Ryan Zavala

Review of Panama Joes

My friend and I went on Saturday, 11/17/18 to Pana...

My friend and I went on Saturday, 11/17/18 to Panama Joe's. But we weren't allowed inside. The gentleman at the front door, a black male in his mid 30s asked us for our IDs and we complied. I pulled mine out and my friend was pulling out her ID and in the middle of explaining that she had just gone to the DMV earlier that day and had her old ID and the new DMV receipt, however he cut her off and said, "Unfortunately, we won't be able to let you in. It looks like you've already had too much, and the night ends here."

I was very confused, we had just stepped out of our Lyft, the night was just about to begin. Neither one of us was drunk, I'm not sure how our actions were misconstrued as being drunk. We were both standing upright, we were both alert, and we weren't being loud. We're both under 5'2", we're small women and it would be hard for us to be loud. There was a couple behind us, and the guy left us so embarrassed that we said okay and turned away. There would be no point in arguing, I'm sure that any type of questioning would be misinterpreted as 'they were being belligerent' so we just left. He turned away two paying customers.

So we soberly walked to another restaurant and spent our evening and money there.

I still don't understand what we may have done to come off as sloppy or inebriated. Other than rubbing my arms because it was chilly, I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. And my friend and I were quietly chatting seconds before approaching the door, it's not as if we were climbing bus benches or loudly joking. The only other aspect is that I'm a Hispanic, brown-skinned woman. My friend is a white woman. The gentleman at the front may just be racist and not want brown-skinned people inside of a Mexican cantina to ruin the aesthetic.

We'll comply with your wishes and we won't visit again.