Amsterdam Bar & Hall — Restaurant in Saint Paul

I absolutely HATE being the one to do this but this was one of the worst nights of my life. The manager, Brenda, has absolutely NO business working there let alone being a manger. My aunt and I went to see 7 Horse last night (7.16), and it was a complete disaster. A 6’2 drunk, obnoxious guy walks up out of nowhere and stands directly in front of my aunt and another woman who got there at 7pm specifically to be at the very front. After both politely asked him to move, the guy proceeded to yell in my aunts face at which point I went to look for security. Good luck- there is no security. After asking for a manager I went outside to wait for one and calm down. Out walks Brenda. Brenda tells me, who is 100 pounds soaking wet, to go stand out on Wabasha without even ASKING for my side of the story. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. It is obvious these two gentleman were regulars as no grown woman in her right mind would ask ME to stand outside for absolutely ZERO reason. When I confronted her about it on camera she said the reason she didn’t ask them to go wait on Wabasha was because they would have had to pass by me. What??? I was in shock that I was being asked to go outside for literally zero reason. Please- if the owner is reading this-contact me. I have the whole video recording with Brenda and the two other staff members who were admitting this. Fast forward 20 minutes. My aunt and I go to the restroom and guess who just “happens” to walk in as soon as we go in? The guy. I say nothing and walk out when the other co-worker, who is obviously cohorts with Brenda, yelled dramatically at me “IT’S A GENDER NEUTRAL BATHROOM!”. Um, what? First, why would you say anything when I walk out of the bathroom? Second, my aunt’s child (also my best friend) is transgender. Not only did this make me look like a bigot in front of half the entire bar but it was completely unnecessary as it had absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand. The ISSUE is that this guy was being a typical argumentative drunk and I wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. I mean what did she expect me to do- hold his hand while he takes a piss? Anyone with half a mind would not trap themselves in a bathroom with a guy who was just screaming at them. When I tried to explain this, although I was heated and started to raise my voice, I still attempted to walk away. I stopped and looked back over my shoulder and the waitress was laughing with Brenda to which point the server said “I wasn’t laughing about you”. I simply said “Alright…” to which point Brenda said “ALRIGHT YOU CAN LEAVE”. Gladly. She didn’t even realize I was about to excuse myself. I was not even allowed to go back in to let my aunt know what happened. Instead I waited, alone, for my Uber. Luckily my aunt noticed I was missing and found me immediately but my safety was of zero concern to Brenda or any of the staff on multiple accounts after expressing multiple concerns. Brenda is clearly on a power trip and does not know how to handle conflict. My aunt and her friends (who also bought multiple VIP tickets), will never, and I mean NEVER return to this bar again. God forbid something happened to me or my aunt because of her negligence and disgusting behavior. This is a BAR! If you cannot deal with all kinds of situations diplomatically then maybe you are not the right person/people for the job....

Food, beer selection, servers: All great! The owner, Josh, is terrible!!! He is totally sexist, totally a jerk, and totally clueless. Do yourself a huge favor (especially if you're a woman!!!) and never sit at the bar if he's there - he kind of looks like Chris O'Dowd in a really bad, short, and non-cute way.

We (being service industry workers and bar managers) unfortunately sat at the bar on a semi-busy Saturday, and he was losing his cool. I put a $20 bill on the bar and waited a very short time for him to notice me, which was awesome, but then he berated me: "Just shout out what you want! We're busy and can't wait for you!" Really dude? You have 20 people at the bar with full drinks, and you're yelling at me for what reason exactly? Oh, sorry that I was politely waiting for you to notice me. Next time I'll bring in an air horn to get your attention.

Later, he took a drink order from my female friend, who happens to be a bartender. She asked for a specific drink that he didn't know how to make, so she told him the 3 ingredients, and he still got it wrong. When she politely, very very politely, asked him why he made it that way, again he started yelling at her. He accused her of telling him the wrong ingredients, then screamed, "WHAT CAN I DO TO MAKE YOU HAPPY!?!"

For the rest of the night, whenever a woman from our group ordered from him, he found some way to yell or make them feel like crap. I made my husband order for me the rest of the night, since I found out that he's quite cordial to men, and only men. It's hearsay, but I learned that he's also never held a bartending or serving job in his life, and to industry people, that's a huge red flag!

So to summarize: Good food (served until 2am, yay!), good drinks, good servers....

I have been here several times and I can’t say I would recommend, but not because of food, service or atmosphere.

Ultimately, I’m here to see a show so that’s where most of my rating comes from. The biggest issue I have with the venue is the space itself, which is narrow and deep. If you’re going to a show with any crowd at all, you better be up front. Even so, the place gets packed in very tight and it’s hard if not impossible to see as a shorter person (5’4”). There are a handful of seats around the perimeter, which always fill up fast. The sound system is pretty meh as well. End of the day, if I can’t see, there’s nowhere to sit, and the sound isn’t great, it’s simply not a great experience. It kinda just feels like you are stuck feeling uncomfortable in a noisy room staring at a sea of people from the back while others breathe over your shoulder.

The food is passable, which is fine for me really considering that Amsterdam is a music venue. They have an excellent beer selection.

I’ve had nothing but great service as well. Yeah, if you order food at a sold out show, it’s gonna take a while. The food is really tailored more to nibble on, or at most tide yourself over for a bit. If you are hungry for a meal, pregame somewhere or plan to eat after. It is a music venue, after all. 😉

Atmosphere is nice too. The establishment is clean and safe.

But if you’re looking for a good show, maybe...