Owls Club — Restaurant in Tucson

Love the patio. I get they are trying to get their footing back from covid-19 restrictions but we were there on a Sunday night and the female behind the bar was polite and friendly but the male bartender seemed to be quite overwhelmed with the not so very busy Sunday night. First round of drinks were tasty but drinks came out slow seemed like he put priority over other "regulars" who came in after us. But wasn't that big of a deal until I came back in to order another round of drinks and apparently they were out of lemons and limes therfore forfeiting most drinks on a speakeasy feel type bar. I wanted to reorder the El Diablo drink which called for lime which they said they were out of. I asked if they had rose's lime juice to substitute it and was told no. I asked if they'd make the drink without the lime and he said we'd hate it. I then saw there were 2 full unchopped lemons on the cooler and asked if he could swap the lemons for limes and the female said it was up to him. I'd been a bartender for 18 years and if I was ever out of something I'd try to find a solution to keep my customer at my establishment and provide good service. However when I asked if they could utilize a lemon wedge squeeze in place of the lime he looked at me like I was insane for even noticing them and proceeded to let me know he could if I didn't mind waiting TWENTY MINUTES bc he had to squeeze them manually. It was only 10pm on a Sunday the night before Memorial Day. I didn't have it in me to chime in that I'm service industry and it's a shame that I'd even have to do that so I opted not to and told them I'd grab my boyfriend to come back and close the tab. He didn't seem to care. It wasn't that busy. No one sitting inside. Maybe had one person in front of us waiting for their drink to be made. There were approximately 8-10 people sitting outside on the patio. I didn't want to leave. I enjoyed the patio and the music that was playing. Not sure why it would take 20 minutes to substitute a lime for a drink I previously ordered that even on delay took just under 10. But I've been patiently waiting for the Owl Club to reopen AGAIN since the covid-19 shutdown and have never dealt with such a terrible attitude. We politely closed our tab and left to go spend another $100 sown where else and I now have a shorter list of places to choose from to grab a drink. It's a shame. Tucson is not a big city. Our favorite restaurants and bars didn't make it through the lockdowns but I don't know why I felt unwelcome there. Just because the Owl has a great patio to drink on doesn't mean that you can treat customers like this. Bad energy. From what was a former funeral parlor to now my former spot from which I rotated supporting local bars I...

The owls club is an attempt at something really special that I feel like fell flat. I think the most magical thing about it is that the ambiance used to be an old morgue.

The Drinks: from what I understand the cocktails here are pretty good. Everywhere I go I order an old-fashioned to guage how the cocktail game is. It's a reasonably easy drink to make, but it's hard to master. I wanted to try the Owl Club's take on it, and it was pretty bland. Other people I attended with Said that their cocktails were good, maybe it was just my experience. I have a pretty miserable beer selection, but from what I understand if you want beer, this is not the place to go. Also the bartenders seem painfully unenthusiastic.

The food: When I went there wasn't any food. So don't go here thinking you can eat.

The Service: There really isn't any? It just seems like there are two bartenders and the rest is a free for all. More on that at the location section.

The location: This is pretty much the Owls Club's selling point. The location is in a very cool old morgue, but unfortunately it kind of loses that charm when you enter the building. You can tell that this location used to be a building used for something else, but if you weren't explicitly told, I don't think you'd be able to guess it was a morgue (not to say they shouldn't have old medical equipment laying around, but maybe some pictures of the former building and what the different rooms were would be nice.) The seating here doesn't really make any sense, it's kind of just a free-for-all with random tables, pillows on the ground, some old pews, and even a window nook. You can tell it's geared for a much more young crowd, but the atmosphere is extremely dark, awkward, and to me uninviting. This place doesn't really make me want to stay, and almost wants to usher me out the door.

Here is the breakdown:

Drinks: 5/10 Food: N/A Service: N/A Location: 5/10

The sad part is, this place has a ridiculous amount of potential. I could see this being a very very cool spot to go downtown in Tucson, but it just leaves so much to be desired, and it seems that it doesn't even know its own place. The Owls Club is just...

There are some really great bars in Tucson. This is not one of them

I went here thinking it was gonna be a quality whiskey bar and was very disappointed. The inside is drab and boring (very different from the advertisements I saw) and it looks like a hangout for college hipsters.

Spent most of the time being ignored by bartenders. I was finally able to order a drink when one of them broke away from her conversation (with two locals) long enough to barely acknowledge me. Of course, they didn’t start making my drink until 20 minutes later.

It was not worth the wait. The drink was nasty but it was also expensive so I wasn’t gonna waste it. I just took slow sips of it while sitting at the end of the bar, looking at my phone. Even though I tipped 25% and was polite to the staff up until this point, I must not have been leaving fast enough for their liking because, while I was in the bathroom, a bartender threw away my drink (it was half-full and my coat was still on the chair).

Yep. They waited almost half an hour to make my drink and threw it away 30 seconds after I stepped away from the bar.

I tried to get the bartenders’ attention over my drink and they ignored me. I had to shout “hey! Excuse me!” Three times before I was acknowledged. They didn’t even apologize, but they did look extremely annoyed that I dared ask them what happened to my half-full $16 drink. They offered to make me another one but that would’ve meant staying in that awful bar, so I declined and left.

This bar sucks and the people working there seem passive aggressive for no reason. Spend your money...