Overall, Lost Boys is a good neighborhood bar, and I don't think it deserves a bad review, so I'm…read moregiving it four stars. That being said, personally, I don't think I would come back.
The biggest thing for me was the overall energy and engagement from the staff. I'm naturally a pretty social and engaged person, especially when I'm sitting at a bar, and I made an effort to interact with the bartenders. I just didn't really feel that same engagement coming back. Nobody was necessarily rude or disrespectful--it just felt disconnected, and the energy was a little strange to me.
I also didn't realize until I tried to pay that the bar doesn't accept cash. Maybe that was posted somewhere and I missed it, and once they told me, it wasn't a big deal. But little things like that, combined with the overall interaction, affected the experience.
Another thing I didn't realize until receiving my check was that gratuity was already included. I wasn't verbally told about it, and I personally didn't see it disclosed anywhere beforehand. From my understanding, an automatic gratuity or service charge is required to be disclosed to the guest before the purchase, not something they should only discover when they receive the check. Maybe there was a notice somewhere that I missed, so I'm not saying there wasn't one, but I definitely wasn't aware of it. I think that's an important thing for guests to know upfront, especially because someone could easily add another tip without realizing gratuity was already included.
Ironically, the one person I genuinely connected with and had a good conversation with was another guest at the bar, not a member of the staff. That interaction actually helped make my time there more enjoyable.
For me, hospitality is about more than serving a drink. Especially when someone is clearly open, friendly, and trying to engage, that's an easy opportunity to create a connection and turn a first-time guest into someone who wants to come back. I felt like I gave plenty of opportunities for that interaction, but it just never really happened.
I still had a good time because I can have a good time pretty much anywhere, and nothing happened that would make me say Lost Boys is a bad bar. It just didn't feel like the staff cared much about enhancing the experience beyond serving the drinks.
So four stars because I respect what the place is and can see why it works as a neighborhood bar. It just didn't give me a reason to come back, and personally, I don't think I would.