Steel Creek Tacoma – Poor Experience

What I find most amazing about companies is how stupid their managers in charge appear to be. With most companies I’ve seen they are hired with just a college education. They really haven’t worked their way up from the bottom or know anything about working with teams/employees. It’s unfortunate the business World is setup this way. The employees on the bottom do all the work and know how to really run the company – while the idiots above are book smart but have no real experience.

With that being said, I visited Steel Creek Whiskey in Tacoma Friday evening. I’ve been there a few times. The menu is pretty small but the food is good. They certainly are not cheap with steaks starting at $20 and their lowest items running about $13. I’m always on a mission to find a good steak. This place is up there on my list of good places but you do pay for it. The Steel Creek Whisky in Tacoma is a very nice establishment. It’s not your typical bar serving bar food and French fries you pay a higher amount for a good meal here. Here is a photo of the inside and as you can tell it’s a nice restaurant and bar that honestly most probably couldn’t afford to go to considering the economy and what the bill would be if you brought the family.

This is just a small section of the bar venue. It’s actually 12,000 sq ft so it’s really big and high quality through out. In fact, they claim it’s the largest in the South Sound.

I walk in and sit in my typical location – at the bar. I’m running solo tonight and just ordered a red bull (non alcoholic) and Cajun chicken. I’m not drinking tonight as I have to drive back later. As I mentioned the Steak is great here if you got the cash but tonight I was going to try something new. The place was busy but not to a point where the bartenders were hustling too much. By the way the bartenders here are great as well, attractive, friendly, and all the good things that a bar should have. We shared just some small talk but I felt welcomed. I can respect a bar manager who knows how to hire people with all those qualities. Most bartenders are your typical dudes with no personalities. Just hiring someone who can only sling drinks is what makes or breaks most bars with me.

I sit at the far side of the bar towards the end, order my red bull, and a few minutes later my Cajun chicken. As I wait enjoying the venue and anticipation of my meal, I’m interrupted by a security guy in a red shirt asking if I have a bracelet yet. I don’t so I show him my ID and he applies it to my left wrist as specifically instructed. You see restaurants and bars these days allow families and underage into the establishment (if sectioned off) and there is a point in the night where they have to leave I guess. Here comes the first “stupid” of the night. You see I was already in the bar section and drinking. Legally, you already violated your liquor license if I was underage in the bar section. The bracelet is pointless for people already in the bar section. Good job on that.

So I finish up my big meal which was great I might add, lean back relaxing in my chair – but I’m interrupted again. It’s about 9:45 at this point and another in a red shirt informs they have to take the chairs at the bar. You’d think a customer who would be willing to drop a $20 plus $5 bucks a drink could actually get to relax after a meal? The security guy was respectable, said it in a professional tone, but does that still make it right? I give up the chair in dis-belief a company would be so stupid to ask such a rude request. It was so unprofessional. I left at this point. To bad really I was considering buying more but after the interrupts and chair removal – it was time to go.

As I mentioned the security gentleman was nice and just doing a his job. With security, however, the best security is when they are there but not in the action. They should have a presence on the walls if you look around but they have no other function unless requested by a bartender (drunks), for arguments, or a customer has requested their assistance. They check Id’s at the door and assign bracelets at the door / bar area. Having your fat security guards walking around isles isn’t the way it should be done. From one young guy who has seen it done right to another who hasn’t – you obviously need some work in this area. On the same point, yelling at customer outside with another security guy that he was about to “break his nose” (while I was leaving) probably isn’t the best impression either. Being a fighter in my younger days I beg people to punch me these days. Not only do I get to beat the crap out of them legally – I get to sue them and you for your bar. Again, they are your muscle only if needed and other than that they should be your wall flowers.

There are a couple lessons we can learn about this review and Steel Creek Tacoma. First, be careful who you’re talking to and think about your actions. We live in a digital world and I’ll be the first to call you out on it. This review will cost you 10x what I paid that night. Don’t bother people spending money and certainly don’t take their chairs when they’re sitting having a good time. It’s people like you that would be stupid enough to tell Rosa Parks to sit at the back of bus. If you don’t know what you’re doing and the policies you’re telling others to do, you shouldn’t be in the business.