10/13/09

Staff is miserable

by brickcity

Upon entering the Horse Ass for my first time I had a good vibe and was admiring the English Themed neighborhood bar. I stood at the entrance or lobby area for good bit before I realized I haven't even heard a hello. That is when the obviously disgruntled employees come in to play, the whole ordering food and drink part where they are required to be friendly is certainly not a skill sought by management.

We had a large group on a Monday night and were in good spirits. A little loud at times and a lot of laughs. Never once did the staff ask what was the gathering for or anything that you would expect from a neighborhood bar. We did get evil stares from the barkeeps and the regulars too. Regulars? They regularly keep good money out of any establishment. One happened to scream f*** you to a girl there and this was after he made a sexist remark.

Total lame place. Don't go and waste your time. Hey, unless you do not like tipping, they prefer you don't tip.

• Pros: We left
• Cons: Service and regulars

08/25/09

Never Again

by Oregonian

Cool atmosphere but horrible service! If you don't mind getting an eye roll every time you ask or order something this is the place for you. Majority of the people who work here seem like they hate there job and they are going to punish you for it. Our waitress was rude to us all night and we observed her doing the same to other customers. The employee's were very snotty too. When we left we told them we would not be returning and one of the staff members told us to F*ck off! How's that for service? So we just went down the street to the Triple Nickel where they were happy to give us great and friendly service. Don't waste your time at the Horse Brass. There are plenty of other bars in Portland that know something about service.

• Pros: Atmosphere
• Cons: Worst service ever!!!

08/14/09

A Sad Shadow of its Former Self

by throk

The decline of this once fine establishment is a well know story to many of us in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the original owner who made this pub an institution is no longer able to manage his treasure as closely as he once could. The "stand in" managements' affects can be seen rather graphically in the many recent negative reviews. I will let those speak for themselves.

P.S. After popping my head in and seeing the condition of the kitchen, I do not know if I can ever eat there again. Too bad, they still have the best fish and chips in town.

• Pros: Great International and Local Beer Selection
• Cons: Bottom Tier Staff

04/20/09

I was physically assulted by the wait staff!!!! HORRIBLE!!

by cheese81

I went here as a first timer Friday night for a friend of mines 28th birthday. We wanted to sit down with our friends at the long table they were sitting at, but there were 2 ladies sitting at the end and we were waiting for them to finish.

So, my 3 friends that I brought with me and I, were patiently waiting, and had to stand. It is a bar, right?

A very pretty server with black wavy hair and an arm of tattoos came over to us and told us that we were blocking a high traffic area and that we needed to sit down or move. But she didn't stop there, she rudely continued on, that they were probably at max capacity and should start kicking people out. (not our fault)

Our group apologized and moved to the side as best we could, out of the way. About 5 minutes later, she came up to us again and yelled in my face that we needed to move, sit down, or get out! It is a very noisy bar and the music was loud, so I leaned in to her to tell her that the 2 ladies at our friends table were just paying their tab and we were going to take their seats as soon as they left, when she suddenly reaches out and GRABS MY ARM, PUSHES ME backward and YELLS in my face that I don't need to talk to her like that and if I couldn't find a place to sit then I would need to get the f* out of there!!! I am a 5'1", very petite female. There is absolutely NO WAY I could possibly be threatening to her.

She let go of me and walked away, as I stood there in PURE SHOCK as did my friends who just witnessed the most atrocious spectacle and behavior from a "SERVER" ever.

I didn't want to cause a scene because it was my friends birthday, so I was trying to disregard what had just happened, but my other friend was so mad, she went to speak to a manager. He only agreed with her that the way his server treated a customer was not appropriate and asked if there was anything he could do. She said, "ya, buy our first round of beers." To which he agreed to do, but never did.

About 20 minutes later, we found a different table, not even near where we were before and I was standing next to it, God forbid I ever stand, and the same server that grabbed me and pushed me, passed by and gave another rude and underhanded comment on how "it must be really hard to find a seat."

WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!!?

That was it for me. I will never go back there ever and I will yell from the rooftops about what a HORRIBLE business Horse Brass Pub is. They better get rid of that girl because she is driving business away. You can't work in the service industry if you can't be polite to your customers. I was a server for 5 years and a bartender for 3 and yes, it gets busy sometimes, yes, it not fun sometimes...but you buck up and deal with it. You don't EVER TOUCH SOMEONE! EVER! That girl must live a very sad and lonely life to be taking her anger out on innocent people and I hope she gets the help she needs.

(The person that ended up being our server, who was a male with glasses, was very nice and considerate)

• Pros: Great beer selection!
• Cons: The most horrible waitstaff ever!

02/28/09

Horrible rude service!

by HorseBrassSucks

We haven't been to the Horse Brass in a year due to a bad case of botulism caused by unclean beer lines. 6 out of 8 people in our group had gotten extremely ill - the only 2 people who didn't get sick *only* had bottled cider. All beer drinkers became very ill after 1-2 beers.

We were finally convinced to return as we had heard the place had been cleaned up. While it may have been cleaned, the wait staff was downright rude from the moment we sat down.

Our friends who had arrived earlier commented how rude she had been to them after they arrived (before us), and so did the table next to us! I was a little annoyed with her service, but was willing to let it slide before she began arguing with my husband.

When she realized my husband was only ordering bottled beers, she asked why. He told her it was due to the previous experience, but had heard they were better and wanted to try again as he loved their selection. He then ordered his second beer for the evening, a draft beer (not bottled), as a sign of good faith. She then argued once with him, left, and then came back just to argue again.

I can deal with her disagreeing once with him, but returning only for the sake of disagreeing with a customer is horrible service.

We tried to give it a yet another chance, but we won't bother going back ever again. This was the first time in my life I've ever tipped below 20%.

• Cons: service, unclean beer lines, botulism

02/01/09

English Pub - good beer, horrible service, terrible food.

by AnotherPubber

I have been to this bar numerous times. The beer selection is wonderful.

What's not wonderful are the arrogant staff. As others have noted: it can be difficult to get their attention. When you do they are still often slow, inaccurate and downright rude.

And lets face it, the food here is horrible. I was served a sandwhich with mold on the rye bread once, and suffered through a few other terrible offerings before giving up.

With the smoking ban now in place this bar will have to change. They've lost the attraction they held for many as one of Portlands best cigar and pipe friendly bars.

Lets hope that they replace many of the watiresses and upgrade the menu so that the brilliance of the beer selection can fully shine.

Until then consider Green Dragon just down the street on Belmont (just as many beer selections, no attitude) or if you are craving the English atmposphere The Moon & Sixpence in the hollywood district (the real Brit-expat gathering place). Either is a far better choice for a nice draught or two.

• Pros: beer selection, atmosphere
• Cons: rude wait staff, food quality

01/03/09

Now smoke free so I can enjoy my food!

by MathGeek13

I have been going to the Horse Brass for about 4 years now. As a non-smoker, the atmosphere was always a turn off, but I braved it because of the great food. Now that the New Year has passed, the Horse Brass is thankfully smoke-free. Although there were no active smokers, the place still smells pretty badly of smoke. However, it is now a much more enjoyable experience.

I had breakfast at the Horse Brass for the first time and it was great. The full English breakfast is too large for one person, so I suggest splitting it and possibly supplementing it with extra potatoes and fry bread.

I highly recommend going there for breakfast, lunch or dinner. My favorites are the Fish and Chips, Bangers and Mash, Scotch Egg and the great beer selection. I usually pick a beer from the guest taps, but my favorite standbys are the Chocolate Stout and the Black Cherry Stout. There are many other people who can gush about the great food, but I just want people who may have shied away from the Horse Brass because of the smoke to give it another chance.

• Pros: Great Pub Food
• Cons: Still smoky even after the smoking ban.

12/07/08

Good food, darts, great selection, So-so wait staff.

by exerrex

Been here a few times and for a few of the times the waitstaff has just been plain lame. If you expect a good tip, deliver great service. It's that simple. Food here is fantastic though. Get yourself a scottish egg, you will not be let down. Come here to play darts, the set's they have are decent you might want to bring your own.

• Pros: Darts, Beer Selection, Seating, Food
• Cons: Waitstaff is strike or miss, parton's can be "localish"

12/03/08

Not bad

by kimmer383

The Horse Brass is probably the smokiest bar I've ever been to, but the beer selection is above average (if only they had Leinenkugel- it would be perfect). The food is typical bar food with the Scotch Egg being the standout. The waitress wasn't good or bad- just average, and a little slow at that. The patrons were anywhere from twenty-somethings to drunken men who couldn't keep their pants up.

09/16/08

Great place, but wait staff seem stressed out

by Jimmyjo7

Was at the brass last night and normally have such a great time, but last night there were 2 different wait staff that were un-necessarily rude to our group. I've been a server, I know it can be stressful, but being rude to your guests is going to make those guests not want to come back. We had empty beer glasses on our table for over 30 minutes and decided instead of ordering more we would go somewhere else and couldn't even get our check. If they were slammed I would understand, but it was a monday evening. I'lll keep going to the brass, Ill just hope that their service improves to the level of the rest of the place.

• Pros: Food and drink selection is fantastic.
• Cons: Wait staff