It's interesting. We started joining friends of ours here about three weeks ago for trivia night. No complaints on food, drink, atmosphere.
Then tonight came.
There were two servers. Gina is one of them and I know because I commended her on being brand new last week and easily gracing the place with a pleasant attitude and great service. Tonight we got to experience the other server. Not sure of her name, maybe if she came by more than twice the whole night and didn't avoid social interaction with us by texting behind the bar and hugging every group of guys that walked in, we could have gotten her name.
Tonight's service was chock full o' rushing and non attentive service. We received things we didn't order and we didn't receive things that we did. Overall a bumble of service but it WAS trivia night, so I could understand the confusion.
What I couldn't understand was how we were treated after being presented with a bill charging us for things we didn't order. Now lets get down to the nitty gritty. The waitress obviously didn't understand when the order was placed and when we questioned why, she explained her point of view. When our party of six explained that  we did not order "extra toppings" in something that we were billed for each one of, she gave us the best response I have ever heard, "That's not what I heard, so I gave you what you said."
One of the things included was a delightful peice of sausage. Grand. For those of you out there that refrain from eating meat, I am sure you can appreciate why this would be a problem in a dish. Ready for this beauty of a response...
"Well, I have no idea how that peice of sausage got in there, but I didn't charge you the dollar for that."
I have done the food industry. If someone complains that something is not what they ordered, you don't say tough shit its not what I heard you say.
Lets cut to the end of the night. After being treated incredibly rude about the extra charges on the bill, our server took her sweet time to take care of the bill. We paid with a twenty and then had five cards we planned to split the remainder of the bill on. Interestingly enough this situation baffled our server and us too. Below I have included a comparison of this transaction the last two weeks and tonight:
Last two weeks:
"Can you take the cash off first and then split up the remainder of the bills on these cards for the amounts we have written down for you?"
"No problem, I will be right back with your receipts"
Tonight:
"Can you take the cash off first and then split up the remainder of the bills on these cards for the amounts we have written down for you?"
"Oh, um, well I have to charge these two cards alone before I do anything else with the cash or the other two cards."
After 15 minutes of swiping the first two cards...
"Okay here is your receipts and if you just sign those I will take care of the other cards and the cash."
Does anyone sense something weird at this point?
"I don't understand why you can't cash the rest of the bill out while I wait so we can figure our tip out together."
"Well I have to close out the first two transactions before I cash out the rest of the bill"
WHY WAS THIS SO DIFFICULT!?
Honestly, and I don't like to think this way, but it seemed like she waited to see how much I tipped her before she rang up the other three cards so that she could charge gratuity for our party of six if she didn't like what I put. I have never been told I had to sign and tip a receipt before the server can finish tending to the bill, nor have I been singled out in a transaction in a group.
Great. This was all started over about eight dollars worth of extra toppings. However instead of saying, I am sorry I didn't understand or I apologize, or anything to the liking of being kind and courteous, the server flat out said we were wrong because she didn't hear us correctly and then proceeded to be rude to us after the fact.
The cap off for the night was when she told us she was in that, "get everything done so we can go home" mode. Maybe this is her reason for rushing around, paying no attention to customers and being rude. I didn't realize we were keeping her from her life while she was working her job. Losting eight dollars is so much less significant than the $150 this place will not be pulling in from us weekly anymore. I recommended it to my friends and talked about how great it was, and now all I plan to do is make it known that this place should not be frequented and if you go above and beyond the doubt that this story happened, stay far away from the server we had. She is not hard to spot. She has black hair and her name is not Gina.
I think that leaves one person.
If the manager is smart, they would fire her and get a server in there that understands what it is to have a job and earn money, not a rude girl that has "better things to be doing". She's costing the owner money, and that seems highly counterproductive.
Enjoy her shitty attitude.
Review about lunch only, not the bar:
Went here yesterday for lunch out with office friends, they had a good first experience eating here and recommend me to join their second visit. Unfortunately, we were all disappointed with the service.
We had to wait for at least 10 to 15 minutes for the server to come and take orders (the place wasn't even crowded/busy). Luckily it didn't take that long for them to prepare the food. However, the server forgot to write down one of my friend's order. The server tried to make it better by offering my friend to order anything for free. We couldn't afford the extra waiting, so we said no. The server then gave us free drinks, which we appreciate, but what happened was still a big turn-off for us.
I wish that the food will earn them a star, but it was pub food... nothing special. So 2 stars for the overall lunch experience.
I wish I could give this a 3.5 star. Â Not quite a 4 star. Â There are pretty decent happy hour specials on beer and food. Â There are darts and a jukebox, which is a plus, and trivia is a good time on Wednesdays. Â
I feel the one drawback is there isn't much character in this place. Â Nothing to make it special.
I've eaten at Center Square Pub about 8 times.
Pinto & Hobbs (previously at this location) was a total failure that needed to be replaced and I'm happy to report Center Square Pub is doing a good job so far. Â The female owner of Pinto & Hobbs was a bit annoying if you ask me.
Excellent waitstaff attitude and service sitting at the bar. Â I've only been here during happy hour so I can't really report what happens during peak hours. Â But during non-peak hours things are run well.
The bar food is of reasonable quality and the draft beer enjoyable. Â Certainly nothing fancy about the look and feel of the pub but everything works, is clean and the prices during happy hour makes it well worth the money. Â This review may of been different if I was paying full prices and I couldn't get a seat at the bar. Â That brings me to seating. Â
The dinning room area seems very awkward with tables and chairs thrown together. Â Whenever I look over to the dinning area while I'm seated at the bar, the people seated in the dinning area look like monkeys trapped in an elevator. Â I don't ever sit there so it's irrelevant to me. Â But there's no standard "booth" seating at this pub. Â I imagine the space is a multi-use space.
My advice is keep up the good work and keep those quality bar maids. Â They're really good at fast service with the right attitude. And also, keep improving the menu. Â A good kitchen is the key to any pub imo.
"The Deer Hunter"
by Josh K.
I have never been to the Center Square Pub sober. Â Nor have I visited it during daylight hours. Â I don't think I ever will. Â I think it is best visited post-1 AM when you are on your way back to your apartment but aren't quite ready to call it a night just yet. Â What this really means is that it is usually a bad idea and that I should have gone home hours ago.
It's the kind of place where dishing out 10 bucks to take turns with the guys blowing away all walks of life in the animated forests with plastic shotguns is not a good idea, it's a great idea. Â
At Center Squire Pub you are also too inebriated to mind paying 6 dollars for the good micro beers because earlier in the night you did shots of Jameson and need to get that awful taste out of your mouth. Â
I have never had the food here. Â Kitchen is always closed by the time I stumble in. Â
But I have drunk quite a few pints of overpriced craft beers, played a lot of darts, and shot a lot of digital deer.
And I am always out of money walking home.
In the Lark area and thirsty, but don't want to go to one of the bars on Lark? Â Try Center Square! Â They've got a great bar, a couple of dart boards, clean bathrooms, and something going on every day of the week.
So I'm not sure where the name comes from; I suppose "center square" could be the name of the neighborhood, but I've never seen a square there, and it's not particularly central to anything. Â I found myself wondering if the name might actually have more to do with the layout of the place: brightly lit, a strong after-work clientele, and quite clean -- this place is somewhat "square", as in nerdy. Â Which isn't to say that it couldn't be intimate; the patio definitely has an air of intimate, but the kind of intimacy this place has would definitely go well with a pocket protector. Â And I LIKE pocket protectors, mind you.
So anyway, the pub:
The bar's great. Â Good bartenders, big pours, quick service, and enough seating for the size of the place. Â The dartboards are just behind the seats for the bar; not close enough to pose a hazard to those who've sidled up to the trough, but definitely hazardous to those traveling to/from the bathrooms; you often have to walk through someone's game to get to the bathroom.
But speaking of the bathrooms: they're great! Â Spacious, clean, and -- get this! -- the door locks! Â Perhaps this isn't so persistent a problem with women's bathrooms, but I've been in plenty of men's rooms where the door doesn't lock and other dudes waltz right in while I'm pinching a deuce. Â I hate that! Â As soon as that door opens, the works get all bunged-up, and my bathroom experience has been ruined. Â So, locking door = +1.
The music they play isn't my favorite, and on the weekends it's often live. Â And loud. Â Like, really loud. Â So loud that hardly anyone actually goes into the room where the performers are, which is a complete waste of space. Â Center Square needs to put in a music system in the bar so that they don't have to make one room extremely loud so that the other room can hear it.
Given the proximity of several friends' abodes to this place, and given that it's reliably attended, I'll be going to this pub again; it's a sure bet.
Great selection of beers, and a nice change from the normal Lark destinations. Â The setup inside is nice, and the staff was friendly. Â I found the atmosphere to be a little too quiet -- we were one of the only ones there. Â But hopefully it'll get a nice reputation and business will pick up a bit.
Review Source:A nice little pub with plenty of different beers on tap with food that's decent but not great.
The first thing I will say about this place is that it's cheap. The prices for the food and drink are relatively inexpensive. The prices however, aren't what boosts this establishment from being a run of the mill 3 star dive bar. No, no, what makes it's 4/5 stars is that 1) it's clean, large and open; if you come here for happy hour there will be plenty of space for you and your friends/co-workers 2) they offer a wonderful selection of draft/bottled imports and craft beers. On tap you'll find the usual Coors and Bud light but also Franziskaner (Germany) Southern Tier (Great American craft brew) and Davidson(small microbrewery from Glens Falls) for example as well as many others(there are 16 beers on tap).
With all of those options on tap, Center Square stops short of being a beer bar and instead takes a turn for Pubville. There is a large menu featuring all your favorites like wings, burgers, nachos, chicken sandwiches, soups, salads etc. The prices are reasonably cheap but I will say after sampling several of the menu items the food is at best only "good". If the same care and thought that was applied creating the beer menu was applied in creating the food in the kitchen...this would be a 5 star pub.
BOTTOM LINE: The best part about this place is the plethora of beer choices on tap and the low prices for just about everything Center Square serves. You won't be impressed by the food but if you try two or three double IPAs...you probably will think it's great.
TIP::If you are living/staying nearby I would check the Center Square website for the nightly&happy hour specials/events.