Gold Dust Meridian — Restaurant in Portland

Where's zero stars.

Walked in and sat at a table long enough to realize that we were supposed to order at the bar. The bartenter who could've just been a rando off the street gave us the lowest amount of effort when we placed the order. No small talk, no smile, not a piece of helpful advice for ordering off the menu, nothing. ( probably wasn't a rando off the street because we got carded, but I don't really know). The dude who walked in after us looked borderline homeless and was received very warmly. The next dude who walked in could have been Ruth Bader Ginsberg for all the bartender cared. Idk the bartenter either just profiled us or doesn't serve people who look like me.

Anyways, the aesthetics of this place are just off. Idk if I'm supposed to bring the book club here, wear Hawaiian shirts and order the boozy slushie (which absolutely sucks), or get shots of whiskey in my motorcycle leather There's wood panels from the 80s , deep-seated booths from a retro diner, and mix matched end chairs that don't go together. They got like tiki bar stuff for table markers. They got dim lighting. They play mid pop remixes really loudly. It's like it's a club that's set in a 80s diner where they only serve the borderline homeless.

If I had to go back again I'd leap into oncoming traffic first because a hospital has better service, better lighting, better prices (did i mention the prices?), and the music is tolerable. Oh yeah at least hospitals have consistent furnishings and...

Used to love this place because of their long happy hour and have come here for years. 4 months ago I lost my credit card and thought I left it there. I went there in person when the restaurant was all but empty and had the male bartender go through the little box of cards left and he said there were no credit cards in my name. Fast forward 4 months and accidentally left my card there again I thought. Called them and they said they had it. I show up and it turns out they gave me the credit card they said they did not have four months ago. I call again hours later and ask them if they have another credit card in my name and they said no again. I then ask for the manager and while I hold for about 4 minutes they hang up on me . I call again and she finds it within 5 seconds. Also at my last visit, the waiter in between helping us sits with his boyfriend and makes out with him and then right before we leave tells us to go home and make some bad decisions. Then it turns out they charged me twice over a 24 hour period for one visit. Pursuing this with the manager and staff and they just come up with different excuses why it's a mistake and they couldn't find my credit card in that little tiny box.. twice. Even though there's only one place for lost credit cards and the two people who did find them found them within seconds. Sounds like one step away from fraud to me, and the service and professionalism...

I have gone here quite a few times throughout the years and have always had, you know, 3.5 - 4 star service, so when some clients asked where we should go, I didn't give it another thought; I just said, "Gold Dust is kind of my go-to in that neighborhood."

What I hadn't anticipated was the discrimination we faced. Literally the only thing I did differently on this visit was to bring in 3 guys who dressed in hip hop clothing. And here's what we experienced:

It took almost 10 minutes to place a drink order. When the drinks came (another 10-minute wait for basic cocktails), the bartender basically did a fly-by, dropped off the drinks, and left before we could order food. We didn't think it would be that big a deal because the waiter would be back to get a food order, right? Wrong. The waiter did not come back to take our food order. Ever. The waiter did manage to make it to all of the other tables, though.

"Surely, the waiter came back eventually, right?" you might be asking.

Yup, eventually. To bus my empty glass. 40 minutes later. Did not offer anybody refills, did not ask how we were doing, never even asked if we wanted the check. I was so embarrassed at having put my clients through this that I told them to just go ahead and take off while I chased down the waiter to pay him.

I will NEVER bring anybody back to Gold Dust. Even by Portland standards,...