Slackwater Ogden — Restaurant in Ogden

Bit of a story here, but after being invited by Slackwater to leave a review, here it is:

Bottom line up front: on Jan 24, 2025, a Slackwater employee grabbed a drink out of a customer’s mouth. When the customer sought an explanation and peaceful resolution, she was denied.

Full story below:

While waiting for a table, I overheard a conversation between a manager and two customers: One had purchased a drink while waiting for a table. The manager told her she couldn’t have her drink there. She tried to finish it, which upset the manager who then forcibly took the drink from her, hurting her lip in the process. I didn’t see it, but during the conversation, the manager the woman, and the customer who witnessed the event all agreed on those details. The customers were upset but weren’t abusive. The manager was defensive, rude, denied he’d overreacted, and refused to make the situation right. When she asked if she could have her drink back, or have another one made—now that she was at the bar--the manager refused and excused his actions by repeatedly saying “you took another drink, and I felt that was blatantly disrespectful.” When asked how that warranted forcibly taking something she had paid for, he simply ended the conversation with “you don’t have to eat here.” Maybe she shouldn’t have tried to finish her drink, but how many times have you chugged a soda at airport security after being told you can’t have it? I don’t feel like this qualifies as “blatantly disrespectful.”

The woman, who I didn’t know, was actually in my large party. Once seated, she asked to see another manager who told her “sorry” and that we were welcome to leave a review. Later on, the woman was told by our waitress that she was “cut off” from ordering drinks. At no time was anyone in our group abusive, out of control, or drunk. The bartenders, waitress, and food were all good—and I tipped accordingly, but seeing the way my friend’s friend was treated ruined the vibe for our table. The whole thing—the refusal of the manager to take responsibility, the invitations to “eat elsewhere” and “leave a review if you don’t like it,” and the refusal to serve the complainant—it was just escalation after unnecessary escalation.

Slackwater, if you’ve read this far, here are my suggestions: If you can’t drink in a certain area: put up signs; explain why. Offer to take customer drinks back to the bar. If you feel a customer is “blatantly disrespectful:” just tell them to leave. That’s your right. Don’t forcibly take what someone else has paid for. You are not law enforcement, that is NOT your right. Don’t get physical with someone unless they’re a danger. If you overreact: OWN IT and do whatever’s reasonable to make it right. If a customer complains: don’t blow them off.

All the manager had to do to fix this was: Explain why drinking in that area is a big deal. Admit things got a little out of hand. Get the woman a new drink.

Too easy, right?

Slackwater’s an Ogden fixture, and people love this place. Unfortunately, it appears the culture is changing from well-loved dive to a place that’s too successful to care about the treatment of their customers. Hey, if it’s all about short-term bottom line, why not? If 1, 12, or 100 people stop coming, it won’t hurt a bit. They’ll still have plenty of paying customers to take my place…

Until they don’t.

UPDATE TO SLACKWATER RESPONSE 2/18/25: Appreciate your need to defend your business, but your response fails to address the issues I outlined. I've already reached out directly to your managers and was advised to leave a review. I'm not interested in the "contact us" link on your webpage. Please provide contact information for someone who is willing to help resolve this and I will happily follow up. If the resolution is satisfactory, I'll be happy to remove...

I think the food is amazing but the services is horrible. All the hostess and waitress need better training. It’s unbelievable how this place has expanded with this horrible service I get every time I come here. The waitress are very rude and snappy with you. I wanna give the benefit of the doubt and say it’s due to the overwhelming amount of people in this place but slack water has always been super busy because the food is great but the service has always sucked. I will no longer dine in and will probably just do take out from now on. If there way any other locations I would try those out but I don’t recommend this location at all.

Disappointing Service Experience at Slack Water

My recent visit to Slack Water left me deeply disappointed with the level of service provided. Upon entering with my friend and husband, we were met with utter neglect from the hostess staff. Despite waiting patiently for five minutes, no one acknowledged our presence or offered assistance. To add insult to injury, when they finally decided to seat us, they bypassed our party in favor of three others who arrived after us, demonstrating a blatant disregard for basic courtesy.

Once seated, we found ourselves uncomfortably close to the live music, an arrangement that could have been easily avoided had the server bothered to inquire about our preferences. Throughout the evening, our server exhibited a lackadaisical attitude, taking a leisurely 15 minutes to even approach our table to take our drink order. Refills were never offered, and it became apparent that our needs were of little concern to her. Simple requests, such as additional straws for the table, were met with half-hearted attempts, exemplified by the single broken straw she begrudgingly provided for our party of three.

Overall, the service at Slack Water consistently falls short of even the most basic expectations. The lack of communication, indifference towards customer needs, and overall apathy displayed by the staff make for an exceptionally unpleasant dining experience. Unless significant improvements are made to their service standards, I cannot in good conscience recommend Slack...

Just had my haircut from The Gentlemen's Barber shop across the street and finally decided to try the new Slackwater and I'm so glad we did! Beautiful establishment awesome service and great food, and oh yeah they offer a W I D E variety of spirits. I don't know that I've seen so many beers to chose from, But absolute deliciousness and gives you the opportunity to try a few of the local beer crafts. I ordered The Diablo sticks as an appetizer and oh my God they are so delicious. I was expecting a cheese stick type appetizer But its served to you as more of a calzone cheese bread filled with cheese, pickled jalapenos and fresh jalapeno slices. The dipping sauce has a barbecue smell so it throws you off but it is also a smoky spicy marinara and it pairs well with this. Trust me, I think it Will be ordered every time I step foot in this place😋 I also ordered the Iron Horse Pizza which was perfect for a single person. The crust is light and The pizza is not greasy. I also ordered two beers The Red Rocks Hefeweizen (local) and the Wasatch Strawberry Blonde (local) both amazing bears with all the beers they offer. My wife had the spinach salad and added chicken. I had several bites of this as well, it had green apple slices, candied pecans, spinach, Gorgonzola cheese crumbles and chicken, their house dressing is amazing. Been wanting to try it since they moved and If I can say this The food is even better and freshly made. The appetizer is big enough to eat as a meal so I would strongly suggest to share a pizza if you order an appetizer and or salad. Love the new restaurant, the staff is amazing Billy and Sierra were lots of fun and on their game! Give the new location a shot, you'll be glad you did! It's also close to the historic 25th Street, walking distance and to the ballpark. Great location And...