Hitching Post Saloon — Restaurant in Apache Junction

First let’s give a little back history. My dad less than a month ago was living a life of leisure out in Mesa, being careful for Covid, he had just flown out there in November for the winter. Somehow he contracted Covid. We had to fly out there and make that difficult decision to pull him off life support he deteriorated really fast. He passed away last week. (Dec. 30th) Whenever my sister and I would come visit he would bring us to the hitching post -he got a kick out of the giant chicken on the patio. We always had to sit out there and eat.So my sister and I decided as a pilgrimage two days after he passed away we would stop there for lunch. The only tables that were open were in the shade. So we seated ourselves and then we noticed that the servers weren’t wearing masks. But we thought well we’re outside and we had ours so will be OK. It took forever for our server to get to us and get our first drinks. Another server had come on duty and was super nice and stopped at our table and asked if we needed anything and we said yes we need to order food yet. She happily took our order and passed it on to our server. And we didn’t see our server for a long time again. In the meantime a table in the sun had opened up. We asked the Friendly server if it was OK to change tables. She was more than happy to do that she even bleached and cleaned the table for us. About five minutes later our server comes out and totally scolded us for changing tables that we don’t do musical tables here is what she said and When we come back again we better not do that. Totally scolded us like we were five years old. Mind you I’m 59 and my sister is 57. She Then proceeded to tell me that it was their Covid rules you can’t switch tables, I said then why aren’t the Servers wearing masks? She said because we don’t. And I said don’t worry we won’t be coming back here again. So we proceeded to wait for our food because we had already ordered it with the other server. In the meantime there was a table of two couples, that were sitting at a table in the shade. They proceeded to move to a new table which happened to be at the other end of our long table. Waitress never said a word to them And they didn’t even asked to switch tables like we did.I was a server for 15+ years I would never ever talk to a customer the way she did, hate to say it but she was a big B.And when we have to go out there to finish up my dad’s affairs, I guarantee we will not be going to the hitching post. As far as the food the chicken was bland no seasoning just plain not impressed at all. I get much Better wings down the road at my little wing joint here in Minnesota. My...

I’ve debated on whether or not to post this but at the end of the day, I hope it helps the hitching post and its future customers. I also hope it helps people spend a little more time learning about this particular topic. On Saturday, I was denied service because of my service dog.

For context, I try not to go anywhere with my service dog without her vest to avoid stressful conversations. Sometimes however, unplanned things happen. (Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) details that your service dog doesn’t have to wear a vest.) Typically in these situations I walk into the establishment and have a short conversation with the staff explaining the situation and everything is fine. At the Hitching Post however, this was not the case.

To make a long story short I was yelled at by the owner who very clearly didn’t understand what a service dog is. After gesturing to a sign outside his establishment that detailed service dogs only and how emotional support dogs don’t qualify he angrily walked away telling my grandmother and I to leave. This entire time I was trying to explain to him that my dog is, in fact, a service dog. She’s trained to do a few different tasks for me, regardless of whether or not she’s wearing her vest. I even offered to show him the Department of Transportation form I use to fly with her with him continuously interrupting and not listening. In the end, we had to leave because while what happened was illegal it was not worth the fight. I do recognize that it was a busy time at the hitching post and that can be stressful, but that doesn’t excuse the belligerent behavior that was shown, in front of multiple other patrons no less.

Not everyone who uses a service dog appears to be disabled. That doesn’t mean there aren’t medical reasons behind having a service dog. I don’t want to detail out everything that is in the ADA but I please ask that everyone take the time to do a quick search and research for yourself, including the owner of hitching post who didn’t know what he was talking about. I also ask that anyone who pretends to have a service dog so they can bring their dog anywhere they want to please stop. I get it I do, but it makes it that much harder for those of us who actually use them.

As for returning to hitching post I don’t think I ever will. I’m in town visiting my grandmother and there are so many other places to visit during my short time here. I do hope that the ownership will take the time to learn more about service dogs so that this doesn’t happen to anyone...

The Hitching Post is NOT dog friendly, even though a Google search indicates that they are. We took our Frenchie there and were told the "they do NOT ALLOW Dogs!" They were rude about this notice as well. We'll never go back. We went to Dirt Water Springs, and they were VERY Dog Friendly. Much better option that the rude service at Hitching Post.

In response to your reply (Dec 23rd), indicating that you were not rude, on the contrary, you DID NOT say that you were "sorry", you said "Dogs are not allowed here" (period). Plus, regarding information on Google not being correct, it's not just Google, it's a number of other web listing that indicate that your patio is dog friendly. To simply say that it's a "Google" problem is avoiding the responsibility to make sure that your online listings (which BTW most people use extensively and do rely on exclusively versus making phone calls) is accurate and up to date. Also, you should post a notice at your entrances (nothing was at your rear patio entrance, which we checked before entering). We're not surprised that your response is as short and unaccountable as your live response was. Lastly, we're not "mad" we're just informing other dog owners that love their dogs and bring them along to avoid making this same mistake we did. We were compelled to post this online so in cases where dog owners may have driven miles before landing at your door and do, trust that your Google and other business review info is correct and up to date, that your establishment does not allow dogs. They should also know that Dirt Water Springs (listed online as dog friendly) is only a few miles away and do, indeed welcome canine companions with attentive service (they pet your dogs and acknowledge them as they do they human guests and bring them...