Club Café — Restaurant in Boston

Club Cafe

It saddens me to write this.

My husband and I have celebrated every anniversary at Club Cafe for the past ten years. I've always respected the owner, James, and believed he respected me.

A few months ago, my friends and I went to Club Cafe as usual. One of my friends, a flight attendant, had just flown into Logan. I picked him up, took him home to get dressed, and we rushed to Club Cafe where our friends were waiting.

We had been there for about 30 minutes, enjoying our first drink, when security approached us and claimed my friend was drunk. Having been a DJ for over 40 years and the F&B Director for TGIF for 30 years, I knew my friend was not intoxicated.

I approached James, whom I've known for over 30 years, to ask what was happening. He simply said there was nothing he could do if security deemed my friend intoxicated. So, we left.

We went to MGH, where my friend underwent several tests. As a flight attendant, he cannot have drugs or alcohol in his system while working, or he risks losing his job. The results showed no drugs and an alcohol content less than a shot, from the few sips he had taken.

I called James, left a message explaining everything, and asked him to call me back. I wanted to show him the results from MGH. To this day, he has not responded.

Meanwhile, 13 employees, including managers, servers, and bartenders, have informed me that security wanted my friend to leave because the DJ disliked him for not wanting to date him. How shameful!

What happened to respect, honesty, and love?

As a part of the LGBTQ community, especially in these times, we need to come together. My friend could have lost his job because he didn't want to date the DJ.

I truly believe James will never respond to me. It seems he feels it’s unimportant. He's fortunate to have a secure business and doesn't need to care about those who might get hurt.

It pains me to write this because I have so much love for the staff at Club Cafe. They are an amazing group of people who truly care.

Despite all the wonderful memories my friends and I have there, I will never return.

I believe in all my heart that James will do nothing after reading this.

With all my love, heart, and honor, everything I have said here is the...

I have lived in Boston for 15 years and have been to club cafe numerous times. Recently though the security staff has been very aggressive. It makes the concept that club cafe is a safe haven for queer people, specially people of color - a joke. This has also been noted by various reviews here. I am not one to go bash a business online but sometimes accountability on how your organization is run is necessary.

We were at Club Cafe last night and my husband went out to smoke a cigarette. When he tried to enter back after smoking, he was denied entry by a security guard stating they don't let people enter the establishment past 11:45 pm. I begged and pleaded the security guard to let my husband in so we could finish our meal and head out. He refused so I decided to walk out. While we were both outside waiting for our friends to finish their meal, my husband and I decided to light a cigarette. The security guard then walked up to me outside on the sidewalk and hit me unprovoked throwing my unlit cigarette on the floor. I told him that he cannot assault anyone on public property so he got two other security guards - one of whom was wearing black shorts and black t shirt and had tattoos. He was very aggressive and decided to push my husband onto the sidewalk and he hit the concrete floor necessitating calling an ambulance and spending the night at the emergency room. I pushed the security guard back and the other security guard hit me in my face sending my glasses onto the sidewalk and breaking them.

The cops were called and an ambulance was called for necessary medical attention. I have left a voicemail to their security manager asking for a footage from the night but I doubt I will get it. I have meanwhile filed a police report and will be following up with assault charges due to the use of excessive force.

I would tell everyone who is queer and thinks of this space as a safe space to be very weary. They target people and use excessive force on patrons. I am doubtful any of these 'bouncers' have received any training to de-escalate. There is no reason a patron in a business should be going to a hospital in an ambulance because they were assaulted by a member of that business.

Wish I could...

This being my first time I’m a little disappointed that I had such an experience because the club seemed like a cool spot to have fun. I was waiting for my friends to get in last night and so I ended up coming and hanging out for a bit I grabbed a couple drinks to pass the time and honestly I’m not a big drinker so I was sipping all night. I came in straight from work so I had my gym/work bag with me. I had gotten up to go to the bathroom and when I did a lady in a paisley blue and white shirt fallowed me and told me she was security. She waited outside my bathroom stall to tell me I wasn’t allowed to have such a big bag like that. I told her she was welcome to look in it and all it was, was my work out bag. She said alright and that she would take it to the security room for safe keep until I leave. I don’t know what ever possessed me to allow her to walk off with it but thankfully nothing happened to it but she did come back with it 10 or so min later I came back up to her to retrieve it and she said “hunny your drunk and sick and need to go where are your people? People don’t spend this long at the club” I was honestly shocked and annoyed someone would ever say such a thing. I said “who me I was not sick if I was I’d be leaving immediately” she asked me what was all the coughing, I just explained I have a disability sometimes involuntarily cough because it’s chronic. She left me alone about that but then tried to show me out the door and she walked me up to the front to sit behind the check in desk away from everyone else and told me to call an Uber and to tell my friends I’m drunk and need to go home. I was already asking for a ride but I also checked with my friends who all know I don’t get crazy like that. My friends confirmed that I didn’t seem like I was out of line or anything. At the time she had asked me to go I had only been there for an hour and o was fighting to stay because my girlfriend was running late. By the time she came they where watching me and waiting for me to go. That kinda sucked honestly and I’m disappointed that was the case my...