Occidental - Lincoln
Occidental
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I had an amazing experience at this restaurant! I have visited a few times and the person who checks IDs is always very respectful. The staff inside is also incredible. The prices are great, the people are friendly, and I absolutely love the atmosphere. I would highly recommend this place to my friends and anyone else looking for a good time. 10/10!
I felt discriminated against at this establishment. I wanted to like it because I had heard great things about this bar, but unfortunately, it was the most uncomfortable place I have ever been to. The bouncer was sitting outside, drinking and smoking, and at first, it was not clear if he worked there or not. He was also very rude and only requested that I demonstrate sobriety. I was with a few other people who were not asked to take any tests, but when I met up with my group of 10 friends inside, they were not asked to do anything. Despite understanding the need to enforce rules late into a shift, the bouncer did not check my ID. As a person of color, I felt singled out because none of my friends had to go through these experiences. There are many other establishments to support, and I will not be returning.
I frequently visit Occidental and I am a big fan of this place. The atmosphere is wonderful, the artwork is very cool, and the bartenders are the highlight. I visit almost every Tuesday through Thursday and always feel welcomed. The drinks are amazing and they even treat your dogs like family. I highly recommend checking out this place, it's my favorite bar in the Haymarket area by far!
Love occidental! Always great vibes. Abigail and Jalyn are always our bartenders, they always take care of us!!
I came to Occidental with my friend and my boyfriend to meet up with our friend group on Friday February 2nd around 1:40am, and our experience was very unpleasant. As we approached the door guy, he said nothing to us, I had to ask him if he was checking IDs. He said yes, then proceeded to roughly tell my boyfriend and my friend to walk a line, to prove that they weren’t too intoxicated, he did not ask me to walk the line in the concrete. I have worked in the bar industry at four different bars in Omaha for over four years, and I have never seen any door staff do that, ever. We didn’t argue with him at all, my boyfriend walked the line in the concrete, and he made my friend walk the line twice, because “her foot stepped off the line”. His tone was totally absent of niceties or politeness, and after they walked the line, he checked my ID, and he did not look at either of their IDs, even though they had them in their hands, ready to give to him. We are all in our twenties, and as a bartender in Nebraska myself, I know that he should have checked all of our IDs. We go inside, and I start asking our friends (some of whom were more intoxicated than we were) if they were made to walk the line. None of them were asked to walk the line, and all of their IDs were checked. I approached the bar to order a round of shots, trying to make the best of what was left of the night, (it was about 1:48 at this time), and the bartenders did not greet me at all, they instead quickly told me that last call was in two minutes. I understand being tired at the end of a long night, dealing with drunk people, I do it every weekend, but I didn’t feel welcomed or appreciated as a customer. I ordered my shots and tipped $1 per shot in cash, regardless. I called the door guy at my job in Omaha because I immediately felt and knew that this situation with the door guy at Occidental wasn’t right, or the proper procedure. He advised me to ask for the manager’s email address, and when I did, the bartenders didn’t know the manager’s email. I’m not upset about them not knowing the manager’s email address, I understand that. They took my email address and my friend’s email address, I left our first names on the note, and we have not been reached out to by the manager. I didn’t want to potentially accidentally escalate the situation by speaking to the bartenders who were working that night, so when they asked me what was going on, I told them I would rather email the manager about our experience, and I didn’t tell them anything about the situation. I thanked them and said have a good night. As we were gathering our senses and getting ready to leave, the door guy overheard me telling our friends in the group (who were already inside when we arrived) what happened, he facetiously told me I could come back the next day at 4 to talk to someone. I thanked him and said goodnight to him and we left. I asked my boss, who owns multiple bars in Omaha, if he had ever seen anything like that from a door person, and he said in his thirty years of being in the industry in many different states, he never saw that before. My friend, my boyfriend and I were excited to check out Occidental, as it was our first time there, and our friends had been telling us how great of a spot it was. We felt very uncomfortable with how we had been treated by the door guy, and I got the feeling that if I questioned his attitude or his “field sobriety test”, that he would not have let us in. My boyfriend is white with black hair, I am white with brown hair, and my friend has black hair, she is Chinese; she felt discriminated against and does not want to return to Occidental because of our encounter with the door guy that night, he was very cold to us, more so to her, and I expected a much better experience than what we received. Had I been treated like this by a door guy before, I would have known to just turn around and leave, but I have never been treated so rudely upon arriving at a bar by the door person before.
