[Help] Texas School of Bartending

I got certified there back in the mid-nineties with a couple of Rockets dancers. They did help me find a job right after finishing the two week course, but trust me...there's a lot of studying involved, especially to pass the speed drill to finish the class. It's not just a two week party, although it was pretty entertaining. The snatch was off the charts in every class.

Also, don't expect to land a job with a nightclub right off the bat without some experience or connections, if that's even what you're interested in. I had to work my way through restaurants before landing the good paying gigs late nights.

 

I got my "diploma" from there a few years ago. It was actually a LOT of fun. You really do feel like you're a bartender making drinks when you're in the classroom. The thing you need to realize, much like the post above me has said, is that you WILL HAVE TO STUDY HARD. You don't just have to know how to make drinks, but you are also required to study things such as what type of ingredients go into some liquors and what countries those ingredients are grown in. It's pretty damn intricate if you ask me. The speed test is also pretty challenging. You have to make 13 drinks in 6 minutes or something like that, and you start with 100 points and anything lower than 90 is failing. You get a 1 point deduction for every mistake you make, which can include any number of ingredients, technique, presentation, etc., so if you flat out forget a drink or two you're screwed.

Another thing that sucks is that if you come in to do your speed test during one of the other classes, everyone and their mother stops and just watches you the entire time. Very nerve racking. I somehow passed with a 92. My friend that went with me, however, didn't study hard enough and couldn't pass the written tests and didn't even bother taking the speed test. Basically he blew $525.

I was a bit disappointed in the job placement, but that might be a little unfair toward them. I live on the southeast side of town and they simply didn't have any job leads in my area. It seemed like they had plenty in the other 3 quadrants of the city though.

Overall it was very fun and very interesting, yet very challenging as well. You definitely can't sleep walk through the class and expect to get your credentials handed to you. I never even got a job in bartending, but I still don't regret paying for the school. They had a great staff who made the class tons of fun, but were also very serious about preparing you for the job. It was a great experience.

By the way, I went to the one on Kirby.

 

Bartending school is a joke.

If you want to be a bartender, find a bar, start by working the door, and work your way up. Alternately, you could start in a restaurant with a bar and work your way to bartender.

 

I started out at Pappas and became a bartender in about a year....I bartended for 9 years total, all through college and a couple of years after at Dave and Busters.

I LOVED IT !!

Best job I ever had, and am now looking to buy a bar, but I never hired anybody who graduated from the Bartender school.....

DD

 

Yeah, even though I went to the school, I still think you pretty much have to work your way up at most places. Some places might give you a shot at the bar quicker if you have credentials from the school, but it's very unlikely that they'll just place you back there right off the bat.

There's definitely one good thing about going to the school, though. A lot of the time people will call the Texas School of Bartenders in order to hire a couple of bartenders off of them for a party or whatever. Apparently the school sets a minimum rate of $20 per hour at a minimum of 5 hours. May not be exact, but it's something like that. That's still damn good money and private parties are sooooo easy. I never worked any through the TSoB, but I've worked some friend's parties and they were a freakin' breeze.

I still say that if spending the money isn't a huge issue, you should go for it. In the end they do offer you a lot of help and you can use their facilities for life. It can't HURT to go there.

 

In Houston? I bartended at D&B back around.....ohh.....I wanna say 92-93 (I'm horrible with time though, I may be off by a few years either way). I remember making drinks for Carl Herrera and some fine ass chick back in the midway when he was a Rocket, so it had to be somewhere around that time.