Sonoma Speakeasy — Local services in Sonoma

I had to wait two days to write this review so that I would not taint it with my anger, embarrassment, and utter disappointment. I can't really tell you what the place is like because I never made it inside the establishment. A woman named Joey who works there had accompanied another coworker outside to write on their board. Joey begins to be disrespectful to my nephew as he finishes his dessert before we go inside. My niece told her there was no need for her to be rude and instead of adjusting herself Joey begins to scream at her as if she had done something to her. So I position myself between them because she also was starting to invade her personal space and I asked what is the problem which Joey escalated even more, so much so, that my husband started to record her; when she caught sight of this she grabs her coworker, who has said not one word and yells and screams things at me as if I was saying something to her. ( she was literally having a double sided argument with herself at this point) because I had turned to see what she was looking at to start the erratic behavior of saying and responding to herself because I literally had not said anything since what's the problem? When I opened the door to go inside; because at that point I wanted to speak to a manager or someone who doesn't have psychotic behaviors. Joey yells at me, pulls the door and locks me out. I take a flyer off the wall which is in a box with lots of other flyers. She swings door open yells at me, snatches the flyer out of my hand and the others out of the box and returns inside. As if this whole bizarre incident was not bad enough. After we left my nephew called the establishment to make them aware of what had taken place. A man ( wouldn't give his name) who claimed to be the owner threatened, yelled obscenities and hung up on him. In all of my 50+ years I have not observed and experienced such a disregard for basic human civility and respect. The message was clear " if you are non-white...

I rarely write a review but I feel extremely obligated to let anyone thinking about visiting this place know about the extremely rude employee, Jody, and owner, who would not give his name, who both mistreated and harassed my group of friends on 7/22/22.

Please read the related reviews posted just prior to this one. The posts are not hard to spot, although there are now quite a few “5 star” ratings suspiciously written after the fact to mask the truth of this incident that I’m describing now. These previous posts describe my friends being unjustly harassed and mistreated for showing respect by finishing their desert OUTSIDE of the business before entering the establishment.

This businesses' actions prove to be nothing short of prejudice and racism. What's worse is that the owner did not do their job to try to make anything right. It's very disappointing to hear that this kind of behavior is happening at all, let alone Sonoma. I love going to Sonoma and I love the vibe. But this incident is unfortunately staining Sonoma's reputation.

How unfortunate for the rest of the business owners who work hard to maintain a lively and wonderful atmosphere for their visitors. What a shame, Sonoma Speakeasy. Their unacceptable behavior should NOT be supported. I was shocked that not only ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES BUT THE OWNER AS WELL participated in this disrespectful and racist behavior. Sadly, this is not the first incident of this nature to happen at Sonoma Speakeasy. There are some older posts on Yelp where customers of color describe being mistreated by the staff and owners.

I urge anyone reading this post, please DO NOT SUPPORT...

This is establishment is extremely racist. We showed up to finish our dessert on the outside of the business before entering the establishment to be respectful of the venue. We had an employee named Joey who was very rude to us as she was passing by because we were finishing our ice cream from A local creamy, Sweet Scoops before we were intending to patron the venue. We called the "Owner" to let them know about our treatment to only be cursed out and threatened over the phone. In addition, my Aunt was trying to read the menu of the establishment where Joey proceeded grab the menu from her hands and yelled at us as potential customers to leave. The "owner" who would not provide his name threatened to sue me for sharing my genuine experience with this establishment. I am protected by the Anti-slapp laws and the 1st amendment here in California. Avoid this place as a minority/ POC at all cost. This is not a business that you want to give your business to. This...