10/06/2026
We know there was a post circulating about an experience at the Airport Inn Sunday night. While we have no interest in adding to the drama or continuing a back-and-forth, some things were said about our business that we feel are important to clarify- especially because we care deeply about this community and the reputation we’ve worked hard to build here.
Pat responded in the comments from his personal page, but we realize not everyone knows he’s the owner of the Airport Inn, and it was clear not everyone saw his response. So we wanted to address a few things here, directly from us:
First and most importantly, no one was refused service Sunday night.
Had someone on our staff refused to serve a customer because of a personal issue, we would not have been okay with that. Period.
The original post also mentioned a previous occasion here where the customer said she was refused service by the same employee. As she acknowledged in her post, that was never brought to our attention. We genuinely wish it had been. We can’t address something we don’t know about, and had we been made aware, we absolutely would have looked into it and handled it at the time.
There were also references made to situations involving this employee at another establishment. We can’t speak to what may or may not have happened somewhere else, nor do we think it would be appropriate for us to do so. We can only speak to what happens inside our own four walls and hold our team accountable for what happens here.
Over the last year, we’ve put a lot into making the API what it is today. We wanted this to feel like Grosse Ile’s neighborhood bar again. A place where you know people when you walk in, families grab dinner, friends meet for a b**r, the local game is on TV, and everyone feels welcome.
That includes our customers. And it includes our crew. They are part of our community too.
We don’t tolerate our employees disrespecting customers, refusing service over personal disagreements or calling people names. But that respect has to go both ways.
To be clear, yes, the customer was asked to leave Sunday night, but not because she was “refused” service. The server went to their table, and the original poster refused to have the server serve them. She was then asked to leave after using a vulgar name toward our employee. At that point, Pat made the decision to end the interaction and asked them to leave.
We stand behind that decision. Just as we would never allow one of our employees to speak to a customer that way, we aren’t going to allow someone to speak to our crew that way either.
We are sorry the situation reached that point. Nobody wants an evening at the bar to end that way, and we certainly don’t. But taking care of this community also means taking care of the people who work here.
We’re a neighborhood bar on a small island. Things happen. People don’t always agree. But if something happens here, please come to us. Give us the opportunity to know about it, address it and make it right. That’s the relationship we want to have with this community.
We love this island, and we’ve worked really hard to make the Airport Inn a place where people feel welcome. We’re proud of what this community has helped us build over the last year, and we’re going to keep working every day to take care of it.
We wanted to clarify our side, make sure our community heard directly from us, be transparent, and leave it there.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled shenanigans at the API….😉
It’s Taco Tuesday, the sun is out, and there are Mexican pizzas and margaritas with your names on them. Let’s enjoy this beautiful day, GI. Cheers!🌮🍕🍹
