I just retired with almost 39 years of Federal Service and we were planning to host my Retirement Party at the Riot Act Comedy Club in Washington, D.C. Well, it took many weeks working with their owners and managers to set it up. We know now that what was really happening was that we were getting the run around. Finally, we were told to come down for a tasting of the food and when we arrived, there was absolutely no food to taste. My fiance is convinced that it was because we were African American that they were not willing to have this party at their venue. He now believes that we were asked to come down so that they could make a determination as to whether to allow the event to take place or not. I can honestly tell you that after we drove more than 45 minutes, had to find parking in downtown D.C. Only to have the owner/manager not say anymore to us than he had on the phone makes me agree.
They do not have a great selection of food on the menu and the food is really not good. They had agreed to make some changes in one of the food items for our event. So, we went around and around for weeks and when we finally got to the point where we had to send out the invitations because it was really getting to be late, they pulled back their offer.initially, we wanted to host 50 people but they really did not have an area that could easily accommodate 50 in the same location. So, we decided to host 35 and they agreed. Although they had just increased their food menu, they offered one food item for purchase but after much deliberation, they agreed to four food items. The drinks were going to be discounted by $2.00. We were purchasing 30 show tickets and they were going to give us 5 tickets. We wanted to have the event for 2 hours prior to the start of the show, they initially agreed. And, at the last minute, they said they would only allow one hour which meant our guest would have nothing to do for one hour until the start of the show. We complained to the owner and he literally blew us off. Unfortunately, we have not yet had my Retirement Party because they jerked us around until the very last minute. I would hate to see this happen to anyone else, so therefore, my suggestion is that you do not plan to use this place for an event or the event will be ruined. There were very few Minorities in attendance the night we went to a show (which is how we initially became interested). And, I am not sure now that they are interested in catering to Minorities. And, based on the mistreatment we experienced, I would suggest that African Americans not go to this Comedy Club.
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