St. Vincent Wine, kids at bars/restaurants, and approach to customer service

[Anonymous]

Anyone else follow some of the recent drama at St. Vincent Wine on Georgia Avenue? I haven't been there yet but have been wanting to go because I heard it is modeled after Bacchanal in New Orleans, which has long been one of my favorite spots in that city (wine shop with attached garden patio that often has live jazz music and has a very special, festive atmosphere). But some of the recent stuff has given me pause.

First there was an incident where what appeared to be a poorly-supervised toddler pulled down an outdoor heater. I learned about it from this tweet, which has screenshots of how St. Vincent talked about/responded to the incident on Instagram:

Since then, Barred has also tweeted about how SVW's owner, Peyton Sherwood, responds to negative reviews on Yelp and Google, with often extremely aggressive defenses of the restaurant and staff. There are a bunch, but this one, where Sherwood looks up the Yelp reviewer's employer and reports his restaurant review to them (it GWU) was a bit eye-popping to me:

You can look at all the responses on Yelp or Google if you look up St. Vincent. There is a lot more, including an super heated exchange with a woman that led Sherwood to post a (frankly inconclusive) video of a verbal altercation outside the restaurant on YouTube.

I'm curious what others think of all this. I was initially on St. Vincent's side because as the parent of a toddler, I agree the parents should have been supervising their kid (I would be horrified if my kid managed to knock over a space heater at a restaurant -- someone could get really hurt). But looking through these responses, and specifically reading Sherwood's comments and his tweets on the matter (it looks like his tweets have since been deleted), I get the sense this person is combative, angry, and maybe threatening. Sarcastic, condescending, with not a little hostility towards people with kids and, maybe, women. It makes me not want to go there.

Anyone been and can comment on this? Is it a kid-friendly place? They obviously allow kids and I could see the concept being kid-friendly, but maybe not based on Sherwood's comments? If you are a woman and have interacted with Sherwood, what was your impression?

[Anonymous]

I have not been but will share my thoughts. This place was not in my radar but is now. I will avoid. Too much negativity and too many other places to go. Incidentally, I don’t delude myself they care. Also seems like they video everything and are quick to share. No thanks.

As for the toddler episode specifically, if a kid that small can knock it down so can an intoxicated adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have not been but will share my thoughts. This place was not in my radar but is now. I will avoid. Too much negativity and too many other places to go. Incidentally, I don’t delude myself they care. Also seems like they video everything and are quick to share. No thanks.

As for the toddler episode specifically, if a kid that small can knock it down so can an intoxicated adult.

Fair point about the space heater, though I'd argue an adult also has a duty to not get so drunk they are knocking things down.

I'm with you though. Something about Sherwood really rubs me the wrong way. I looked at his Twitter and it looks like he shares my politics, but something about his demeanor in these posts (even his profile picture on Twitter) just screams "arrogant, misogynist frat bro" to me. I think he comes off as entitled. I have worked retail and food service and I know how awful some customers can be. I appreciate a manager who protects their staff. But I think there is a way to do that tends to lower diffuse situations and keep peace, without throwing your staff under the bus. It's a role that requires a lot of social intelligence, and he doesn't have it.

If I worked there, I'd actually be nervous that his behavior would escalate a situation enough to put me in danger. Also, reading the comments from the woman who had the screaming fight with him outside his restaurant... she doesn't seem innocent in the situation, but I know EXACTLY what she is talking about a man in an authority position getting in your face in a way that feels threatening. I was immediately reminded of a guy who lived in my building years ago and decided he didn't like me because I was "too pushy" (read: had an opinion, didn't just agree with him immediately) and he had this way of standing very close to me when he talked to me, and speaking in this very intense and threatening way that set off red alarms in my head. I would time leaving my apartment in the building according to his schedule so that I wouldn't have to be in the stairwell alone with him. Sherwood gives off similar vibes.

[Anonymous]

I know Peyton Sherwood in real life and in my experience he is a kind, funny, generous person.

[Anonymous]

I don't have any experience with this particular place.

But we're way past a tipping point where people give their kids WAY too much latitude in restaurants. Last time we went out to dinner, there was a family that was letting their kids just sit on the floor right in the middle of everything. How a waiter did not trip over them or drop food or hot beverages on them, I have no idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't have any experience with this particular place.

But we're way past a tipping point where people give their kids WAY too much latitude in restaurants. Last time we went out to dinner, there was a family that was letting their kids just sit on the floor right in the middle of everything. How a waiter did not trip over them or drop food or hot beverages on them, I have no idea.

Agreed. I went to a beer garden where children were throwing stones at each other and other patrons, while their parents either looked on fondly or totally ignored them in favor of their IPA.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, OP, for letting me know there's a place like Bacchanal. Love that place!

Honestly, I think he's gone a bit overboard but don't blame people in the hospitality industry for being fed up with anonymous reviews. I think there are a lot of people who have completely lost the ability to communicate in person. So rather than speak up when you're in the restaurant and have an opportunity to solve a problem, they just leave a review online later.

And don't get me started on those who bring kids and dogs where they don't belong (and yes, I have both).

[Anonymous]

Hm. This only makes me want to try the place out. I like an owner who protects their staff from abuse. So much better than the "customer is always right, take all the abuse that's dished to you" attitude that I suffered through when I was waiting tables in college. Customer behavior these days is out of control and, honestly, good for him for calling out the fake "restaurant reviewer."

[Anonymous]

I wanna see the video...

[Anonymous]

He's journalist Tom Sherwood's son. Scrappy or entitled depending on your tolerance for his antics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's journalist Tom Sherwood's son. Scrappy or entitled depending on your tolerance for his antics

I lean heavily toward entitled. And I like St. Vincent. But Sherwood has a huge ego and comes off as extremely abrasive.

I don’t think the customer is always right (I’ve worked retail and food service) but so many of these incidents seem to escalate because Sherwood doesn’t merely take the side of his employees, he assumes the customer is malicious. Now, customers can be rude, ignorant, inattentive, etc. Especially a few drinks in. But Sherwood assumes they are malicious. That’s weird.

Also he apparently called a woman a Karen for getting upset about a customer service issue and one of my pet peeves is when privileged white men use the term Karen to talk about middle aged white women they simply don’t like. That’s not why that term exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know Peyton Sherwood in real life and in my experience he is a kind, funny, generous person.

Unless, apparently, you criticize his restaurant online.

Most people are kind and fun with their friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Peyton Sherwood in real life and in my experience he is a kind, funny, generous person.

Unless, apparently, you criticize his restaurant online.

Most people are kind and fun with their friends.

Yeah that's the thing. He doesn't respond in a kind and friendly way when people give him 5 stars. But he goes for the throat when someone gives him 2 or 1 stars. He just becomes totally nasty without any balance of being nice to customers are nice to him. It's like he just expects accolades and head pats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know Peyton Sherwood in real life and in my experience he is a kind, funny, generous person.

If you are his friend, please check in on him. We are in stressful times especially in the food and beverage industries.. He just started a YouTube channel a couple weeks ago posting customer videos…is he OK?

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCGuKfBBXhSNHfLT3S47YoBg/videos

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know Peyton Sherwood in real life and in my experience he is a kind, funny, generous person.

If you are his friend, please check in on him. We are in stressful times especially in the food and beverage industries.. He just started a YouTube channel a couple weeks ago posting customer videos…is he OK?

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCGuKfBBXhSNHfLT3S47YoBg/videos

Woah this is really strange. I would never set foot in this place after seeing that.

Also, I have wanted to check out St. Vincent’s for a while, but never really found a good time/group to go with. They only sell wine by the bottle, so it would just be a lot of wine for two people. I just wish they’d do wine by the glass or a tasting.