The Brass Tap — Restaurant in Dallas

I went here Monday, January 17, 2022, at 5 p.m. The inside chairs are almost all high barstools, or high benches along the walls. I plopped down on one of the high benches, and there was little padding, which was disappointing. The small menu’s first 2 pages are drinks, and a separate large menu is all drinks, some beers having 12% alcohol, so it seems their main goal is to sell alcohol. I ordered the flat bread which the menu heralded as "Thick Style" and I pictured deep-dish pizza. It arrived and the crust was about 1/8-inch thick – see photos I uploaded. The bartender later explained "thick" refers to the ingredients, but the toppings weren't very thick either, just cheese and the height created by scattered chopped red peppers and ground beef. I Googled "thick style" to see if I was out of touch, but this term is only used by the Brass Tap chain of about 21 restaurants, not by anyone else. This is misleading. I ordered the "steak" flatbread, but it was more like ground beef, and not much of this, and I got a big piece of gristle. A woman came in with a little boy asking if they had a Kid’s menu – that was a quick exit! The walls have large TV screens. The one in front of me first featured real "fights" - a ballpark brawl, then someone dressed as a white bunny rabbit beating up someone on the street, then animals fighting - not fun to watch. Then not funny home videos of people wiping out in snow. Another screen had someone painting. This was all distracting. The bartender told us it was to attract a younger crowd. The sun was low and shined in our eyes, but then went behind the west building. When the waitress brought her handheld for me to pay, she displayed a tip window with a range of 30%, 25% or 20%, with 30% highlighted. I am pretty sure they calculated this on the after-tax amount. I changed this to 20%, so was made to feel like a cheapskate, despite tipping almost 25% on the pre-tax amount. I pressed that I wanted a "printed receipt," but no one ever brought me a printed receipt showing my tip amount.

They blare noise outside even on cold rainy nights when no one is there, annoying hundreds of apartment residents barely 100 yards away. Much music is bad 1970s stuff.

They support fake reviews here, such that the most recent are often five-star which is unethical. This is a hard-drinking place that does not belong on a city-funded, family-friendly park.

We walked next door to Don Pepe’s, sat on comfy benches at a normal height, with no distracting TV screens, and enjoyed it much more – Don Pepe’s is...

I sincerely hope the owner reads this. Writing negative reviews is not something I enjoy, but I feel compelled to share the issues we encountered. We visited about a week ago on Saturday, and the musty smell was overwhelming. We weren't greeted upon arrival and decided to sit at the bar, which was cluttered with trash and scattered menus. After sitting there for about five minutes without any acknowledgment, we took some menus ourselves. Water was dripping from the ceiling onto us, which was quite unpleasant. The staff's professionalism was lacking; we had to flag someone down just to place our order. They were drinking behind the bar and seemed more interested in socializing than serving customers. I even saw someone who looked like the manager sitting with friends, which was disappointing.

We ordered buffalo cauliflower and fries, but when the food arrived, the bartender placed it far from us instead of serving it directly. The cauliflower was drenched in oil, and the fries came out six minutes later, tasting greasy and unappetizing. Clearly, the oil needed to be replaced. The overall cleanliness and odor of the place were off-putting, which is unfortunate because, with proper management and staff, it has the potential to be a great spot. We left feeling unwell, especially with children running around and a pacifier under my bar chair. The owner should consider making significant changes...

This used to be the MOST fun place to come, relax, unwind, enjoy friends and people having a great time enjoying the food, beer, wine and MOST OF ALL... the FANTASTIC WAITSTAFF. John, Mickey, Corey, everyone. I don't know what choices Brass Tap Corporate has made to get rid of the VERY REASON we have come here since they opened. It's BECAUSE of the people who developed it. Truly a typical, tragic mistake of Corporate to think they can judge. There is NO ONE here anymore. They judged incorrectly. Because they think we don't matter, or that we don't connect with the very people who welcomed us with open arms, welcomed us back and treated us like kings and queens when we returned. Created a menu that satisfied, so we weren't too tipsy to go home. We made FRIENDS here. But someone decided this was inadequate or didn't make enough revenue. So now they got rid of the VERY REASONS WE CAME. John made sure we heard the music we liked, listened to us when we had an issue or talked to us when we just wanted to know what he was up to. Company, good food GREAT wait staff and they MADE SURE we were always happy. That exists NO MORE. It's Friday night and it's utterly dead. The music sucks. And our favorite wait staff is here no more.

WON'T come back.

BAD decisions. Don't know who made it, but BAD decision. RIP to our "favorite neighborhood bar" that John once hoped...