Brass Taps: The final draught?   

Bad service coupled with strange policies drives away customers

The Brass Taps is a popular place, and one would have to look far and wide on campus to find someone who hasn’t been to the campus pub at least once. But, following an incident that occured in late March, I was left wondering if its popularity was more due to convenience rather than good service.

The incident in question played out like this: The Ontarion was having a get together for its staff and volunteers. I arrived at 8 p.m. and settled down for a pleasant evening. People were chatting, laughs were echoing, and all was well with the world. I had just moved tables and was engaged in conversation when I heard a voice. I turned around to see a security guard, asking for IDs.

It turns out that The Brass Taps has a policy that requires all customers under the age of 19 to leave at 9 p.m. [on Tuesdays and Thursdays], and since I was a month away from my 19th birthday, I had to bid my friends farewell and head home. Needless to say, I was not pleased and was left with many questions. Perhaps, I thought to myself, they feared underage customers would become so excited by the sight of alcohol being served that a riot would ensue? A more feasible explanation is that they are simply too lazy to check the IDs of people buying alcohol all night. Either way, to have an establishment at the university that discriminates against so many undergraduates is not just troubling, but unacceptable. I sent a letter of complaint to The Brass Taps, describing what had happened and asking for an explanation. About a week later, the assistant manager contacted me (rather graciously as it happens) and informed me that: “As per our policy, we do ask underage patrons to leave at 9 p.m., this policy is in place to protect the safety of our liquor licence and venue.”

She also let me know that a gift card had been set aside for me (presumably only for use before 9 p.m.), and the possibility “to ask management to stay a little later” existed (a fact never communicated to me on the night I was there).

While the response was indeed good public relations, it doesn’t change what happened or the fact that a policy born out of sheer sloth is making young people feel unwelcome in the very environment where they are supposed to feel most comfortable.  Setting this aside, I decided to ask a few people about their experiences at The Brass Taps. The answers I got suggest greater problems rather than a single bad policy. Nicholas Antonacci said: “Once seated, it takes tens of minutes to even get served, let alone order. It once took me 30 minutes from having my table cleared to even receive a bill. I’ve never had a more terrible dining experience than the ones I’ve had at The Brass Taps.” Strong words indeed.

Cat Cooper added: “Their treatment of customers is at best unprofessional. Hospitality is all about customer service, but I think that mentality is absent to a certain degree at Brass Taps.”

Finally, Thomas Sokoloski replied: “Once you pick your seat, it takes 45+ minutes for the server to come over. Overall, really long wait times made me not want to go back.” Although these are just three people, these words seem to be representative of the general sentiment expressed by the many students I spoke to about The Brass Taps. If The Brass Taps truly does care about customer service and providing a pleasant dining experience for everyone who visits, I think they should do a bit of soul searching. They need to ask themselves if the 9 p.m. policy is really worth it. They need to determine how to reduce wait times and improve the effectiveness of their staff. If they don’t, they may find, over time, that as word spreads of their poor service, people may simply stop going.

Editor’s Note: The Brass Taps is 19+ only on Tuesdays and Thursdays after 9 p.m. Patrons can also request to stay longer.