Sunset Point Winery — Attraction in Stevens Point

Poor customer service made a fun Friday night with friends end in confusion and disappointment.

A group of six of us came to play trivia, as we try to do every month. Since the place was busy, my teammates put two available square tables together in an open floor spaces so we could play as a team. A couple of us initially tried sitting in the adjacent hanging chairs, but they weren’t very comfortable or practical for collaborating during trivia. So we repositioned two of the hanging chairs to make room for real chairs.

An employee came over and told us we couldn’t have the tables there because the owner wanted to keep the hanging chairs available for customers.

Being customers ourselves, we exchanged confused looks. (Aren’t we also customers? Non-hypothetical-regulars-already-here-buying-stuff customers?) My teammates had already checked with the two people sitting in the swings nearby, and they said they were fine with us being close.

Since the tables couldn't be there and because there wasn't anywhere else available for our group, we offered to put everything back and head out. We were there to play trivia, have a couple of drinks, catch up with friends, and maybe buy some popcorn and cheese. If they couldn’t accommodate us as a group on a busy night, that's understandable. We would move everything back and leave.

From what I've read elsewhere, the employee interpreted that offer as a threat? But that’s how it works, right? No room tonight? Okay, we’ll reset and go somewhere else. It happens. The employee then said we could stay, as long as we moved the tables over a bit to make room in case others wanted to use the hanging chairs. Understandable. Doable. She watched us as we moved the tables over then went back to the wine bar. We carried on with our night. We felt everything was square.

Side note: We were having a great time after that! Enjoying our drinks, answering trivia, and participating in sociables (when all teams get the answer correct—yay!).

A couple rounds into trivia, the actually awesome trivia host came over and said the owner disqualified our team because we moved tables. We could still play, but not win.

It was so bizarre. As quickly and carefully as possible, we moved everything back to where it had originally been to the best of our memory.

While closing our tabs, I asked the employee who had earlier advised our table relocation what happened. From what the employee said, the staff takes pictures of events for social media and the owner had looked at a photo, asked the employee what was going on, and decided our team should be disqualified. It was the owner's choice and there wasn't anything they could do at this point.

As tactfully as possible, I explained my confusion and disappointment. How I felt like we had been square since we had made adjustments based on the employee's guidance. How we come here almost every month and feel like we've been very good customers. Suggested maybe posting a sign by the swings.

From what I read in a different response from the owner, it sounds like the owner didn’t want us to know until the end of the night. Their expectation was that we would stay, play trivia, keep buying wine/food/sodas, and then find out at the end of the night that we had been disqualified for checks notes moving tables.

What would have been ideal is if the employee had said something like "Hello, my name is __. Glad to have you here tonight! Playing trivia? So sorry, we can't have tables in this area, but let's see if we can get some other tables rearranged to accommodate your group."

I know the owner is probably going to have a thing or two to say in response to this review. I've tried my best to share my experience as completely and honestly as possible. I hope my feedback results in improving communication and service.

Of all the ways the night could have ended, disqualified from trivia (a favorite activity) for moving tables was not even a...

We used to really enjoy going to Sunset Point Wineryfor trivia every month. We would organize a group and spend a fair amount on drinks every time.

Tonight we had a group of six and, since all the tables are square, we had to push some together to accommodate everyone. If you’ve ever been there, you know there’s that weird corner with all the swinging chairs suspended from the ceiling they also try to sell.

This was the only space large enough to accommodate both tables. We pushed aside some of the canvas swing seats (that weren’t being used) and set up our table. We registered our trivia team and ordered some drinks.

One of the staff came over and scolded us for… reasons? They wanted to leave those suspended swinging chairs open for potential customers I guess. But I rarely if ever see people using them and told the worker as much. She asked if we could at least move the tables up against a wall, which we did.

Bit of a weird start to the night but, whatever.

So… half way through the second round of trivia, this same employee asked the trivia master (who’s a great guy) to come over and tell us we’ve been disqualified by the bar. Even though we did what they asked us to do.

We quietly and politely put everything back and closed out our tabs. I asked what the deal was.

The employee told us it wasn’t their decision, that their manager made the decision. I asked to talk to that manager. Apparently they weren’t available. I said I would wait until they were available. Apparently they weren’t there at all? I asked how they were able to disqualify us if they weren’t even there. The employee said they posted a picture to social media and the manager saw it online and wanted us disqualified.

I checked. There were no pictures. I have a sneaking suspicion the person we were talking to was, in fact, the person booting us but they were too scared to say as much despite us being civil. Especially since she didn’t even come over to tell us herself and made the poor sweet trivia master tell us.

Just a bizarre situation. This is like our one time a month we get out of the house without our son. Another couple in our group were having their first night out together while their toddler son was staying overnight with family.

We would drop a decent amount of cash there too. I’m really bummed to lose a fun tradition but I’m absolutely never spending another dime there again and neither is the rest of our group.

I hope they get enough hypothetical customers who want to sit in those swinging chairs to make up for our...

Visited late afternoon on a Saturday. Very original atmosphere for a wine tasting room with lots of light and places to sit. The tasting doesn't include the dessert wines which were $2 more per pour plus more $ if you want a chocolate with it. Ironically those were the only ones I enjoyed so I bought one of each. $25 is pretty steep for a bottle that contains so little. The rest of the wines were either too adventurous or not at all. I wish I would have felt a little more welcome. Felt we had to rush because the tasting area was so small. Our staff person was brand new and wasn't exactly getting willing help from the others. Hopefully they find their niche. Not to many choices in the area for wineries and they could do very well in the long term with some...