Lauren D.
Yelp
I feel bad writing a poor review for this restaurant, mainly because I went in excited to try it out and everything about it seemed there - vibes were good, location was awesome, etc. Unfortunately, I'm taking to yelp because even after emailing about my experience there, I've heard nothing close to an apology, not even an acknowledgment.
My friends and I, all 23 year olds (I'm turning 24 in October), went here while visiting our friend for labor day weekend. She's a NJ native, while the rest of us are from Virginia. We met at Virginia Tech & were excited to hangout and catch-up again after graduating. We chose this place so we could grab something to eat, get some drinks, and hangout close to the shore so that we could then go out later in the night. We walked in and sat down, then were greeted and told about the beer flights. Exciting, especially for my 2 friends that love beer and were looking forward to trying some. I had a cocktail picked out, as did my other friend. Originally, an older waitress came by to take our drink orders. She asked to see ID, which is fine, I've never been denied service before because I've never owned a fake ID. We handed them over, and as soon as she saw ours were out of state, she said she had to get them checked. Of course we let her take them, as they are all very valid forms of identification.
Probably 5-10 minutes go by, and we see someone else walking up to our table. Short hair, also an older woman, dressed in a denim dress. Didn't really know she worked there to be honest. Well, she told us she couldn't accept our ID's. Told us they couldn't be verified. No big deal, as I had a scan of my birth certificate in my emails from my job. Also couldn't accept that for some reason. Ok... I have other forms to identify that is my address and that is my name and birthday. We were shot down & told that even if the cops came and verified our ID's, she would still not be serving us drinks. Seems like that was more of a personal decision than a business one. Also, I'd like to note that I've worked in a restaurant since I was 15. I still work nights at a sports bar. I'm very familiar with alcohol beverage control laws and not wanting to lose a liquor license. What good reason did Michele, the manager, have to deny service after pulling out multiple forms showing I'm a VA resident and I'm 23? None.
We decided to stay after she walked away, mostly because we still needed to eat and didn't want to walk 20 minutes more to go someplace else. Might I add it was a $50 uber ride that we took there since we planned on drinking. Well, after being denied bar service, we sat there a good 10-15 minutes before someone acknowledged us again. This time, it was a younger girl, closer to our ages, that asked if we were staying and then took our food orders. She's the reason that I added a star. She brought us water, which I thought was nice because when we walked in we were told it was self service at a water station. She was apologetic and I don't fault her for the wrong doing and unfairness of her manager.
The food came out and was good. Seriously no complaints other than we were all pretty upset we weren't being served drinks, especially since the reasoning for abstaining was flawed & incorrect.
I emailed and left a google review about this, and my friends also left reviews. Well, much to my disappointment, Beach Haus has been silent. No apology, not even an email back defending their manager. What a shoddy way to do business. Never in all the years I've checked IDs and served alcohol, have I ever treated young women like that. It felt like a direct, personal dig at us and it was hurtful that even after pulling out other forms of ID, we were still told we could be fabricating it.
Went to D'jais afterwards and had no problems getting in and being served, because our IDs scanned!!! No surprise to me there, as they are real and issued by the DMV. I won't lie, half of this review being posted is me upset that no one has reached out with an explanation, or much less an apology. The other half is to warn other young women from out-of-state who might be stopping by!! You won't be served if Michele deems your very real Identification invalid.
Like I said earlier, wish I could say something nicer about this place, but the experience was so disappointing. Do better, Beach Haus.