Buckley's On Queen Anne — Restaurant in Seattle

This place is problematic.

New to this area: Had a pretty terrible experience with the bouncer here. Actually pretty embarrassing. I saw 2 people pass by and not show their IDs. So when he asked me for mine I was a bit confused. So i asked if he normally asks for ID? He could have said yes or no but began banter. So I showed him my ID. I took it back and walked away speedily ready to end this encounter.

He then calls me out, a woman walking into the bar alone, person of color (POC) asking “if we have a problem”. I was confused again. And asked him what he was talking about. He kept repeating himself. And when I asked what he was referring to, he said “if you have a problem, you can leave.”

At this point it’s embarrassing because I feel singled out and unaware of what he’s getting at. So I asked him again what he was talking about calmly. I never raised my voice once but by this point he had. He said, it was the way I ripped the card out of his hand. Stunned I replied “I didn’t mean to rip my card out of your hand.” I— who had done nothing wrong— had to explain myself to someone who was starting to become physically intimidating.

He, voice raised, fires back “okay then!” And walks off.

Unsure of if he was trying to intimidate me into having a day worse than his…?

I want to leave but again the onus is on me and people would probably assume I’m the problem— female, POC.

Maybe he had a bad day. Regardless, horrible experience. And when I asked if there was someone I could talk with, they said for me to call someone later or come back tomorrow.

Consequently my impression of this place is: Racist Problematic

I tried to solve the problem cordially but unfortunately it’s not possible.

If you come here, you support a part of America that is...

To our "waiter" (and I say that lightly since he never came by and did his job after we sat down) Casey, last night (12/10/22), you need to rethink your career choice buddy. You were the epitome of terrible service, and I am not one to waste my time on the internet to post about me feelings, but this needs to be addressed: You neglected to serve our table, not even once, and we had to have the already busy bartender become our waiter for the evening (Thank yo, Francisco! You saved our night!) You spilled water on our friend (mind you we are all wearing dress clothes for the Kevin Hart show that evening) and didn't even finish cleaning up the table and basically told him "that sucks" We kindly asked to see where our drink orders were (and you had not come back to even attempt to get our food order) and you just stood in front of your computer system for what seemed like an hour to avoid any confrontation with anyone. You told my wife that "if you are that impatient, then just go to the bar and get your own drinks". Which, crossed a line in itself. And even after we had complained, you still never came to take anyone's orders, and ignored our table for the rest of our night. This was not only just our table, this was at least three or four different groups! Thankfully Francisco saved our evening and was able to serve us in a very polite and professional manner. It's ones thing to request basic service, and then there's completely ignoring your tables, and not taking orders, and being flat out rude. To whomever decides to read through this rant, the food and atmosphere was just fine, The one stars is for Freddy Fallon or whatever this dude's name was....

Came here instead after a nearby highly rated chinese restaurant ( Uptown China Restaurant ) told us we could have their next available open booth. When that booth cleared, we started to walk over to it and were yelled at by the same front desk person who told us we were next customer up. It appeared a group of 5 who just literally walked in the door were high rollers who knew the owner. We were told they had a reservation for the booth !?!? Really !?!? Yea ... never again. I don't care how good your food is. Very unprofessional. If you run on reservations system no problem ... just make that transparent and for some sage business advice NEVER look someone in the eye and promise them a seat THEN yell at them after they waited 25 minutes for a seat you promised. Shame on you. I mean ... who does that ???? If that's how you run your front Desk, you have a Doomed business model. Doomed.

Regarding Buckley's: Greated by very friendly front desk, taken back immediately to our table of choice. Order taken within 5 minutes. Drinks & appetizers on table within next 5 minutes. Main course within next 5 minutes. (So in the time we waited for a seat at the very highly rated nearby Chinese restaurant, we could've been well on our way thru enjoying dinner). Buckley's is a master class on how to execute a welcoming and efficient customer experience. Nearby highly rated chinese restaurant is only for those people who know the owner (or) those who like to pay a lot of money to be browbeaten, discounted, ignored, mistreated, and given the evil eye when you walk out the door because you refuse to put up with their...