Tonic — Restaurant in Santa Fe

In a nutshell extremely poor customer service.

My visit to tonic was a less then pleasurable experience. When my friends and I arrived we found a seat next to the band. After 15/20 minutes of no one greeting us I took drink orders and walked up to the bar. I tried to place an order but the bartender told me I needed to wait for the waitress. I returned to my seat and my friends and I waited another 10 minutes before a friend flaged her down. I understand ordering from the bar directly could be poor form if done in the restaurant scene but for an average bar with no food I don't see what the problem is. However, if that is how you choose to run your establishment I can respect that. You should however acknowledge your guess even if it's a quick 5 seconds to say "I'll be right with you". Round 2 the waitress needed to be flagged down again.

A friend and I walked to the restroom together the owner/bartender interrupted our conversation to tell us we were not allowed to go to the restroom together. I thought that was strange since girls have been going to the restroom together since before elementary school, but again okay, whatever. I used the restroom while my friend waited. When I came out she was in a different restroom and I waited. When my friend came out her and I stood there and started chatting before returning to our seat. While talking with my friend the owner/bartender and I made eye contact. He saw that we were not in the restroom together but outside the restroom having a conversation. We returned to our seats and preceded with the night. The waitress let us know it would be last call in 10 minutes and asked if we wanted anything. I told her we would look at the menu and let her know. When she returned she asked if we decided on anything. We gave her our order and she told us that the owner/bartender cut us off. I was confused by this, we only had two drinks each in two hours why would we be cut off? When I receiving the bill I took it to the bartender/owner with payment and asked what the problem was. He said I broke the rules by going to the restroom with my friend. He and I had a brief conversation about the details but overall was a waste of my time sense I knew I wasn't planning on giving them any further business. As I'm walking away he yells at me in front of the other guess "You broke the rules and I won't serve you". Ummm ok. I did not respond. I myself am a business owner and understand the need to enforce rules however this was uncalled for and completely unprofessional. Winston...

While the drinks and service and level of cocktail knowledge is fantastic, there is something off-putting about the 6 main bar seating spaces being left “reserved” and empty for more than an hour on a Friday night only for the regular guests to come through.

As someone who enjoys seeing the bar staff work and the conversational element of sitting at a bar with knowledgeable bar staff; it is lost if you are as a guest relegated to only sitting at a side table or back-room seat because you are an out-of-town or irregular guest when 50% or more of the bar top is empty during your visit.

While I enjoyed my time here, the experience of protected “reserved” bar seats does make me hesitate in returning here in my limited time in the future.

The ownership and management needs to critically ask, “are we losing money by not letting newcomers not sit here?” Because, while my partner and I always tip 20% or greater, the artificial protection of the bar area was pretty selfish of the staff.

I get it if a group of 5-10 people reserved the area for a bachelor/bachelorette party, etc. But what we witnessed was clearly not that. Reserve a coupe of seats, sure, but if it’s a slow night and the entire bar is “reserved” for only regulars and not walk-ins. Please, think again.

The large number of people we witnessed being told “no sorry the bar is reserved” go sit in the back while regulars walked in to “hey buddy how are you” for a beer and a shot needs to...

Tonic seems to suffer from a bit of an identity crisis. Unfortunately, the negatives currently outweigh the positives.

First of all, it’s billed as a live jazz bar but it’s completely without live jazz. I’m a full-time professional musician flown in to sing in Santa Fe every summer; I know COVID performance cancellations are a thing of the past. Yet, COVID’s the first reason given for a lack of live shows. Weird. Secondary reasons included that the bands drank too much. Ha!

Even so, good recorded jazz was played at an optimal (low) level, so reading my book was a piece of cake and I didn’t need earplugs.

As a middle-aged itinerant professional musician whose dad’s a renowned jazz drummer, I enjoy visiting and feel very comfortable in jazz-centered haunts, connecting with fellow jazz lovers. Unfortunately, at Tonic, I was denied that experience because you can only sit at the bar if you’re a friend of the owner!

What a weird place!

It feels like it’s run by a crypto-rich jazz fan who’s enacting bizarre rules instead of actually learning how to manage a bar.

Drinks were fine, even if they were tourist city pricey.

I’m conflicted about whether or not I’ll return. The elements that are good are great: pretty room, well-stocked bar, comfortable ambience, and knowledgeable service. But, and it’s a big but, being treated like I have to prove I’m not a problem before being able to sit at the bar is an insult.

Yeah, I probably...