Rare Books Bar — Restaurant in Frisco

After dropping over $500 in the restaurant attached last night, we decided to sit in the speakeasy The Rare Books Bar for a nightcap.

In a word, I am pretty sure my beautiful group that tried to go was discriminated against. We're a diverse group with one African American, 2 South Africans, 2 Indians, and one white person.

We walked in and told there was a wait. The host was rude to my South African friends but noticed a totally different tone with a white couple walked in behind us when she was sweet and warm.

When asked if we could see the "wait list" she slid the menu over the piece of paper and said, "It was 30 minutes."

We saw a table open up and went to stand around it to listen to our friend Patrick sing. Three could sit down, three could stand behind. The host came to tell us that no one could stand by the bar b/c the servers couldn't get through. We asked why we couldn't sit at table and she said b/c everyone couldn't sit. We said, so three will sit and 3 will go to bar. She said NO ONE CAN STAND AT THE BAR!

I asked her why there were four white men standing at the bar *(right behind the table we were waiting to be cleaned off) that had been there since we walked in and she looked surprised I asked. She looked at other host and then said "I'll have to figure that out and talk to them." So, she walked right past the four men and into the kitchen. She never said a word to the group of white men but the other host went to them and they all turned around to look at us like she was saying "we were getting them in trouble."

Three of the men went to the bar to order 3 expensive drinks and the bartender went to pull the bottles down and make them and then he turned around to talk to someone and said to the men, "you need to talk to the host because you don't have a reservation." There were three open seats at the bar. The bartender kept saying he was sorry but they needed to go speak to host about "their reservation."

I walked out of bar b/c I wanted to find a manager. No one could find one. When I got back the group had been told to leave.

I tried to make sense of what happened. I wanted to give the two hosts the benefit of the doubt but the shady behavior was so obvious. I would like to think that people don't want to keep "brown people out" but my friends all assured me that it was happening at the Rare Books Bar last night.

I was excited to see the place. Now I know never to go back to a place who clearly doesn't want a gorgeously diverse group to be...

#EPIC - When I tell you EVERYTHING about this place was amazing! We had the most memorable night stumbling upon this place after a nice, quiet dinner at J. Theodore.

It took us a bit to find the passcode, because we didn’t realize initially that it was a book title and not a numeric code. You pick up the phone, it rings, and you ask the librarian for the book—pretty cool concept and maintains a certain traditional charm. However, the vibes and service were anything but traditional!

We had a BALL despite running into some weirdo with his friends on the way in who acted like he was could keep up us out by not sharing the password. I hope that guy had a miserable time watching us have the time of our lives. Ironically, we were seated right in front of them. I love the way things fall into place exactly how they’re supposed to. Hi hater! 🤣🤣

Our server was Maylani, and she was super cool and attentive. She brought Quinn over when my husband began asking about whiskey recommendations. When I tell you that Quinn was THE MAN! The way he talked to us about the Japanese whiskeys and even told us simple cocktail recipes we could make at home, we could immediately tell he was a master at his craft. Between the two, they took great care of us and we had some good discussion and many laughs throughout the night. So much so, that I’m pretty sure we were the last patrons to leave.

The drink menu was EXTENSIVE and well-curated, and I’m sure they share a kitchen with J. Theodore, so you know the food is good.

All the cocktails were expertly crafted, and that Brown Sugar Bourbon Espresso Martini was strong and DELECTABLE! It was perfect because I hate vodka, but I love the flavors of an espresso martini. This was much better!

Will...

I had such high hopes for this place. We got on the wait list and were told it would be a 45 minute wait, and they would text us when our table was ready. I received a confirmation text saying we were 7th in line, so I know they had my number down correctly and that I was in the system. We came back about 50 minutes later to check to see where we were; the host told me were 2nd in line. We waited another 45 minutes there next to the host desk, and checked back in several times, and we were supposedly first in line each time. Meanwhile we kept watching as more and more people went in ahead of us. Not much later they told us we weren't on the wait list. I showed them the text I had confirming that we were. Then they said they made a mistake and they did have us down, but there was another person by the same name on the list and had seated them. Then she said they had texted me, and I showed her I never received a text from them, but they had marked us as "complete" and removed us from the list. They put us back on the list and said we would be seated "soon." After waiting a total of almost 2 hrs, we decided to just leave, knowing they had messed up and given our table away, but didn't want to admit to their mistake. We would have liked to have tried it, as we were celebrating our anniversary, but we decided that the host staff didn't seem to have a clue nor care, and the whole experience left a bad taste in our mouth. We wasted 2 hours of our evening, and ended up going somewhere else. Sadly, we probably...