Dust Bowl Brewing Co. Old Town Tap House — Restaurant in California

DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AND NOT A FAMILY FRIENDLY PLACE

My family (wife, husband, 2 kids and our cousin and girlfriend) were having dinner at Dustbowl Brewery in Elk Grove today, Sept 1st, from around 6:30-7:30pm.

The night started out fine, we had ordered our food and we were sitting and chatting. But then some time later we were shocked when the manager Clair suddenly came to our table with to-go boxes telling us we needed to leave because "I saw on cameras you were giving your daughter beer. Her lips were pressed on the beer glass and drank alcohol. You need to pack up and pay your bill and get out now”.

We were shocked that she accused us of being bad parents, doing the unthinkable of feeding alcohol to our kids. I asked Clair to show us the surveillance camera footage. She ignored our request and said if we don't pay and leave, she would call the cops. I encouraged her to call the police and show them the footage, and we said we won't leave until the police come, as we didn't do anything wrong. Clair called Elk Grove Police.

My wife, who was falsely accused, verbally assaulted/harassed was crying and deeply hurt about Clair implying she was a bad mother. If any of you (especially parents) reading this can understand, we as parents work so hard to raise our kids the right way, and to have a person accuse you of bad parenting is very hurtful and disrespectful.

Then my kids started crying saying, “I didn’t do anything! I never drank anything!”.

The audacity that Clair has to even consider calling the police in front of our children, causing them emotional trauma as they were scared they would be taken away by the police. We kept reassuring our children that we didn't do anything wrong and if you're innocent, you have to stand up and prove to anyone that you're right.

At about 6:45pm, the two Elk Grove police officers showed up. We explained the situation to the officers.

The officers reviewed the surveillance footage and stated:  “yeah we didn't see the kid sip from the beer cup”.

Afterwards, they told us Clair is banning us from Dustbowl and if we didn't leave we will be charged with trespassing. The officers were professional but did acknowledge it felt petty to them. We were humiliated having to talk with the police and later having to be walked out with the police since they had to ensure we left with them.

After all of this, Clair, the manager, continued to stand her ground. I would be less mad about the situation if she came back to apologize, but she didn't. I also would be less mad if she gave us any benefit of the doubt, to have her attempt to re-review the footage, but she was swift with her accusation and never let us get our word in before escalating to the police.

Her handling of this strong accusation that we let our child drink alcohol and banning us without any reason is a very dangerous way to run a business. Elk Grove police made us aware that technically, they are a private business and can refuse service to anyone. But that's a very risky move considering it was proven that we didn't violate any laws.

My wife and I were calm and never used profanity toward her and we didn't make a scene. So why are they now refusing service and banning us?

I have rarely considered Asian discrimination as a factor in my upbringing, fortunate to have grown up in Elk Grove, which is a very diverse community, but I don't understand why she seemingly targeted us with this aggressive accusation? We were friendly to our server and our kids were well behaved. The only reason I can think of is that doesn't like us as a person. It appears that looking around we were the only Asian family dining at that time.

Since we didn't get the closure we wanted, no apology or recognition of their wrongdoing, I am moving this up the chain to the owners and pursuing legal action. I hope this is just an isolated, rogue employee situation but I don't know if is part of a bigger cultural issue within...

Placed a phone order at lunchtime and was told it would be 10-15 mins. I arrived 5 minutes later. Announced my self at the bar and ordered a drink while I waited. 30 minutes passed and no food. Another 5 minutes passed and one of the bar backs asked how I was doing and I told her I was still waiting for my to go order. She went right to the kitchen and talk to.the kitchen staff. Then she went to warming cabinet of some kind, bagged the order and brought it to me and I paid. I was curious how the fries handled being in a container for who knows how long, aaaaand they were soggy and a couple were stale some how. Not sure about the physics there but it was the case. No ketchup/condiments, or napkins in the bag. Thankfully knowing I am a messy eater and I grabbed a few on my way out from the hostess station at the door.

It was not that busy, it just seems like wander around aimlessly and not really any communication continuity. The staff was friendly, and the place had solid ambiance. The burger was good, but the wait, the soggy fries and no ketchup/napkins warrant a 2 star rating for food, but I bet it would have been a 4. While the staff was friendly, they weren't busy enough to delay my order that long and get a 1 star. Atmosphere was good and clean. Maybe all of their time was spent cleaning? Wouldn't be mad a that, so 4 stars for Atmosphere.

I wish I wasn't working so I could have a flight with the Coffee Porter and the Confused Psychiatrist (double IPA), I'm sure they were delicious.

I would go back, but I wouldn't order take out again, or recommend it. Really a sit down place, and the dine in crowd...

The ambiance was great! We went on a Sunday, so the outside was busy as the weather was really nice out. But it was just the two of us and we got seated right away inside. I was happy to get the soft sofa type chairs. The table was really tiny though, and when we ordered two flights it barely fit on the table and there was no room for us to get food. But that'll just give me a reason to go back😉 The service was alright, nothing to write home about. We read the menu and wrote down our orders, she entered it into the mobile tablet and brought our flights, pretty simple. I did request water and the response was a point across the room and she said, "the water station is over there". I don't mind tipping and I do tip very well (worked in Food & Beverage over 20 years) for good service that is.... But we wrote down our own beer orders, got our own waters and the table was too small to order food to eat off of. So I really don't know what we tipped for, but we did anyway. I would have just rather walked the 15 ft to tell the beer tender our order since we wrote down our own orders and got our own waters anyway. But since the chairs were part of a serving section we didn't have a choice. I had noticed the other server got waters for her patrons when asked, but maybe she's just the type of server to "go above and beyond" I guess. Either way, the ambiance was nice, the beer selection was good, seating was comfortable and we got seated right away. Next time I'll try the food and just sit at the bar. I'm happy they opened up and we now have another nice option in...