I was a guest at the Backyard Bar and Grill on Monday, May 9th, 2011. At approximately 12:15 AM I walked into the restroom to find that one of the toilets was a disgusting, clogged mess.

I was inside the other, usable stall when I heard another women walk out to find the manager. He happened to be standing nearby, because I heard them arguing about whether or not he had already cleaned the toilet. She insisted that it was still in the same condition as before, and she came back into the bathroom.

Seconds later, the door flew open with a bang and I heard the man’s voice yell, "You b*tches need to get the f*ck out!" I heard a struggle as he tried repeatedly to push his way into the bathroom, physically pushing her with the door. She told him to "get the hell out" and, when I exited the stall, she was just getting the door shut behind him and I helped her hold it shut. Before he walked away, we heard him irately yell, “I’m sick of you fucking bitches always complaining about the bathroom!”

I have never seen such horribly offensive and inappropriate behavior from any person on the job, let alone a restaurant manager on duty. This is a privately-owned establishment, so I sent a formal complaint letter to the owner. On Friday, May 13, 2011 at 8:50 PM, the owner replied by email with the following message:

"I want to give you my sincere apology for what happened monday night and can guarantee you this will never happen again to anyone. We have had a meeting with the manager and he is very sorry he handled it the way he did. He has been with the company for 10 years this is the first complaint I ever got on him. So like I said this will never happen again."

Seriously. That was the extent of his reaction. Would YOU get to keep your job if you verbally and borderline-physically assaulted a customer? Don't waste your money supporting these jerks.

XX, do you think you have a right to dictate personnel actions to the ownership of the place? Maybe what the guy said in his email is true—maybe the manager's been an exemplary employee for 10 years and this was an isolated incident that was entirely out of character for him. Should the owner shitcan him just because you say so? Please.

In a related vein, you knew (or should have known) going in that Backyard is a shithole. If you frequent gutter-trash establishments, don't act all surprised when you witness gutter-trash behavior. You get what you pay for.

Ut videam Wrote:
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maybe the manager's been an exemplary
> employee for 10 years and this was an isolated
> incident that was entirely out of character for
> him.

Not true - trust me. I'm sure it was Lahcen....

Sorry - meant to add - XX, if the owner who responded to you was Robbie, I assure you that your complaint was not the first he ever received on Lahcen.

Those dudes are wack....

Ut videam, you missed the point altogether - scrutinize the perpetrators' ACTIONS (or lack of action on the owner's part), not the victim's insistence for reprimand! The actions of this manager were totally inappropriate and unprofessional at a minimum! Did the owner insist the manager provide a sincere written letter of apology to this patron or insist on some management training/sensitivity classes to update his people skills? NO, he tried to skirt the issue and exhibited an unacceptable approach to this inappropriate conduct - basically letting this jerk off of the hook therefore exposing himself and his establishment to additional scrutiny and liability - I'm not an attorney however I believe legal action could be taken on some points. Ten years of experience would preclude a professional MANAGER from such conduct. If Backyard was a franchise, the asshole manager would have been severely reprimanded up to dismissal for physical and verbal assault/abuse on patrons, not to mention the fact he tried to push his way into the ladies room - NO RESPECT - an isolated incident?, BULLSHIT!! That type of treatment of women and lack of respect is not spontaneous, rather an indication the manager has NO RESPECT FOR FEMALE PATRONS OR FEMALES PERIOD to refer to random women as bitches because they expect clean functioning facilities...his disrespect could very well be deep seeded and I doubt very seriously this is "isolated". Gutter trash?, shithole?, why would you defend the owner or question XX's demand for swift personnel action? You contradict yourself....think about it...does the owner of a gutter trash shithole not have the same responsibilities to and for the safety and well being of patrons as would the owner of, say, Clydes or Mortons or another classier joint? Please..!!

tillylove, pray tell, do you know if Lahcen is related to the owner, Robbie? That would make this more interesting, in that nepotism allowed an irrational man exhibiting irrational behavior to continue under his employ. Robbie's lackadaisical attitude is an indication he does not care about or protect his female patrons...sad...those dudes ARE wack...!!

XX, good for you to expose this...I will refrain from patronizing this place and advise others to do so as well...!! You have every right to insist on justice in this matter!! Stick it to Robbie, the owner, he deserves it if he would allow this.

Words of advice:

If you must patronize Backyard Grill, pay cash. If you'd rather run a tab and they require a cc to run a tab, don't run one. Pay cash for each round.

I was burned there once by having them double charge me. Innocent mistake? Maybe, but I doubt it. It took me about three weeks to get the charge reversed. (My mistake was not forcing my cc company to handle it since I figured it'd be easy-peasy if I just stopped by in person.)

The only time I go there is for company happy hours. I'd much rather spend my cash at Dogfish anyway.

TillyLove and grilled out: You both made great points. Thanks for the support.

To UT videum: I doubt that it was an isolated incident - I keep hearing that the guy is a first-class jerk. But even if it WAS an isolated incident, it was much too serious of an incident to be excused by previously good behavior. I'm not dictating how the owner should have responded, but his choice of action (or inaction) is open to scrutiny. It's his right at the business owner to handle it however he sees fit, and it's my right to speak out about what happened. Maybe next time he'll take it into consideration when deciding how to handle a situation. That's how these things work. I have to agree with you on one point though, your description of the place is spot-on accurate.

To theShadowToo: That's great advice to pay cash - I wish I had done so that night!

tillylove,
Still waiting to hear from you to see if the owner and manager are related...you seem to have "inside info" on this place...how 'bout it?

I wonder who took the huge , toilet clogging dump that started this fiasco?
Some of those little ladies can dump like an elephant.

grilled out Wrote:
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>
> tillylove, pray tell, do you know if Lahcen is
> related to the owner, Robbie? That would make
> this more interesting, in that nepotism allowed an
> irrational man exhibiting irrational behavior to
> continue under his employ. Robbie's lackadaisical
> attitude is an indication he does not care about
> or protect his female patrons...sad...those dudes
> ARE wack...!!
>
Sorry for the delay grilled - no, I dont think they are related - just good friends(or "long time" friends)? I'm not 100% certain but I know that Lahcen left a year or so ago to go work for a competitor after an argument with the owners, but he's been back now for a few months.

omg, that whole Backyard Klan is disgusting. Being from the "industry", so much nasty and illegal things go on in there behind closed doors. I don't just mean drugs and drinking behind the bar while working. I mean there were bets about who could sleep with the most barflys, UNDERAGE hostesses, waitstaff thus began the "Herpes Club."

And btw, the Bungalow is pretty much the same. I've seen some of the most racist, unruly and disgusting things happen there.

Do you mean Bungalow Billiards? Is that place a dive to be avoided? I am have yet to find a decent pub grub place in this area and I refuse to go to Applebees and the like.

The owner of Backyard is a class A dickhead...nuff said.

Backyard Grill is owned by 2 brothers.

Robbie is a cool guy, he wouldn't scream "you bitches to get the fuck out". In his place no way

Freddy is a fucking dickhead, he would probably scream "you bitches get the fuck out" in his own place.

Lachen is the manager there, he probably feels important and probably would scream "you bitches get the fuck out" in Robbie & Freddy's place.

The manager and the owner are not related at all. Like tillylove was saying he was gone for awhile cuz of some argument and has only been back for a few months. I bet you anything that it was lachaun. He acts like he has no care in the world what so ever. Robbie is a sweetheart as long as your not a complete idiot. I'm honestly not surprised about any of this.

Is this place owned and/or run by jigaboos?