Big no no

I think I’ve heard stories about you, the used guy. Ha ha, are you the one that put midleton very rare into a tiny shot glass and then rammed in a cube of ice with your thumb in front of the head of some vending company. Very experienced i must say. How you doing lamb? I’ve worked there for the past three months on the door, fantastic place. Rocking by the way, making a killing. Should have seen paddy’s. Come on you bitter and twisted people, just cause you can’t make it in the real world don’t go on a website crying about how sad you are and how you got “slaughtered” and hey if you didn’t get paid why didn’t you sort it out. Grow up, you aint cut out for the business. Anyone think different come on up and ask me on the door. I’m there every thurs-saturday.

Some level of maturity might be warranted here. from your post, it is obvious who you are, and while i held no personal grudge toward you while you worked at the restaurant, i feel compelled to now.

i have worked in this industry for years, at various restaurants/bars, starting as a host and busboy working my way up to the barstaff. i have been on the opening staff of more than one restaurant, and have helped these places grow their business. needless to say, i have a good understanding of what it takes to make a restaurant/bar work.

on the flip side, i also understand what it takes to make a place like this fail: specifically, people like you. in all honesty, my first impression of you was that of someone very cocky. however, being new to this restaurant, i decided to give you a chance and even see if the cockiness was in any way warranted. usually when people walk around a restaurant/bar with the attitude you had it means one of two things…either you are *very* experienced and know it, or you have no experience and think you know everything.

unfortunately, for you, you fall into the second category. from the story that i believe to be true about you pouring a top-shelf Middleton Rare (which to this day, i am sure you would not be able to tell me whether it is a scotch, whiskey, or bourbon) into an opaque Jose Cuervo shotglass to my first hand knowledge of you the ‘experienced’ bartender not knowing how to change a keg, i do not believe you have any business having a “preferred shift”…let alone *any* shift.

i too had been relegated to crappy service bar shifts in previous jobs, but i used that experience to hone my skills as an experienced bartender. maybe you should take that as a piece of advice.

if you were still at the bar, you would realize that not only do we have a great staff, that genuinely likes one another, but also that we are all willing to help each other out…especially people with less experience.

this attitude reflects itself outward towards our customers. they see our hard work and appreciate it. this is witnessed by the large number of repeat and regular customers we have. almost ever member of the staff seems to have their own set of consistent customers, and even staff of surrounding restaurants and bars love to come in for a few after their respective shifts.

so, before you cast stones and predict our demise, sit back and ask yourself whether exaggerated experience coupled with a cocky attitude is what you would expect as a customer. unacceptable in my book…

take care…
c

Think your a bit mixed up. I have worked for Tommy doyles for nearly three years now. never been a problem with them. The management are fantastic, bend over backwards for us. I get my pay check every week. i think what they’ve done with the old house of blues is a credit to them. believe me i’ve seen them work the place themselves for the past five months, painting, cleaning, scrubbing dragging out trash. Don’t think anyone can really say that about many other managers or owners.

Listen guys this person is obviously very mixed up, but hey believe who you like. Suits me fine less competition for my hours.
ciao

ahhh, so much banter back and forth….for what? let me preface this by saying that a disgruntled former employee is really one of the sadder things in life. just move on. no one will benefit from your ranting and raving. let people make up their own minds, dont try and do it for them.

yes, i am a current employee of tommy doyles, and yes i have been there from the beginning. i have also had my share of run-ins and disagreements with management and ownership. i’ve put up with a lot of &%$ too. but you know what? who cares?! anyone who has been in this business long enough should know that that is going to happen. sure it sucks to have someone yell at you for no apparent reason. but you deal with it and move on. especially when you know that its worth it in the long run.

if there is one thing that i can say about those who run the joint, is that they are honest. they will give it to you straight no matter what. and that door swings both ways. if you have a problem with something, they’re door is always open. perhaps you should have considered that. peace and mind could have been just a conversation away.

there really isn’t much more for me to say. i love the staff, enjoy my shifts, make money, and get respect. that’s all i could ask for from management, hell as long as “he would be loving” right?

Ok so here’s the thing…I just quit TD’s but honestly, if it weren’t for the management, I would have LOVED to stay! I worked with the best people, so anyone who wants to mouth off, do it about management, don’t knock the staff! The waitresses were hot, the bartenders were f#&*ing hilarious, and everyone worked so damn hard, but yeah, the place is crooked. I don’t know how to describe this place, it’s a lot of fun but too bad the owner’s got his head stuck in his ass…I’ll miss everybody

This is to the nameless Redhead,

As a server at Tommy Doyles I can tell you the management is far from the problem, and although you didn’t have the courage to come out with your name, it is certainly one of two people. I’m quite sure I know who it is. I’m going to assume it’s the waitress that showed up to her last four shifts drunk. Not to mention the fact, the same waitress that took a 5-10 minute phone call upstairs during a saturday night dinner, without notifying a manager, then got double sat and had to have her friggin MANAGER take the drink orders, you were lucky you had a job after that and I told you that. Further, this is the same waitress that was spotted at 7-11 in uniform during a happy hour with at least 4 open checks while the OWNER of the restaurant was in the kitchen bussing glasses and dishes because we were understaffed. I told the manager to fire you on the spot. Fortunately you quit that night. Good riddance. You really made the server who got you the job look real good by your actions, you are all class! After all she’s the one that helped set up the restaurant, sat through dead nights, accepted crap money, and rarely complained, and as far as I heard pumped you up to management to give you a shot. This industry is supposed to be fun, and the one thing I can tell you about the Tommy Doyle’s staff is that we are fun…top to bottom We all have stories we can tell for the rest of our lives, try that at your average run of the mill restaurant. Won’t find a job like it anywhere else. Have fun at Applebees or Legal Sea Foods LeeAnne!!!!

It’s is become apparent that Tommy Doyle’s isn’t for everyone. MESSAGE TO ALL THOSE CONCERNED ABOUT A GREAT HOURLY WAGE: If you don’t like making between 2 and 6 hundred dollars a night behind the bar, you need not apply. Be honest, if you are in our industry, you shouldn’t be worrying about an hourly wage, last time I checked, no bartender or server has EVER paid their rent on their hourly wage, good luck finding that spot! If you don’t want three fun loving, hilarious, managers that listen to your needs and usually accomodate you, you need not apply.
Yeah, we’ll be out of here by July…what gave that away Heff, the $30 cover people were paying on Paddy’s day, or the lines we get down the street every weekend night. (Ask ANY Harvard student where he or she wants to go for drinks, I guarantee you 8 of 10 say Tommy Doyles, my wallet says so anyway! Sucks for you Heff that you didn’t realize that you were getting preferential treatment for all the work you did (All appreciated and accomodated through wages, free food and drink, good laughs and Weekend night Bartending shifts, the holy grail for people in our industry)_…and what was you prior bartending experience Heff? Do you know how long it took me to get a full time Weekend night bar shift? There is this unwritten concept of paying dues in this industry. I and many bartenders slaved behind day shift bars for years, cleaning, scrubbing, learning the craft and when you get the chance, you have to run with it. Doyles gave you your chance and you blew it. But apparently it is Tommy Doyles fault for not giving you every shift you wanted, and their fault you didn’t have the balls to ask the owner for your wages, you had to keep beating around the bush and bitching to us. I hope the temp job is working out for you. You are a good kid swiffer, all the best, it could have been different if you had looked at the big picture.
Alfredo, inept management?! Again couldn’t see the big picture, bitching about training pay, (that you could have gotten) when your help at the opening of the restaurant would have given you the in to a lucrative, money making opportunity, the bartenders here consistently make great dough, and yeah we deal with a lot of jerks, but hey that’s the biz! It just gets me furious when people don’t understand the industry they have chosen.

I am only posting about TD in Newton never been in the other ones, wouldnt attempt to go now. The management here are beyond a joke, been in several sat nites with my buddies one bar tender working thinks he can manage 60 customers plus at once, is grumpy and rude, , turns out hes one of the owners. The day bartender tells us hes so greedy he works the 4 busiest nites of the week with all other staff sharing the other shifts, and he naturally keeps all the tips. It is a nice decorated place, but according to the staff the guy does nothing no cleaning anything and just comes in and rakes in all the money and leaves the bar a mess for the others to clean up.. his excuse \”i was too busy\” u gotta laugh what a shame

I put myself through Berklee working in the restaurant business from everything from barback to waiter to manager. I now play in a Boston cover band that plays TD once a month.

From my perspective, Adam the talent buyer, is straight forward, responsive, a very good engineer and well organized. The staff is helpful, friendly and uniformly solid. We always get paid promptly in full and the place is always packed. The beer is poured correctly, the drinks in the right proportion. The food, for what it is is fine, but I don’t think they are trying for the 4-star menu.

The place is clean from the bathrooms to the cubby holes and back rooms the public doesn’t get to see. From my perch the place is run professionally and the place is packed consistently, so it isn’t by accident. Plus, Winthrop Street has been reduced to a walkway and the nearest parking lot is around the corner, yet there are lines which means it is worth the walk and park.

I can’t speak of what it is to be a bartender there, but usually when a place is screwed up on one level, it permeates throughout all facets of the business, and from my perspective, TD is run well and I imagine that is systemic success and not isolated to the live entertainment portion of the business.

these comments are so funny and it’s obvious it’s a couple employees and 8 (most likely 2 or 3) managers. I have never worked at tommy doyles in Harvard Square; BUT i have bartended in Harvard square (at various places on and off while i was attending Harvard) for 8 years. I have NEVER heard an employee speak highly of the place. Never. The managers need to get a grip and realize that they’re a corporate bar with shit protocol. They are most certainly NOT the preferred Harvard student hang-out. (I would most likely say the burb kids) they don’t even make the top 10 list of Harvard student hang-outs. fuck - that statement is ridiculous……just off the top off my head (places i haven’t worked) shay’s, grendels, john harvards, charlies, bartleys, redline, daedalus, noir bar, shit tommy doyles doesn’t even come up in conversation because what a shit place it is.