Buddy's Place — Restaurant in Richmond

I ordered the hummus platter and it was pretty good. After a while, the saltiness from the olives and feta can be a little much, but it was presented beautifully. Yes, they were nice, but the things below will keep me from revisiting.

Here are some of the problems that I have with this restaurant: 1)The beer smell became overwhelming as soon as I sat down. 2) There was only 4 customers in there when I got there and they were all at the bar. So I sat at my table for a while and thought about leaving because in the time that the waitress/bartender was just talking to them, I could have had a menu and then they could have continued their conversations about masks and costumes. 3) I ordered a water to drink and 2 ladies came in about 5 minutes after me and ordered 2 beers at the bar and they as well as a couple that had been there drinking and hanging out got their refill before I got my water. Although the waitress apologized, I should have gotten my water before they were served. 4) When people chose to smoke (the couple), they decided to do it right by/ in front of the front door and windows. Smoke was seeping in and when someone came into the restaurant, it hit me right in the face. 5) When my order was up, my food was passed along. They wanted one of the guys to work there to take a picture of it. A part of me was cool with it and a big part of me WAS NOT. I didn't see ANY, I MEAN ANY handwashing. One of their male employees came in from outside through the front door, turned on one of the TVs that was off and had to go through the remotes, he sat at the bar for a while, and a female (manager/boss) came out the office removed my plate from the window and gave it to him. I didn't like his finger being in my plate between the pitta slices and I watched him as he sat it down 2 tables away from me. The waitress/bartender asked him to bring it to my table when he finished. He did as she asked and when he sat my plate his finger was under the top cucumber and I saw the cucumber water on his finger as he moved his had back. I tore off that piece of cucumber and disgarded it. If he was NOT on the clock then he should NOT have been allowed to touch my food and NO ONE TOLD HIM TO WASH HIS HANDS SINCE HE CAME FROM WALKING DOWN THE STREET INTO THE RESTAURANT, MESSED WITH THE TV REMOTE, AND WAS TOLD TO HANDLE M/A CUSTOMER'S FOOD. This was very unsanitary and a turn off and I should NOT have eaten it period. Regardless of me being hungry! So that part is on me, but it won't happen again!!!! 6) While I was eating a group of 3 went outside for a smoke. Well, once again they also stood by the front door and I got hit once again. 7) Being overwhelmed by the smell of beer, smoke and the saltiness of the olives and fetta, I lost my appetite but I forced myself to eat it since I was going to pay for it. The sad thing is that I wanted to go back to try their rice bowl, but after my experience....I think that I am going to pass!

So if this is what happened in plain site, then I can't imagine what happens in the areas and kitchen that we...

Pretty horrified and disgusted with an experience I had at this bar. Immediately got super weird vibes from the bartenders who seemed annoyed and were rather inattentive. Being a minority female, (sadly) I'm used to this kind of treatment, the assumption that I won't tip, or that my order will be complicated, and other harmful stereotypes can make getting good service impossible and can make going out a real nightmare. I had a mixed race friend with me who received a majority of the attention and the smiles, I guess they felt more comfortable with her? I don't know, anyway, ignoring SUPER weird vibes I felt all night, I decided it was still worth trying to have a good time. Some redneck looking dude was giving me some really hateful looks, and after a (surprisingly pleasant -- at the beginning) exchange of words, my final words to him was "you shouldn't give women dirty looks like that--its really weird and not cool" he then tell me "WHY DONT YOU JUST GO BACK TO YOUR HUT?!" (a "go back to Africa" reference, a favorite amongst the neanderthal racist) and ... yea needless to say, things verbally escalated from there. The reason I'm making this Buddy's problem was because the bartenders/management seemed to fail to see the wrong in the situation or take any interest in genuinely taking up for me, or making sure that I was okay. A lot of blanket statements were made like 'well everyone needs to leave' and 'i'm sorry offensive things were said' blah blah blah failing to really stand up for what was right, let alone apologize. This is the South and I'm used to it, (which is super lame) so it is what it is. I'm not one to play the race card or victimize myself but after leaving the bar I literally had spit on my car..... probably from the hateful racist dude. Basically, I think certain bars in Richmond attract a pro-Trump/alt-right/redneck/weirdly racist crowd and this just might be one of those places...shrugs deeply if you're a minority just steer clear of the cesspool of negativity. If you're white and want to live on an island and pretend that other types of people don't exist or hate other people who don't look like you...walk into this place, breath deeply and think to yourself..."i'm home" . I'm sure you'll be welcomed with open arms at BUDDY'S PLACE...

I brag about this place quite often to my friends so to be disrespected by staff AND management was out of left field. Sunday, July 9th, I brought my friend here and everything started off pretty good until the food came. There’s a dark haired lady who took my order. I ordered nachos (no meat) and they were very hard, had melted shredded cheese on them and little to no toppings. I ate about 2 of the only good chips I could find and waited a bit to see if she would come back but she didn’t, she dropped the food off and walked away. I noticed she was standing and talking to her friends so I walked up to her and asked if I could see a menu and explained to her the situation about the nachos. I let her know that i’d go with Loaded Tots (no bacon) and she said “okay”. When she brought out the new order, it was cheese fries…again, she just dropped the food off and walked away. I did notice that she went to another table to talk with them but never came back to my table, so I walked to the bar and asked her “Are you all out of tots?” she said “No, I’m changing it for you” but with an attitude. I was a little taken aback because I never disrespected her AT ALL. I asked her was there an issue and she literally told me…in front of her manager “You keep coming up to the bar and I have things to do” and walked off. I looked at her manager and said “I honestly do not like her attitude “ the manager looked me dead in my face, shrugged his shoulders and said “Okay” and walked behind the bar. I asked him for a refund and he said “For what?” so I asked the lady for a refund and she did give me a refund…after talking junk. When I walked back to my table I noticed her and the manager continued to talk smack and the group of friends she was with kept staring at the table I was at. Needless to say, I was highly disappointed because where did the...