Atlas Restaurant Group DC Location Won't Have Dress Code: Report

BALTIMORE, MD – Baltimore-based Atlas Restaurant Group will not have a dress code at a restaurant and rooftop bar it plans to open in Washington, DC, after a woman who claims she and her son were denied entry into one of the its Baltimore restaurants last month because of their race.

The restaurant group, which is the target of a discrimination lawsuit filed last week, wrote in an email to Eater, that it will not have a dress code at either the restaurant or rooftop bar at the Marriott Moxy Hotel.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Baltimore City Court, is seeking $75,000 for Marcia Grant and her 9-year-old son, Dallas. Grant, a Black realtor, is seeking damages for the violation of the right rights of her and her son and the infliction of emotional pain.

The suit stems from an incident on June 21 at Ouzo Bay, a Greek restaurant owned by the Atlas group. In a video that has gone viral and has been viewed millions of times, Grant and her son are informed by a restaurant employee that they would not be permitted to enter because Grant’s son was wearing athletic shorts.

In the video, Grant points out that a white child is dressed similarly. The restaurant responded that the white youth’s shorts met the dress code’s requirement and was therefore admitted.

The manager who kept from allowing Grant and her son to enter was, along with another officer, later fired, but the lawsuit, filed with both Marcia and Dallas Grant listed as plaintiffs, claims that the former manager’s actions were “atrocious, intolerable and so extreme” that they exceeded the bounds of decency, the Baltimore Sun reported.

"Ouzo Bay would not let Dallas eat at there restaurant sighting that athletic wear was not allowed! I pointed out to them that there was a white child that also had on athletic wear just getting up from dinning there, they still would not let my son eat there!" Grant said in a Facebook post. "I have faced racism time and time again, but it's hard AF, when you have to see your child upset because he knows he's being treated different that a white child!"

According to the Ouzo Bay website, a dress code will not be enforced for children under 12 when they are accompanied by an adult. According to The Sun, the restaurant group is requesting the full 10-minute version of Grant’s video, which she claims shows the manager making her aware of a sign about the restaurant’s dress code.

“The dress code was applied equally to [Grant and Dallas], as it has been to every person who walks through the front door, regardless of their race,” attorney Scott Marder wrote .

He included in his email surveillance photos that show Black patrons at Ouzo Bay the day Grant was denied entry, the Sun reported.