Prices for many products & services tend to vary depending on locale; living in an expensive city, it’s not unusual to see such a price for specialty cocktails. I was recently at a bar that charged $12 for a Manhattan (and the only thing that made it a “specialty” cocktail was the specific top-shelf ingredients they…

They don't HAVE to comp the drink. You don't HAVE to tip. The bartender knew you might find the drink too sweet. It sounds like he expected your response. Yet he didn't warn you nor comp a clearly problem product. I hope you took the $12 out of his tip...

It's weird that the bartender acknowledged it was bad and didn't at least replace it with a better tasting cocktail.

I’d suggest that none of those scenarios apply once the bartender admits he knows it’s not drinkable and it’s a work in progress

Couldn’t be bothered to RTFA, eh?

If the letter writer didn’t like what they ordered, it may or may not have been comped.

Why pay for a second drink that might be just as bad?

Agreed, most of the blame should be on the restaurant for putting out such a lousy drink. That’s where most of my ire is concentrated.

That said, the bartender did himself no favors by constantly remarking, apologizing, and engaging the customer on the lousy drink.  Any reasonable diner would’ve though he was about to…

Well, Salty, losing a customer over a $12 drink ain’t gonna help those profit margins any.

I, for one, would not use a customer as a test subject without asking them first. Nor would I charge.

Well, there’s a restaurant that won’t be around long. They’re not legally required to comp the drink. of course, but if I go to a restaurant and get a poorly-made drink for $12, I’m not going back. Plenty of places around here that will make you a world-class drink for 12 bucks. I certainly don’t need to pay these…

“Can I make you a sample so you can decide if you want to order the full drink.”

She should have at least been offered a replacement drink.  I wouldn’t go back to the place, personally.

Plus margins on booze really ain’t thin. 

If the bartender is aware enough to know what was wrong they really should be either mixing a new drink or comping the off one. Sure I wouldn’t say they’re obligated to do so but it’s just good business sense. It’s one thing if someone orders something new and just doesn’t like it but if the bartender can already…

Weak take out of Salty this time. Bartender should’ve offered a substitution (rather than a straight-up comp) if he knew that this was a weak item on their menu, especially as he kept engaging (and psychologically misleading) the OP.

It strikes me odd that the restaurant didn’t remove the drink form the bill.

TR:DL Bartender knew there had been complaints about the drink, should have given the customer a gentle heads up.

Since the bartender tipped his hand and indicated he knew (or at least suspected) full well the cocktail was on the unpalatable side I think at the very least there should have been an offer of a substitution if you’re going to keep the charge on the bill.

Good grief. The bartender came right out and admitted that he didn’t get it right. Hell yeah, it should have been comped.