Public Access Issue

I thankfully have not had many recent public access issues in the past year or two which is great. I did have a guest visiting from out of town and so I was taking them to my favorite barbecue place. I always enjoy the food and the atmosphere of the place. So I had not been back since last summer to this place but had no trouble in the past. I went to add my place on the list to get a beeper because the wait would be close too two hours which is common. There is never enough parking because they are so popular. So I walk up to add my name and the hostess tells me that she will seat me in the outdoor section because I had my dog. I told her I would be sitting in the indoor section and that she is a service dog. I also that our state and federal laws support me being able to bring my service dog with me. So she radios for a manager to come but no one shows up she finally puts our name on the list ten minutes later which means around 25 people are now in from of us in line which made me very angry because I already knew it would be a long wait.

I did get a little upset because the hostess did not seem to be understanding the law and that it was not optional. So we waited and the beeper finally went off. So we get up to where you turn in your beeper so they will seat you. The hostess then tells me I will be seated outdoors. By then I had been in heat over two hours and wanted to be in the air conditioned area of the restaurant. I told her no that she is a service dog and that I will be seated indoors and if not then get her manager immediately. She then gives up and seats us as I had requested. I wish I had kept my cool but once we got to the second instance I knew it was not going well and I was getting furious. I know the staff is all very young.

I am calling the location to report the incident and that to have them educate their staff. The difficult part is that people do bring their dogs with them and they are seated in a patio area but Duchess is not a pet so I don't feel the need to be seated outdoors if I wanted to be inside. All I know is that the issue needs to be deal with promptly by the restaurant. I am hoping that they just educate their staff. Duchess was behaving extremely well so I was surprised by the response to her being a service animal. I also know that when they did seat me they also sat me away from all the other diners which is not very polite either. I was so very upset that my favorite place caused so many issues. I am going to have to take my business else where if they don't address the issue. I am hoping that I can still take all my guests their but I guess I will find out by their response to my complaint.