Alex T.
Yelp
The bartender had harsh cruelty in her eyes. I walked out and won't be walking back in.
I moved to the area, after growing up in the Midwest, and going to college in Wisconsin, last year. While exploring a new area of Brooklyn for me today, I found myself hungry and researched on here and was delighted to find this restaurant, claiming to have Wisconsin-style fried cheese curds. I've not had them in years, used to delight in having them in college, and was happy to walk almost a mile to Someday to try theirs.
When I arrived, I saw a sign instructing to "find a table" and to "order at the bar." I found a table in the back, dropped my bag, and approached the bar. The bartender was wrapping up with a customer's order at the other end of the bar, so I patiently waited. Once she completed with him, she glanced at me, but instead of coming to my end of the bar, she commenced to make a cocktail, and then, to my surprise, took two healthy drinks from it, before approaching me with a scowl covering face.
She only looked at me, meanly, so I asked: "May I order some food?" She nodded, still frowning, so I confirmed: "You have cheese curds, right?"
In response to my question, the bartender looked my face over with an intense and searing cocktail of spite, disgust, and mild confusion. It was as if I had just idiotically asked this bartender (holding a cocktail) "Do you serve alcohol?" She then hatefully said: "They're on the menu, aren't they?!"
I don't know why (hunger, I suppose), but I decided to swallow my dignity and disregard her flat disrespect, and said: "Great. I'll take an order." To this, the bartender looked at me almost like I had just asked for her to surrogate a child for me, rolled her eyes, and asked: "Well, do you have a tab, or what?!"
At this point, realizing that I am a respectable adult who doesn't deserve this treatment, I calmly told her that I would go elsewhere for my food.
I will not be returning to Someday Bar, and that saddens me. I love good food, and I love quirky atmosphere, and this place seemed to have both. However, my first impression was one of discomfort and embarrassment. I felt entirely unwelcome, and silently encouraged to leave.
I know I am just a simple man from the Midwest, but manners do matter. I know that New Yorkers take some amount of pride in being rude and exclusionary, but there is absolutely nothing to be valued in making patrons feel poorly. I had a wonderful Saturday in Brooklyn, and my first visit to Someday could've been the icing on that cake. Instead, its bartender reminded me that I am very far from my home, my people, and the simple kindness that is shown to all hungry customers in midwestern restaurants, often without a second of hesitation.
Please be better.