Helmsman Ale House — Restaurant in Newport Beach

A Wild Ride at Helmsman Ale House: When Good Vibes Meet… Well, Something Else So, Saturday night, 10:00 PM, I stroll into Helmsman Ale House ready for a great time. The atmosphere? Electric. The beers? Delicious. The crowd? Young, energetic, and oozing good vibes. I thought to myself, “Yes, this is the kind of place that makes living in the U.S. worth it!” And then… it happened.

Some brave soul, clearly overwhelmed by the excitement of the night (or maybe by one beer too many), decided to share their insides with the dance floor. Yes, right there in the middle. Now, I like a bit of spontaneity, but this was a bit much. The smell hit faster than the beat dropped. It was like the room was suddenly transported to the world’s worst cologne factory.

I spotted a young man wearing a red shirt with “staff” on the back and heroically reported the biohazard situation. He looked at me, nodded with the seriousness of a firefighter heading into a blaze, and walked over. I thought, “Here we go, this guy’s going to save the day!” He arrives at the scene, gives it a good hard stare… and then just walks off. Mission accomplished? Apparently, all it takes is a good look at the problem.

Meanwhile, people are casually stepping in the vomit like it’s the newest dance craze, spreading it across the floor like a Jackson Pollock painting. And there I am, sipping my beer, watching this masterpiece unfold. A real highlight of the night.

Having recently moved to the U.S. from Europe, I came to places like this for the cleanliness and the quality. But, hey, if Helmsman Ale House wants to turn their dance floor into a Jackson Pollock exhibit made of… whatever that was, I guess that’s their new artistic direction. I just hope next time the staff does more than look at the problem. Maybe they can actually clean it up?...

Memorial Day gone wrong. As a recent female graduate who works in the restaurant industry, I figured what better way to celebrate the holiday weekend than with my roommates in Newport Beach. After having a marvelous meal at Stag Bar, we stumbled across Helmsman at around 4pm on Memorial Day. We grabbed seats at the less than empty bar, and were quickly denied service, as the lead bartender targeted one of our only male group member, claiming his ID was fake. Keep in mind his ID is valid and has been used at this very bar before. Upon asking for the lead bartender and manager's names, I was told to leave the establishment for being aggressive, and then the rest of our party was asked to leave even though we were asking genuine questions about why our friend who's clearly over 21 was denied service. The lead bartender refused to take another look at the ID, or our supporting documentation, or even give us his name. I asked for the contact information of the owner or higher up, and the managing bartender said and I quote, "I don't feel comfortable giving you that information." I will not be returning to this establishment. I understand not feeling comfortable giving drinks to less than confident IDs, but not being able to give information as to why or who is making these decisions per what policies is concerning. Especially since our friend's ID was real, and he has been at this very establishment before and let in by a bouncer. I hope the owner or higher ups take a look at the management they have hired behind the bar because it is extremely unprofessional. As a customer, I should be able to inquire about the manager/owner, and I wasn't even able to get that information. Shame on you Helmsman...

Friend is allergic to avocado restaurant still put avocado on the dish after we specifically told them not to. We didn’t notice it immediately because the dark ambiance made it hard to see. Friend ended up eating some avocado before they realized what was going on and had an allergic reaction. Restaurant’s reaction to this was amazingly obtuse. Didn’t care acted like it wasn’t their problem. In fact waiter asked if there was another dish they could grab for my friend while he’s coughing. We waited for over ten minutes and dude didn’t bring us the bill. Had to go up and ask for the bill and another waitress also acted like it wasn’t a big deal. We had to run to cvs to get Benadryl for our friend who was having allergic reaction to the food.

Would never recommend this place for anyone with a food allergy. Place gives absolutely two cares about food safety or just safety in general. Never seen such little care given to something so serious. In fact if the owner reads this, he should immediately retrain everyone at the restaurant if he doesn’t want a death on their hands. If I knew what department to report this too to force the restaurant to take this seriously I would report this to the state, that how little the staff...