El Bar — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I used to LOVE coming here but after the one bartender woman who was wearing a backwards hat and had black short hair was extremely rude to my boyfriend I’ll never be coming back. We asked her what beers she recommends because my boyfriend is from Europe and she gave us her recommendation and just opened the beer cans. We gave her money ($50 bill) and she came back and gave us the change. Once she gave us the change she went to help another customer and my boyfriend and I were discussing how much to give her tip and we were waiting for her to come back around so we can hand it to her. Then all of a sudden she comes up to us saying “just so you know here in America you HAVE to tip, I know in Europe you don’t but here you have to” and then she walked away WHILE WE HAD HER TIP IN OUR HANDS ABOUT TO GIVE IT TO HER. I’ve lived in the US my whole life and not once did someone say something like this. My boyfriend is an amazing person and left $10 for her just to be petty. I would’ve given her $1. But cmon man you must be so desperate to beg customers for a tip AFTER JUST OPENING A BEER CAN, not even pouring a beer or making a cocktail. A 4 year old can open a beer can. Tipping culture has gone insane but this was just my last straw. Please find better bartenders. This completely ruined our experience and it’s a shame. From reading the other reviews this place has a reputation of...

Discrimination Warning: This place only accepts US IDs. El Bar used to be my favorite bar in Philly, and I used to be a regular here. Unfortunately, I was here a few nights ago with some friends - one of whom presented her (valid hard copy) passport to the bouncer who was struggling to read it. After staring at it for several minutes confused, he told her she couldn't go in. She calmly asked to speak to a manager which he refused. Another friend of mine asked the bartender to step in, and he further escalated the situation by engaging other patrons to gang up on my friends. Considering that this place exclusively accepts the IDs of only US citizens, I will not return here ever again. I refuse to support establishments with discriminatory ethnocentric policies.

Update: In researching Pennsylvania's Liquor Code, Section 495(a) specifically states that valid foreign passports are acceptable forms of identification to enter a bar (47 P.S. § 4-495(a)). Rejecting someone for a foreign passport violates this standard and is completely...

Like another reviewer wrote, this bar only accepts US IDs. After my partner presented three forms of (valid, government issued) identification (a passport that came with an English translation) from abroad, she was told she was not allowed to enter the bar. They said they only accepted US forms of identification. I found this policy to be extremely ethnocentric and discriminatory, much like the Geno’s Steaks “Speak English” policy. After being a regular patron here for years, I’ll never be returning. Their policy was deeply upsetting, do better.

And an edit after El Bar responded. I did check the liquor laws, like they recommended I do in their comment, and it clearly states that ID from “a foreign country that contains the holder’s photograph” is an acceptable form of ID. And it wouldn’t even make sense that her ID (a foreign passport that included an English translation and her pic) was accepted at every other bar and restaurant we went to in and outside of Philadelphia. So again,...