A Louisiana nurse was thrown out of a high-end steakhouse in Baton Rouge for allegedly violating the restaurant’s dress code with an outfit deemed “too revealing.” Y’Mine McClanahan, who has been a regular at Stabs Prime Steak and Seafood, wore a two-piece ensemble consisting of a floral top and a long skirt reaching her feet.
In a Facebook post, McClanahan noted she had worn the same outfit to another location of the restaurant “several times” without issue, according to the New York Post. However, McClanahan was informed she had to leave due to a recent change in the restaurant’s dress code policy.
“People can wear jeans, regular t shirts, their waitresses can wear mini skirts with their butt hanging out and fish nets but my set is too revealing for the ‘atmosphere’ they’re trying to create,” the family nurse practitioner angrily pointed out in her post. “Never again. I’m done with Stabs.”
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McClanahan posted a video of a heated exchange with the steakhouse’s co-owner, Dori Murvin, who criticized her outfit, according to The Advocate.
“I just wanted to get it on camera why I can’t come in with what I have on,” McClanahan asked.
“This is just too revealing at the top,” Murvin explained, motioning her hands over her chest.
McClanahan noted that the steakhouse’s waitress wore a more revealing outfit, but the co-owner quickly dismissed her critique.
“I’m telling you that we have buckled down on our dress code,” Murvin replied. “It’s been like this for a while now.”
“How long is a while?” McClanahan asked, adding that she wore the same outfit at a different location just two weeks before.
McClanahan argued that her $75 H&M outfit did not expose her “breast” and seemed appropriate. She also uploaded a video showing a waitress at Stabs Prime Steak and Seafood wearing a short skirt and fishnets.
Upset at being refused service, McClanahan went to Zea Rotisserie & Bar, where she received compliments on her outfit and was seated without issue. She clarified that her complaint was specific to the Jefferson-Baton Rouge location of Stabs Prime Steak and Seafood, not the Central location where she usually dines.
”I left feeling kind of mortified, violated, ashamed and really humiliated because I had never had something happen like this to me as a working professional,” McClanahan revealed to WAFB.
“You feel alienated and it’s like well what’s wrong with me. What’s the problem with me?”
According to the restaurant’s website, Stabs Prime Steak and Seafood’s dress code is “business casual,” specifying that “proper attire is required” and tank tops are not allowed. McClanahan’s Facebook post about the incident has been shared over 3,000 times since Tuesday.
“AWFUL!! It’s not even revealing or nothing. I’m sorry sis!” one user commented.
“So you can’t wear that but the waitress can wear what she had on make that make sense,” another pointed out.
“Sorry this happened to you sis. Disgusting. Will never patronize them,” stated another.
McClanahan is the vice president of the Baton Rouge Branch of the NAACP, according to NOLA.com. Her father, Michael W. McClanahan, is the Louisiana NAACP state conference president and a member of the organization’s National Board of Directors.
Amid mounting online backlash, the steakhouse came out to explain its dress code policy on Wednesday.
“We have a dress code policy that we ask our customers to observe. A few times a month we speak with our guests about their attire including asking them to remove baseball hats in our restaurant. Contrary to reports our attire policy is not new, it has been in effect for over three years now,” Stabs said in a statement to WAFB.
“We spoke with a guest yesterday about her attire and she pointed out that we have waitstaff dressed in a manner that might not meet the standard of our attire policy. For the last several weeks we have actually been working on a different uniform so that we are not asking a different standard for our customers than we are requiring of our staff.”
