Tommy Joe's — Restaurant in Bethesda

My husband and I were in the area in March for the Atlantic 10 basketball tournament in DC. Once University of Dayton lost, we hung out closer to our Airbnb in Bethesda to watch lots of basketball on TV. Preparing for our trip, we had read the two goofy one-star reviews written by boyfriend and girlfriend, and we put on our to-do list: "Go to Tommy Joe's. Don't get accosted. Post a 5-star review " Here goes... Tommy Joe's became our go to. Staff were always friendly and provided great service. We went there several times during our stay. Great TV's for watching multiple games. In addition to being a UD fan, I'm also a Michigan fan. I wore my Michigan attire for the Michigan/Maryland game, and kept my "whoop-whoops!" at a respectful level. Didn't get, booed, harassed or accosted (probably because I know better than to walk behind a bar without a big sign to tell me so...) Michigan won, so we came back for the Big 10 Championship game on TV the next day. It wad Tommy Joe's pre-St. Patrick’s Day party. The internet went down, so they didn't have their music available. Duffy (I believe he's the manager) came out of his office and got an Irish song singalong going at the bar. So fun! Ed and Holly were bartending that day--great service. It was Ed's birthday, so more singing, plus cake! This is definitely a locals bar, and the locals definitely made us feel like part of their crowd. Thank you, George, Kate and the nice auto mechanic from Ireland (and other afternoon regulars not named) for making us feel so welcome. I'm not a t-shirt wearer, but I had to buy a Tommy Joe's St. Patrick’s Day t-shirt that the Saturday bartender had cooked up (can't recall his name, but he was great, too!), so that I would have something concrete to bring back all the great memories of our visits to Tommy Joe's. We hope we have an opportunity to go back to Bethesda to make a return trip to...

Whoever is in charge of this location needs to train their bouncers better. After reading multiple reviews, it appears that many customers have had the SAME EXACT ISSUE with an incompetent bouncer deeming their ID is fake, for whatever reason. Here is a copy of my review I have posted on Facebook, Yelp, and Google Maps.

Terrible experience. As soon as we got here, the absurdly rude bouncer deemed one of our out of state group group member's IDs as "fake." The only way to get it back is to wait for law enforcement to come verify that is in fact not a fake, after which we will be promptly leaving. Had the bouncer offered to communicate with the cops or even the bartender offered any form of non-alcoholic beverages, perhaps this would be a 2-rating. But the bouncer was incredibly rude throughout the entire process and obviously does not care anything about customer service as when we told him as soon as we get the ID back we were leaving as we don't appreciate this treatment and his response was, "I'm sorry you feel that way." I would hate to see how any other employees treats their customers here.

We ended up waiting over an hour for the police to come, only to verify what we already knew: the ID was not fake. What an absurd waste of time and a pleasant evening. Will not be returning ever. Too bad, Tommy Joe's lost out on $200+ business last night.

TL,DR: Bouncer not only incompetent, but incredibly rude. Deemed legal out of state ID "fake," wasted my group's time and the cops' time. Friend's ID is now ruined because of the bouncer's...

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE COMING TO THIS RESTAURANT:

My girlfriend and I came to have a nice lunch together and had the worst experience ever. We've been coming here for over a year. The restaurant was packed for an event so on our way out the restaurant we went behind the bar and someone forcefully grabs my arm.

He says you can't go this way. I tell him that's fine we can go around but please don't put your hands on me this is assault. The man that grabbed my arm was an African American DJ with a gray beard that works for the restaurant.

We are in a professional setting if you don't want someone to walk there then put a big sign stating that and second you can verbally ask someone without grabbing their arm. I didn't know people can't use their words to communicate but instead put hands on someone. So, every time someone walks there someone will put their hands on you. This is absolutely unacceptable.

About half hour later after we leave the restaurant, I call to speak to a manager to file a complaint on the DJ. The manager I spoke to was named Duffy. I explained to him the situation that he put his hands on me because we weren't supposed to walk there which obviously we didn't know. Instead of saying yeah nobody should put their hands on anybody, he says he was doing you a favor. I was absolutely livid and hung up the phone. The manager condoned violence towards me. I will never ever come back to...