atmosphere, great staff, and carefully crafted cocktails--this is a terrific new addition to the CB scene. My friend and I were especially impressed by the choice of glassware for each individual cocktail. AND there's live music! On the night we visited, Bill Dowell played guitar and sang some of my fave songs (skewing to Americana but also Elvis Costello and Tom Petty). The menu is limited to sandwiches, salads, and charcuterie but very satisfying. Also lots of beer selections, and wine. Give A Bar...