Krueger’s Bar — Restaurant in University City

Typically, when a bartender asks for my ID, I’m flattered. However, tonight, this beautiful Friday evening (05/30/2025), a request for my ID has gone beyond a simple request and into outright insult and disrespect.

I, and my two friends, patronaged Krueger’s Bar for a night of merriment. However, mere moments after entering the restaurant we were asked for our IDs. This is typical, at this point everything was good. The bartender did call us “little man”, but at this point I didn’t think anything of it. However, after handing over our IDs, the bartender kept them and said “We can’t serve you guys, have a nice night.”

At this point, I thought it was a joke, so I laughed. My friend, H, asked for his ID back, to which the bartender responded with “We cannot serve you guys. I’ll give you back the ID if you’re nice.” At this point, I laughed again. I thought the whole thing was a joke and that “unless you’re nice” meant “ordering a drink.” However, my laughter was short live when I realized the bartenders were serious and had neither the intention of serving us nor even returning our IDs. Full disclosure: we are of age. We are in our mid 20s and even have real IDs.

The staff then proceeded to engage me in a game of 20 questions: Where did you go to high school? When did you graduate? Where do you live? What’s your zip code?

I even offered where I went to college, what my major was, where I currently work, etc.., Only once the Krueger inquisition was satisfied did they decide to return our IDs. At this point they stated they had no way to verify if our IDs are real (apparently the Federal standard is too lax compared to the industry renown “Krueger Standard TM”). The bartenders were still reluctant to serve us. At this point, we were so insulted we decided to take our money (also of legal tender, I wonder if the staff would have interrogated us about that) elsewhere.

Normally, getting asked your ID is either an obligation or a compliment, this is the first time ever I’ve been insulted that a bar would refuse our legal IDs and even threaten to keep government property. I never.

We live in the area but neither I, nor my friends, will ever return...

We were excited to try a local spot after moving to the area, but Krueger’s Bar was a total disappointment and ABSOLUTELY NOT worth it! I get that ID checks are policy, and okay me and my friends, appear young — but being rude, dismissive, and borderline hostile because of that? Ridiculous. (we’re all 23 mind you)

The bartender (especially the tattooed woman working) couldn’t have made it more obvious that we weren’t welcome. Instead of just checking IDs, she played the 20 questions game and made it feel like we were a problem just for walking in. It wasn’t just uncomfortable — it felt straight-up unsafe. The whole place had this awkward, unwelcoming energy like we’d crashed some exclusive Donald Trump boys’ club.

It’s wild to me that any business would treat new customers like this, especially when we were literally just trying to order a drink. Being cold and rude to potential regulars isn’t “policy” — it’s just bad business!!!

If you’re young, new to the area, or not part of their little “clique”, don’t waste your time. The only time they were remotely nice was when we were walking out — probably because they were happy to see us go. That says it all, shame on...

Very strange experience. Came in with a bunch of friends all excited to grab a beer and hang out. The bartender clocks us coming in and immediately climbs up on the bar and asks everyone for their IDs, which is fair. We hand them to her and she barely looks at them, then starts flinging (I said flinging!) them across the room saying we're underage (as if she'd already decided she didn't want us in there). Really rude and embarrassing, and honestly should've been handled differently. If they didn't want a large group coming in, they should've just spoken with us directly instead of making a scene about our supposed age.

On another note, I've been here before when it's packed with seemingly high-school aged kids and they haven't cared a bit. So I'm not too sure why they had such a problem with a younger (but very much legal!) aged crowd coming in on a Friday night.

It's an adequate bar if you come with the right people on the right night. Don't walk in too happy and excited or they'll assume you're drunk...