Very sad to write this. I have loved this place and always bring our out of town friends there when they visit. We also have gone there a lot as a family because I love how they let children on the patio. I also love that it is owned by a Navy SEAL so I like to support it.
We arrived about 10 or 10:30 and the manager approached us and rudely told us my little boy with Down Syndrome had to leave. I understand they have a policy of no children on the patio after a certain time. I told him I couldn't remember what time that was. He could have been polite, but he seemed angry. He made him feel like he had done something wrong. It was heartbreaking. He was crying and the man just got meaner insisting we get him out. I kept thinking if he had only said it nicely and quietly maybe to just me or my husband, my son wouldn't have felt so badly. I understand he has to do his job and if no children are allowed (probably a city ordinance- I get it), then they aren't. But I didn't understand why he couldn't be nice about it. Rather than argue, i wanted to comfort my little boy and explain that he did nothing wrong. My son is singled out a lot in his life and this was especially traumatizing because it seemed that the man really targeted my son for whatever reason. Because we had friends in and I didn't want to ruin their last vacation night, I sent my assistant to take him home after I finally got him to calm down by telling him my assistant would take him for ice cream.
I was confused because I had been there with my daughter before after 10. She wasn't drinking of course and they never said a word. Maybe their policy has changed? Still, he could have been nice.
We sat there for a LONG time after my son was gone and no one ever came to take our order or anything. Finally, I couldn't believe it but I realize now he must have been intentionally ignoring us after we went to all that trouble to roll with his rules. I went in to the bar and and asked the same man if we could order.
He walked out and said we had to leave now too because we didn't all have our ID's. My friend in question was 35, and I am not sure how old her friend was but we were all well over 21. My friend does look young for her age. Some of our purses were in the car with my assistant who left to drive my son home.
If we had known that, we wouldn't have gone to the trouble to send my son home. He said no children, but none of us were children, clearly.
He was rude and at this point I was embarrassed to see my friends treated like this in my town at a place we had taken them to celebrate their last night in our town. My friend he was questioning was 35. She does look young, I will admit. If he wanted ID's then why hadn't he said that before we went to the trouble of sending my son home?
He said no children were allowed when he told my son to leave. But he didn't say anything about ID's that I heard then and if he was concerned about that, why did he let us sit there so long with no service? Why didn't he make it clear before we sent my son home? That seems unprofessional to me, and if it were my restaurant I would want to know.
I asked him why he had to be so rude and tried to appeal to his compassionate side, explaining that it was our friends' last night here. If he had even been slightly apologetic or polite I would have understood. But he was walking away from me and at that point and I was walking after him getting angrier trying to help him understand.
I understand policy and i would have been happy to have accommodated but when he caused the whole thing, I didn't think it was right to treat us so rudely. Why was it ok for us to sit there for so long waiting for service but not ok for us to be there once I asked for service? We even offered that none of us whose ID's were in the car would drink, but he continued mumbling and being so rude.
I told him I would have to Yelp about this because I was so sad for my son and because even though there are rules, all he had to do was be polite. I think he said he didn't care, or something rather sarcastic. We made the effort to patronize the business where he works with our friends and we didn't deserve to be treated like that- especially my little guy. :(
I guess we won't go back but it is really heartbreaking because we have always loved it. There is a polite way to say anything. He may have been having a really bad day but then he could have still done his job and been professional and polite.
I will talk to friends in the neighborhood and find out if he is gone, I guess we would go back then because it is a really fun place when the servers are friendly, and they always have been before. read more