Blind Pig Pub — Restaurant in Austin

I had a horrible experience at The Blind Pig today. I stopped by, in a group of three people. One of our friends is a person of color who is visiting Austin from overseas. There is a bartender (I wish I had thought to ask his name; I was honestly too gobsmacked by his behavior to think clearly) who was working the bar that's directly across from the front doors. He's a white dude, probably in his late 30s/early 40s. He was so overtly racist and sexist toward my friend that that the rest of us were essentially speechless. He acted annoyed with her from the moment she started interacting with him. Based on the way he was looking at her, the tone he used with her, and how short he was with her, you would have thought she was inconveniencing him to an extreme degree. You may also have thought she was being rude towards him. This was not at all the case; she was literally asking him about her drink options. She had never been to this bar before; it was her first time in Austin. I know he wasn't treating other guests this way- there were people sitting around the bar, and they certainly would not have done this had he been directing the same sort of behavior toward them. Amongst several of his comments was one to the effect of, "The drinks you can get here are beer or mixed drinks. If you don't get a beer, your drink will be served to you in a plastic cup." I wish I could better share in this post the way he was speaking to and looking at her. He was talking down to her and being so incredibly disrespectful. The intonation of his speech reminded me of how adults will speak to spoiled children when they've reached the end of their patience. As a friend who was present, I wish I had done and said more to be a better ally. I was so taken aback by this abhorrent behavior that I honestly froze. Something I want to make sure to convey to the management of The Blind Pig: This guy treated a fellow human being this way in public, while at his place of employment. Imagine how he may treat people to whom he apparently feels superior when he thinks no one else is watching. I frankly don't want to think about it. He was an entitled racist, and I don't feel comfortable bringing anyone to this establishment anymore....

This rating goes out to a short, bald bartender upstairs and a security guy.

I opened a tap at an upstairs bar and when I went to close it, I gave my ID to the bar girl. She told me that my credit card was not in that bar and I told her that she had served me 40 minutes earlier and my card had to be there. Then the short, bald guy came and spoke to me in a very rude and impolite way to tell me to go to the other bar because it should be there. I told him in a very polite way that my card had to be there but he, without letting me speak and yelling at me, told me that if I had heard him right I had to go to the other bar. I asked him if they had taken my card to the other bar and, again, speaking to me very badly and not letting me say anything, he told me to go to the other bar.

I went to the other bar and the guy at that bar told me, very politely (and as was obvious) that my card was not there, so I went back to the bar where my card was to talk to the short bald guy.

I handed him my ID and told him to please take a good look, since, as I had tried to explain to him, my card should be there.

He finally found it and, embarrassed, instead of apologizing, he told me that it was my fault since I had not given my ID and he had not been able to find the card because he had misunderstood my last name. I replied that I had given my ID to the girl and he, again, instead of apologizing for his mistake and for speaking to me in a rude and impolite manner, told me that I had to leave the bar and called the security guy, who took me rudely down the stairs to the door.

Regrettable attitude of these people, especially the short grumpy bald guy. It's a shame that such a fantastic bar has such unprofessional and unpleasant staff. If they don't even know how to look for a credit card, they should do something else.

I won't go back because I won't find the rude...

Do yourself a favor and go next door to the left to Maggie Maes. Skip over this bar full of d-bags. This seems to be the spot everyone flocks to at the end of the night, but time and time again they've proven themselves to me. I hope the owner of Blind Pig reads this and cleans his staff up. The venue is fine, the employees suck a big one. Last night I went here and ordered a red bull and vodka, instead I got something extremely watered down and obviously not red bull, it was clear...when asking the bartender what he had put in my drink he stated it was some other energy drink they had and quote "what do you expect from a bar that gives drinks to you in plastic cups"...seriously? this is an employees attitude...they're blaming ME cause I'm not satisfied with my drink? He won't give me another drink. I let it go, whatever. Next night, tonight, I stand in line for over 10 minutes, get to the front and they deny me cause I'm wearing all black Jordans, they're brand new, the shoes by no means look bad...I look around, inside the bar and there's people with Converse and sandals on, the bouncers/door-men are going up and down the line telling people they can cut to the front if they pay them 5 dollars, mostly the guys, the girls they're letting in no problem. I wait in line again, try to talk to the other door-guy...he denys me again, I say listen..my friends are inside, this whole thing is ridiculous, let me pay you $10, just let me in...I point inside to a dude with sandals and I'm like....you let him in...he shrugs and tells me quote "ef off"...enough said...ABSOLUTELY DONE with this place...Never going back. I'm a local tech guy from a big company in town who supports local business, but like I said initially, do yourself a favor and go next door to Maggie Maes, support a bar that cares about their customers,...