Maggie N.
Google
Finally got to check out Conniption Bar after being a long-time fan of their gin, and unfortunately I was quite disappointed. We came during their holiday pop-up menu time.
We arrived around 4:30pm (group of 5, but 2 people would join later). We were questioned whether we had a reservation because they were pretty packed. No, we didn't (and in fact according to their website's FAQ group of 5 and fewer can't make reservations). The server said they could seat us on the sofas out in the back patio.
Drinks: I have no complaints here. I got a martini, my friends got Hotta chocolata and Poinsettias. They don't have a section for non-alcoholic drinks on the menu - you need to ask the server for the options, which isn't really ideal.
Food: They were out of two carb items we really wanted (Pretzel bites and goat cheese rounds). We came 30 mins after their opening so Idk whether they ran out of ingredients that quickly or never had them to begin with. We got:
- Churro bites: Good, but the chocolate sauce it came with quickly turned into grainy, fudgy chunks after a little time out on the patio.
- White bean dip: Good, but didn't come with enough toasts, and again with the patio the buttered toasts turned kinda stale with "cold" butter feelings.
- Spiced nut: Good and a decent portion
- Deviled eggs: good, but I feel like $8 for four halves is a little steep. Not a big deal.
- Pigs in a blanket
The part I'm least happy with: the service.
- The two sofas we were on aren't big, so when the 5th person of our group came she grabbed a chair nearby. A few minutes later and a server asked us to return that chair because they needed it. We literally had to throw our ideas of personal space away to squeeze ourselves into the two sofas and we're not giants. I'm surprised they don't have a few extra chairs in the corner especially for the patio. And if they couldn't accommodate a group of 5, we wished they had let us know at the beginning so we could find another place.
- The coffee table is way too small for water glasses, our drinks, and snacks. All servers were busy and we had to request several times for used plates/ glasses to be taken away to make room, to order, or to get water refilled.
- Upon paying, we were informed that groups of 5 and larger would have 25% automatic gratuity added in. (1) I don't remember seeing this on the menu, or it wasn't clearly printed. (2) I feel like 25% is steep compared to the typical 20% . (3) Our group of 5 isn't big enough to make a reservation (per the website), but would be "hard enough" to serve to get the 25% gratuity?
Overall, I felt like Conniption tried to squeeze too many tables/ things into their small space and get guests in and out quickly to get more revenue. But this is a place for drinks and relaxing times, not a fast food chain. I'd still buy their gins because those are my favorites, but this visit left a sour note and I don't see myself returning any time soon. Maybe I just came on a bad day? Or maybe the inside booths would get better treatments?