ABC Bartending Schools

I did a one week condensed course at ABC with Rob and not only did I learn a ton, but I got a great job the following week! Rob ensures that by the end of his course you will feel confident in your knowledge of mixology and your pouring and other techniques… he also helps with job placements/​recommendations, and from the perspective of someone who has significant experience in the bar and restaurant industry, he coaches students on how to present themselves as strong candidates for the jobs they want. I definitely recommend this school/​course!

Rob does a great job with the classes. To bartend i needed more than academic knowledge, I needed experience. I got that experience at ABC Bartending.
Rob does job placement services included with the classes, and after the first class Rob lines me up to bartend at a wedding. I made $ 250 that night.

*Update*
I would like to take time to thank Rob at abc bartending. He is an amazing instructor! The class is so fun, yet informative. I looked forward to class everyday. When u go in you don’t really know what to expect and of course trying something new you don’t have the most confidence, by day two I knew that bartending is something that I can do and be good at. I never felt overwhelmed, Rob has a way of teaching you in a fun way. I learned 100’s of cocktails, accuracy, and a lot of about the bartending business in general. I cannot wait until I get my first job. Prior to attending ABC I honestly can say I was not prepared like I thought I was. I am so happy I attended and encourage anyone thinking about being a bartender attending as well. It will be ode changing.
Thank you so much Rob
Ps i left my interview packet the last day (I was so excited about passing my test lol) see you Monday :)

Rob is awesome! Classes start all the time, get going!

I took the 2 weeks course with Rob. The class totally goes above and beyond my expectations. Rob is fantastic and hilarious. He always stays after class to help you if you have any questions. He’s, with no doubt, one of those instructors who genuinely love their jobs. His lessons are priceless not only in bartending field but in any other jobs out there. This is a must take class whether you want to be a bartender or just want to know more about liquors.

Rob’s ABC Bartending school helped me become a great bartender and get hired at every job I have applied at thus far. I graduated at the end of April 2014. I just landed a bartending job with benefits, who gets those in this industry?
People like ME, who went to ABC get those kind of jobs! Yes, it’s true!
Rob I can’t even begin to tell you how thankful I am, that I attended your school and met you! You are a rock-​star of a human being-​buddy!
I highly recommend this school! Rob is the best and knows the business more than anyone I have met.
ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC ABC
Huge «air-​punch’ to you Rob!!!
Your best student! LOL… Jk. Well kinda! =)

Hired! At a very nice Sushi bar about 10 minutes away from my place!
I moved to Seattle about a month ago, and have always wanted to take bartending school — I thought, even if I never was an actual bartender, I would learn some useful skills to impress my friends with, or even to make more creative drinks for myself.
From the beginning, the process was easy. Rob responded to my inquiry immediately, and was friendly and talkative over the phone.
I took the «weekend» class — 2 weekends in a row, 10 – 6 Sat/​Sun. I had Rob as my teacher, and you can tell he really knows what he’s doing.
First off, I LOVED the class. I looked forward to going every day. The way he teaches it makes it very easy to remember a large amount of drinks in a small amount of time. The speed exercises made me more confident in my abilities, and were a lot of fun! The other people in the class were also very nice, and overall, we had a lot of fun together.
I passed the final test the first time — all you have to do is pay attention when he’s teaching you, and quiz yourself a bit at home!
Within a DAY of graduating, Rob gave me a shining recommendation to a nice bar that he knew was looking for someone, I went in a few days later for an interview, and was hired on the spot.
All in all — everything was smooth, fun, and I got hired right away.
I would highly recommend this school to anyone!
Thanks Rob!

I took the two week course here and i loved it! i learned so much and still retain what i learned which is quite a bit of things. The way Rob teaches the class it makes it easy to learn a very large amount well, very quickly. If you are interested in bartending and want to get into the industry i would highly recommend coming here!

Hired!!! Starting my first bar tending gig next week, thanks to Rob and Dave for the awesome one weeks worth of fun bar tending training!
Update — made my first drink from scratch & customer LOVED it asking me how I made it. Happy Days! :)

Great school, great experience. I took the 2 week long course in January 2014. Came out of class with a large knowledge of cocktails and bartending techniques. Rob showed us how to pursue a job as a bartender, and used his years of experience in the industry to tailor the class to what managers are looking for.
The school helped me get an interview with a brand new night club in downtown Seattle. With no bartending or even restaurant experience, I was hired out of a very large pool of applicants based on my interview and the recommendation from the school. This obviously won’t happen for everyone, but I’m confident that I have the skills to find a job that I want and demonstrate that I am fully qualified for a bartending position.
I would definitely recommend this school to anyone looking to get into the industry at any level, restaurant, bar, or club. Great investment, and a great payoff

I’ve already bar tended for a couple of years now and I bought a groupon a year ago. I finally joined a class starting last week with hopes of learning more cocktails and to build speed to be a competitive bartender. I took the 32-​hr class option with Rob and he knows his shit. By the end of today (my finals day!) I had invented three new cocktails, kept a speed of 12 cocktails made in 5 minutes or less, and confidence in making cocktails for work. Thank you ABC bartending!

This school is awesome! I got a job offer the first day I started in Montana doing seasonal work! Rob is the best instructor and I could not have made a better decision by attending his classes. I did the 2 week course and I learned so much. Thanks to his intuitive and inventive teaching style, I know over 100 classic cocktails off the top of my head by memory and am always learning more. I highly recommend this course to anyone. Do keep in mind that in order to succeed as a bar tender, you do have to put in the effort yourself to obtain the jobs you want, do not rely on the school to do it for you and then complain that you got nothing out of the experience. I really cannot understand why there is a bad review on this place at all. My only assumption is that people should do their research and not be apathetic about their goals. Your life is what YOU make of it. Thank you so much Rob! I will be going back to the school for my free refresher courses as often as I can! You are awesome!

I bought a 4-​hour mixology class Groupon as a birthday gift for my Dad and had so much fun!
I was a little skeptical at first because I had some challenges getting our session scheduled. I always received a call back from the owner but I’d call when he’d tell me to call back and then wouldn’t get an answer — it took about a dozen calls or so to finally get this set up.
That being said, it was really awesome! No one else ended up joining our class so we had our own private session which was nice. David was our instructor and taught us some really great tips and tricks that I’m excited to practice at home. He worked at a good pace, gave us ample time to practice, pointers when we weren’t getting something right, and then even showed us how to make a couple of our favorite drinks not on the list.
I’d definitely recommend this place and am thinking of coming back to do the full certification.

Great class if you want to learn the basic recipes and techniques. You will have fun and learn a lot very quickly.
While you can’t learn everything from a classroom, this course will surely give you the confidence you need to work in any bar, and it will give you a solid foundation to build from.
Anyone can become a bartender, but this course will get you there faster.

Awesome decision!
At first I was skeptical about going to bartender school because most bartenders that I know, said that it would be a waste of time. I found a deal on Craigslist so I decided to take the accelerated course. From the first moment I walked in it felt like a good choice. Not only do you learn how to make a HUGE amount of drinks, but you learn ways to remember them! The class was very interesting and fun and my instructor Crissy was awesome! Be prepared to take notes and stay involved or you’ll have some problems on the test on the last day.
You get refresher courses for free, for life and thats pretty damn cool too!
I think this course should be required by all bars and if it were then there would be a whole lot better, high caliber bartenders out there!
Whether you’re a vet or newbie, you should take the course. It’s well worth the money.
PS. I’m now the lead bartender at a pretty cool bar and probably wouldn’t have been promoted to this position if I hadn’t taken this course.

I attended the 4 hour fun class with a friend. We got the $ 50 deal, but I would have paid $ 119 for this gladly. Rob took us through setup, supplies, techniques, drinks, and even had amusing stories to help us remember the drink ingredients that had us in stitches. He gave us printouts of recipes and basics to have on hand. I took this class to be able to bar tend for friends events and volunteering, not as a profession, but if I ever want to REALLY learn this stuff, I will be coming back for the full course.
This is a fun thing to do as a couple btw, or with a friend. Rob is a teeny hard to get a hold of, leave a message and he will call you back, and follow up in case your message gets eaten by phone gremlins. He wants to teach you, be patient :)

I bought the Living Social deal for the 4 hour bar tending class. I believe it was normally $ 100. I originally wondered if it was really worth $ 50 but I think it was. It is a class I have to take only once in my life as bar tending is not my profession and I don’t work in the service industry. I definitely learned a lot about making cocktails and other mixed drinks such as chilled shooters and your classic martinis.
The teacher was great. Her name was Adrienne and she was fun, funny, and kept the class interesting. She was obviously very knowledgeable about bar tending and passionate about her job.
Our class had 7 people in it and we made dozens of drinks in the 3 ½ hour class. The class was shorter because the class was smaller and we were able to move through the material a bit quicker than if it was a bigger group.
One important thing to note is this is a school and not a bar. Therefore all the «drinks» are made with colored water. They look pretty real and the liquors are thickened so that the drinks look pretty realistic with the exception of the layered shots. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn’t taste even one real drink but that would be illegal since they are not a bar and don’t have a liquor license.
We got a packet of all the recipes we made during the class and more drinks we didn’t get a chance to make.
One thing I did not like is that after making the reservation for the class I could not confirm that I had a spot in the class. I did read the other review on here that said the person called and had no answer and drove to Tukwila to find the building closed. Driving from the north end to Tukwila then having no class would not make me happy. I did call a couple times the day of the class and got the answering machine. I decided to risk it and go anyway but it made me nervous. Thankfully it all worked out. I would suggest to the owner to have a phone line for a cell phone since someone is (as far as I can tell) only at the office when teaching a class and not during normal business hours. This would ease the minds of potential students I think.
I’m glad I took the half day class. I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning how to make a variety of drinks for fun. They have a 40 hour class to get a certification as well.

I bought two Living Social deals for ABC Bartending School $ 50/​person and called and made an appointment for both people for the Friday class 6−10pm. We work in Seattle and it took an hour drive through traffic to Tukwila. I was afraid we would be late so I called three times but no one picked up. We arrived on 6:10pm and the office and classroom was closed. I called and left another message asking for the manager to call back. After four days I still have not received a reply from them. I am extremely disappointed in spending $ 100, wasting an hour drive down, and foregoing other plans on a Friday evening out with friends! Btw, the office and classroom are very small and look a bit run-​down. I do not recommend this type of service to anyone.

So I moved to Seattle and thought it would be a good idea to get a part time job as a bartender to meet people. ABC seemed like the best bartending school, so I attended and graduated from their class. The teachers there are VERY knowledgeable and friendly. However on the ABC website they advertise «Job Placement» and «Job Placement Assistance» and even «Lifetime Job Placement Assistance». This bartending school does NOT place anyone in a job, they simply teach how to apply at bars, and they hang up print outs from Craigs List of jobs available. They do not have any contacts in the business that regularly hire from their schools; when I graduated I was told to call if I had a hard time finding a job, every time I called they said they «didn’t know of any jobs available» and that I should «look on Craigs List». I’m not sure what their idea of job placement assistance is but this is not it! It took me 4 MONTHS to find a part time bartending job. Every bar I went to they smirked when they saw I went to bartending school. Finally I got a job at a local hotel, they told me they hired me solely based on the fact that I have 15 years of food service experience and not because I had attended bartending school. I would recommend getting a job as a bar back and learning from a barteder, you’ll get a job faster that way!