The Victorian — Restaurant in Santa Monica

Experienced some pretty horrible employee harassment here a few years ago, but never wrote a review. It still shakes me up and after seeing from reviews that it’s maybe gotten worse, just thought I’d add my two cents.

My friend and I came here for a drink after dinner. A little before closing, we got in line for the bathroom. We were last in line with probably 10 people ahead of us and it was a single stall bathroom so by the time we got in, the bar had already closed. While in the bathroom, my friend had a safety pin holding her body suit together and it came undone and got caught in a precarious way that was pinching her and we were trying to fix it. No more than a minute after we entered, there was banging on the door. I yelled “just a minute!” which led to more banging and then the sound of multiple people yelling and hitting the door. I assumed it was a bouncer and opened the door to explain and was met by 10 male employees yelling, laughing, and mocking us. They told me if I needed help to “call an ambulance” and that my friend and I were just “dumb drunk white girls” - which was also an assumption because we weren’t drunk and my friend wasn’t white, but regardless was inappropriate. ALSO…even if we were drunk, sorry we purchased so much alcohol from you? We closed the door and the banging and yelling continued. We were stressed and panicked, which made getting the pin untangled from the fabric even harder. Two female workers who I guess took pity on us, pretty much pushed their way in to help and saw my friend undressed without her consent. They rolled their eyes at us when they saw the issue, but they ALSO had trouble getting the pin off. Finally we did and as we exited the bathroom and then the bar, the workers followed us, yelling, calling us names, and laughing at us. My friend and I started to cry, totally overwhelmed and humiliated - it honestly felt like shame walk from GOT and had I not been tipsy and still in my twenties, probably could have laughed at how insane it was. But at the time, I felt vulnerable and honestly pretty scared at how aggressive this group of men were being. They almost seemed giddy to be making fun of us, egging each other on, and it felt like this was something they’d probably done before - targeted the last few women at the bar when no one could see, just because they could. We tried to tell the manager at the door outside what happened, but he looked at us blank faced and said he didn’t know what workers these were and eventually turned and left us crying outside. I will never in a million years step back in this place and don’t recommend any women or queer people do either.

Don’t remember if the drinks were good but those probably...

I've always been a fan of Earth Cafe, but decided to have Sunday brunch at The Victorian for the first time. A friend and I arrived around 9:15 a.m. it was our first time there, we were notified by the bartender that brunch started at 10 am, he said that while we waited, we could buy coffee, since its a separate entity. We purchased coffee and decided to kill some time by walking through the farmers market adjacent to The Victorian. As I waited for my coffee I decided to sit at a table that had an empty cup and a newspaper, I thought that the previous customer had left his trash behind. I sat there for maybe 3 minutes, when an mid fifties, white male approached me and said, "Thats my table, I was sitting there" I said I was sorry and moved to another table. We got our coffee and then went to farmers market. As 10 am approach we decided to return to restaurant to have brunch and listen to the musicians. When I returned I saw that the same table was cleared of newspaper and coffee cup, it was actually set up and ready for brunch. We decided to sit there again. As we were sitting there waiting for a menu, the same guy return, but this time he had a nasty attitude, one of self entitlement and prejudice against us for being Latinx. He said "this is my table, you know that (directing his glare at me), Where is my news paper? (assuming we had removed it), I said I don't know, probably the waiter/waiters took it. I am not a person that likes confrontations, so we decided to move to another table. We can hear him talk to the staff in a demeaning way, asking for his newspaper. As me and my friend were talking about the incident and mentioned that he was very rude, the waiter over heard us and approached and said "don't worry about it, we get a lot of those here". I asked the waiter, why were they placing reservations signs on all the tables? did we had to make a reservation? He said that the reason that they place them on table was because they didn't want individuals that purchased food from farmers market to sit within the perimeter of the restaurant, because they lose money. The egg sandwich, pancakes and mimosas were good 8/10. I just had that bad experience with that man, probably a frequent customer, but here is the kicker, he purchase all his food and drink from the farmers market and so did his companions, and yet felt he own the place. The Victorian should ban self- entitle customers that provide no revenue and give priority to...

Where do I even start????? Sorry, but this is a horrible place. I've been here a few times and I had never looked at reviews because I was recommended by a friend. If you're seeing this then SAVE YOURSELF and do not come here.

Went here most recently a week ago. My phone, drivers license, AND all of my debit and credit cards got stolen out of my purse without me even realizing it.

There is very clearly ORGANIZED THEFT here. Asked an employee if there was a lost and found and he LAUGHED at me and said to wait in the corner on the patio so when everyone left we could go around the place and look for it after closing. Like he made me feel so stupid and dumb for even asking him. So then here I am literally sitting WHERE I WAS TOLD TO SIT anxious out of my mind and a guard comes up around 1:45 am and starts yelling at us to leave and I tried to explain to him that we were told to sit over here but he didn't even care and started pushing us out. I am just so disappointed in the way this was handled. I know they can't do much about my phone and stuff being gone but at least have some sympathy for someone who just got all their money, identity, and phone stolen.

BTW the people who stole my phone had already tried to charge $5,000 onto my card and various other charges from Mexico by the time it hit 3am. These people are absolute idiots. This place created such a nightmare for me and I am so beyond disappointed. It is BEYOND me that anyone would want to go here knowing this happens every night.

Last thing, lots of creepy men. These people literally prey on you and clearly don't know how to flirt or respect boundaries whatsoever. It is actually embarrassing to me how some people are so confident and creepy at this place. Very sad that me and so many other people do not...