Rye Bar and Southern Kitchen — Restaurant in Raleigh

WHAT JUST HAPPENED HERE????

The atmosphere at this place is basically a nice, open hotel lounge style and our table server, Chris, was exceptionally friendly. However I am still trying to wrap my brain around an incident that took place here. My wife ordered some crab & shrimp hushpuppies. They were a tad bland so she asked our server if she could have some cocktail sauce. He said they would have to specially make some up but it was not a problem. A few minutes later he brought back a whiskey tumbler with the sauce in it. We thought the whiskey tumbler was an odd touch. The sauce also had a strange, slightly orange color. My wife, a trusting soul, dipped a hushpuppy in it, took a healthly dollop of sauce, and popped it in her mouth. She immediately started choking and gagging. She literally could not talk. She waved over a bus person and croaked out a request for water. She was able to barely speak but said that the cocktail sauce was blazing spicy. I dipped my finger in the sauce and carefully tasted it. It was absolutely riddled with capsaicin. I have never tasted anything so hot in my life. It seemed to be almost pure habanero or possibly ghost pepper sauce. Some funny person in the kitchen apparently decided my wife was being difficult and needed a lesson. It has been hours since the incident and she still cannot taste anything. What a hoot. How funny. I have NEVER had anything like this happen in a restaurant before. We asked Chris if we had done something to offend him or the kitchen staff. To his credit Chris was very apologetic and I do not think he was in on the 'prank.' However he shrugged it off as someone in the kitchen not knowing what he or she was doing. I beg to disagree. These are professional food preparation staff. They are trained and paid to understand the subtle elements of flavor. They knew EXACTLY what they were doing and thought it was quite clever. What other funny pranks might they decide to pull? There is at least one seriously compromised individual preparing food at the Rye Bar and Southern Kitchen. Do you want to be the next target eating from this...

In 2023 we came here everyday during Galaxycon to eat! It was good food and service. We decided during this years Galaxycon we would do the same thing. BAD IDEA!! We went in on Friday and were seated, it took a little while for the server to take our order and get our drinks. We got our food about 30 minutes later, but that’s okay not that big a deal.we only got one refill on our tea and she only checked on us once after the food came out. We finally got the bill and we paid. I even left her a 18%tip. Fast forward to Saturday. They were not that busy, we got a table rather quickly. I am a klutz and I knocked the table over. The person who sat us at the table said she would get us new silverware, we never saw her again.we sat there for 45 minutes and nobody ever came to take our order. People who came in after us were greeted by the wait staff and got drinks. They even had to walk past us to give them the drinks. Nobody ever said one word to us after we sat down. There was a gentleman who got his table literally 2 minutes before us and he ordered got his food, ate it, paid for it and left and we still had nobody come a take our order! No drinks no food nothing!!! Another table that was there right after us, had gotten drinks but never had there order taken, they got up and left too! I mean what the Hell! The wait staff saw us and they just freaking chose to ignore us. I will never eat there again. There was no excuse for there actions. I hope the manager sees this cause we were planning on eating there at least two or 3 more times over the weekend into early the next week. When we do go back to Galaxycon next year I will be damned if I even set foot near this...

If I've learned one thing as a restaurant owner it's that at the bar you keep your customers drinks filled. You always scan the bar to see any almost or dead empty glasses. Ryes bartenders could care less. The place was barely busy and they were tending to the patrons worse than a weeds thick bar. My first stop was a quick cocktail before dinner at 42nd st Oyster Bar . I asked what ryes they had (they are called RYE for a reason ) i was handed a menu that had a list of whiskeys and bourbon with no indication of which was which. i.e. bulleit was on the list. But no indication of which distilates they carried. The shelf was an eye straining 50ft away so that was no help but i think i saw a green label or two... so i got a bookers, wasnt told the abv of the bottle until after i tasted and watered it. It was a show stopping 138abv which was great but a warning would have been great Stopped later for an after dinner drink. Wanted an espresso martini for the mrs. The dont do one. Ok np. How about a chocolate martini. I had to give the recipe. The bartender was helpful and made it as i instructed which was cool. Then followed an empty glass for 20min. Finally flagged down someone for a 2nd. It was good after i tweeked the recipe. Then another 20min wait. Wth. Its an fg bar? We got the check and were done. That was a 4 round visit at the least could have been five if the staff had a clue. It turn into 2rounds and a 10% tip because i didnt feel it was the staffs fault but poor management. Im assuming there was a manager on the floor because there was someone making...