The Richmond Bar — Restaurant in Portland

I believe that I am a fair and well traveled individual. Also having been a bartender for over ten years I was very taken aback by the behavior of the bartender (short-red head) at this establishment.

My friend and I just decided to take a walk and have a drink, and we decided on this bar. I was staying in the neighborhood overnight because I’m a medical travler heading back to California after working six months here in Portland. It was a last minute “goodbye cocktail” … that’s the worst part tbh.

Anyway, our evening was salted by a very “salty bartender” who decided that a three shot minimum for my partner was enough. She basically cut him off -cut off a grown man, a Russian man may I say, that knows how to sit at an establishment and have a drink after work, like a mature adult.

I had just started eating and he asked for another shot and she blatantly said no. She was very uninterested in serving us from the beginning and seemed almost put off by our presence. I’d like to note that my partner has an accent and comes off a bit stronger than most but he’s the most polite and sweet human ever. He said thank you and we were both enjoying a nice evening until we came here.

The atmosphere was pretentious and although a cute bar- I was so disgusted with her behavior and we felt insulated.

This question was asked directly- “should we go to another bar then, if you’re not going to serve us another drink?” Her answer, with a straight face was - “Yes.”

Wow! Lightweight felt like she was saying- “Your kind don’t belong here.” …

Very sad considering I love Portland and its people. Again, I am a fair and just woman, a grown woman that feels strongly about disrespect. And, well this establishment, this person- deserves a review like this. Maybe they will take a better look at how they...

Terrible customer service from a mostly socially inept bar staff. Just a customer service tip for the staff here: You should really treat the customer like they are a guest in your house (ie: be gracious and slightly deferential), not like the customer is a burden or an imposition on your time. We were just made to feel unnecessarily unwelcome from the moment we walked in the door by a pair of grumpy mumbling bar tenders. Then one of the servers argued with us about a late order, instead of apologizing and gracefully correcting the situation. The job of a server is to de-escalate, not escalate any conflict with a customer. This is just customer service 101. Not that the customer is always right, but that they are a guest in your establishment and need to be treated as such. Who wants to get in an argument with their server? It's upsetting for everybody involved. I guess to sum it up: Graceless and socially inept service. It seems to be a pattern here.

BTW, the fries were overcooked and slightly terrible but the vegetarian hand pie was delicious and a good value. Drinks were weak. If you must go here order a beer so you know what you're getting. Keep your expectations low so you won't be...

0/10 service. The bar tender was rude, didn’t know the drinks, tried to demean/embarrass me when I asked if they could make a specific drink (a Corkscrew, not too fancy at all), then proceeded to spend far too long looking up the recipe just to insult me again when they didn’t have one of the ingredients after I had already changed my order to a screwdriver when he pushed back against me asking for the drink in the first place. And the screwdriver he did make was god awful, so either he’s horrible at his job (not knowing cocktails, horrible communication, bad at making one of the easiest drinks possible imo) OR he gave me a bad drink out of spite. Either way it’s bad form. He wasn’t only rude to me, but he was quick to anger with others as well, and given the size of his pupils, irritability, and general twitchiness, I would say he was on something during his shift. The rest of the venue was absolutely lovely and the rest of the staff seemed composed and attentive. I suggest they get someone to replace blondy on busy nights since he can’t take the heat or remain professional...