The Dogwood Bar & Eatery — Restaurant in Raleigh

If I could give it zero I would. This place needs to be shift down or continue under different management and security.

!!PLEASE READ!! Tonight me and my friend the two of us went out downtown Raleigh we went to cornerstone before going to dogwood and we had a good experience. Let me start from the begin the bartender working outside wearing pink panties and a piece of lingerie white to cover her body. ( did not get her name because when I asked she walked away from me) I ordered two drinks one lemon drop with tequila and one white tea shot with tequila. She made the same drink twice and proceeded to tell us that us was the same thing since we were getting tequila. (Speaking from one bartender to another those two drinks are not the same!) We paid for the drinks that were not what we ask for and waited 8 minutes for i card to be return. As I was asking the bartender that did not give her name for the card back that she was running a tab on back. A young white girl approached my friend and asked her why was she not tipping the bartender..... this young lady was a guest just as we were and had no standing ground at the establishment. ( meaning she was not a employee or advisor of the business) After my friends answer the young lady and said "why exactly is my finance your business?" The young WHITE women stated that she comes to dogwood all the time and the bartender is never rude.... Please keep in mind that this bartender was the only bartender outside working with no help and she was RUDE to both me and my friend, and she made the wrong drinks for us and we still paid. After my friend responded to the young white lady about why she did not tip the you d white lady SMACKED THE DRINK OUT OF MY FRIENDS HAND and my friends reacted to getting hit by another person. Me and my friend were kicked out for defending ourselves by the security guard TROY. The young white girl smacked a drink out of my friends hand on PURPOSE and she fought back. The security IMMEDIATELY KICKED US OUT, He was not understanding of the situation at all and he pushed us out without asking any questions on the situation that took place. As I walked back in to speak with Troy the security guard I informed him of everything that happened from start to finish and all he could say was leave. He allowed the white fuel to stay at the bar after being in an altercation and kicked us out which was not fair at all. If you are diffusing a situation you must dismiss both parties that were in the altercation but instead Troy kicked the two black girls out and let the young white girl who: Smacked a full drink out of my friends hand with no reason. (battery ) Approach us for no reason to assault us for looking at our financial situation. She started the entire situation. PLEASE HEAR ME OUT ! Do NOT go to this establishment if you allow them to treat people like this I don't know what to say. My friend is from out of town and in law school she would never be in a situation like this. Please help me in getting this situation taken care of because this was not the correct way to deal with this situation and I would like things to...

Let me tell you from experience. I’m very well known in the area and have gone to this bar multiple times. On Friday Night bouncer Matt Gordon assaulted me without cause. I was in in the line to enter the bar. As it was 1 in 1 out I was next in line. I accidentally dropped my ID and when I picked it up I have to the bouncer to enter. At that time this bouncer said F you your not coming in. In a very calm and nice manner I asked what do you mean and he then said F you your not coming in ( being very rude and aggressive). At this point 1 of my friends who was in line with me went in to get the remainder of the party. I was on the sidewalk ( not even on the property ) and I was again talked to in a aggressive manner by this bouncer. I very calmly told him I’m on the sidewalk and not on there property. Out of nowhere Matt Gordon attempted to choke me out and throw me on the ground. Again I was not even on the property and he had zero rights to put his hands on me. I tried to fight him off as I was attacked by him but was overpowered by his 200LBS plus and I believe he was on drugs given his aggressive actions towards me. At this point I have done some research on him and find that he has aggressive photos all over his Facebook and brags about fighting people. I also have a meeting with the Raleigh Police department as well as several people who saw this happen to press charges on him. I’m speaking out to warn people of this guy and this bar. If something is not done with this guy he will continue to be a threat to anybody going there and continue these actions. It’s shameful of his actions and hate it because I know the owner very well and believe this is a great bar outside of the actions of...

I’m so disappointed to share this experience because I’ve gone to Dogwood countless times and have never been treated the way I was last night. I was there with a few friends playing pong when the bouncer came over to tell us that we were “doing too much”, being excessively loud and getting complaints. My issues with this: 1. We weren’t. We were playing a game and getting excited, talking over the table, etc. in the same way I’ve seen others do. 2. It’s a bar and it was well after 10pm. It’s not a restaurant or library, it’s a bar. There was a dj playing music louder than we were being. If I had to guess, the alleged complaints had nothing to do with us being loud and everything to do with who we are and what we look like. 3. The bouncer was flat out rude. I’ve worked in customer service before, for years actually. In my current role, I have to address legitimate noise concerns regularly and there’s a way to do it professionally and respectfully and he did the exact opposite. He was rude, dismissive and disrespectful. And aside from that, it should’ve never been a conversation based on the simple fact that we were IN A BAR. I firmly believe this was a targeted and discriminatory based incident. If you’re a person of color, do not go here and do not give this establishment your money or time. I’ve seen multiple other reviews that also speak to this bar being discriminatory which corroborates my experience. Saddest part is the bouncers were Black men treating Black women this way smh. I sincerely hope there’s a genuine effort on behalf of management...