Josh K.
Google
Looking back after a few days I can confidently say this was the worst experience I’ve ever had with a bartender. He manipulated me into burning myself on a flaming cocktail and then laughed in my face about it twice. We were looking at a different two-person drink to finish the night, but the bartender encouraged us to get the volcano one instead. Unlike how he was disinterested in us before and after, he wouldn’t leave us alone when the drink came out. He said we should play rock, paper, scissors for who needs to take the shot. The drink description didn’t say anything about a shot, so I wasn’t even sure what he was talking about at this point. We tried to just say sure, ok, but he wouldn’t pick up the hint, wouldn’t leave, and essentially bullied us into it. Fine, we play and I lose. He gave me a straw and said he’d put out the flame and then I should take the shot underneath. So, I assumed there’s a shot under the green chartreuse float that was lit. I asked my girlfriend if she wanted to split it, but the bartender was not having any of it and insisted I take the whole shot. And he said I should be sure to drink all of it in one go and then some of the regular cocktail. I’m quite a bit past my shots days, but I’m a couple in at this point, so fine. Except my straw didn’t go down far. There was no shot underneath, and it was just the shallow float that’s been on fire that hit my throat. I got to the cold drink as quickly as possible, but my throat was already burned. At this point he admitted it was 151 as I was trying to determine how bad of shape I was now in. There’s no 151 listed for this cocktail. He used 151 instead of green chartreuse. 151 is much stronger and therefore burns much hotter than green chartreuse. Whether this was his plan or not I don’t know. He went back to ignoring us now that he had his fun. I started drinking the cold cocktail to try to soothe my throat and it repeatedly caused me to go into coughing fits. And it actively hurt even when I wasn’t drinking. He finally came back maybe 20 minutes later and I told him it burned my throat. He laughed at me. I told him it’s still hurting, and he laughed in my face again. I was still in pain the rest of the night and then finally mostly better the next morning. I don’t have any other story in my lifetime to compare this to. Despite all the evidence, maybe he wasn’t trying to be malicious, but it was extremely reckless at the very least. Bartenders are obligated to be the more responsible party, not the ones encouraging and almost insisting on an act from someone that they know has been drinking and that is much more dangerous than it appears.
