Oakland Kona Club Ejects Patron For Negative Twitter Tweets

Talk about the bad business practices of sensitive bar workers, and the Kona Club comes to mind. This only because of the Club's unbelievable-but-true act of asking Aimee J to leave simply because she made a Twitter Tweet against them.

What good asking Aimee to leave the Kona Club - formerly the legendary King's X Bar on 4401 Piedmont Ave, between Pleasant Valley Ave and Ramona Ave (and not far from where my grandfather rests at Chapel Of The Chimes) - was going to do, I have no idea.

 It certainly did a lot of bad, including a bunch of tweets that can be seen on Twitter if one does an "Oakland" search today, and this blog post.

 Aimee took to Yelp to complain about the action:

Against my promises i would NEVER return to this place, I did, because friends were there and I am not to proud to bend to the will of my friends. And SHOCKINGLY i had just as horrible time as ever. I actually had this conversation- I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. them: "Are you the Aimee who has been tweeting against us?" (which i have- ONCE- after I was treated badly there the last time.) me : "Yes" them: "You are not welcome here anymore."

Instead of trying to make things right, they kicked me out again, because all this place is comprised of sad employees living off of low salaries and power trips.

I feel sorry for them mostly. I mean, I've already moved on in my life, but that is where they will be, serving their sad drinks, being jerks: FOREVER.

Pathetic really.

And regarding Aimee's first encounter with the Kona Club, she was asked to leave because she had too much to drink and reported what happened on Yelp on September 18th:

I have never been so humiliated in my life as I was last night, because of this place. I wish i could give this review ZERO stars. HORRIBLE staff.

We arrived about 10:50, the night was young and full of promise. However, when I walked into the bar I made the mistake of having my arm around my boyfriend's shoulders. This apparently made the female bartender there entirely positive that I was actually leaning on him for support, and was too drunk to drink any more. I had, in fact, had a couple of drinks already, couple that with it being Friday and a long day in the office, yeah I probably looked tired, I was! But cut off before the bartender even talked to me? It was funny (frustrating) though because it was that catch-22 situation- the more you argue you aren't drunk the drunker you sound right? LOL. So we just left and had a fabulous night elsewhere therefore ultimately it wasn't a big deal, but I think the principle of it is what bothers me now. I've never been "cut off" from a bar in my life!!! I mean, truth be told, the female bartender was a bit homely and well, plus-sized, my speculation is that she really enjoyed having the power over another woman?

I've been here before and have never been impressed by the service or the bar, and i certainly will not ever return. This is a mediocre bar, with expensive mediocre drinks, sub-par staff and INCREDIBLY cheesy decor. If you're near it yeah i guess stop by as you're waiting to go somewhere else, don't EVER make this place your main event though, unless you're aiming for humiliation. I dunno, may be you're into that kind of thing. haha.

Ok. The Kona Club was both wrong and right: wrong for ejecting Aimee for a critical bar review, but right for cutting her off from having more cocktails during her first visit in 2010. The Kona Club may have saved Aimee from a DUI or at least made her think that stopping drinking was a good idea. The Kona Club should be applauded for that. What the bartender should have done is nicely said "hon, you need a lot of water before your next round. OK?" That would have added sugar to the salt.

But kicking Aimee out later, this year and for negative Twitter tweets, wasn't cool. That's where the Kona Club needs to find Aimee on Twitter @inaimless and apologize to her.

As for Aimee, I recommend visiting The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue in Oakland. The patrons are helpful. The bartenders, Jennifer and Jackie (who's also the owner) are my long-time friends, and are great. Plus, you can sing your ass off with Rod Dibble at the piano, which is a great diversion from drinking more than you should!