Then take it OFF THE BOARD!

3 pages in and OP still hasn't told us what restaurant it was ?!?!?

Maybe I should let it go . . .

 

I’m curious as well.

 

I answered, “Just let it go” as well. At this point in my life, it’s just not worth the effort.
In a side note, the BWW by me has a decent craft selection. They have about 30 handles. Unfortunately, about 20 are beverages I would never order (Bud Light, Coors light, Angry Orchard, etc...). But of the remaining 10, they usually have GLBC Dortmunder and a seasonal, a couple of Fat Head’s (Bumbleberry and Head Hunter), Brew Kettle’s White Rajah, a Platform, another couple from NE Ohio, a Founders, a Bells, Lagunitas IPA. Not bad choices for a chain restaurant. I only go there a couple of times a year. My son and his buddies (too young to drink), like to go there and watch sports and sometimes I tag along.

 

Just a bad joke about chain restaurants as symbols of the universal and homogeneous state.

To be more clear, a friend of mine used to make a joke about chain restaurants being great because you can get the same chicken sandwich at pretty much all of them. He called it the universal and homogeneous sandwich. Always made me chuckle.

 

I went to a BWW in CT and was actually surprised at the amount of good beer they had on the menu. It was a while back, so I can't remember any specific beers. It was the restaurant that was closest to the hotel.

 

The board is usually something that's drawn up before the restaurant opens. It does take actual effort and thought to write it all down. Once opened for business, the priorities change - if you're offering a flight of 4 beers then you would need to remove the beer that's no longer available and write in the beer that's replacing it vs just scratching it out. Again, takes time and a conscientious effort. Point is, when you get busy and have a lot of customers and orders to take care of, then this would likely be a low priority, I voted to let it go. As long as my wait person hipped me to what the alternatives were I'd have no problem with this.

Just my measly 2 cents.

 

I voted, let it go and then I usually won't order a beer there.

The worst is at a packed place that may only come to your table once or twice in a 20-30 minute span. Like the 8 person example above. So anymore I make it a point to walk to a bar and look at actual tap handles or ask what's on draft and hope they don't recommend me to the outdated list.

Maybe I'm just cranky. But knowing the wholesale and Homebrew cost of making beer, their markups are already quite extreme. If youR restaurant doesn't give a shit about making money, I shouldn't aid in them being wreckless as a business.

Take a picture of the taps. Post it online. Take a picture of the chalk board. Post it online. I'm surprised how so many places treat beer as something that just sells itself. So many badly run beer bars in America.

Unless I'm wrong about profit margins, there is no reason a waitress shouldn't have a written list of the 8-13 beers they have on tap. And then try to keep tabs as they kicked. That's just doing your job. Yet they inevitably get rewarded regardless.

At some smaller places, they may only have 1-3 draft beers yet more often than not, they have to ask what those are when I ask first? To hell with that. Do your job.

At busier 20-40 tap places, I have a bit more patience. I know some kegs are the smaller 5-6 gal kegs and can kick quite easily. But regular ol chain places that don't seem to know make me stay and drink at home constantly.

 

Yeah, maybe the big ol' greasy burger is why you//me went anyway. People really can get fussy, can't they? I know where to go to not be disappointed. There are a lot of bigger issues than my consumer demands. I'm hard to piss off and I don't stay that way.

 

Kegs kicking are just a fucking fact of bar life. If a bar/restaurant is doing any kind of business, chain or not, the expectation that at least 1 keg will kick during any given shift is, well, expected.

Sure, it's the barbacks job to physically change the keg. But, management should have a list of what's going on next in that spot.

Somebody on duty then has the responsibility of updating the list. If it's a busy night; manager, that's you. You let your staff deal with customers while you deal with bullshit details like this.

If you have a chalkboard, write out the panels ahead of time. Mega-screen, be there to enter the new thing.

This whole take of "oh, they're so busy, they cannot possibly be bothered to actually let their customers know what is available for sale" is complete, total, actual, steaming bullshit.

Don't care how busy it is. Plan ahead to either be prepared or to deal with it on the fly, but, be prepared.

This is the real world, participation trophies are in the rear view mirror. Perform, or change jobs.

 

Absolutely. Takes seconds to at least note which have blown, and that needs to happen quickly in order to manage expectations. Some managers/staff may think that having empty slots on the board is a bad thing, and it would be if too many, but having unavailable beers on your availability list is a bigger problem.

 

I tend to try and not let minor inconveniences like this not ruin my meal tbh. In the grand scheme of things, some of the best beers I have ever tried were because what I initially wanted wasn't at the store/bar. Just gotta try and look at the bright side when life left hooks you in the nads, especially at chain restaurants.

 

Oh man do I feel dumb. I had assumed you were referencing some sort of 'covfefe' related meme I was unware of and instead you're all talking about French Philosophy.

#stupide

 

This has happened to me at a fave bar...lucky for me the tap list was on a wall over a dining table so I just walked up and erased it myself. Sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands.

 

I voted Let it Go as I don’t expect great beers from these places. I rarely go to chain restaurants, but as a musician, I often play at venues with mediocre beer selection. Nevertheless, at these places you can at least find a SA Boston Lager, Fat Tire, Lagunitas IPA; I have no problem sucking these down.

On another note, I am annoyed if a place that advertises themselves as a “craft” beer bar drops the ball on this. One egregious example was when I went to one such place and was excited to see a Doppelbock on the menu. The bartender told me “we just tapped out” OK...no problem if they just tapped out, I just ordered something else. However, the next week I went back and saw the Doppelbock on the menu again. I thought maybe they refilled it. Again I was told they were out. You let a week pass and you still haven’t updated your menu? WTF?

 

Everything has been said already. Twice.
Just let it go.

I will add this bit of wisdom to the conversation.

Chain restaurants have a fairly well developed business model and that includes job descriptions and a chain of command. Employees have a very specific task to complete and they are trained not to deviate from the standard. Managers are even graded on staff training and efficiency. Employees will have a series of question and answer drills all so corporate feels good about their Signature Jim Beam Kentucky Chicken Bits or Goose Island Chocolate Porter Sundae Float or some shit. It is fairly obvious if you just watch the operation.

So...
The server is forbidden from changing a keg. Maybe not even allowed in the cold room. Basically, if the person who is authorized to change the keg is not available, then it ain't happening. If the person who writes the black board is playing grab ass with the waitress then the black board can wait.

For us, as installers, we instruct our clients to implement a policy allowing only trained staff to touch the draft system. If some idiot bartender thinks they can get the beer to pour better they will fuck it up. Happens all the time and we get a call. "OK, who touched the system?" Nobody ever fesses up. It remains a mystery and a $110 service call to vent a keg and turn a friggin' regulator.

All right that's it. I feel better now.

Cheers.

 

We have a local chain here called Chelos and my mom likes to go there so I reluctantly take her. Luckily they usually have Long Trail Limbo on tap which has a 4.08 rating. Most of their beer selection is mediocre tho and is like what you would get at Applebees, 99, etc.

 

Ridiculously unprofessional.
As a person in a customer service industry, I would not myself allow such a thing to happen, nor would I sit on my ass and failed to notify management or the person who could do something about it.
Many workers in customer service are idiots or uncaring jerks. But it's part of the American business as usual mentality of hiring at low wages and getting what you deserve.
That means people with special tastes, such as craft beers, often get screwed.

 

What you described is exactly the kind of scenario that chaps my ass. Waitstaff who tell me that they have "a red, an IPA, a brown, and a stout." Thanks...
Or, when I ask what they have on draft, and the waiter smuggly replies, "Well, what do you like?" As if he's about to blow my mind that they have Sculpin on draft. Just tell me what you have so that I can make a decision.