Ever walked into a busy bar, confidently ordered your favorite cocktail, and noticed your bartender’s smile tighten just a bit? That split second of hesitation isn’t your imagination. Behind the bar, there’s a whole universe of drinks that make even the most patient mixologists internally groan. Some cocktails are beloved by customers but dreaded by the people who have to craft them, especially when the joint is packed and drink orders are piling up like a traffic jam on a Friday night.
According to a recent survey of bartenders, roughly 81 percent will change their opinion of you based on your drink order, which is honestly a bit unsettling when you think about it. The reality is that certain drinks require way more time, effort, or mess than others. Whether it’s the laborious muddling process, the sticky ingredients, or the sheer number of components involved, these cocktails can seriously disrupt the flow of a busy shift. Let’s dive into the six drinks that bartenders secretly wish you’d stop ordering, at least during peak hours.
The Mojito: A Minty Nightmare
Let’s be real here. The mojito is probably the most universally despised drink among bartenders, and it’s not even close. Bartenders everywhere hate making mojitos, and the reason boils down to one tedious step: muddling fresh mint. The primary reason this particular cocktail irritates bartenders is the time it takes to make, and on a busy night with patrons four deep, bar professionals don’t want to spend five minutes muddling mint leaves. Picture this: you’re five tickets deep, the servers are getting impatient, and someone orders four mojitos for their table.
The process isn’t just time consuming. Fresh mint has to be handled delicately to release its oils without bruising the leaves into a bitter, leafy mess. The spearmint should be gently muddled right at its stem where the herb’s flavor lives, and doing this incorrectly results in a flavorless, bruised, leafy mess. Plus, those little mint pieces have a nasty habit of sneaking into the strainer and hitching a ride into the next drink you’re making. When you ask for mojitos, especially on a busy weekend evening, your bartender may smile but they’re probably groaning internally and hoping no one else takes inspiration from your order.
Here’s the thing though. Matthew Rankin, Head Bartender at Winnie’s Jazz Bar in New York City, admits that what really sends the mojito over the top is the fact that it’s frickin’ delicious. It’s classic, refreshing, and honestly hard to replace with anything else when you’re craving that particular minty lime vibe. Some bartenders have even been rumored to tell customers they’re out of fresh mint just to avoid making them during rush hours, though that might be more urban legend than widespread practice.
The Ramos Gin Fizz: The Ultimate Time Thief
If you thought mojitos were bad, meet the Ramos Gin Fizz. This drink is the stuff of bartender nightmares. The Ramos Gin Fizz is a classic and delicious cocktail but it’s a nightmare to see on a ticket, as the reason this cocktail is the bane of any busy bartender’s existence is simply time, and this cocktail can easily take 10 to 15 minutes to do correctly with no multitasking during this period. Yeah, you read that right. Ten to fifteen minutes for a single drink.
The drink takes about five minutes to make and must be made in a very specific way, involving a dry shake then a shake with ice cubes that must last until the ice is diluted, after which you pour the drink and let it settle so the soda water makes it foam up more, then you need even more time for the drink to settle again. It’s basically like asking your bartender to cook a souffle while the rest of the bar is on fire. The dry shaking alone can take roughly eight minutes of continuous arm movement, which is a legitimate workout when you’re already slammed with orders.
This isn’t a drink you can batch prepare or speed through. Every single step demands precision and patience. Honestly, it’s hard to say for sure, but ordering a Ramos Gin Fizz during happy hour might be the fastest way to get on a bartender’s bad side. If you’re craving something frothy and full bodied, maybe consider a whiskey sour or pisco sour instead, both of which use egg white for that creamy texture but take a fraction of the time.
Bloody Mary: The Messy Brunch Monster
Brunch without a Bloody Mary is like breakfast without coffee for some people. The problem is, the biggest gripe bartenders have with a Bloody Mary is all the ingredients it takes to make one, including vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, black pepper, celery salt, Tabasco, and lemon juice. That’s already a lot to juggle, especially when you’re trying to keep up with mimosa orders and eggs Benedict tickets simultaneously.
Laura Thompson, Bar Manager at Prohibition Pig in Vermont, says her least favorite is a Bloody Mary especially after 5 p.m., as they’re also a mess and you have to dig out a bunch of garnishes you put away hours ago and do an extra shaker clean, which just gums up the works when you’re busy. The garnishes alone can be a project. Celery sticks, olives, pickles, sometimes even bacon or shrimp. It’s basically a salad in a glass, and assembling it feels more like cooking than bartending.
The other issue is customization. Today there are so many different riffs on this cocktail that it can sometimes be difficult to guess what a customer may like in their drink. Some want it spicy, others mild. Some expect a specific brand of hot sauce. The variations are endless, and without clear direction, you’re basically gambling on whether the customer will send it back. When someone orders a Bloody Mary after the brunch rush is over and all those ingredients have been put away, it’s genuinely frustrating.
Long Island Iced Tea: Five Liquors, Zero Love
The Long Island Iced Tea has a reputation, and not a good one. Bartenders mainly hate making the drink because of how labor intensive it is to prepare, with an ingredient list featuring five different alcohols and cola. We’re talking vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec, all in one glass. It’s like someone looked at a liquor shelf and said, “Yes, all of that, please.”
Beyond the ingredient count, there’s another reason bartenders roll their eyes at this order. The Long Island Iced Tea tends to be ordered by less than gracious guests, with one bartender saying all they hear when it gets ordered is ‘I’m going to be a needy douchebag and you’ll be lucky if I give you 25 cents’. That might sound harsh, but there’s a common perception that Long Island drinkers are more interested in getting drunk quickly than appreciating the craft of mixology. The cocktail was invented in Prohibition times to disguise the taste of alcohol, meaning it’s not a beverage meant for a fun casual night out but designed for stealth drinking.
Honestly, if you’re at a bar and tempted to order a Long Island, ask yourself why. Are you really there to enjoy the flavor profile of five conflicting spirits mixed with cola? Or are you just trying to maximize alcohol per dollar? Because if it’s the latter, there are simpler ways to achieve that goal without making your bartender want to hide in the walk in freezer.
Espresso Martini: The Late Night Equipment Struggle
The espresso martini has exploded in popularity over the past few years, becoming one of the trendiest cocktails on menus everywhere. The problem? Making them can be a huge pain, especially on busy nights that don’t allow much time for pulling fresh espresso shots. If you’ve ever worked in a bar, you know that coffee machines are often shoved into awkward corners, cleaned early in the evening, and generally not designed for rapid fire cocktail production.
The espresso martini is basically a cocktail version of a high intensity workout, and the second you make one you’re signing yourself up for a mini marathon of shaken coffee goodness because someone orders one and suddenly everyone at that table wants one too. It’s the fajita effect but for cocktails. One espresso martini goes by, looks amazing with that perfect foam on top, and suddenly you’ve got six more orders for the same drink. Meanwhile, your espresso machine is struggling to keep up and you’re behind on everything else.
The drink requires a hot liquid and another machine with more things to clean, and you have to chill it properly, which just takes more time. During peak hours, when speed is everything and tips depend on turnover, the espresso martini becomes a bottleneck. If you absolutely must have one, maybe order it earlier in the evening when the bar is quieter and the coffee machine hasn’t been disassembled for cleaning. Your bartender will silently thank you.
Frozen Drinks: Blender Chaos
Piña coladas, frozen margaritas, daiquiris blended to slushie perfection. They’re delicious, tropical, and absolutely maddening to make in a crowded bar. Chef Joe Isidori says bartenders hate making pina coladas as they’re too sweet and typically reserved for tourists, and God forbid you want one frozen in a blender. The blender is loud, it takes forever to clean, and it completely disrupts the rhythm of making other drinks.
Honestly most frozen drinks are annoying to make, and while it’s summer and hot and frozen drinks are incredible, when the bar is overflowing with people it’s definitely nice when customers take note and order something quick and easy. Think about it from the bartender’s perspective. They’ve got a system going, pouring shots, shaking cocktails, mixing simple drinks at lightning speed. Then someone orders a frozen drink, and everything grinds to a halt while they dig out the blender, measure ingredients, blend, pour, and then clean the blender before the next order.
Roughly 39 percent of bartenders think negatively of people who order frozen cocktails, which might seem harsh but makes sense when you consider the operational chaos they create. If you’re at a beach bar or somewhere that specializes in frozen drinks, go for it. They’re set up for that. But if you’re at a busy downtown cocktail bar on a Saturday night, maybe stick with something that doesn’t require heavy machinery.
