572 Social kitchen & lounge — Restaurant in Big Bear Lake

As a Local and a Mother, I’m Heartbroken Over This Experience I’m a Big Bear local and have always loved this place. The atmosphere is warm, the food is great, the music is fun, and the staff has always been kind and welcoming not just to me, but to my family and even my very well-trained service dog. One of the things I appreciated most was that this place is dog-friendly, on this visit, everyone, staff and guests alike, wete incredibly supportive. But this visit left me shocked, upset, and disappointed. My 9-year-old son has epilepsy, bipolar disorder, autism, and ADHD. His service dog is not just a companion; he’s a trained medical support animal who can detect oncoming episodes before we can. On this particular visit, he sensed that my son was about to have a breakdown (which can quickly escalate into a seizure) and instinctively jumped onto the cement bench next to him and wrapped himself around him to provide pressure and comfort. This is exactly what he is trained to do; this isn’t just comfort, it’s medical intervention. A manager (I believe he was Hispanic, and I want to be clear this is only mentioned for identification) approached us. While he initially spoke politely, he told us the service dog was not allowed to be on the cement bench. I was so caught off guard in that moment that I instinctively said “okay,” but quickly remembered that under ADA law, service dogs are allowed to perform their duties as necessary, including providing tactile stimulation and emotional regulation by being in close contact with their handler. I calmly approached him afterward to explain the situation and my son’s medical needs. Instead of responding with understanding or compassion, he immediately escalated - pulling out his phone and making a show of threatening to call the police. Let me be very clear: this was not just upsetting; it was dangerous. My son was on the verge of a full episode, and the tension only increased his risk of having a seizure. My husband is a sheriff, and as a local family, we chose to walk away instead of creating a scene. But had police been called, the situation could have turned traumatic for my son, and the restaurant would have clearly been in the wrong for violating our rights. I want to believe this was a misunderstanding, but the lack of empathy or willingness to listen was deeply disappointing. I don’t want anyone else in the disabled or service dog community to feel humiliated or unsafe in a space they thought was welcoming. This could have - and should have - been handled so differently. (I didn't take video because I thought the manager would have understood and apologized instead of threatening to call the police - which if it wasn't for my son on the possible verge of a seizure - I would of more than happily waited for...

They gave me the "special" sauce that gave me diarrhea guys! Yay!

It's been a long time since I've posted so this was necessary for me to speak of my experience. Before we head into the details I'm not a person that likes to just vent. I always try to be positive and realistic for that reason

That being said my last experience was a classic restaurant passive-aggressive blowback behavior based on a very obscure social interaction. I was trying to support the Big Bear community - because I fish, camp, cabin, and snowboard up there. Just finished fishing and I was tired and not in such a jovial mood except for a prospect of some good food.

We ordered food from a young Caucasian worker and hit the bathroom. As I was walking back briskly through the front - this is where the obscure interaction happened - I slightly rubbed my shoulder with this same worker. There was no eye contact, no facial expressions. My mistake was I did not acknowledge the interaction nor the fact that the worker apologized. I figured it was nothing and proceeded to find a table and thought no more of it.

That was a mistake and thinking back I should have acknowledged and said sorry myself or said "no worries". My mind was preoccupied with food and drink. Well it ended up being a mistake because we got food that gave me diarrhea. I had suspected this when we got our food because the 2 lady servers were a bit too smiley and announced that our food was coming in a too excited tone. And the stoic heavy set dude was too eager to clear our plates...lol.

So the whole time we were eating I was replaying the interaction I had earlier and put the 2 together. I had to keep my mouth shut because I didn't want to alarm my lunch mate so I played along and even ordered another beer.

All I want to end this with is yes there are rude customers and that makes the service industry hard to work in. There is often little gratefulness from customers. I am a grateful customer but I was just not on my game that day. Please be mindful that others may not be thinking what you - the server - is thinking. Clarify with your customer before putting the "special" sauce on the...

Took the wife to dinner tonight. I ordered the New York Steak and she ordered the Bacon Wrapped Filet (butterfly well done). The server took our order without writing anything down (must have an exceptional memory). We also ordered a house salad. The salad came out. We did not receive our drinks. The manager came over stating it was odd that we had our salad out and no drinks yet. I said yes we had ordered drinks but just hadn't received them yet. So he went back and got that taken care of. The server finally brought the drinks over and apologized that she got wrapped up in a take out order and forgot about us. Our dishes came out a little longer than expected. To be honest my steak was perfect (medium rare). My wife's was supposed to be butterfly well done. It was not. She cut into it and it was medium. The girl serving our meals stated she would let the waitress know. The waitress came over and apologized that it was completely her fault. She forgot to tell the kitchen my wife's request. She asked if we wanted her to take it back to the kitchen so they could do that for us. We stated no as we'd like to enjoy our meal together. So my wife ate the mash potatoes and veggies. The waitress said sorry and went to get our check. $75 bucks later? I was a little surprised that she did not offer to remove or discount that meal. $29 for mash potatoes and veggies is a little expensive. Wondering if she didn't want to bring this up to her manager since she was at fault for ruining a $29 plate? We've been here numerous times but not sure if we'll be returning after service like this. Since I didn't tip the server on the check here's a tip for you now. Maybe you should write down the orders you're taking so you can proper relay that information to...