Southside Tavern Restaurant in Braintree — Restaurant in Braintree

I’ve been coming to this restaurant (Southside Tavern in Braintree) since they opened and have spent hundreds of dollars here on food and drinks. After the experience I had this past Sunday, though, I will never be bringing my business here again. My friend and I walked in, and someone checked our IDs at the door. We were sat by the hostess, and the waitress asked for our IDs again before we even asked to order drinks. I planned on having a cocktail, my friend wasn’t planning on drinking. The waitress asked if we had “backup” for our IDs, so we both handed her our debit cards, at which point she disappeared with them into the back for about 10 minutes, doing who knows what. It felt as though we were being profiled from the very beginning, and I was very uncomfortable that she was gone with our debit cards and personal information for so long. Then the manager comes over and puts our IDs down on the table and smugly says “these are fake”. We told him to check them again because they’re 100% real, and he replied that he “feels” like they’re fake so they won’t be serving us. I let him know that I’ve been served here many times, and even offered to show him photos of me and another friend drinking there two weeks prior (I had the SAME waitress that time, too). I said he could even google us and see what year we graduated, check facebook, take a look at any of our other credit cards that had our names on them.. he wanted none of it. He stood there speaking loudly enough to embarrass us in front of a restaurant full of people, treating us like children and outright calling us liars. I told him I didn’t appreciate the treatment we were receiving and asked for the owner’s information, to which he refused. I asked for his name and he sheepishly replied that it’s Ian and he’s the general manager. I have never been treated so poorly by someone who is supposed to be a customer service professional. He is a sad representative for Southside as an establishment, and should be embarrassed about not only his behavior toward us as guests, but the fact that about halfway through the interaction he absolutely knew we had proved him wrong and didn’t have the decency to admit it. His reasoning then turned to “well we won’t be serving you regardless because you’re so upset and that proves that they’re fake”. You bet we were upset at being belittled in a public place, to which I have brought plenty of business over the last few years. Ian was beyond rude and clearly incompetent, because Massachusetts licenses are pretty much impossible to fake. I told him if he pulled his out of his wallet it’d feel the exact same as ours, but he just stood there with the same smug look on his face, repeating the same thing, that he “feels” like they’re fake. Not to mention he continued to make comments as we got our things together to leave. I will surely never, ever be bringing my business to this restaurant again, nor will any of my family or friends. Ian’s treatment of us was disrespectful, tactless, ignorant, and clearly a power trip. I mentioned that he may want to educate himself on identifying fake IDs because if he’s making this mistake with us, he probably has before and will continue to, thus costing Southside even more business. Maybe the owner should consider investing in an ID scanner to save his staff and customers embarrassment and frustration. It’s a shame because I truly like going there, but as long as Ian is the manager, there’s not a chance I, or anyone I know, will return.

And after reading other reviews on here about how management and even the OWNER treats their patrons, I’m surprised they’re even still in...

We went here for dinner last week with friends who live locally - four adults, four kids all together. It was a stinking hot night and our friend recommended we try and sit outside on the patio which was opened during Covid. When we arrived, it was totally empty, and two ladies leaving overheard us talking about that as we walked up. They both said they strongly recommend sitting outside as it’s extremely hot inside and there’s no AC. When we got in, I asked to sit outside but was told the patio wasn’t open due to lack of staff. It was at least ten degrees hotter inside, absolutely sweltering. They had fans going but they didn’t make much difference unless you were right in front. The staff were very apologetic but said it was the manager’s decision not to open the patio and that they could accommodate us inside. So we agreed and sat down. The food was fantastic. Special mention to the Buffalo cauliflower bites, so good, and I’m not usually a fan of cauliflower. I had the salmon which was delish. The kids all loved their food as did the adults. The service was fast and friendly. The only annoying thing was the heat. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t open the windows, as there are huge folding windows along one wall. About halfway through our meal I noticed a group sitting on the patio. Then another. Then lots. It seems they decided they had enough staff after all. And then to top it off they finally opened the windows! After all that! It was not well managed at all but I guess it’s not too common for this to happen. If not for the heat and the way it was handled, everything would have been perfect, so I’m still...

I was in Braintree for Christmas, and that evening we (a group of 5) went to the tavern for some drinks. It was a young crowd. Around 12:40 we became the last party there, so we ordered an Uber that was 7 minutes away. A woman named Rachel abruptly came over a few minutes later, removing our drinks and rudely said “You have to leave.” We told her our Uber was 4-5 minutes away at that point. There was still plenty of cleanup that staff was doing as the bar had just emptied. She was full of attitude and said she didn’t care, we had to wait outside. I asked Rachel what time the bar closed, thinking perhaps it was 12:30 and we missed it, to which she replied “We close whenever I say we close.” Another waitstaff (who appeared to be wearing Christmas pajamas?) sarcastically said “Merry Christmas!” as we filed out the door into the freezing cold. I worked in restaurants when I was younger, someone else in my party currently works in a restaurant and is a bartender…I understand firsthand what waitstaff and bartenders have to deal with. So we’re conscientious in general, tip generously, weren’t drunk or loud, and we planned our exit so as not to hold up the staff. I’ve also traveled extensively, and I’ve never been treated so rudely by restaurant or bar staff. I don’t know if staff were made to work on Christmas and that’s why they were so bitter, but either way, investing in staff with a basic level of customer service is...