Thompson's Bookstore Speakeasy — Restaurant in Fort Worth

I know that my experience here is not indicative of this bar as a whole (as I've been here a couple of times), but my most recent one was so awful that I wanted to detail it out...

My boyfriend and I went here on Friday night, pretty late into the evening. I went to the bathroom, asking my bf to pick out a drink for me. When I returned, he was having a discussion with the bartender about subbing out some liquor in one of the cocktails (unfortunately I don't remember which). Evidently the one my bf was eyeing had gin in it, and he asked the bartender if he could make it with Pimm's instead. I am HIGHLY allergic/averse to gin, and a single sip of it, with no other alcohol consumption, has knocked me out with multiple day-hangovers before. I expressed this to the bartender when I understood the discussion, and agreed that Pimm's is one of my favorite liquors and always sits well with me.

The bartender said, "Well, that doesn't make any sense. Pimm's is basically gin." I said, "yeah, it's odd and I don't fully understand it either, but that's the way it is. Gin is really bad on my body, but Pimm's is fine, so if you could just sub out the gin with Pimm's that would be great." He said, "Well, your allergy would probably be to this one specific chemical in gin, that Pimm's doesn't have." I said, "Actually, I'm pretty sure it's the juniper. I've heard other people express being sensitive to certain botanicals in liquor." He looked at me and said, "No. You couldn't be allergic to juniper. That wouldn't make sense." At this point, I was very uncomfortable. Not only was I being gaslighted about my own allergy, my request, as a customer, for a simple substitution was being resisted for no good reason. I eventually just gave up the discussion and he went to make my drink. My boyfriend added, "Can you please just use vodka or Pimm's instead? Keep everything else the same?" And the bartender said something like, "I'll see what I can do, maybe add some bitters and other things." I drank the entire cocktail.

Well, on Saturday I woke up feeling like hell. I had the worst day I've ever had, honestly. I was puking every 30 minutes on the dot for 12 hours, unable to even keep water down, fighting a throbbing headache through tears, too weak to walk, shaking and pale, etc etc. These are the EXACT, unique symptoms I have whenever I've consumed gin. My boyfriend and I suspect that our bartender disregarded our request, and added in either juniper or other "gin-like" elements. Today is Sunday, the first I've eaten and kept it down in 36 hours, and my body feels exhausted and drained. I hardly had anything else to drink on Friday night, and had water and food before going to bed.

I'm at a loss. I've never had a worse "day after", honestly, and I was truly scared at how sick I was. It was a nightmare.

Like I said, I've been to Thompson's before and had some delicious things; I know they're a quality establishment. I wish I could remember the bartender's name. It would really mean a lot to me if one of the managers could see this and potentially discuss this with that bartender. This has been a truly horrendous weekend, and I'm sad at the prospect of not being able to be taken seriously as a customer, and not being able to trust...

I was actually a repeat customer until recently. This last time (August 31st) our waiter made constant mistakes regarding who was paying for what. She charged my card wrong twice. The first time she was able to cancel the payment before it fully processed. The second time, I didn’t realize she charged the wrong amount because she gave me the correct receipt back. However, after I left, I realized she gave me someone else’s card back. That’s when I also checked my Chase app and saw that she had STILL charged the wrong amount (different from the first but still the wrong amount). Luckily, the person she gave my card to was with the group I came with so we were able to make an exchange, however it was still an inconvenience and a major mishap on her part. I can’t imagine the hoops I’d have to jump through if she had given my card to a total stranger. To make matters worse, I called the very next day to speak with a manager and let them know the situation. I explained what happened and requested a full refund. Although the manager did not express any remorse for the inconvenience they caused, she agreed to give me a full refund and said it would take a few days. To my surprise, it’s September 17th and I have yet to receive a full refund. I also called back a few days ago to see what the hold-up was. I was told that I was speaking to a manager but then when I explained the situation, I was told that a different manager would call me back to handle that. I never received a call back and I never received a full or even partial refund. I’ve also called several times since then, and no one has answered the phone. Needless to say, I understand mistakes happen, but this is just insulting at this point. If you make a mistake, correct it, apologize and move on. But I guess that’s too much to ask for. If I still don’t receive a response within a few days then I will just have to dispute the charge. I didn’t want to have to leave a bad review but this is ridiculous. They may not care about losing one paying customer but either way, I have to share my experience to...

Thompsons Bookstore Speakeasy was a wonderful and unique bar with an excellent staff that was very knowledgeable and helpful. We went on a very slow Tuesday night, the last hour and a half they were open. The speakeasy wasn't open (the speakeasy inside the bar is only open Wednesdays, Fridays & Saturdays), but the cigar lounge was open and fantastic.

They have 3 floors. The first floor is the main bar. I didn't post a Pic, but it's decorated as a bookstore with comfortable antique and vintage furniture for lounging. The atmosphere is very inviting and has a great vibe. There is a lot of interesting decor and plenty of conversation starters around the first floor. There's some handcrafted unique cocktails on their menu, and the bartenders will gladly give you recommendations. The menu appears to change seasonally, so the drinks in some menu pics on Google didn't accurately show everything they were offering, but many of those drinks are still being offered.

The second floor had another bar but was understandably closed when we were there, but we were able to walk in and look around.

The third floor is the cigar lounge. They have a great selection and decent price range, so anyone wanting a cigar would have no trouble finding one in their budget. I believe the range was either $7 or $9 to $40+ a cigar. They will give you your desired cut and get the cigar burning while you take a couple of puffs, then give you matches in case it goes out. They have marble chess boards on some tables, which was great to sit down with a cigar, cocktail, and play a game or two.

For the speakeasy, you need a password to get in on the nights they're open, which can be found by solving a riddle posted on their Facebook page. The password changes every Wednesday, so be sure to solve the riddle before heading out!

I'll will definitely be back and have already been telling everyone about this unique and thoroughly...