P Town Bar — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Not friendly to outsiders

I was in the area temporarily for a few weeks, and tried visiting P town a few times. The only time I had a decent experience was the first day when I met a local and chatted for a few hours after which the bartender got noticeably nicer to me (though to be fair compared the other times I've been there he was pretty chill the whole time). The other 3-4 times I've been there the bartenders have ranged from rude to openly hostile. Deliberately passing me over and making me wait 10+ minutes to be served to attend to locals (when not busy). The underpouring is egregious, though reading the other reviews maybe they do that to everybody. After getting a super weak single I ordered a double (on rocks) that was legitimately less than a single anywhere else I've been. I have traveled a lot throughout the US and across several continents, and I have had experiences where bartenders have been indifferent towards me or suspicious of me, but P town is on a very short list of places where I felt actively unwelcome. Not being a local is the only reason I can think of - I was wearing jeans and a t-shirt which seemed to fit the vibe, I'm friendly, quiet, and polite, and I could see the preferential treatment happening. I gave P town one more try on a Monday night, it was quiet, I went and sat at the bar and watched the bar tender repeatedly attend to everyone else, do other tasks, etc, (and she made eye contact with me a few times so she knew I was there) and after about 10 minutes I finally decided I was done trying to make this place work and got up to leave. As I was leaving, the bartender yelled out "Hey did you need anything?" And I literally just waved and said "No thanks I'm good", to which she screamed across the bar "WELL BYEEEE" in a mocking tone. Seriously unreal, I feel like I'm in some caricature of a locals bar....

I would have given zero stars for this racket... but I guess I'll have to settle for one. The bar tender was great and atmosphere was wasn't half bad... however I had the most disturbing experience with the security on staff. I don't know if he doesn't like gays or perhaps interracial couples, but I seemed to have been the ONLY person of the night to be shaken down and harassed after I was already in the bar and had already ordered a first round of drinks whilst on the second round. You guys should really consider the employment of the security guard with dreadlocks... as he ruined not only my night but the night of those in my party. I even lost a nights sleep over the thought of how horribly he treated me. The experience was down right inhumane and seemed to only be triggered by me sitting calmly and ordering a second round of drinks! A gay bar is meant to be a place of refuge and sanctuary for all LGBTQ+.... maybe it's time that P Town evaluate any gay haters on their staff.

Yes, I am definitely sure that it was this particular bar. If the entire staff is LGBTQ friendly, they have a weird way...

DJ shamed some poor women at Karaoke night!!

Heard great things and was excited to go.

I was talking to this nice couple visiting from out of town. The woman was shy about submitting a song and asked her partner to do it for her. The DJ was really rude to her partner and said the woman 'can do it herself' (which is not great- but fine) but then the DJ chose to SHAME her over the mic. He made an announcement that we were 'all big kids' and that not submitting your own song was 'childish'.

Not upset about the rule, but to make someone feel unwelcome and shaming them seemed unnecessary.

I hope that this a one off incident and that they treat people with more compassion...