Vim & Victor at The St. James — Restaurant in Springfield

Recently my partner and I decided to visit the newly opened StJ facility restaurant, as we're planning on becoming members and becoming involved in some of the leagues offered. The experience we had was incredibly outrageous and infuriating, and we wanted to give the management of Vim & Victor and/or StJ the chance to address it privately first, as opposed to making the issue publicly available on Google Reviews and Yelp. As folks that live in the neighborhood, we want to see the facility and the services offered within it succeed.

Our dinner experience was at the bar, and we were impressed with the restaurant. The menu prices were rather steep, however, the quality of the food was fantastic. Our bartender was a newer employee, but was incredibly friendly and actually suggested the cauliflower nachos which were the most unique and best nachos we've ever had. The bartender was very personable, friendly, and conversational, and the food we ordered was great.

That being said, the rest of the experience was absolutely appalling, and that was due exclusively and solely to the manager in charge, Allysea. Her treatment of the staff and her behavior was very public, inappropriate, and completely unacceptable, and we're not even employees. Throughout the course of the evening meal she:

Immediately loudly lectured our bartender for not knowing what beers were on tap from memory and needing to check a note card, which took all of 2 seconds. The beers on tap were complicated, wordy named craft IPAs, and there's no reason to expect a bartender to remember those. I was the only person to order a beer in two hours, and as a regular beer drinker I had never even heard of any of them.

Confronted another bartender who was arriving on shift and introducing a brand new third bartender on his very first day about a laminated sheet of notes/drinks that was next to the bar register, that they should "all know the drinks after four months".

Loudly lectured all three bartenders about the ABC stickers on the bottles, and how they had to be showing, and how the liquor control board almost shut them down because of them.

Repeatedly aggressively told off kitchen staff who would appear periodically from the back to either speak to the bartenders or just to come out while doing various tasks

Publicly reviewed resumes with an Asian shift manager right at the bar with her laptop, commenting on the contents within.

Took a personal video call at the bar with a child/baby, loudly talking to them with no regard to any nearby guests

Spent a half hour camped out at the bar reading a magazine with the same shift manager.

Eventually took a break from her laptop and magazine to go behind the bar and confront all bartenders about how tips need to be collected and recorded, how they weren't doing it correctly, and how it was unacceptable and ridiculous. She proceeded to tell them they were no longer allowed to keep cash tips and had to put them in the till. That they were not allowed to count the till at the end of their shift and had to have a manager do it. She never explained to them how they were supposed to get their cash tips after that. It was a very loud conversation right in front of where we were sitting.

There were many other points during the evening where her rude and downright disrespectful attitude to her staff made not only them, but ourselves as customers, feel embarrassed and insulted. While many of the topics that she may have issues with would probably need staff attention and reminders, it would've been better relayed in a memo, or in a team meeting, and certainly not angrily and loudly lectured in front of coworkers and customers.

To be clear, the service was fantastic, the staff were incredibly friendly, questions about the menu were answered thoroughly and the food suggestions and the food itself was great, and judging by the things you would normally judge a bar/restaurant trip on, it was a...

I have a membership to The St. James and I have to admit the food quality of the restaurant, specifically the breakfast, does not translate to the quality you would expect for the cost of the membership. I will start with the breakfast.

I have eaten breakfast items from here at least five times. The bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches are pre-cooked and reheated when ordered. Sometimes they are piping hot, other times the middle is soggy and cold. The Belgian waffle is the quality you would get at a Hampton Inn free breakfast minus you don't get to pour the batter into the griddle and flip it yourself. Today especially, I went with my husband for a quick breakfast date. He ordered the waffle and I ordered the sandwich. He also got bacon with it which is the pre-cooked Oscar Meyer type that is completely unhealthy and full of preservatives. Considering we pay extra for the food, that isn't included in the $400/month membership, I would expect higher quality food. Our meal today was $28. We could have went to The Silver Diner and got two meals on their breakfast menu for that price and it would have been fresher and tasted better. It seems like breakfast is an after thought.

As far as lunch and dinner, the food is better. I imagine they make more of their money off that menu because distraught mothers put their kids in childcare and come have several glasses of wine and a meal with their husbands. It's really the bar that probably makes the money in the evenings. I have tried their cheeseburger, various skewers, fries, avocado toast and salads. The skewers and fries are the best. Their cheeseburger was decent, definitely not the best since besides coffee I love trying cheeseburgers at different establishments. Their avocado toast is pretty good.

Service--in general the waiters and waitresses are friendly and professional, however, the service can be slow. I don't think that reflects on the waitstaff though. The atmosphere is a little sterile, but it does have table spacing going for it. The tables aren't squished into each other to the point where you cannot have a conversation because you can hear everyone else's conversations. Sometimes the music is overly loud and that does stifle conversation. I really enjoy the outdoor patio when it's warm. You don't get as attentive service out there though and it's easier to just order and take the food out.

Overall, I really enjoy The St. James, especially all the activities. I would just like to see the same quality translated to...

Signature burger was decent (overpriced), salad was healthy and fresh, mixed fruit dish wash tasty and fresh, Smoothie was well made (competitively priced). One item not recommended, in my case, was the roast beef & turkey (looked like lunch meat) strewn with some type of Italian seasoning and mingled with onions. Quite salty and disappointing; I tossed it. Online menu is not quite ready, and they're not set up for online orders. Overall attractive atmosphere, very clean (it's new), and staff is very friendly. Hardly anyone in the restaurant (I think there was 1 person (guess it's an off nite)). Recommendation: Marketing is the key in making this place happen. Personally, I've never heard of St James on the radio. Hope it turns out well for them ($$$). As of right now, Mike's restaurant in Springfield remains the best in my humble opinion, and Flame Kabob has some of the finest tastes in...