We went to Ember for the 2000s Dance Party. It was our friend's birthday, and my wife and I had planned this night for weeks. We even bought our tickets a month in advance.
When we arrived, we showed the screenshot of our tickets at the entrance, but a woman named Jennie (or something like that), standing behind the window, told us we needed to access our tickets through a different way. That was totally fine -- we followed the instructions, waited patiently for 5-10 minutes, and were finally allowed to enter.
Inside, it was extremely crowded. After a while, our friends stepped outside for a smoke, and we joined them. But when we tried to go back in, the security guard refused to let my wife re-enter, claiming she was drunk. She absolutely wasn't.
Let me make this clear:
- We didn't buy a single drink inside -- it was pricy, and we were mainly there for our friend and celebrate our guest's birthday.
- My wife is a pharmacist who doesn't even smoke, let alone drink excessively.
- We were hosting guests and had every reason to stay responsible.
- We're all educated professional people and well over 30, we are not teenagers anymore -- we don't go to clubs to act out, drink too much, or cause problems. We go to have fun, respectfully.
I calmly asked the security guard to explain what exactly my wife had done that made him think she was intoxicated. He had no real answer. It felt like he was making it up -- maybe someone told him to target us. I even told him I couldn't leave my wife standing alone outside on Broad Street at 11:30 pm, and he simply responded, "Then you can get out too."
So we did.
We waited outside for 20-30 minutes. One of our American guests tried talking to the guard, but he wouldn't budge. Eventually, we spoke to the manager, who was at least reasonable. After understanding the situation, he agreed to let us back in.
But just a few minutes after we re-entered, the same security guard came straight at us and said, "Get the f*** out of here." He kicked us out -- again. And as we were leaving, I saw the same woman at the window looking at us with a smug smile. That's when it hit me: probably, this was planned. This had nothing to do with being drunk at all.
This wasn't our first time going out in Richmond. We've been to many clubs -- Cabana, Bingo Beer, Jungle, Fallout, Sky Nightclub, Wonderland, The Canal Club, and others -- always with the same group of friends. We've never had anything like this happen before. Ever.
And this wasn't even our first time at Ember -- we had a good experience there before. But clearly, something has changed, including the staff.
I want to point out a few things:
1.We're never coming back, and I'll be sharing this story with everyone I know. They didn't just ruin our night -- they insulted us. And it can happen to anyone. Richmond has many nightlife options, and Ember is far from the best.
2.They tried to act professionally, but failed completely. No one checked our IDs when we first entered -- how is that professional?
3.The place was over capacity. Most responsible venues manage crowd limits for safety. But here, it felt like they kept letting people in until they had to kick others out to make space. It was our turn this time -- next time, it could be someone else.
4.They kicked us out after we had already been inside for 20 minutes. If you claim to be a professional establishment, at least refund our tickets.
Finally, after reading through recent reviews on Google, I realized we weren't alone. It seems like this has happened to others, too. So I'm writing this to warn people -- this could happen to you. read more