Batson River Brewing & Distilling — Restaurant in Portland

I'm actually astonished at how bad my experience here was.

I arrived at the bar sometime between 3:30 and 4pm. It wasn't terribly busy; I looked around and noticed a lot of empty chairs and tables in the restaurant.

Nonetheless, it took about 10-15 minutes to even be acknowledged at the bar by either of the two bartenders. When I was finally greeted, I told the bartender I'm a photographer who was there to take photos for a social media marketing collaboration, and that I was wondering what the most visually appealing cocktail was. The bartender thought for a moment, then said "give me a second," and proceeded to walk away. I thought maybe she was about to just make the cocktail since I saw her making some, but about 5-10 minutes later she came back up to me and told me she wouldn't be able to get to me for another 20 minutes...for just one drink.

I'm unsure whether she was under the impression that I didn't expect to pay for it and was thus not a priority, but I had my wallet out and was fully expecting to pay. I suppose this was my opportunity to reply with, "Could I just get one of your signature cocktails instead?" rather than agreeing to wait for 20 additional minutes, but instead I began looking up other local businesses. I even noticed she began serving other customers shortly thereafter who had arrived well after me.

I thought maybe I came at a bad time, or maybe they were short-staffed, so I wanted to be understanding. But seeing as how the place was really only half-full with patrons, I didn't think the former was the case, but maybe the latter was.

Regardless, frustrated, I approached the other bartender directly. I asked him if I could just order a drink through him. He said yes, but I'll have to wait. I told him I'd already waited about 20 minutes. He essentially responded with "Too bad" without saying it, by telling me, "Ok, well we're getting busy," as if I wasn't a paying customer expecting standard customer service who had already been waiting an inordinate amount of time for a single drink. He was incredibly cold, dismissive, and rude, and emitted a terribly pretentious attitude as if I was beneath him.

At this point I surrendered and decided to grab my stuff and leave. I let who I believe was the manager know what my experience was like. She was actually understanding and apologetic, thankfully, and she even acknowledged that it wasn't busy when I first arrived. I appreciated her.

I contacted a friend about the experience after I walked out, and she told me she had the exact same experience there a year prior. When I attended a networking event later that night and shared the story with some people there, one person asked me, "Wait, so did you end up getting a drink there?" I said no! He couldn't believe it. Neither could I.

This is by far one of the worst experiences I've ever had at any establishment. If you look through my reviews, they are overwhelmingly positive. I generally receive very good service and encounter very affable people who are eager to serve. In fact, I took my business to a different bar nearby after, where I was greeted and quickly served with enthusiasm and friendliness that was not to be found behind the Batson River bar.

Perhaps this experience isn't emblematic of what is generally experienced here - after all, there are many positive reviews - but nonetheless, I felt compelled to share my story.

I gave two stars here because the atmosphere and holiday decor here really are truly spectacular, which is why I chose Batson River as the place to take photos. It's too bad - they not only lost my business, but they lost an opportunity for additional exposure on multiple social media channels with many thousands of followers, even if they don't necessarily need or want it. Maybe I'll try the location in Kennebunk instead.

UPDATE: Per their instructions (see response below), I emailed Batson River and still have not heard back. Seeing recent reviews of the establishment, it's evident that customer service is sorely...

I want to give this place a 5 star review, but the service for us brought it down a level.

The atmosphere at this place was incredible! Very dark academia style, with big windows letting light in. One girl in our bridal brunch party says it feels like that secret study your not suppose to go into. Absolutely in love. The mock tails and drinks were fantastic (try the apple cider mimosa!). The corn bread and hash browns were amazing. Again, I’m dreaming of the atmosphere here.

The service was something I’d expect at Cracker Barrel, actually that’s insulting I’ve had better service there. We were in for a bridal brunch. It took 45 minutes for our server to take our food order. Every time we’d ask for something, before everyone had a chance to reorder a drink or put in an app, our server would just walk away. She wore a mask, which is totally her right but we couldn’t hear her at all and instead of walking around the table to each person so we could hear her, she just stayed in one spot. She did end up taking our photo and helping with checks which was nice.

The guy delivering her drinks was extremely rude. I’ve never seen anyone shout across a table, waving his hand (she was talking to a friend, catching up) yelling “ma’am ma’am!” With attitude not fit for the service industry (I served for 5 years). This was after 1 attempt to get her attention, and 3 seconds after she didn’t notice. He had that same attitude when at 45 minutes we asked if we could order apps because we couldn’t get our waitresses attention. For a classy place like this, I’d expect the service to match the price tag, atmosphere and high end feel. With a $400+ check...

I was here with a small group on a Saturday night a few weeks ago for dinner. the restaurant was absolutely beautiful, cozy lighting, great mood. However our waitress Ki was impressively rude to the group. one member of the party asked if they served espresso martini. she got a very curt "no" before Ki moved on to the next person without offering a chance to order another drink. I was in the bathroom during this and upon return to the group, approached the bar to order my drink. while there, i asked the bartender if they make espresso martinis to which she answered yes. Ki was behind me and cut into the convo and lied saying she said they don't have an espresso machine. I told the bartender no worries just that someone in our group had tried to order one. shortly after this, Ki handed our table to another server, she never checked in with us to hand us off. she then proceeded to sit at the bar with a man who over the course of the next hour turned around completely in his seat to stare me down. the staring was notable enough and prolonged enough that multiple members of the party took note. the service alone was enough for me to never go back. such a shame given the food and drinks were fantastic and it was a great atmosphere (minus the snotty waitress and aggressive...