Yeah, a mute option would be nice after a couple of play-throughs of the music.
I like the setting and idea. Adding stuff to the bar gives some feel of progress, although it's true that (except for the stools/chairs that act as patron slots) there doesn't seem to be any progress in the game mechanics associated with then... I like how the jobs have a bit of a story-mode feel to them, at least until you reached the last of them.
I agree that gold income should be connected to the era of the patrons so higher cost of upgrades evens out.
Also, wasn't there supposed to be some waiters getting hired? Maybe they're a bit Ninja-like so you never get to see them?
As for the scroll... If that bit never made it into the release (due to time constraints I suppose) then it would have been better to just throw that bit of the UI out...