Apples to oranges was my first thought. Guinan is good at listening, helping to sort out someone's thoughts, and if needed saying that there is a path for someone to follow. Quark is about that profit, and when he gives advice it is direct, not subtle. Sometimes accompanied by an insult. I think both are good characters, but Quark is definitely more well-rounded and developed. Over time, little is learned about the El-Aurians from Guinan. A lot is learned about the Ferengi from Quark.

I still need to see Picard. I honestly have only watched TOS, TNG, and DS9 a billion times for some reason, and I have a lot of catching up to do.

He also fills the smuggler role. He pairs nicely with Garek's information brokering.

Scenes in Ten Forward always feel so cozy, and nobody would be trying to rip you off. Lol

That's where I'd personally want to hang out too.

I think the vibe was better in Guinans bar. Who wants carpeting in their drinking hole?!

You've hit on a good point there, Guinan always felt to me like a deus ex machina in the stories. It feels like when the writers don't know how to resolve something, they just have a character go to Guinan and resolve whatever it is they were struggling with.

It also feels like they really didn't know what to do with the character. Whoopie's availability didn't help with that, since she had only a very limited shooting time. Sometimes they made it seem like Picard and her go way back, but then she didn't play any significant role as far as we know. And there were plenty of times where they would have been far apart for super long. They also want to make her an enigma, not really knowing her age or limits, with vague hints to her father and Q exclaiming she has powers. But nothing ever comes of this. And if Picard and her go way back, surely he would know about some of this stuff? But he never does it seems like.

Her whole back story is full of holes and the character makes no sense. But that's common with Star Trek characters.

It feels like throwaway lines that get tossed around to make the character feel more than it is, but it's completely hollow and ultimately comes to nothing.

It's a shame, because I like the idea of Guinan, but story wise the character simply wasn't very good and not utilized very well.

So wouldn't that make the blended neeliz/tuvok the first federation bartender in Star trek?

Bartenders are often in charge of lifting moral.

Guinan is the better bartender, if you're just a regular Starfleet officer looking to down a pint of syntheholic ale.

Nonsense, she also has green!

Besides, I couldn't see Quark making a Tzartak aperitif.

Ten Forward is just a relaxing environment. There are a few people who have uploaded ambient/atmospheric trek videos on youtube (usually something like "10 hours of the TNG warp core room"). There's a Ten Forward one I've put on in the background quite a few times.