Utopian Tailgate — Restaurant in Chicago

We had the most incredible time at this location for my daughter's 21st birthday. Unfortunately, for her college graduation and a very large group of her college graduate friends and family, it was a very unfortunate experience. We specifically went so I could purchase a couple large "pong" cups for the group. The bartender was very nice and requested I ask the table server. The table server took my credit card and came back and said they didn't have any more of the large cups. Upon passing an overload tray table I found one of the large cups and explained to a VERY sweet server, that we were from out of town and many families flew in for a large college graduation ceremony with several graduates and families there that day. We specifically came to the venue to gift the graduates with a few "large pong cups" and if able, I would be very appreciative if she would be able to accommodate us. She was incredibly sweet and took the cup I found and said she would try to assist. I gave her my credit card and a young man with a pink sweater with blonde hair in a pony tail came up to me in front of all the graduates, families and guests and basically shoved my credit card back onto my chest and said "we are out". I asked if they were out of the cups? He said no. The drinks. Several men, including my husband, witnessed me being shocked and were concerned at this servers behavior and that he had pushed the credit card into my chest/face. At no time was i disrespectful or inconsiderate to any of the staff, until this young man was incredibly rude, inappropriate and disrespectful. Many of the men in the party were astonished by his behavior toward a woman, especially, an older woman that was just trying to be polite to request an item the establishment offers. After this incident I asked if they were out of the item or if they just didn't want to make it and he walked away. Later I asked, if the table we were at could be cleared from trash. Upon asking this, the server in the pink sweater and pony tail decided to try to point me out to a large security guard as an intimidation factor. Again, I stood at the bar and ordered my only 2nd drink of the evening. At no time was I rude, other then requesting service. Many military and police officers in the group were incredibly shocked and disgusted by this servers actions toward me. As a patron that has brought many groups for large celebrations to this establishment I will never encourage, recommend or entertain going to this establishment again. At NO time should a server ever push a credit card into a patrons face or be so incredibly rude or disrespectful. Every other server, including the bartenders, the very nice small blond waitress was incredibly polite. Excluding our server, who never once checked on our table or the young gentleman who was very inappropriate and inconsiderate. I would give this establish high reviews had it not been for our initial server and the one male server. We will not be encouraging, recommending this establishment to any other out of...

I made a reservation for 5:30pm on a Saturday for my birthday and ended up leaving after 2 hours of no one attending us. This was 110% racially motivated. I didn’t want to spend any time writing a review but after hearing about similar instances from other friends, coworkers and even social media I had to. First off when we arrived we were told it’d be an hour wait for a table — even with a reservation. The hostess said this was because people just weren’t leaving. But online it says each group has 2 hrs at the table to ensure all reservations are kept. Seeing that you have to put a credit card down and get charged for the reservation, I would think the 2 hr limit would be somewhat enforced. I was still waiting for a few more friends when we first got told about the wait. So we decided to just go wait at the bar until we got a text the table was ready. At the bar all of my friends and I were racially discriminated against. We all had the bar tender serve multiple people, that were there after us, way before us. Two of us even told the bartender something after taking a few people before us and just got brushed off. This happened to each of us individually. Little more than an hour goes by and we haven’t gotten a text. But it’s really not that busy. There’s empty table inside that have been empty since we got there. We decide to go out onto the actual patio and we found a few empty tables. So we decided to take a table as it’s unoccupied. We’re at the table for about 20ish minutes and haven’t been attended, even with servers walking right past us. Not a single eye was batted at us. So I grab the hostess upstairs and tell her that I had a 5:30 reservation, haven’t received a text and found an unoccupied table where we’re sat at now. I very politely tell her we’re not upset about the wait or anything we would just like service. She asks which table and I tell her which one. She says they’ll help us real quick. We wanted cocktails and at this point the bar stopped making them and would only be served at tables like at a restaurant. Another 20ish minutes go by and nothing. So I give them one last chance and grab the same hostess. This time she comes to our table, sees us and tells us that she will be back. 30 min pass and nothing still. At this point we know it’s racially motivated because the tables next to us have had groups of ONLY white people brought to the table (by the hostess or server) sat, served and have even left now. Again it’s really not that busy. Groups are coming and going from tables and being served. Yet we had to seat ourselves after waiting over the hour, get 2 different hostesses 3 different times and wait over 2 hrs. And still have not gotten that text lmao. And still haven’t been served. We decide to leave. It was my birthday and at that point wanted absolutely nothing to do with this extremely racist, unorganized, unprofessional and discriminative bar in a city that’s supposed to be very diverse and inclusive. Can’t believe places and people like this...

Absolutely DON'T go here if you take classes at Second City! And probably just don't go here at all.

TLDR: Staff is disorganized, they'll make fun of you behind your back, and they hate Second City students. Takes itself way too seriously. Go to Old Town Ale House or Corcoran's instead.

The only reason I used to go here is because SC students get a discount, so we would get drinks there after class sometimes. The last time I was here:

One of the bartenders talked smack about me within earshot of my friends after I left, making fun of me for "being there alone all the time" (I had been there maybe twice on my own??) The staff openly talked about how much they hate Second City students Someone in our group paid their bill + tip with cash and then left. When the rest of the group was closing out later, they accused the person who had left of walking out on their tab, even though we all saw them paying

I've worked retail and most of the friends I've been there with have also worked/were currently working in a service job of some sort, so we always tried to be as easygoing as possible since know what "bad" customers are like. I also totally understand needing to vent to coworkers when you have a negative interaction with a customer (although maybe don't do it within earshot of that person's friends?)

However: We never complained about the food/drinks/service, were never demanding, and were never rowdy or behaving out of line—we were actually usually one of the quieter groups there. We also always tip whenever we go somewhere as a group, and if I was there alone or paid my own bill separately at the bar, I ALWAYS tipped at least 25% on the non-discounted price, and a few times even well beyond that (over 100% in one case).

I get it if the staff has had poor encounters with Second City students in the past, but it's really not fair to judge all of them negatively right off the bat. ESPECIALLY since this a place that seems to cater to larger groups and is in the SAME BUILDING as Second City and has a specific agreement with their students that gives them a discount. I get if applying the discounts is annoying, but that's not the student's fault.

Maybe it's just not the sort of clientele they want to curate since they carry themselves like it's some exclusive nightclub, idk. Reading the other reviews + the bizarre level of security to get in makes me wonder what kind of patrons they DO want?? Like...this is a rooftop bar with beer pong in Chicago, not a high-end club with VIP tables in Miami or Vegas or something,...