Graveyard Bar — Restaurant in Salem

The bartenders role in a place like this a strategic one . They set the tone for the night, their demographics and ability to relate to the guests while still maintaining order is critical. I'm a neighborhood local. I frequent this spot. However the male bartender in the evenings doesn't remember me and he is actually quite rude. I have stood at the bar top for up to 20 min while he visited with other patrons. Now it's not the visiting that is the issue. It's the hands not moving in tandem. I'm sure that he could do both if he really tried.

He never acknowledged me. Not visually or verbally. This is another skill set that would be handy for a single bartender running the show. A brief welcome can tide a person over for quite a while in a chaotic moment.

When I ordered he poured my drink with a very bland attitude and charged me double what I have been charged by him in visits prior. A mistake? Maybe.. It just added to my dissatisfaction overall.

I struggled with the decision to either address my missed service standards with him or not. I decided to hold off and see how my next few visits went. I've been back now 4xs and I'm disappointed to report it was not a singular incident. He just plain sucks. He's rude and pretentious. He's disrespectful and has no real sense of urgency when it comes to his style of service. In my opinion he would be best suited keeping the warm plates stocked at the home town buffet.

Maybe he could be coached to success and get with the program but from where I stand located on the paying side of the bar I highly doubt it. He's comfortable enough to allow poor service to be his routine. I say look for...

I got there at like 2:15, just before close I was happy to see that they were still open and that I had 15 minutes that I could play a little poker. But when I walked in the door I didn’t see anyone at the bar a few people were playing pool so having never been there before I ventured into the poker machine room off of which is the smoking area where I wasn’t surprised to find the bartender and I said to her some thing like oh are you the person that works here and she said oh yeah but I am closed we are closing down right now and it was so offputting that instead of asking her for the change I needed for my $50 bill I just played a few minutes with the little five dollar bill that was in my pocket rather than have to ask her for anything at all. Sheesh! if someone has never been to your bar ever it really doesn’t matter what time it is, you probably shouldn’t give the impression like it’s the last place on planet earth that you want to be and that your obligation to facilitate anyone having a good time ends soon so it therefore starts NOW. Many times I have cashed out hundreds of dollars when I play the poker machines up until they close down but not on this night. I didn't want to trouble her for...

Honestly, the staff here has integrity. This is in a place/industry where that's often undervalued if acknowledged or present at all

What am I saying? I lost my wallet twice recently, both times while playing VP (I already know!).. The staff at Graveyard answered my call, told me it was found and they'd keep my billfold safe until I could claim it the next day. Well guess what? Every card and dollar was returned to me - that means a lot.

While I haven't ordered many drinks or ate anything from Graveyard menu, I go in often for great music, decent atmosphere, more than my share of video poker recently, yet it took over 6 months before I wrote these words of appreciation. It took NOT having my wallet returned when I needed it much more (someplace else not graveyard)

Not all my encounters with staff yielded smiles and Cheers type moments. Nobody there knows my name, they're not that glad I came but unlike their neighbors down a few streets (mission), they made me proud to be a patron when they returned my wallet to me.

Thanks guys and gals of the Graveyard. Now what does it take to get an occasional soda while I play pool or gamble a few bucks after a tough day,? Lol it's part of...