I live right off of Fry Street and frequently walk there for food and entertainment, on top of also having to go through for school all the time, and I've been to each bar and venue here multiple times. That being said, anytime any of my friends suggest Cool Beans to drink or hang out I will find literally ANY reason to get out of having to go or try to change their minds. I've had an explicitly bad experience at this bar Every. Single. Time. I've gone out to it. It's actually become a running joke among my friends because anytime I (rarely) go now, we all just wait to see how long before one of the employees there harasses me or tries to give me a hard time. Each time I find myself in this establishment I avoid speaking to any bartenders, I do not order any drinks or food, and I try my best to sit and just calmly talk to my friends counting the seconds till we hop to the next place. Let me LIST my experiences.
1.) The first time I ever went to Cool Beans, it was our first stop of the night and I was waiting with friends in line at the bar all just talking and laughing. Before it was my turn to order a worker comes up to me and asks me if I was drunk and if I was okay, I thanked him and said "oh yeah I'm okay haha! I haven't had anything tonight yet but thank you!" And he said "oh, cool just checking in on ya" I said "no problem bro," and it was fine. Once I got up to the bar the bartender asked my friend with me "umm are you two okay?" She said "??? Yes?" He said "okay. I thought you look fine but I saw him ask you so I have to make sure." She said "thank you haha, we are good. So can we have two tequi-" and before she could finish he says "-because we don't like, serve, like, if you're visibly drunk or anything," she said "well. We are not." And he nodded his head in agreement and it was fine. Later we sat and the five of us were having a drink and catching up, singing to the music playing and joking around when I went to the bar for a second drink. The guy in front of me, WHO I DO NOT KNOW, got into an argument with the staff and I even took a step back to not be so close and the bartender asked him to leave. When he angrily stormed out I went up next and before I could order a drink he said "I SAID LEAVE." I said "what? I don't know that guy-" and he literally had two other bartenders come to me and threaten to call authorities on me if I didn't leave. So I left and had to call my friends to inform them that I was kicked out.
2.) Second time EVER at cool beans was MONTHS later because I avoided going back after what happened the first time. This time the girl working at the front door told me I was "way too drunk" to be allowed in and she was gonna have to say no. I had zero drinks before this. Was not talking, was not joking or laughing was with ONE friend and we were just quietly waiting our turn to enter. She even made small talk with the people ahead of us and then let my friend in before me, but me, standing perfectly normal and not doing anything was told I was too drunk to come in?? So I LITERALLY told her "Thank you for looking out for me. I know you're just doing your job." And I left. No argument, no other comments.
3.) Third and final time EVER coming to Cool Beans. I came in with a friend and we were meeting a group. When walking by we could have SWORN we saw them on the patio so we went around to the front door, showed our IDs and went to the bathroom first before going out to the patio to find our friends. We walked around the whole patio about two times but didn't find them so we were concluding we must have just seen someone else and thought it was them when a bartender WALKS OVER TO US and says "hey guys, I'm gonna have to ask you to come in the front door." And my friend said "we did come in the front door? We are looking for our friend." And he said "preeeeeeetty sure I just saw you both come in through the gate (The patio entrance)." So I said "we came in the front with the girl at the door we just came out here because we thought we saw our friend when walking by." He said "right. Well I just SAW you come in the gate." My friend got annoyed and said "no you didn't." And the bartender said "okay, then can I just see both of your IDs again?" So, rolling my eyes, I pull my ID out to show him. After taking extra long to look he says "okay. Cool." And walks away. No "oh sorry bruh" no nothing.
Anytime I've gone to this bar since then I've been too afraid to walk, get out of my seat, order a drink, talk too loud or laugh too loud, dance to the music or anything. Very unpleasant environment. It's like all the patrons are having fun while being glared at angrily by the bartenders and employees. All of my friends have had similar experiences at least once when visiting so we go less and less often. Nothing against the bar or venue itself just not appreciative of the borderline targeted aggression I receive from the employees every time I visit. read more