How dare you make a game this fun! Honestly, this is an incredibly finished product! I'm absolutely blown away!
I made it to night 9 before I decided to stop. I know that Night 12 is insane, and I'll try to reach it one day, but today is not that day. I'll break down my review piece by piece.
The Art: Incredible! The little avatar versions of all the monsters that you have to serve is such a nice touch, and the bar itself looks amazing! I love the different drink designs, helps mix things up.
The music: The satisfying sound effects really make this game. From the coin clink to the sounds of drinking, it's superb.
The Gameplay: This is where this game really shines. If I had to say it reminds me of anything, I would say it reminds me of the shops sections of Dave the Diver. That same sense of panic and trying to make as much money as possible as in that game. At first, I tried to just serve the customers as they sat down. But then I realized they go for drinks you've set up already, and that changed my game plan dramatically! I started each round setting up a full row of drinks, which gave me the leeway to go back and refill for when people got up and angry customers who had waited a while sat down.
Having the cauldron at one side of the bar only also adds in the strategy. It means that you can get customers at the cauldron end easier, so you can start prioritizing ones towards the far end, since it takes more time to get there (I levelled up speed as much as I could at the start). An empty bar bonus is also really nice, although I think there should be a mechanic for getting rid of drinks put down as a misclick. A couple of times I fat fingered on my controller (Controller support works great btw) and put a drink down by mistake at the very end.
I do think there is room for improvement. You could add mechanics to extend the patience of customers waiting for seats, add more seats as you upgrade the restaurant, maybe have customers take calls, which will temporarily stop their DoT clock. This has a ton of room for growth, which is always great to see.
Definitely gonna follow this game in the future, see how it develops!