The Library @ La Rioja — Restaurant in Brownsville

DRISCRIMINATION , PLEASE READ COMPLETELY: I live somewhere else after residing in Brownsville for years, so I currently visit my family and friends on a turist visa. This gains relevance because the issue at hand is that on friday 21st of June of this year, I paid my first visit to the bar The Library @ La Rioja located on 1135 E Washington St, Brownsville TX 78520. As I was with my friend, showing our ID, I presented my mexican INE, and was told these identification form was not accepted by the establishment. As per the waiter she requested a passport, which I showed and no further issue arose. Fast forward to tonight, I decided to visit the bar again with friends, so I presented my passport to the waitress serving on this day, thursday 27th, 2024. The waitress states that Mexican IDs are NOT VALID in their establishment, to which I reply that a passport was showed the last time and taken as valid. The waitress insists that if I want to be served alcohol I need to show an American or a Texas valid form of ID, and proceeds to confirm with the manager. At this point, the manager had not even the decency to face me while they both "check" my passport. The waitress comes back and states they DO NOT RECOGNIZE my passport as valid to their business and MUST show an American ID. I go ahead and show my American Visa, and the waitress again refused to take it, as per statement, "we can't take it because is within the passport and doesnt change anything". At this point we decide to leave, neither the waitress nor the manager (who didnt bother in facing the situation) offered any sort of apology,

PEOPLE, TURISTS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS OF BROWNSVILLE:

This is a case of discrimination, that being said, this business is not open to turists who do not hold an American ID. Even being presented with a valid American visa, they still refused to serve me alcohol. I am deeply concerned because I had never experienced such blatant discrimination in the community which I became part of for many years. This is UNLAWFULL, PLEASE AVOID THIS BUSINESS AND MAKE SURE TO BRING IT...

Upon walking in I was very pleased by the decor here. It had a very cozy, relaxing vibe. The place was not busy at all; there was only one person at the bar, with no other people besides my wife and me. The bartender said we could sit anywhere we'd like, we chose to sit at the couch. She gave us menus almost immediately. We were not hungry so all we wanted was something to drink. After setting our menus down we sat and waited about 10 minutes or so for the waitress. I got tired of waiting for someone to take my order so I got up and ordered at the bar. I ordered a Red Top Old Fashioned and she had a water. We waited nearly 20 minutes. By this time we were still the only ones there, besides the guy sitting at the bar. I'm glad we didn't order food...no telling how long that would of taken. So we had our drinks and during that time no one came to check up on us or anything...until we were done. My Old Fashioned was decent for the price. We were ready to go, the service was slow and we felt unwelcome. I go to the bar to pay and no one is acknowledging me, so I had to beckon the bartender over. There was no interaction at all. She didn't tell me the total, ask how our drinks were, how our visit was, or anything. I had to tell her what we ordered as we didn't receive a tab or anything. She never told me my total. She punched in some things then stared at me. I handed her my card, took my receipt and said have a nice day. She halfheartedly...

Went here in late 2020/early 2021, I wasn't that impressed. Just another bar trying to act like Austin 6th St. Atmosphere was very snobby and rude. Patrons there act like the usual downtown Austin hipsters when they should know they're in the RGV and probably from middle-lower class. Bartender couldn't make a tequila sunset or a decent Paloma as well. Food was excellent. I had the nachos/panchos and those were the best thing about the experience. I'm not sure if the staff changed but I had gone one time about a quarter to 12am and staff said they were closing up. Then why have your time set to 2am for closing on FB and Google? Went another time at 12am, and doors were locked. I did enjoy the style and decorations. Tried to give it like a fancy british/old school library feel with books and games but the snobby patrons with rude facial contact is just a no go for me. When I had gone, there was hardly any place to sit, neither in or outside. It was my first...