Mike & Pop's Bistro & Tavern — Restaurant in Town of Tonawanda

Categorically I am not one that ever takes to reviews after a negative experience at an establishment but this one was just too much. I want to additionally preface this with I have grown up in the hospitality field including owning a restaurant and know the struggles a business faces even when everything goes perfectly.

First I'd like to convey that this is a negative review of Adam behind the bar at Mike & Pops not the entire establishment itself. I'm placing this here in hopes of management or ownership seeing it so that they can be aware of the poor performance and unacceptable behavior of one of their employees that they've allegedly had since they opened.

It was 7pm with a full bar but no more than a few bartenders could feasibly handle. My partner and I (both 33 years old) found seats at the bar mid crowd. We had a very normal experience up until it came time to order. We asked some pretty standard and casual questions and were greeted with impatience and what can only be described as aggressive intolerance.

Adam was unceremoniously miserable when tending to us. Whether it was rushing us "are you ready to order yet or what?" or by quite literally yelling "Never come back" and waiving sarcastically at us as we left after only having one beer.

The best part was that there was a group of five 20 something guys in front of us leaving at the same time that thought he was yelling that at them and not us. We heard them mumble something like "what the f*ck was that" as we walked away in the opposite direction.

Simply put, Adam does not have the temperament nor the aptitude to be in the service industry. We'd love to support Mike & Pops in the future and am only posting this here so that ownership is aware of the threat that Adam poses as an "employee before guest" mentality wielding team member.

EDIT as a response:

I'm not certain what you're bartender is saying to you to justify his actions, but generally speaking no matter what a customer asks for - the level of aggression he showed both immediately and thereafter is unacceptable. Backing up your staff is perfectly understandable and normal, but you should be aware of the careless and indignant approach he takes with guests, let alone with a full room of them. Thanks for your time and...

We were headed to two different restaurants that one was closed and the other was a back up option. As were we driving we saw Mike and Pops. We parked on the street. Walking up I stopped a family and said “how’s the food” he said “delightful”. I knew this was a good idea.

We waited a moment to get seated and the 4 of us got a booth. Very nice atmosphere.

We were greeted by an older gentleman named Bradley. He was GREAT. We asked about some options and we ended up ordering two starters, stuffed mushrooms and pizza logs. My DIL got a French onion soup.

Apps ordered and oh we got two drinks and waters too.

My son was not impressed by the beer options but did take a sip from his fiancés Froth beer and enjoyed it. I had a mule and it was light (loved it).

We ordered our food.

Apps were AMAZING.

Seasonings were amazing. We all wanted the last bites.

I forgot to ask if the pizza logs were homemade bc they were out of this world.

The mushrooms were just delicious.

Ok on to the food.

FRENCH ONION SOUP WAS THE BEST I EVER HAD. Get it!

Their fries were so seasoned I’ve never had anything like them.

My son loved the chicken sandwich and put the Mac n cheese we ordered on it. 😂

My other son had the steak n the grass and yes I tried almost everything on the table as it just kept getting better.

I had to get my own French onion soup.

We talked to Bradley. Told him it was our first time and he told us about Mike and we assumed he was “Pops” he was not.

He offered desert and we declined and paid our bill.

We talked some more and Mike them SOLD us deserts by showing us the I believe it was French Toast cake. We took ours home. I will tell you they are amazing and made in house.

Ok my take on Mike and Pops, GO! Do not let this place go slow because it was amazing.

I wish I took photos of the food.

Be blessed and continued success to a beautiful spot.

I’m not a critic but this place made me what to...

Unfortunately I knew it would be downhill as soon as Pop walked out the door at 5:00 PM. I know Fridays are busy and I went into the restaurant expecting this. When we got there, I placed my name on the reservation list with 4 adults and 3 children. I figured it would be a long wait but what happened over the course of the next 45 mins was sad and telling.

After the first few tables were seated in 20 minutes, I asked the host what the wait would be. I received a response of, “I don’t like to give wait times as I don’t want to disappoint customers.” Ok sure, I get it I guess. I then asked him if we could take a table that was ready to seat us (was ready when we walked in) and was told it was reserved for a part of 8. Ok, that’s fine, I get it.

Fast forward 20 mins later and the bar back comes up to my party and tells me you are next and I am cleaning your table now. He comes back 2 mins later and says your table is ready, you have 4 right? I say no, we have 4 adults and three kids and he says oh, ok, let me check and I’ll come back and let you know. 15 mins later he still hasn’t come back. Someone from my party confronts the gentlemen and he says, I never said that. She the asked the host and he is confused and says we don’t have a table ready for you, I don’t know why he said that. Meanwhile, the table of 8 is still vacant 50 mins since we placed our name on the list. Also, the other two tables capable of seating 8 people are occupied with 3 and 4 people respectively.

Im very saddened to leave this review as we love Mike and Pops and enjoy going there. But the level of customer service tonight was worse than one would get at McDonald’s. And to top it off, the bartender was very unfriendly and could not be bothered to serve us until repeatedly asking for service. He was busy but his attitude was poor. Very sad as the fish fry’s looked...