Kay
Google
After a recommendation, my friends and I were excited to check out El Patio. When we first arrived, the bouncer politely told us the venue was closed for a private event and to come back after 5 PM. No problem—so we thought. When we returned, first thing we witness is the young couple in front of us be let in, even though they asked for her ID and she did not have one. When it was our turn, the same bouncer claimed we were “out of dress code.” It was my birthday and I had on a dress. All my friends were dressed alike: pressed shirts, semi‑casual pants, clean sneakers—all things the posted dress code allowed. And mind you, we were in the same clothes as when we saw this same bouncer earlier who had told us to come back later (which now think was just a tactic, hoping we wouldn’t). I asked repeatedly what rule we were violating, and they couldn’t answer. I asked him why he didn’t mention this earlier, again no answer. It was obviously just an excuse to discriminate based on skin color. Even the couple behind us—who clearly fit the club’s “preferred clientele”—left in protest after seeing how we were treated. We went next door for drinks and, from there, watched groups who matched their preferred demographic walk right in without even a bat of an eye. This wasn’t about dress code. It was discrimination. Such a major disappointment.