Penny Lane Pub — Restaurant in Richmond

Updating this review to include the email I’ve sent.

Foremost, thank you for taking customer feedback seriously—it goes a long way!

I want to start by saying that our group has been attending Penny Lane for the past decade, and prior to this experience, we’ve never had any issues. Trivia nights, in particular, have always been a highlight for us!

Recently, our group of 12-15 participated in an Oregon Trail-themed bar crawl focusing on establishments near the Pulse line. We organize several bar crawls a year, including a charitable event for shingles awareness. Over the years, we’ve visited most restaurants and bars in Richmond with large groups and have consistently been welcomed warmly by establishments with the capacity to host us.

Unfortunately, during this visit, our experience at Penny Lane didn’t meet our expectations. Upon entering, the host immediately informed us that we couldn’t stay in the bar area and would need to move outside into the cold, even though there appeared to be plenty of open seats indoors. Our group was open to splitting into smaller groups to make it work, but that didn’t seem to be an option. Outside the heater barely worked and being outside in the cold overall led us to have an unpleasant experience.

Additionally, the bartender’s curt demeanor stood out. Several members of our group felt unwelcome after being snapped at when trying to pay for their drinks, which created an uncomfortable atmosphere.

While I understand that Penny Lane is a dive bar and expectations for service might differ from other establishments, it’s notable that a large majority of your negative reviews cite concerns about rude or inattentive service. This particular visit felt far removed from the hospitality we’ve come to associate with Penny Lane over the years.

As a result, our group ended up staying at Penny Lane for the shortest time during our crawl. Ironically, a higher-end restaurant we visited later proved to be far more accommodating, which surprised many of us.

I wanted to share this feedback in the hopes that it was an isolated incident. We’ve always appreciated the unique atmosphere at Penny Lane and would love to continue supporting it for years to come.

Thank you for taking the time to...

If you’re looking for a miserable group of so called hospitality folks. This is the place for you. Friday evening, Oct 24. Arrived at 5:30 pm. Sat at the end of the long pub bar. Wife and I strike a conversation with Phil the bartender. Nice enough fella. We tell him we are waiting on my brother and his wife. Everything is fine. 7pm. Brother and wife arrive. Phil approaches and tells us that he’s off shift and asks if we’d like to pay our tab and start a new tab with Jesse the “Bartender from New Jersey.” We say, “sure.” Phil gives me the tab, $82.00 and I give Phil a $20 gratuity and thank him for his friendly service. Jesse takes over. Everything is fine. 9pm. The rest of our family arrives. 11 total, including the four of us. That’s when things went south! The alphabet wait staff became hostile towards us. A rather brutish, miserable woman with short pink hair was giving us the stink eye all evening. I had noticed but refused to allow her misery to affect our gathering. Jesse came to me and told us that we would have to go upstairs because our party was “too large to be in the pub.” He brought me the tab and I paid. $132.00 and I gave Jesse a $30 gratuity. We were lead upstairs to this large room with a pool table and a bar. It was packed with people. I immediately suspected that the one bartender upstairs could not handle the capacity. I told our group we going back downstairs. When we got back to the downstairs pub I was approached by the pink haired woman and was told that we couldn’t stay in the pub because the galley had to be clear. I complained to Jesse and told him she was rude. I then told my family we were leaving. We went to the outside patio to finish our cocktails. While outside this garish looking server brought out a sandwich board sign that said “No Large Groups” written in chalk. This sign was clearly intended for us. We left. My overall thoughts are this. If your straight, white, middle age group wants to find a place to go….don't go to Penny lane Pub. The service staff doesn’t like or want you there. I’m not sure who they want there but it...

My husband and I have been wanting to try out this awesome looking pub since it was recommended to us. What a fun, cool find! Or so we thought. I must say - the atmosphere is wonderful. So eclectic and charming. The food was delish. The beer was tasty and cold, just how we like it. But the service - it was awful. I'd say our server acted like she barely had time for us, but she'd have to acknowledge us just once past the point of taking our food and drink order soon after we walked in. We gave her our beer order and our food order and never saw her again. I don't know that she even brought out our food. It was dropped off to us so hastily, and we weren't looking and no one asked "do you have everything you need?" "Would you like another drink?" We went in around 3 or 4, which I'm aware can be an odd time of day (transitioning shifts), but seriously - she didn't check in ONCE. We didn't want more beer, so meh. But here's what bothered me - I plated up our dirty dishes and sat my credit card on the table (the international sign for 'check please'). We were sitting there a good 20 minutes, with our server no where to be found and others who worked there passing us by without a glance. I finally stopped one of the employees passing by taking care of his own stuff. He was friendly and settled us up quickly, but the lack of any type of follow up.... at all... it is enough to keep my husband from going back. I'm willing to give it a second shot because of the food and atmosphere, but I must say - I was so disappointed. We are easy going and dine out a lot and I've never experienced anything quite like this. To be totally forgotten. It's like we were invisible. I know sometimes things fall through. I'm posting this review because I'm hoping it gets through to the restaurant and things can be improved in the future. It's a shame to lose patrons over something so easy to solve. To be there for an hour with no check in after taking our order is ridiculous. There was no server listed on our receipt, it just said "PM Bar". Hope this feedback is heard by whoever...