I’m really confused about what happened last night. I have been an occasional patron of Tom Ried’s since I moved to St Paul a couple years back, and it’s always been a fun spot. Last night though, something weirdly aggressive happened and I can’t help but take it a little personally.
I invited my wife and a couple friends to come along for drinks at the bar, and on the way in we were handed funny little Jack Daniels hats and paper horns (it was new year’s eve).
We sat down at the bar, ordered a round of drinks, and blew a couple paper horn toots.
A group accross the room began responding with their own horn toots and a playful back and forth began between us. Shortly after, another group joined in accross the bar. Folk were smiling, laughing, and just generally enjoying New Year’s Eve.
Then suddenly, one of the bar staff snatched the horn from our hands and said “you’re done here”.
A security guard then approached and asked us to leave. I asked if I could finish the drink I’d bought, to which he responded by smashing the drink from my hand onto the floor and threatening to beat me up outside after his shift.
The obvious explanation for what happened, is that horn toots annoyed one of the bar tenders or another patron. But if we had known or even suspected that, we would have stopped the tooting immediately. There was no indication of this though, until suddenly we were being kicked out and threatened with violence.
A completely bizarre end to 2022. I expected a little more humanity...
Read moreEver acted out a story about spilling a drink on someone and proceed to spill a drink on someone? Bartender Maddie has!! "Boo...he gave 5 stars cuz he thinks she's hot!" I'm not that shallow folks, it's 5 stars because I'm rating the establishment AND Maddie is who you marry. Both personally and professionally. Both objectively and subjectively. ;-) Finding myself "stuck" alone in St. Paul 5hrs before my flight I discover Tom Reid's is within walking distance. Sit with locals at a bar watching The Masters? Absolutely! Fast forward to both the double-shot-dousing and my point: looking down at my soaked left thigh I simply was not bothered in the LEAST! Remembering my flight lies ahead was only a sad reminder of having to leave this fine city. Most of you won't read this far into my story yet I still declare Tom Reid's has the perfect human ingredients for employees and patrons to spend time with. Most of my afternoon I sat next to a great guy - I won't say his name but it's the same as a character on a show from a certain channel that contains all comedy. I gratefully thank him and Maddie for their time. Ok maybe more Maddie. After all, he bought the shot and Maddie...was just...
Read moreI took my daughter here along with our cousin on a Saturday. I like the different types of tables seating they had. The bar was nice, too. I only had the onion rings. It was not one of my favorites. I prefer the crusty, lumpy ones. Everyone else took their food to go. I had eaten earlier. Tom's was well lit, tv screens everywhere, and Canadian hockey driven. There were extra tables in the back I had not seen until I went to use the restroom. There was another restrooms up front as well. Lots of talk going on, and at one of the tables, a group was singing a song out loud. The service was great! They kept checking upon us. The drinks were really good. The only thing was when we ordered our margaritas, the salt around the rim had mostly slid into our drinks, making it a salty drink. When we first sat at the bar, across from us, there were two people eating burgers. They looked large! Next time, I'll try those. All in all, i would...
Read more