BlackStone — Restaurant in Iowa City

Disappointed in the service. I've been here quite a few times because of their extensive whiskey selection, which is second to none in the Iowa City area. But this time was a rough go around. I specifically visited after work for their happy hour. But when I tried to order, I was told that they are no longer doing their happy hour flight, even though it is on their menu. So I then asked if I could do their Blackstone Flight, also on their menu. I was then told they no longer do any flights in general. So I decided to just ordered a regular 1 oz whiskey pour. He asked me for my credit card to start a new tab, which I then provided. After I finished my drink, I saw a bottle on the shelf that wasn't on the menu. I asked how much a pour was and was told $16. I agreed and he proceeded to pour me a 1 oz. When I finished that pour, I decided to have one more drink. I asked a waitress once she had a moment, if she could get me a drink. She went to the shelf and was unsure which one I had asked for, so she asked a coworker for help. Her coworker took the bottle I requested off the shelf and put it on the counter. The waitress that I initially spoke to let me know that her coworker would assist me. The coworker walked away and seemed to forget about me. I waited patiently, but never saw her again for nearly 15 minutes. So I made eye contact with another bartender, and let him know that I might have been forgotten. He helped me out and poured me my drink. Once I I was finished with my drink I asked to close out my tab. I was handed my receipt and noticed my 2nd drink which I was told was $16 was actually rung up at $24. I questioned the price of the drink and told them if it should have been $24, I'd pay it. They looked at the bottle and noticed the price should have been $16. He grabbed a manager and corrected the price difference. I noticed there was not a place to put my tip or signature on the receipt. I waited to ask why there wasn't a place to leave a tip, but I seemed to be forgotten again. So I got tired of waiting and left. HOWEVER, the waitress that was supposed to pour my 3rd drink that forgot about me yelled at me that I didn't settle my tab, insinuating I was skipping out on the tab. I said that I requested to close out my tab. "Oh, they already swiped your card?" I told her yes, and I followed her back in the restaurant. She went to the register and printed another receipt, this one with a line for a tip and signature. She didn't make any eye contact, just put the receipt on the counter and walked away. I would have expected a simple apology for the misunderstanding. But I got the feeling she still seemed to feel I was trying to skip on the bill, which greatly left a sour taste. It capped off a less than stellar experience. Also a thing to note, they weren't overly busy yet, so there really isn't an excuse to forget a customer multiple times. I'm up in the air to try this place again, or to just find another go to...

Patrons for life!! Blackstone is our resturant of choice when coming to Iowa City to visit our college daughters because of the varied menu items and quality of the food served. But how they treated us recently is why we are now patrons for life! Two weeks ago we were meeting at Blackstone to celebrate one of our daughter's birthday. Our girls and their roommate were rear-ended right infront of the resturant. It was a fairly severe accident as they were completely stopped and were hit between 35-40mph, which created quite a mess and took quite awhile to sort out (totalled both cars!) The Blackstone hostess and manager could not have been nicer to us when I went in to alert them as to why we were late for our reservation! They said they would hold our table for 6, and it was a busy Friday night! An hour later we were still dealing with the accident aftermath, so I went back in to thank them for holding the table but we were opting for the ER to have the girls checked out instead. The manager gave me a $20 gift certificate for my daughter because her birthday had been ruined! Jump ahead about 3 hours later when we left the ER and were famished. We went back to Blackstone and were welcomed with open arms despite the fact it was now 10:30pm and they close at 11pm. We had a wonderful meal AND the waiter brought a special dessert out for my daughter's birthday!! Not once did they try to rush us out, even though it was almost a half hour past closing when we were finally ready to leave. Blackstone's compassionate treatment of us definately made a bad situation much more bearable ... And they salvaged my daughter's birthday! A VERY lengthy review but Blackstone's customer service deserves to...

I can’t believe the disrespect that we just received at this establishment. We waited over 35 minutes for someone to come to our table, someone that we had to go get to ask why we haven’t gotten anything. He claims the girl was new and didn’t say there was someone new in her section but we saw five different people in the section before we got up to grab someone. The guy ignored us after saying we were wanting to order food and our drinks at the same time. He walked away after he checked our IDs. When he came back he said he was going to order with person #1 so he doesn’t have to remember who ordered what. So we ordered his way, he brought out half the food and then the other half, checked on us once until it was time to pay. The building was not busy at this time and he had told us it was his only table. We paid but clicked the wrong button on the hand held device so we left cash on the table for a tip. We split the payment between two groups at the table, and we both tipped him. On the way out, he asked how the service was while holding the receipt. I said it was fine but took forever, we were there for almost three hours, he then replied while waving the receipt around that he was just checking since the $100 order had no tip on the receipt. I was baffled. If he had taken the time to check the table, he would’ve found the tip. I called after leaving and the phone was hung up on and then was closed so I could not call again. I’m shocked at his response and hope that nobody else is...