Icons Martini — Attraction in Rock Island

You couldn't pay me to step foot in here again. The bartender (who I suspect is at least part owner) was very rude to my friend and I.

*Edit to answer your question and I have attached several photos from the Icons Facebook page for reference.

I would say this was about a year to a year and a half ago but I can't remember if it was Halloween or Mardi Gras or something because people including the bartender were all dressed in costumes.

My friend and I were going out for the evening as friends do. He was wearing a backwards baseball hat (not my style, but I wasn't judging) and Icons was having live music that night. We were headed to Hickey Brothers originally but decided to step in to check the music out and have a few drinks. Not a minute inside when the guy shown in the picture in the middle of the two ladies with the clover gear on (I'm 99% sure it is him, tall bartender at Icons who I have seen there several times since through the window) aggressively says "Take off your hat!" Taken aback, my friend asked "What?" I believe he said "Take it off now or get out!" or something very similar. No greeting. No "Sorry about this, but..." Just an extremely rude and unpleasant guy telling us to get it because of my friend's attire and an experience that I will never forget. So we left never to return.

Back to the pictures... I went on the Icons Facebook page to see if I could locate a picture of the bartender for your reference. I believe I did. I also found several other pictures of people with backwards hats on who obviously don't feel ostracised or unwelcome as we most definitely did. It was a really really unprofessional and unfortunate thing to have...

Edit: I do appreciate the owner’s (who was not present the night of my visit) prompt response to my situation and reaching out directly to me to make things right. I will give Icons another chance.

Original: Apparently there is a policy about the direction of your hat when worn. Although I’m more than happy to respect any policy a private business owner may promote, I was initially told to turn my hat around by a homeless looking man who was drinking at the bar. With this being downtown Rock Island, I just let it fly over my head. But then this unidentified man came back to me and sternly told my to turn my hat around again and went back to his posey at the bar and gossiped about it. If this guy is legit, unprofessional. Regardless, I chose not to buy a drink and won’t be back. Sucks, because in dying downtown Rock Island, Icons was one of the last establishments left I...

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