District 924 — Restaurant in Winston-Salem

It took everything in me not to address this in house as i decided to just leave a review instead. I came here today, Easter Sunday with my family. Our original plans were to go fishing, shower, and then hit a resturaunt that was open for Easter Sunday to spend a little quality time. We end up ditching the notion of going fishing and sprung for this resturaunt as we looked at the reviews and seen it was black owned and that the food pictures looked exceptional. AS A BLACK OWNED business owner myself, I was down for supporting another black business so I opted for this resturaunt despite others my family and I had looked at. We were greeted outside and we asked about wait times. We were told there was an hour wait time even after calling and being told there was NO wait time. I'm a planner so I'm methodical. We waited for little under an hour and ran some errands while we waited. When we were finally called by text and advised our party was ready, we were told that there was a no flip flop policy after beong seated. My husband and kids all had on slides. There was no policy listed or nothing on the website that stated the same. The gentleman hostess ( I assume) leaned in an whispered to my husband " Hey, we have a no flip flop or slide policy, we want be able to serve you." I cant even put into words being African American and patronizing a resturaunt of the same race and feeling soooo discriminated against. Please see picture below for details of our attire. While I do respect a resturaunts choice and right to choose their attire and I am definitely one that believes in order and rules, when asked what was the deal with the policy as ALL the staff LITERALLY had on crocs..i was told that people normally wake up out of bed and come in in slides and so to keep that from occurring they just had a no slides policy. All in all this is discriminatory and I have never frequented a FAMILY resturaunt that has had such rules. I DEFINITELY understand this for fine dining but we didn't walk in to Ruth Chris or River Birch Lodge and thankfully i have been afforded to frequent many fine dining and family resturaunt. Had this been a fine dining institution, one would have understanded the demand. My husband opted to stay anyway as we had already waited an hour. However, by this time I had never felt so disrespected or marginalized and discriminated against. Especially being a black woman myself. I started to opt to speak to the manager in private but just left a note on the receipt and a tip. Our bill came to $230.00. $33 of that being gratuities for a party over 5. I left an additional tip of $20. I will not recommend this place to anyone and being a black owner myself the way this situation was handled was unsatisfactory and poor customer service. Being in the customer service business myself, if this is a policy they prefer it should be listed on the website or even on the huge sidewalk signage they have. To top it off after all that, the food was just subpar. I had the lamb chops which were a little rubbery. The mac and cheese wasn't horrible but wasn't impressive. My kids had the chicken tenders and they were chewy. We also ordered wings (lemon pepper and honey bbq). The children did enjoy those. As a large family, being a business owner you would think one would see the opportunity for capital here. Instead after waiting a hour and being seated before being told we were told there was a no flip flop or slide policy (however crocs were excepted). Still attempting to figure this one out and the logic. And that they would allow us to eat there after we were told that. I will not patronize this business again ans I will definitely spread the word. I have never left a resturaunt and felt this way. As horrible and ashamed being a black women as I have visiting here. Highly don't recommend. Wishing I would have went with my first choice to go to Dames chickwn and...

EDIT: Met a friend for brunch today who wanted to try District 924. I had not been since my original review over a year ago. Today I had a very pleasant experience and felt obligated to update my original review. We received our orders fast and accurately. Our waiter was pleasant and greeted us with a smile. I have never had a bad meal from this place tbh. Food is ALWAYS good 😊 not a lot of soul food options in the area for brunch so I am glad we have this District 924 (gas is wayyy too expensive for me to go to Luxe in Greensboro and Luxe usually has a long wait time). Was able to catch up with a long lost friend over soul food in a pleasant environment. Not sure what happened in the last year or so but I recommend this place and would recommend going again if your initial experience was not the best.

FYI: they do have a dress code. It is pretty lax. The main thing is that no slides are allowed.

Passion mimosa was also good 👍🏽

ORIGINAL: I have had both good and bad experiences here. My ToGo orders during lunch time have been good but actual trips to the restaurant have not been the best. On my most recent visit one Friday during lunch time to dine-in, our Dr. Pepper tasted like Diet Pepsi (ended up getting water. Waitress later reported issues with carbonation for drinks). My friend ordered a chicken philly and was served a steak philly. When the waitress brought the plates to the table, my friend specifically asked if it was chicken and the waitress lied and said yes. I tasted it to confirm that it was indeed steak which my friend does not eat. Five mins later waitress returns to inform that she was given the wrong plate and that she would return with my friends correct order. As a health care professional, I cannot help but think of people with anaphylaxis to certain foods potentially receiving an item that they are allergic to without the waiter double checking when a patron expresses concerns when food is delivered to the table. The very last straw this day was that the ToGo box had a dead bug in it. I was excited to get this place in town which is why I have now been 4 times before writing this review but I will just stick with Luxe in Greensboro for my soul food fix. One positive from this day was that my soul food wrap...

Me and my friend visited this establishment this past Saturday. We were very excited about visiting and patronizing this black owned business, however we're unable to do so. Upon our arrival before we could even get to the front door and turned into the patio area, this seemingly random man stood up and blocked our way with his body (I assume he was a manager) and prevented us from going any further. Without a proper greeting, "Hello", "Welcome to our establishment", etc. he looked down at my friends shoes (She was wearing some nice Pink(VS) Slides) and told her that she would be unable to enter due to her shoes and them not allowing athletic shoes to be worn in their establishment. While he is saying this, he himself had on athletic shoes/sneakers, but that's neither here nor there.

Me and my friend went back to the car so she could change into a different pair of shoes (Juicy Couture rhinestone slides) and then we attempted to go into the restaurant again and yet once again, the man said, "Those are the same thing". Following this we saw him also turn away 2 other ladies due to the same reason. Yet the kicker was, a young lady wearing crocs was allowed to enter the establishment with no problem.

What does my footwear have to do with me eating and being serviced properly at your establishment?!

Maybe if a dress code was communicated more clearly on this business' pages, maybe we could avoid situations like this. This situation may have been better had we received a proper greeting from the employee. Very disappointed. Hopefully this establishment re-evaluates their customer service with all employees and corrects their many errors soon, or I am more than sure that they will continue to lose more business.

Note: This man wasn't wearing a name badge or any particular attire to let us know who he was and never once did he...