HopMonk Tavern Sebastopol — Restaurant in Sebastopol

Discrimination based on my membership in a motorcycle club.

Last Saturday my wife, several friends, and myself, went to the Hop Monk in Sebastopol to see the band Sabbath Lives. The show itself was fantastic.

The show started at 8pm, doors opened at 7pm. My wife and I arrived early to have dinner before the show, around 6:30 pm I was wearing a sweatshirt with my motorcycle clubs colors on the back. Just a sweatshirt, not a vest with our colors.

When we arrived we sat at a table within fifteen feet of the doors to the music venue. I approached two security personnel at the doors and inquired if I could take food inside the venue. They replied no, but I could bring a drink in. Sounds fair, no problem.

When the door opened at 8pm for the show we provided our tickets and received a wristband. After receiving my wrist band I was told i could not wear my sweatshirt into the venue. Being that I was with five other people I didn't make an issue of it. I complied and removed my sweatshirt. I then attempted to go inside and was once again stopped. I was told I could not enter with the sweatshirt even though I,wasn't going to wear it. I had to make a trip to the car and leave my sweatshirt.

When I left to go to the car, one of the security guard made an unsubstantiated and false statement to someone our party that my club was affiliated with another club.

When I purchased the tickets online there was no notice of club colors not allowed. When we ate in the outdoor restaurant there was no signage regarding club colors not being allowed, and none of the staff had an issue.

At the entry to the venue there was no signage regarding club colors. Besides being discriminated for being in a motorcycle club, why wouldn't the security at the doors to the venue notify me of this when I first approached them at 6:30pm. There was also a third security person who arrived, who had seen my colors as I walked by him.

I've been part of this club for thirty eight years. For the past twenty years we have donated to more non profit organizations than I can count.

Shame on the Sebastopol Hop Monk for having a blanket discrimination policy based on someone's motorcycle club...

HopMonk is a decent restaurant with a lot of potential to be an outstanding restaurant.

Most of the food is pretty good with some outstanding highlights like the Korean Cauliflower and the Pickle Fries. However, on my most recent visit I ordered the Chicken Philly and should have gotten a choice of fries to go with my meal, but the kitchen completely missed that. At the time I was dining since my meal didn't come out with fries, I figured that it wasn't supposed to have fries. It's only after the fact as I'm writing this review and looking back at the menu online I'm realizing I should have had the choice. Without the fries the Chicken Philly is a pretty meager meal so I'm glad I got a cup of soup to go with it. My other table mates got burgers and the salmon risotto and by comparison, those were huge portions of food.

On both my visits the service was super slow. On my most recent visit they also crammed our party of seven into a really small picnic table. As a business meal, I'm not as interested in cuddling up with people I'm eating with versus when I'm eating with friends or family. When I hinted to the hostess that the table seemed a little small hoping she would re-seat us on what appeared to be a very slow Monday night with more than 80% available capacity, she got rather testy with me saying that the table we were at was regularly used for parties of seven or more. I could have taken a more direct approach and just asked to be re-seated outright, but I thought I'd try and take a less confrontational approach that time. Maybe a more direct request would have been better received, I don't know.

Final conclusion: there's a lot of potential here with some great food on the menu, but the execution just...

I've been going to Hopmonk for years. I'm local and was a frequent patron. The last two visits have been very disappointing. I always have the fish and chips. The poor quality of the fish is noticeable and the chips (fries) I can get in the frozen section of Safeway. Why would I pay over 10 bucks for the equivalent of Gortons and frozen fries? I can do that at home for $5.00. I understand they are under new management (my kids went to school with some of your employees who have quit under the new manager...again I've been in Sebastopol for close to 50 years). It seems the new management is cutting corners on food quality. They are now no longer on our list of places to eat out. Not when there are great places like Martha's Mexican, Eight Cuisine (amazing Chinese food), Sushi tozai, and I could go on. Hopmonk lives in a foodie paradise. The recent changes will not serve them well. Not to mention the grilled cheese sandwich my daughter ordered was under cooked. She sent it back to the kitchen after the first bite due to a digestive problem (under cooked cheese makes her puke).When her food came to the table again the soup had been replaced, but it was obvious they had simply microwaved the sandwich. My daughter's bite marks were clearly evident. The waitress claimed she saw the cook put it back in the pan, which is a violation of state law since it had been eaten from. All in all, what was once a really cool place to take out of town visitors is permanently stricken from our list. And, no, I'm not interested in Hopmonk's reply. Again, I've been a patron for years. The quality of the food has declined noticeably and I'm not interested in eating...