Michael T.
Yelp
I know my experience was atypical, but no one should ever have this happen to them anywhere, and my hope is ownership takes this seriously.
Regulars have no right to make other paying customers uncomfortable and unsafe, and that's exactly what happened to me earlier this week. A regular at the bar started a conversation with me and when I pointed at a whiskey bottle on the shelf, another regular, who wasn't the bartender but was behind the bar for some reason, immediately got aggressive, posturing and eventually aggressively insisting I leave before "something else happens."
So buyer beware here. Seems generally they are a good time for all, but apparently you may encounter an unsavory element here. I do want to say thank you the bartender who was polite and courteous, not to mention busting his butt to take care of all the guests quickly.
So here's what went down... I had a lot of fun in the old town area last time I was in PHX, so naturally this was the call on this one. We scanned Yelp and found Rusty Spur, and our group of 10 headed over. The door guy was chill, there was a live musician playing guitar and taking requests, and a lively crowd dancing, drinking and having a good time.
I went to the bar and ordered two beers and a nest pour of whiskey for myself and a few colleagues. Bartender hands me the bill and I notice a $2 charge for "AS rocks", so I ask what that's all about and the bartender explained that the owners require him to charge that and watch the security cameras to see if he does, and he's been told he'll be fired if he doesn't put this charge on the bill.
He was nice about how he explained it, so I tipped him on top of this surcharge, and went back to my drink and friends. A few minutes later I was standing next to a regular in the back corner of the bar. He asked me about my conversation with the bartender and I explained it and pointed to the bottle of whiskey on the shelf. The conversation moved on to other small talk from there until this other guy with long dark hair decided to start making aggressive moves from behind the bar, pointing at me and asking the other guy what I was doing. I could hear so I explained, but the next thing I know he's telling me to get out, saying if I don't like it here I don't need to stay, and eventually moving closer to me saying go go get out.
Idk who this dude was or if he had any authority in the situation but I'm not one for confrontation so I just left.
His actions were out of line and cost the business and bartender a bunch of money.
It was bad enough knowing customers are charged a BS surcharge when ordering premium spirits. This guy just pushed it over the edge.
If the owner reads this, fix the problem.