Willhoite's Restaurant — Restaurant in Grapevine

We recently moved to the DFW area from York PA to be close to my daughter when she got out of the Navy. I am a retired, disabled (LOD) police officer with PTSD and have a service dog named Odin. Last Saturday my wife planned a trip for the whole family to visit Grapevine for the Christmas Festivities. Crowds are tough for me but that is one of the things Odin helps me with. This is the first Christmas we have spent together in 7 years so we were excited to make some memories.

It was me, my wife, Odin, my adult son, my oldest daughter, her husband, and my youngest daughter Emilie who is 21, however she is special needs and about at a 7 year old level. Emilie had a baby stroller with her reborn baby doll.

My wife was not kidding about the crowds. I was doing OK with Odin leading me through the tight spots. We decided to get something to eat and stopped at Wilhoit's. We like the menu, so my wife asked me to go in ahead of the rest of the family to see if I could find a place where we could all fit. The place, like everything else, was packed. I figured we may have to sit at two different tables. My son was with me and Odin. I walked all the way to the back corner and was happy to find an empty booth with seating for four that would put me, Frank and Odin out of the way with my back to the wall. Just as I turned to sit down a man who later identified himself as the owner came rushing towards me and said that I could not have my dog in there. I pointed to Odin’s vest that clearly identifies him as a service dog for PTSD. A vest he is not legally required to wear. The man said he did not care and that I had to leave. I told him that he legally could not make me leave and that Odin and I were protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. He said he did not care. I told him I would not leave and to call the police. My son, seeing that I was getting upset, stepped in and said “You can’t make him leave, it's a service dog”, he replied “I am the owner and can refuse service to anyone for anything”. My son said Odin would be under the table and not go to the buffet with me, the man then reluctantly agreed. My wife came in at the tail end of the conversation and said we could just leave if we weren’t welcome. I told her we had every right to be there, but she wanted to go. Between the problem with the owner and my wife being upset I just gave in and left. When I got outside my youngest daughter could see how upset I was and ended up having a meltdown. The entire night was ruined and we all just went home.

Odin has been my service dog for 7 years. He is a real service dog, not a dog that someone got a BS letter and patch for through the mail. I wish I could say that this was the first time we have been discriminated against, but it's not. However the owner's bullying and harrassing attitude was the worst I have ever been subjected to. As a professional dog trainer and someone who has worked extensively working with Veterans and First Responders to train service dogs for them, I am sick and tired of this treatment and can only imagine how this guy has and will treat people who cannot stand up for themselves. And here is the law that he told me did not exist.

Food Establishments (Texas Health and Safety Code, Section 437.023) A food service establishment, retail food store, or other entity may not deny a service animal admittance into an area of the establishment or store or of the physical space...

Today 10-19-2018 was my first time at this place, me & my mother decided to try this out since it was located in downtown grapevine. Lets first start off by saying that (if your a first timer) & you walk in you would automatically think it's just a biker bar, there's no sign or a hostess waiting to sit you or greet you. It wasn't until we walked past the bar & ran straight into what looked like a tiny buffet infront of us when we realized we luckily didn't walk into the wrong place. Even walking up to this point there was no one to greet or accomodate you. We seen small wooden booths slightly closed off to the left so we sat down & still no one came. I then walked up to the buffet where a woman was refilling the food trays & had asked her if this was forsure a buffet she said yes & i asked her does a waitress come out to help us she said i don't know i would hope so?. So i sat back down & we waited, finally after 10 minutes a girl with short black hair & thick glasses comes towards us & she said "ill be right with you, in the middle of her walking away we asked if we could at least have a rag to clean our table as they all had food & trash on them & she said yeah ill be right with you. We waited, she walked in & out of the dining area at least 3-4 times to give ppl their checks, & was still not able to attend us. Finally she was able to get to us, just gave us our drinks we requested & we were off to the buffet. Now for the buffet the food was great (the first round), ive never been to such a tiny buffet definitely not worth coming back to. The price was okay$11.00, but it was literally just ribs, chicken, mashed potatoes& fried okra, then the sweets - peach cobbler, ice cream, small pieces of some cake..and DONE. The rolls were so rock hard we couldn't bite into them. Then when we needed more napkins and drinks refilled our waitresses was nowhere to be found?, when she would come & ask if we needed anything& we told her she would always say "yeah hold on give me a sec".. Well why bother asking if we need anything if your going to tell us to wait?? She seemed to accommodate a huge family that came after us more than just the two of us. She also kept telling other customers how she was dealing with two huge families so they would have to wait or advise them they may not enjoy their meal due to the loudness of these family's, which seemed to me that she was overwhelmed & one less customer would be better for her. Although in her defense they are definitely understaffed with waitresses, even a blind man could see that. Service was horrible, food & size of buffet was horrible. After your first plate you become grossed out due to having to eat the same thing each time theres no variety. Put it this way, if you werent at the bar you can guarantee you wouldn't get the best service. Would rather go elsewhere any given time but at least it was a...

My friend and I were visiting from out of state and this place was recommended . We went on a Sunday night and it was kind of slow there. We were on vacation and just wanted a couple drinks before heading back to our hotel, after having dinner out. We were not driving, and were using ubers. We ordered our drinks while my friend sat and talked to a local guy and I was mostly just quietly scrolling on my phone. Neither of us were inebriated or acting unbecomingly or inappropriately in any way. Yes, we did have just a few drinks earlier but it was over the course of several hours at an amazing restaurant that we love to go to when we come to Dallas. We were celebrating my birthday and just enjoying the day. I am not a person who even drinks that much at my age and it’s very rare for me to be intoxicated as I don’t enjoy being in that state and can’t even drink enough to be incapacitated that way. My friend wasn’t impaired either but much to our shock and suprise the bartender told us he couldn’t serve us any more drinks and that we were cut off! We couldn’t believe it ! We had only ordered one each there and he even asked if we wanted another one but we weren’t ready yet and waited a bit before ordering one last one before heading out . I just turned 68 and never in my whole life has that ever happened to me, being cut off in a bar!! We racked our brain to understand why and still don’t understand what his issue was nor would he explain. My friend was very confused as well and asked him what we had done and she graciously apologized for whatever it was he thought we did, even though we hadn’t done or said anything wrong that we could think of. Could it be he didn’t like Californians ? (We are conservatives and love Texas by the way!) It was rather humiliating and we left and went to an amazing establishment up the street named, Chill which had no problem serving us our ONE cocktail before we headed back to our hotel. Well we won’t be going back or recommending...