Gertlestones

Get shots. Beer sucks. Car bombs are good.

sadly, this place is no longer even a fun place to take out-of-town guests. as i'm originally from lawton area, it was my hope to bring in out-of-town guests and introduce them to gerts.

we nabbed a table in the main room, as the weather wasn't quite patio weather that night. we were getting settled in, and a female bartender bumped into me. instead of offering an apology or just simply acknowledging it, she shot me a mean face. what a welcome!

we settled in and ordered drinks.

for my first, i had a jack and diet. i went back a little while later and ordered 4 of the shots on special. they were fine, but i gave mine to friends because i didn't realize it had red bull in it, and i can't stand the taste of red bull.

at one point i asked my friend to order a beer for me, on my tab, but the bartender wouldn't let him/said i had to be present. for safety reasons, i can understand this.

i went back up a while later and got a sam adams october fest, small. eventually i went back and got one more sam adams october small.

at this point we were getting ready to leave, so i went to the bar to get my tab. in the course of 4.5-5 hours i'd had 3 drinks.

$72 and some change is what my receipt said when the bartender handed it to me, because i'd given my card to hold a tab, and he'd run it when i asked for my tab.

i took it back to my table and asked my friends if they'd put anything on my tab. they had not, so i went back to discuss with the manager.

at this point, the real disappointment happens. i was treated as if i was lying/trying to get out of my tab.

the manager printed my ticket, and it contained:

1 jack and diet
2 so-co and limes
3 shots of patron
4 shots on special
1 bud light
2 sam adams october fest, small

i quickly pointed out that half the tab was not mine, to which he yelled back at a few other bartenders to try and clarify this.

"your friends must have been putting things on your tab," said the same bartender who had refused to let my friend order a beer and put it on my tab, though i was standing feet away and was clearly in his party.

"whatever, they're so drunk they don't know," mumbled the female bartender who had bumped into me and given me a hateful look.

at this point i was completely appalled at the service and the fact that not only were they taking NO responsibility for the tab, but they were blaming my friends and claiming we were "too drunk to know," which was completely incorrect.

i continued to talk to the manager about my tab, and he was still being very rude and basically giving me the "well, i don't know how this is on your tab, but it is, so sorry."

i said, "you can't just put random things on my tab and expect me to pay it."
he said, "oh, because we do that. do you want this off your tab or not?"

at this point he shot me a cocky smirk as if to threaten me, which is ridiculous because i wasn't being loud, rowdy or hateful toward him in any way, even though i'd not been met with the same respect or consideration. i just wanted my bar tab to reflect things i actually ordered/drank.

a few minutes went by and he printed off a new tab, to which he gave me begrudgingly. i looked it over and said "okay, you took of one of my sam adams. i had two. i want to pay for what i ordered."

he rolled his eyes and said "just pay the tab and go."

so, i ended up paying what i had, minus one sam adams october smalls.

although my bank account was corrected within a few days, the treatment i received, as well as toward my friends, wasn't corrected. in fact, not even an effort was made to do so.

i was in the service industry for many years, and i know that i would NEVER treat a patron the way i was treated. and i've dealt with unruly and hateful patrons.

when i come home from now on, especially if i have friends, i'll most certainly not go to gerts unless things change dramatically.

I love Gerts....especially in Spring and Summer, the patio offers a ton of seating and standing space and also offers a huge bar that you can get a drink at surprisingly quick. However, that being said, the inside of the bar tends to get very crowded, very quickly. I've not had too many issues with fights myself, but have seen them break out very quickly. The staff here is friendly and the environment is great...depending on who you are with. The prices are awesome, and definitely comparable to any other bar in Lawton.