Stephanie P.
Yelp
MAN, Arthur's Tavern wins the award for absolutely WORST bar I've ever been to in NYC - out of all 5 boroughs. I was born and bred in NYC and I've been to some really awful establishments...thankfully not so much now in my post-21 years, but man. This is a really crappy bar with a disgusting waitress who needs to attend charm school badly. I have a friend who's dog benefited greatly from charm school - I should find out if they take humans because the waitress on staff here on Saturday night, May 7th might be half pit.
So a friend of mine was celebrating her birthday - the big 30 - and we were looking for a bar to have a few drinks at before we went elsewhere for an 11pm reservation she had made. Originally we were going to check out Marie's Crisis Cafe next door but it was packed to capacity (probably by people who knew better than to go to Arthur's) but it was pretty empty in comparison so a group of about 9-10 of us popped in and found some seats. We realized there was a 2 drink minimum there during live music - of which there was none, but regardless we were all pretty much in for at least 2.
The beer selection here is crap and so are the prices. They charge sexy wine bar prices but are a watered down, wannabe looking dive that prides themselves on soooooooo much history. Even Doc Holiday's and Coyote Ugly have more class than this piss poor excuse for a bar.
So most of us in our group waited for a waitress because there was a lady running around looking like she was doing her job. After she walked by a lot of us repeatedly some folks in my group walked up to the bar to buy drinks and essentially, spend money - the waitress yelled at one of my friends for taking too long with a menu, she yelled at the couple in my group for buying drinks from the bar because then she doesn't get tips (HERE'S A TIP LADY, BE FRIENDLY/WELCOMING WHEN PEOPLE ENTER AND POLITELY LET THEM KNOW YOU CAN TAKE THEIR ORDER AND THEN PEOPLE WON'T GO TO THE BAR), as I stood up to get her attention she pushed me. She literally PUT HER HANDS ON ME FOR NO REASON and my response was, "Excuse me?!" hoping it had been a mistake but she got in my face and yelled at me with, "WHY ARE YOU STILL STANDING HERE?!". MAN.
When is was clear that this waitress is an animal, a friend of mine declared he was saving his money for elsewhere. This waitress also grabbed the drinks already purchased by members in our party AND THREW THEM OUT. How dare she be allowed to do that and NOT give them back a refund for at least $20-25 worth of drinks. How I wish I would have had anything - a glass of water even - to pour all over her so she could chill the hell out.
I can't even remember the last time I felt so disrespected. Her pushing me and yelling in my face was borderline assault and she's lucky I'm not the type of person to waste my time pressing charges or something - she's also lucky I was sober or I would have defended myself and had several witnesses that night who could have vouched that I was threatened and it was in self-defense.
Looking through other reviews here it's abundantly clear that there is a common theme and it's this stupid woman. Feel free to see photos of this lumbering ox of a waitress. You don't push customers, you don't take away customer's cocktails and not refund them, you don't act like you're the manager when someone asks you to speak to your boss and you don't treat people like animals when you get paid low hourly wages and the rest of your supplementary income comes from customers like us.
How this woman still had a job is beyond me, but I'll never return to this glorified crap hole or recommend it to anyone. Waaaaaaay too many better places in this neighborhood, don't do it to yourself.