Hippos — Restaurant in Lake Township

I am disheartened to write such a negative review but I truly find it to be necessary. I had never been to this location and I don't often drink. I presented my ID and debit card to the bartender to purchase a drink. The bartender then accused me of my ID being fake and said she didn't care that she'll let me get away with it this time. She also said "that's how I know you're young we are cash only". At this point I noticed the bartender was slurring her speech and showing signs of intoxication. She told my friends and I that "we all looked too nervous" for our IDs to be real. I then stated that my friends and I will be leaving because we didn't want to stay somewhere that we were being told we were underage, regardless of whether or not she was gonna let us "get away with it" like she said. When I was leaving she told the guests sitting at the bar that we were mad she checked out IDs. I then came back to show second proof of my identification to show that my ID was in fact real. She continued to raise her voice and make a scene at the bar with several witnesses. This was between 12-1am this morning.

I can understand people having bad days, but this was different. She was aggressive and the situation was just blatantly disrespectful especially when I am of age and had no reason for my identification to be questioned. I am glad I was able to stay calm and collected. Please beware of this location and...

My friends and I have an annual bar crawl on 111th and this is the first bar we go to for the night. As soon as we walked in we received dirty looks, when asked to see our IDs from the bartender she gave my group and I a hard time as if a group of 12 people (ages 25-28) all had fake IDs. Upon inspection we were making conversation and she said we were pushing it because we look so young. She proceeded to give attitude towards us when noting this is a cash bar as if we should know better and telling us she doesn’t feel comfortable serving us to leave immediately.

I’ve never had such a bad experience at a local bar, I truly don’t know how they are still in a business with such a bad attitude towards young adults. My friends and I want to give this bar a chance every year and proceed to get the same treatment every time. If I could give negative stars I would.

Hippos Owner: our most recent experience at this bar being Saturday...

Was refused service for no other reason than not being white lol. It was the wildest experience because I did absolutely nothing wrong. The bartender after refusing to serve me which is her right I guess, then tried to force me to leave and that's where I drew the line and told her she would have to call the police to remove me if she felt I was causing any type of disturbance which all of this was done in the calmest most respectful way. I ended up standing at the bar for 30 minutes then leaving on my own accord but being a bar owner in Iowa myself, this was definitely a sobering...