Patrick T.
Yelp
9:/20/25, Saturday night, my first visit to Sullivans Steakhouse. The food was average, the service was less than dazzling. Upon entering the establishment myself and a friend lingered at the maître'd desk for a time before being acknowledged by the staff. We were instructed to "pick a spot". We chose the bar area for dining as the main dining room seemed to be overcrowded, as one could interpret from reading the expressions, mannerisms and aside conversations of the staff as they hurried back and forth between the bar and the main dining area.
There seemed to be some confusion as to which server was to attend to our table, but after a 15 minute wait we were able to get our order in and our beverages served.
The appetizers came out immediately. "Wow!", I thought, good food and friendly service. It ended there. I mean courses took another 35 minutes before they were even brought out to the table. Mine was a salad. I have to say for a salad. It was OK average at best. I had some protein added to it, a choice cut of steak. It was cooked my liking, however, common sense would suggest that any kind of protein added to a salad could be sliced thin enough to not merit the need of a steak knife. My friend went with more of a traditional meal the main course with two sides. The sweet potato soufflé was cold. And the brussels sprouts were so al dente you'd think that they were raw.
Wanting to wrap up the night, we ordered dessert to go, and I ventured off to find the restrooms. By this point, the bar area was empty of customers, and there were only a few members of the weight staff in that area. The main dining room, however, it was completely full. I made my way through the empty lobby and down a quiet hallway into the men's restroom. It was an empty and a mess, but what could you expect in a busy restaurant after 9:30 PM on a Saturday evening. I locked myself into the small bathroom stall.
Suddenly, the door from the hallway burst open and a chorus of voices were yelling and laughing. The men's room was filled with chaos. And it was true chaos as I struggled to distinguish if the voices were male or female... "It's late on a Saturday night and there's a lot of booze going into that main dining room so who knows what could happen in a place like this? Thank God I am locked in this bathroom stall." I thought.
I tried to shake it off, but the voices kept yelling, and I realized what they were saying. They were screaming anti-gay slurs. Hate speech. And I realized what I thought were women's voices were the voices of children. Young boys. I realize this win one of them grabbed a hold of my locked stall door and began to shake it rigorously. Was this an attempt to see if it was an occupied or an attempt to intimidate? You see their slurs were directed at me they were personalized. Not wasting a moment I screamed back, "It's busy!" The juveniles mumbled something back-and-forth to one another and barged out of the bathroom as quickly as they came in they weren't there to use the facility. They were there to harass an intimidate. I waited a few moments as I didn't need to have a confrontation. I quietly walked out of the hall. No one was there not even a member of the wait staff. As I moved back towards my table in the bar, I asked the first staff member I ran into if there were any children in the restaurant. They question one of their coworkers and the answer was yes. Then the restaurant manager appeared. The staff suggested that I speak with her. She asked if I had a concern about my service or experience that evening. I let her know that I had been verbally assaulted in the bathroom by an unknown group of children. Both the look on her face she was horrified. Now I realize the circumstances are very uncommon and unfortunate and management and staff had absolutely no idea this was happening nor could they do nothing to control this. After all behavior like this in children is taught at home. It's unfortunate that intolerance and hatred is something that we have to deal with in today's society. And it is unfortunate that business management can do nothing more than stand with their mouth agape when a patron files a complaint of assault. Yes,that manager acknowledged that she would address the issue. I doubt her word. We remained in the restaurant for another 30 minutes, and at no time did management return to our table to bother with my general wellbeing. I understand, there is not much that management could do.
A word of caution, always be aware of your surroundings, no matter the circumstances, assault is assault no matter from whom it comes
I filled in the information that Sullivan's requested and still haven't heard anything back.