I went with a party of 6 during happy hour for a friend's birthday dinner and sat in the section of Rush Street bar and restuarant known as 800 North. We were served by the bartender who was very rude and even commented that he did not like one of the members of our dinner party. He also disappeared frequently leaving us with no service at all. We spent about $120 for drinks and some food but when we got our bill they had tacked on a $37 "mandatory" tip which was listed as 18% but was actually over 30% of our bill. I asked another staff member about it and she told me that that could only be charged to parties of 8 or more which was abbreviated right on our bill as "8 per" (I assume 8 persons or more or something like that) Well the person paying by credit card refused to pay it based on the fact that by their own policies they could not charge it to our party of 6. Generally when we go out we tip 20 to 25% for good service but the fact that they blatantly tried to cheat us was unacceptable. After the card member wrote in the total of our bill without this mandatory tip we left but later found that the restuarant had illegally charged the cardholder without his consent. I personally went back to meet with the General Manager Phillip Georgeson who told me that if I didn't have proof he wasn't going to do anything to refund the money that they illegally charged us. So later I returned with our reciept proving both that we had been charged a tip only allowed for larger parties and proving that this "18%" mandatory gratuity was actually over 30%. At this point the staff told me that Phillip Georgeson was in a meeting and could not be disturbed. So I left messages with the staff and by phone to his business number. I recieved no response so I returned again and was again told that he was "in a meeting". After a few more calls I gave up but have told everyone I know about this especially because what they did was not only unethical but actually illegal. Please avoid this bar/restuarant and it's unscrupulous manager at all costs.
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