Harlowe Closes After Allegations of Drugging, Another Woman Speaks Out

Harlowe MXM, a popular restaurant and bar in Deep Ellum, closed on Dec. 10 just weeks after two women, Nakia Robertson and Breyanna Knox, alleged they were drugged by a bartender there.

In an interview with CBS 11 on Dec. 3, the two women said they felt out of sorts and drunk after only two drinks at the bar. The bartender took a shot with the two and later refused to let them pay. Robertson and Knox became disoriented and called friends to help them get home. Later, Robertson received a text message from someone who identified himself as head of security at the bar offering to get them an Uber to his "crib until we figure it out."

The two told CBS 11 they went to a hospital on Monday, Nov. 27, where a test indicated amphetamine in Knox's blood. They filed reports with the Dallas Police Department, who this week confirmed the investigation is ongoing.

On Dec. 1, a statement on Harlow's Instagram page said the company is investigating this complaint internally, interviewing employees, reviewing video and conducting an investigation while assisting law enforcement.

Comments on Instagram indicate this isn't the first incident of women becoming ill and disoriented after a couple of drinks at Harlowe. We reached out to Danielle Kinnaird, who came to Dallas in July 2021 with two friends for a vacation. Before exploring Deep Ellum, they had brunch upstairs at Harlowe.

"After we ate on the rooftop, we went downstairs to the bar. The bartender (...) kept the free lemon drops and free Fireball shots coming," Kinnaird wrote the Observer. "Now we three can drink, but we didn’t have that many drinks there because we had a whole day planned to explore Deep Ellum."

She says the bartender said he was getting off soon and gave her his number.

They closed their tab and moved along to another nearby bar where Kinnaird soon got sick.

"We sat at the bar and out of nowhere, I got extremely sick," Kinnaird says. "I threw up at the bar and ran to the bathroom and sat on the toilet and was throwing up on the floor. I was so dizzy. They kicked me out, but I wasn’t drunk. Tipsy? Probably. But drunk? No. So my friends and I contacted an Uber."

That's when her friends started to feel ill.

"We were in the Uber and our Airbnb was only like 15 minutes away. My friends only remember getting in the Airbnb. They don’t remember the ride; they don’t remember getting out and walking in. Nothing. I remember going in and out of consciousness in the Uber. Like opening and closing my eyes and my head rolling," Kinnaird says.

She's not sure how they got in the Airbnb, but Kinnaird continued to get sick;  she suffered vomiting, diarrhea and also felt very hot. Her friends were in the other room, and all they remember was waking up next to each other.

Twelve hours later, Kinnaird woke up to a text from the bartender asking if he could come over. "I don’t recall ever responding. I don’t even have his number anymore," she says.

The group had an early flight home.

When asked why they didn't file a police report, Kinnaird says she wasn't in the right mindset to contact the police. "We kept talking about what happened and kept saying we were probably drugged, but we had an early flight, so we just kinda took it as a life lesson, I guess."

Cindy and Jim Hughes are the owners of Harlowe MXM. They also founded Bread Winners, which they have since sold, and they previously owned Henry's Majestic.

Cindy Hughes says that after they became aware of the initial incident they began their internal investigation and "notified our outsourced security company."

As for closing, she says, "Our closure is based on several reasons, but mostly the issues all of Deep Ellum faces. Our plans for Harlowe are unclear as of right now."