American Bartenders School

Wonderful professors, very informative. I highly recommend this school.
You can always come back to refresh your bartemding skills.

Wow — I’m so shocked by the negative reviews! This place is amazing. I came in — I was brought by a friend who just graduated from the program. They got me in & worked around my schedule without a problem. The lady is the sweetest. Lovely to talk to. I start in June because I have a hectic schedule at the time but the school seems really on top of their game. They will find you a job at a safe, nice place in the city. Not some hole in the wall. I’m so excited to start the program I can hardly wait. They are so sweet & easy to work with! Ready to knock this out of the park!

Wow Joe. So you’re going to stoop as low as to post my personal information on a public forum? Surely you must be aware that is in violation of our contract. Perhaps you should remove my personal information before further action is taken against you and the school.

Great with the groupon for those willing to Learn and ask questions. Lou was fantastic and really helpful. Great experience!

I wish I could give this 0 stars. I graduated in ’13, January. Anthony (the crook) signed me up. Amongst talking to my fellow classmates in the 2 week bartending course… it was discovered that we all paid different prices even though we signed up at the same time. I paid about $ 700. Another girl played about $ 500, another $ 800! The whole job placement thing is a scam. That job placement website is merely job listings that were copied and pasted from Craig’s list. Call the numbers provided and they have NO IDEA who American bartenders school is. The only good thing is you actually do become certified. Wish I would have attended another school that is more honest and cost less money. If you really want to be certified, PLEASE LOOK INTO ANOTHER SCHOOL!

I’ve graduated from American Bartenders School in March of 2013 and I am grateful that I enrolled in this school. I learned a great deal through my professor, Joe. He has been a bartender for many years and he speaks about his own personal job experiences as well. He also taught us many interesting ways to remember the ingredients in the drinks. He makes the class fun and enjoyable. I also like that the director, Joe Bruno is always available at the office. He always ask how we (the students) are doing and if we need any advice. He is approachable and gives wonderful advice. I have worked on many private events because I graduated from this school. Their job placement recruiter, Lisa is always so helpful and gets us all job placements and private events. I even got a chance to work a few days at the Wine & Food Festival Event. Now you don’t get that with other schools!
I don’t understand why there are so many bad and untrue reviews below. I would like to address a few, taking the bootcamp course in bartending and mixology is only an introduction to bartending. In order to be certified, you need to take the whole course so sign up for the right course and you won’t be disappointed. I had signed up for the bootcamp course first and then decided to continue my courses so I can be certified.
No bartending school uses real alcohol. They are all colored water. Are you there for the course or are you there to hope that you can get a few free cocktails? If you do find a school that uses real alcohol, please let me know cos i would like to see that. Because of this, the Unilocaler gave this school a bad review? That’s not right and fair at all.
I want to thank all the staff at the school. I had an awesome time and so grateful my certification had led me to bigger and better things in life with bartending.
Thank you all again, Joe, Joe B. and Lisa! Keep up the outstanding work and I will definitely continue to refer my friends there.
Mimi

I enroll to this program and pay in full but emergency situation happen so I need to cancel my program, based on the contract its only going to take 45 days to get your money back, but it’s been more than three months and still don’t get anything, I stop by at there office asking for updates and up to now they say they are still working on it. I’ve been into a lot of troubles because of this delays, and the only thing they tell me is to just go back to the program and I say, I will but not now, I just need my money and after I get back on my feet, I will enroll again. I’ve been waiting for too long, I don’t know if they are doing anything about it, but I’m starting to get dissatisfied.

I didn’t want it to be true, but yes I agree with my fellow Unilocalers. Don’t waste your money here, I got my deal from living social for a 16 hour bartending course that cost $ 98.00. When I bought my deal, there wasn’t any reviews in Unilocal and when I checked the website it looked promising. They have testimonials of people who took the course and supposedly became bartenders with the help of their job placement.
You will use water to make your so called «drinks», the instructor told us stories of what he encountered as a bartender and how to talk to customers. He then goes into «making drinks», the place is set up like a bar with different bottles, but everything is water. Of course, I understand it would be crazy if everyone is using real alcohol to learn how to make drinks. But everything was water and dye. Not even some for example to learn how to make a mojito and how to use the muddler or how to make a layered drink to show the colors and not mix it all up. After he goes through parts of the booklet that’s given to us in the beginning of the class, the students all go behind the counter and you learn how to pour an ounce in a shot glass which is basically 4 counts. You can learn how to do this by simply buying yourself a bottle and pouring it in a shot glass. At least, you actually have real alcohol in it instead of water. Not to mention that it cost less than $ 98 for a bottle of alcohol and a shot glass.
Also, there is no job placement unlike what the deal said when I bought it. I spoke to the instructor whose name is supposedly Luke and he said that the 16 hour class doesn’t include job placement, there is a 40 hour course which would entitle you to use their job placement. Seriously? SCAM. Don’t advertise that your giving job placement when your trying to sell your deal then take it back once people have bought it.

AVOID the 2 hour Bartending & Mixology class/​bootcamp — total waste of your time and money, sheer RIP-​OFF.
Suggestions to the course co-​ordinators:
— Stop this course its a dishonest way to make money.
— If not re-​design it, 2 hour mixology course should be a focused and concentrated one wherein after the course the students should feel that they actually made atleast a couple of cool mix drinks and should be excited about going back to home and wanna try them again and that too with friends.

— I agree one can’t have real alcohol for the entire course, however after the students have practiced, the final half hour or 45 mins should be making some basic real cocktails like Margarita, Martini or any other mixed drinks with real alcohols which one can actually taste. This would help all to understand the flavors, how flavors are different when drinks are stirred vs shaken. Some basic muddling should be incorporated.
There is no way one is gonna learn with colored water filled in real alcohol bottles when one can’t taste.
The instructor David is a cool guy and surely must be an experienced bartender however the course is an utter disaster. When you walk-​in they hand you a 20-​page small book which has some basic info about bar-​tending tools/​equipment, brief description about alcohols and quite a bit of cocktail recipes — all that stuff is probably a copy paste from some mixology book or blog.
David showed how to pour 1oz of alcohol by counting from 1 to 4 in a 1oz shot glass — that is the only thing you might learn which to me as a casual. An hour where he just keep very briefly about quite a few alcohols from vodkas to whiskies to amarettos etc. Mixes a couple of drinks. The 2^nd hour is where you pair up with someone and just keep doing whatever hell you want behind the bar.
Verdict — Super pissed with the way the class is conducted. Before registering call up and ask if they have changed the way the class is conducted, if not save money and time — there are videos available online, get a good mixology book and do it yourselves at home.

First, I’ll say the instructor was great. Second, the «we didn’t use real alcohol» complaints by other users is silly. I don’t get why anyone would think you’d be learning (making a mess and lots of mistakes) with real alcohol during ANY of the 12 – 40 hr courses. Liquor is expensive, if you’re going to be truly learning how to mix the same drink a few times with all the various fancy spirits and liquors a true bar would have… who is drinking all these drinks your making? You cannot learn while drunk, so it’s kind of silly to think they’d be using real alcohol. We’d be tossing buckets of alcohol into the sinks. Not realistic if you’re looking to LEARN to bartend for a job. I can see how you might like a 2-​hour course to include real liquor, perhaps ABS should consider this.
I took the 12-​hour course recently over a weekend. I was disappointed. There were far too many people. But also, the course is a bit dated. They MUST update there «glassware». They don’t have a standard cocktail/​martini glass. How is this possible? I order cosmos, martinis, lemon drops all over the city, I’ve never received the small 2oz cocktail glasses used in this course. So the measurements suggested by the manuals AND instructor make little sense in the real world. 1.5oz of vodka and a dash of dry vermouth will NOT make a full martini for anyone. I have pretty standard martini glasses at home and tested this. It came to ¹⁄₃ of the martini glass — I’ve never been served a drink that way at a bar and would probably be laughed at if I served one like this as a bartender. Also, at the rates that are charged, they should replenish their fake garnishes. Really.
Also, it’s about learning on the job. This is a good way to learn basics of pouring, classic drink recipes (though this too needs updating), shaking v. stirring and how to set up your bar station. Otherwise, everything else is learned on the job like the size of drinks for their glasses, etc.
I would suggest adding POS computer system to the course to make it more real world today.

4÷23÷12
Groupon deal «all about beer» for two hours was nothing more than a guy reading off a note pad about the history of beer. Only a 4oz of Heineken was served at the end. The class was not even 2 hours long. A waste of time and not worth the money.

Complete poop!
Sloppy!, the main guy is a hack who sets you up and steals yours $.
I heard ABC bar tending was 10 times better but is best to go inside the buildings first and ask to watch a class or something and see how they do it then decide if you want to fork over your $ but this one is still too over priced for the services they provide for sure!

I attended the two hour Bartending & Mixology Class. I hate to write negative reviews, but one would learn just as much simply by pulling a chair up to an empty bar and striking a conversation with the bartender. Then pay your bartender for your drinks — probably the same amount you would have paid for this course.
Two notes:
1) You’re mixing colored water, not alcohol. I didn’t come to class expecting to drink, but some people do/​did, as evident by the other reviews below me. The school should make this fact known to prevent consumer disappointment.
2) We practiced mixing 5 mock-​tails. Of course, since it was all water, I have absolutely no idea if they were palatable. I ended up going to a speakeasy after class because I was craving a drink after being around so much water for 2 hours.
Two hours is not a sufficient amount of time, and I felt that much of the course was wasted waiting for my fellow group members to practice perfecting their 1oz pour. (it’s simply a 4second count… if you can you count and you can hold a bottle, then you can learn this trick in 5 minutes.). This class could be improved by focusing more on the characteristics/​history of the spirits in each drink (what is a scotch, what is vodka, etc) and even why certain drinks are served in specific glassware.

I was torn about giving this 2 or 3 stars. I’ve been to this place twice. The first time was for a bartending bootcamp. It was an okay experience. The teacher, Dave, is a professional bartender and had a wealth of information. But the class was overly packed and there wasn’t enough equipment to share when it came time to practice the pouring and mixing techniques. I came through a Bloomspot deal and clearly they oversold the deal as there were way too many people there. I wouldn’t recommend that experience/​class to any of my friends, I’m sure there are better places to get an intro to bartending or mixology class.
The second time I went was for a wine class from Groupon, — which for some reason I thought would include ‘tasting’ but that was not part of the class. It was just a lecture about wine basics, different types of wine, how it’s made, how to buy it, how to drink it. Once again it was Dave that led the class. I like Dave a lot, he is very knowledgeable, funny and I would have stuck around to pick his brain on stuff. He’s the reason I was torn about giving this place 2 or 3 stars, I’d give an extra star for Dave’s expertise. But overall, having gone twice for two different classes, I would say that I’ve gone to other classes that were better.

When I purchased my LivingSocial coupon for the 2 hour Bartending & Mixology class, I certainly didn’t think I’d be purchasing a class for mixing colored water. Reading the description on the coupon (I copy and pasted it below so there’s no confusion), the language is pretty misleading. I mean, how could you «boost your alcohol acumen» when there’s no alcohol involved? There is also nowhere on the coupon that states this is a non-​alcoholic bartending course. Are we wrong to assume? Also, how can you know if you’re mixing correctly if you cannot taste the product? Very confused.
Although obviously I feel duped and mislead, I did see some value in the course. I learned quite a lot about alcohol labeling, mixology history, types of glasses, types of alcohol and some tips on mixing drinks. All of that was really helpful and I am glad to take that knowledge away. Also, the instructor was extremely engaging and seemed to really know what she was talking about. I am sorry I didn’t get her name but she taught the class on Saturday May 19^th.
What I did NOT find cool at all was the horrid condition of the facilities. Numerous bar stools were ripped/​broken, the ice machine made a tremenous clanging sound every few minutes, and the bar glasses were absolutely filthy. Not to mention it was HOT HOT HOT in that room. They need to do a much better job of cleaning up the place before a class. I did not feel comfortable «practicing» in this environment since every single glass, bottle and nozzle was disgustingly dirty. They should give out Purell at the end of class.
All in all, super disappointed that it wasn’t as advertised and was also super dirty, but I can say that I actually did learn some basics (though I didn’t really do too much mixing).
*************
Copy and paste of the LivingSocial description:
To up your coolness, you bartended your buddy’s bash; however, between raiding his zen garden when drinks were ordered on the rocks and sprinting to the hardware store to get someone a screwdriver, you clearly demonstrated cocktail clumsiness. With today’s deal from American Bartenders School in Chelsea, boost your alcohol acumen. Pay $ 29 (regularly $ 99) for a two-​hour bartending boot camp class from the pros, so you can whip up your own fabulous cocktails. Expert mixologists will show you how to set up a bar, serve up basic and fancy libations with speed and style, cut up fruit for garnishes, and even tap a keg. With today’s deal, learn how to sling drinks, use equipment properly, and wow partygoers — without having to drain your wallet.
fine print
Limit one per person, additional as gifts * Class reservations are required; space subject to availability * Merchant cancellation/​re-​scheduling policy of 48 hours applies; voucher subject to forfeiture * All classes must be redeemed by same customer; cannot be shared * Entire value may be used in a single visit * Other conditions apply

Bought this «Wine Education» class from Livingsocial for $ 34 a pop.
Abso-​freakin-​waste of money. I bought two tickets. So for $ 68 I had to sit there for two hours and listen to someone recite from a document. For $ 68.
Let me make this clear: $ 68 to listen to someone read.
The «wine tasting» portion consisted of a thimble full of wine… that’s it.
Here’s my advice: Take that $ 68 and get 3 $ 20 bottles of wine for you and your friend. Then go on YouTube and search for «Wine Education» and drink it while you watch the video.
Better yet, get the wine and rent «Sideways.» Trust me, you’ll enjoy yourself and learn a lot more.

Do not go here! I was young and stupid and signed up for their mixology course, they told me that they have tons of success stories and promised a job placement program that would be available for u anytime u needed assistance getting interviews. They got me one interview at the Howard Johnson’s before they changed their phone number. I went back down to the office thinking it was a fluke and they told me their phone lines caught fire… Wtf?
In between the times that they change their number to the job assistance hotline the man who is supposed to be helping you is asking how much u weigh and what u look like. Says that most bars want a certain look.
This place should be shut down

In NYC for a visit, my friends had bought some groupons for a wine class here. They suggested we take the class with them. It was a good time. Learned some things about wine I didn’t know. I also learned some things I already knew, from being a server for so long. This is a good class if you know nothing about wine, but I guess that’s why it is called wine class for novices. We got to sample a few wines. The instructor was good, she was very patient and took the time to answer many questions because we all had lots of questions.
I would definitely recommend taking this class if you have little to no wine knowledge. I now know the TRUE difference between full, medium and light bodied wines.

Recently took a 16-​hour mixology course here (thanks Groupon for the awesome discount) and had a blast. Dillon, the instructor, was mad cool, had some crazy bartending stories, and was very energetic throughout the entire course.
The school was set up as if we were in a actual bar, with bar chairs, fully stocked bar stations (relax folks, the alcohol wasn’t real, just colored water), ice machine, cash registers and a radio for a simulated nightclub feel.
After we got a tutorial on all the how-​tos of bartending, we were all able to get behind the bar and practice making drinks. The only downfall is I’m not sure how my drinks tasted, but they sure did look pretty. We were even tested on how speed and efficiency. Dillon called out 4 drinks and each of us had to race to see who could finish the fastest! Even though I may never become a bartender, I now know more than I did before. Need a bartendress for your house party, here I come!

An absolute JOKE. Do NOT go here. You will NOT get a job. You will waste $ 900 (that is, if they haven’t raised their rip-​off price) and feel like a complete idiot after you «graduate.»
When applying to this «school,» you will be meet the director in his dismal office with cheap venetian blinds on the windows. He will give you this highly rehearsed pitch and present to you this binder full of letters of appreciation from their «alumni;» they sound like pathetic infomercial advertisements: «Thanks, American Bartending School, for giving me wings and helping me fly.»
After you’ve been «accepted» into the «school,» you’ll spend the next week or two with a retard teacher named Howie who will straight-​up tell you that he’s, «trying to avoid having you guys apply to the bar that I work at so that I’m not embarrassed.»
Oh, really? Grand.
And the owner? Wow. Don’t even get me started. What a snake-​oil salesman. He’ll act all nice and nurturing before you decide to fork over your «tuition.» You’ll never see him during the classes. After you «graduate,» and you realize that all of the bars that are listed on their job-​bulletin aren’t hiring and haven’t been hiring for YEARS, you’ll probably call the «school» to inquire of them their guarantee. Miraculously, the phone will be answered by the MIA owner, who will tell you that they never guaranteed you anything and that your inability to find an occupational placement is all your fault. He might even go as far as to say that it’s because of your appearance.
Anyway, please heed my words: the American Bartending «Academy» (I think somebody that works there once answered the phone with this greeting) is a complete HOAX. Do not waste your hard earned money. You do not need to go to a bartending school to get a job at a restaurant; unfortunately, I learned this the hard way. If your curious and you want to take classes on pouring drinks, try another school. This one is a phony crock.
BYE!