Whiskey River Ankeny — Restaurant in Ankeny

I will start off by stating that they asked for a credit card to run before you even order...shoulda been a red flag (that I didn't recognize right away). Don't let them do this to you!! My friends and I (3 men, 2 women and a 8yr old son) visited this establishment on 5/11/19. I had been there once before and it was ok, so thought I'd give another shot. We ordered food and drinks. Food was ok. The issue with this place is the style of service and their management. We didn't have a designated server, but just had random servers stopping by (or not stopping unless you flagged them down). This causes confusion when ordering and thus when being billed. My friend and his wife had a discrepancy with their bill (too many drinks on it) and had to have it corrected (the person doing the correcting seemed very annoyed that they questioned the bill). I think that when one server takes a drink order and then you may ask another server if your drinks are coming (because they are not real fast at getting them out to you) that they get confused and both put the same drinks on our bill (double billed, but maybe that's their plan). So when my girlfriend, my friend and I were leaving, we asked for our bill. They put 17 beers (16oz beers) on the bill (we were only there about 3 hrs) and it was only my one friend and I having beer. My girlfriend was not drinking beer. Now I don't know about you, but If I drank 8-9 of these in 3 hours then I would probably not be able to walk out of there (not too mention I would think that the establishment would be in trouble for overserving). The servers also got my girlfriend and buddy's wife a apple pie shot, they said they were free if you check in on FB, so they did (the servers helped them check in on FB). Of course I got billed for them ($7 each). So we, of course, asked about the discrepancies as any rational person would. The person said that there was nothing she can do and the bill is correct. She was annoyed that we were questioning the bill. We then asked for a manager to discuss the discrepancies. A man came over with another bill that had a 20% gratuity added and promptly kicked us out, stating that we were rude, argumentative, and treating the staff horribly. So after 17 beers, 3 mules, 2 shots, and food (yep that's what they charged me for) in 3hrs. We left the establishment. We were not at all disrespectful (I am a military man, I know how to act), rude, or argumentative. We just wanted the bill to be accurate ( I want to pay for what I received). I didn't sign the CC receipt (but again they swipe the card in the beginning so they got you), now am contesting the amount charged on my CC through my bank to the establishment. I called the establishment the next day thinking I could get a rational conversation with a Manager, but instead got an arrogant "Owner" (Joe), he said he reviewed the camera video(which I doubt they have) and said all the beers were ours, and that he was in the doorway to the kitchen and saw/heard everything. Now, I am sure that most owners would stop by and talk to a customer having issue with a bill or is dissatisfied with the service that he/she was expecting, but apparently not this owner (if he was there at all). I have heard and seen other instances of the same (over charging and rudeness) from Whiskey River in Ankeny and its owners. We were at no time rude, mean, or treated anyone poorly! I assume they just assume people with put up with it, and not fight the fight. Guess they picked the wrong person to screw! I WILL fight the fight and tell as many people I can of their dishonesty! Needless to say I will NEVER be...

CHECK YOUR BILL AT WHISKEY RIVER – ADDT’L DRINKS ADDED. After hearing multiple stories and reading negative reviews, I want to share my experience with Whiskey River. A group of friends decided to meet up here for dinner and drinks last week. The food was good – no complaints there. The wait staff process was frustrating. You do not have an assigned waiter, instead several keep walking by asking for orders. This created a great deal of confusion. While we were waiting on a drink, another waiter would ask us if we needed anything then he would go check our order. I am not accusing this establishment of adding drinks to their patrons bills in hopes of them not noticing…that would be horrible if mgmt told the wait staff to do this. However, I strongly believe the constant rotating of waiters allows opportunity to add additional drinks due to lack of communication on who is updating the tab. With this much confusion, it would be super easy to pad the bill here and there, but I sure hope a business owner would not do that! At the end of the night, we got our bill. Only 2 of us were drinking beer and they charged us for 17 tall boys and a shot we were told would be free when the waiter checked us in on facebook. When the floor manager came over, she said the bill can not be changed and there is nothing she can do about it. She must have been having a bad night because she was rude and eyes rolling. We then asked if the owner was there and was told no but she would get someone else. Another guy came over and said we were being kicked out for harassing staff. We were in shock… he told us to get out and the bill was taken care of. We wanted to pay our bill, just wanted it correct. I guess at Whiskey River you cant ask for a corrected bill!? We left completely caught off guard. We did not sign a bill or authorize charges. The next morning checked bank account, and they charged our card not only for the entire bill BUT ADDED GRATUITY without our permission. After calling the owner, Joe, the day after, he claimed he was there watching from the kitchen door but didn’t step. He said we were horribly rude and harassing his staff. Unbelievable. I wish we had read reviews prior to coming...

This bar is a perfect example of how NOT to be a responsible business! During the Governor's order stating bars were NOT allowed to be open and restaurants could be open with certain restrictions, WR snubbed their noses at the order and were not only open until 2am as a bar, they were packed! I drove past their on several occasions and it was clearly visible that every single seat at their bar was taken and large groups of people were congregating at tables. WR operates as a bar, NOT a restaurant! To be considered a restaurant 50% or more of ticket sales must be from made from scratch foods. After 9pm WR does not offer their regular menu, they go to their "late night menu" which consists of frozen, ready made foods. Because of this their is no way possible their ticket sales after 9pm were more than 50% food. Therefore they did not qualify to be open as a restaurant. Yet they were open until 2am. To make matters worse, WR remained open after having an employee report to them that they were potentially COVID-19 positive and infectious! The employee publicly stated WR pressured the employee to continue working even while symptomatic, potentially exposing hundreds of people to Covid 19. The employee decided to post this information on social media including the fact that they were tested and were in fact positive for Covid 19. At the time the employee outed them on Social Media they still were open, and packed! Only after WR became aware of the social media outcry did they announce the positive test results of an employee however they lied and downplayed their knowledge and potential exposure to their customers. WR did not offer any information about when the employee worked or other information to help their customers determine if they had been exposed. WR has shown utter disregard for our community. Myself and many other residents of Prairie Trail are disappointed in the way WR has negativily affected the atmosphere of...