Emily A.
Yelp
Bye bye, Williams Gap! We were members here and visited on Mother's Day. We had a table inside, and two kids from our party went out to play on the hill while we watched from our table. A server came an asked that an adult be present next to the kids. Immediately after this request, two adults from our party went out to stand with the kids as they played. Then a third adult joined them as the rest of the kids went outside. They were not playing in the walls, as their signs stated to stay of the walls. There were no signs stating we had to stay off the hills, only the stone walls. In fact, in prior visits we had picnicked on those hills with no issue.
Next a manager came to tell us the kids could not be outside at all and they had to be sitting inside at the table. I questioned this and noted that we were responsive to the last request and we're confused why the proxy seems to have change in a matter of 20 minutes. The manager stated that they are not family friendly, that they are only family tolerant. She didn't acknowledge that maybe their staff miscommunicated the policy. I told her that would make us rethink or membership bc we thought they were family friendly.
Next, she proceeded to say, she'd be happy to cancel our membership. I was surprised by this reaction and said that it's pretty terrible they don't care to kindly resolve the miscommunication with people who have chooses to become members. I sat down and thought it was over.
She then approached my table and said "is there going to be a problem?" as if she was looking to start an argument for us. She intentionally escalated this for no good reason. It was a completely inappropriate response.
I proceeded to tell her they communicated their policy to us two different ways, and we were responsive each time, but that we were annoyed that the policy seemed to change moment to moment depending on who was talking. She proceeded to poorly manage the situation then threatened that I was starting drama and she'd ask us all to leave. I tried to end the conversation, but she clearly had something to prove. She then proceeded to get into an argument with the other adult women in our party. One was trying to get her attention to ask a question and gently placed her hand on the manager's arm, not in a threatening way at all. She immediately backed up and acted like she was being assaulted. She kept coming up with new reasons to defend her stance when we asked questions that were increasingly ridiculous and non-sensical.
The whole situation made the non-white members of our party feel unwelcome and violated. Further, multiple other kids were playing outside, not at the table, and not within arm's reach of their parents. We did not see them confront those parents until we complained about the inequity of the situation. The only difference we noticed was their parties were not as diverse as our party.
Finally, a third person working there came to tell one of the mothers in our party that the kids could be in certain places outside but they could not be on the walls. Our kids were never on the walls, but that was a third version of the policy we were given by the staff that day. I'm not sure if this was discriminatory behavior, very poorly trained and immature management, or both, but it was certainly not a place We or our friends feel welcome.
Further, it reminded me of a prior visit where I recall this same manager getting into an argument with a large table of guests. I gave the winery manager the benefit of the doubt then, but now I am thinking this may be a systemic problem with their management.
We purchased seven total bottles of wine (some to consume there and some to bring home), multiple items from their food menu and multiple items from the guest caterer that day. The fact they have zero respect for their customers/members or the decency to politely discuss the miscommunication, especially after we were responsive to their requests, is very telling. We'll be telling all our friends!