This is a bar that refused to serve me due to it being a private club and me not being a member. Â That's okay, I'm cool with that. Â Ordinarily I wouldn't review a bar that didn't actually serve me, but the way the handled the situation was,... well,... weird. Â :)
The first time I tried to go to Strawberry South, I was denied at the door. Â I could see that there were people inside, but they would not buzz me in. Â That's ok, that's their right.
But that didn't mean I was going to give up. Â I waited several weeks, then tried again.
This time, voila! Â I pushed the button, and they buzzed me and my friends right on in!
There was only one other customer in the bar at the time, an older man.   We found our seats at the bar and the bartender, a pleasant guy a few years older than  us, took our orders.
He made our drinks, set them before us, and I got my wallet out to pay. Â I was excited that I was actually getting served here!
"Are you guys members?" the bartender suddenly asked.
Rats.
"Yeah," I said.
"Ok, I just need to see your membership cards," he said.
Busted! Â
"Oh, sorry," I said to him, "I thought this was one of those 'wink wink' situations when I said we were members," I explained. Â "We're not, actually."
"Oh, sorry, I can't serve you then," he said. Â "I'm sorry, I should have asked you before I took your order."
I then watched in horror as he picked up our three drinks, turned, and poured them each down the drain.
(Duuude... wasting liquor??? Â I couldn't believe he didn't let it slide and take our money!)
I asked him how to become members, and he gave a very sincere sounding response:
"I don't know. Â The owner usually handles that. Â He hasn't trained me on it."
Except I know it wasn't really sincere, because it's the exact same scripted line bartenders deliver at any of KCK's many private bars when they decide they don't want you in.
One day, I will unlock the secret and get access to one of these forbidden bars!