25 O'Clock Brewing Company — Restaurant in Urbana

My knitting group (just a small group of girls) has been coming here for months and has enjoyed our time and haven't had any issues. We were one of the only groups in the bar last night and were laughing and talking and knitting. The bartender kept looking at us throughout the night which I thought was odd. Then the bartender came over unprovoked and accused us of being "mean girls." We asked her what she meant, and she became aggressive and told us we were not welcome back. When my friend (a black woman) tried to talk to her, the bartender threatened to call the police on her. She threatened to call the police because of “mean girl energy” even though the only time we had spoken to her was when we ordered our drinks and when she approached us unprovoked. I believe she thought we were talking about her because we were laughing and happened to be the only group in the bar. Instead of approaching us rationally, the situation escalated to an unsafe place and she very clearly reacted strongly to our friend who was black (even though the only aggression shown was on the bartender’s side). She also took pictures of us while we were knitting without our consent. We immediately left after the bartender became aggressive and we felt unsafe.

I've never, ever experienced something like this and it was a very upsetting experience- especially for my friend who was targeted. I don't feel comfortable going back and hope that this can be rectified, since racially motivated remarks and taking pictures of patrons unprovoked is very concerning. Safe to say we will be knitting somewhere else!

Also, I'd really like to get in contact with the owners or managers to share this, but there is no contact info for them anywhere. I’m not usually a review person but I felt this needed...

Edit to add: I find it interesting this establishment chose only to respond to the patron who expressed receiving racist remarks from the bartender but none of the other critical reviews noting the same issue. It’s not looking good. An apology instead of doubling down would have been sufficient.

Horrible experience. My friends and I come here weekly and usually have a fun time. Well last night they threatened to call the police on my friend for literally laughing too loud. What type of world do we live in where things escalate so quickly as to call the police on a Black person, especially given the history of situations like these. What the...

A bartender threatened to call the police on my friend simply for laughing too loudly. Additionally, this bartender kept flirting with another customer making it difficult to receive service. I believe she mistook girls knitting and enjoying their time with one another as mocking her flirting when she was never a subject of conversation. It’s disturbing how quickly things can escalate to involving law enforcement—especially when directed at a Black person. Additionally, our law enforcement has more pertinent issues to handle other than a customer laughing at a bar. I will never return here, spend your money...