This was the first and last time I will ever go to the Turtle Club. On Thursday, March 13. 2008, a very good friend of mine and myself went in for a few drinks and to catch up on old times. When it became hard to talk over the karaoke and drunks, we went to the upstairs patio to finish our drinks. This was around 12:00. At around 1, we decided to go downstairs to close our tabs but found the doors locked and all the chairs put up. After banging on the door a few times, the female bartender turned, looked at us, then walked away! Astonished, we started to yell through the door that we needed our credit cards back. We were met by the male bartender/barback and were told that they were closed. My friend and I were trying to explain that we weren't interested in anything other than closing our tabs when he told us that they had called "last call" 45 minutes ago and that the tabs (with our cards) were dropped in the safe. Of course, there was no key.
We would not have been so angry, but in my 13 yrs. of bartending (my friend is a bar manager at a popular location in Clear Lake), I have never called last call at 12:15! Also, if I had open tabs with individuals I saw less than 10 minutes ago, I would at least look for them!
The end result was my having to drive 20 mins there the next day, couldn't talk to management because they weren't there, wait another 20 mins for my tab, discover the bartender wrote in her own 20 percent tip, and drive home 20 minutes severely ticked off! My friend was never able to speak to a manager either. Not only did they display poor business practice by shutting the bar down with patrons still on the grounds but they are setting themselves up for huge problems by holding our credit cards against our will and allowing us to possibly leave with alcaholic beverages! Rude, Lazy, and Stupid....that's the only way to describe the staff. If you go, please take cash!
Pros: The crowd is friendly
Cons: Poor management, lazy staff, understaffed
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