I have loved coming here for years. Great meats. I usually just buy a pound or two of brisket and pork and eat it over a few days. A few days ago, I went there for my last time though. I got food poisoning from some pork. No problem. I know the best of restaurants have that happen occasionally. I bought a whole pound, which is a fair handful of cash and the rest of it would have gone to waste, and so I took it back and explained that it made me sick and asked if I could have a refund. I fully intended to continue to eat there in the future.
The staff member said he had to look up my order from my cc number, which is understandable. He couldn't find it, so he was proceeding to give me a gift card instead when the owner, Cameron Treu, came out of the back to ask what was going on. Before the staff member had finished telling him about my situation, and without looking at me, he shook his head and said, "No." I said, "What?" and he looked at me and said, "I'm not doing that. No one has ever come here with a hunk of cold meat and asked for a refund." I explained that it had made me sick and he just kept shaking his head. He challenged me to tell him exactly HOW it made me sick and told me that I must be crazy to think I could have a refund. I asked him if he was calling me a liar and he said he was and that he could "tell from the way I was acting" that I was full of crap. He accused me of trying to scam him. His idea of a clever comparison was asking me if I would "open up a bottle of peanut butter from Walmart and then take it back and expect a refund".... ? I guess he's never shopped at Walmart? Or ever learned anything about customer service. When I became upset and told him he was being an asshole for accusing a regular customer of lying about getting sick, he said, "See, this is how I know you're just scamming me. Look at your face! Look at how you're reacting! You're on camera, so just keep going!" and just smiled like he was the shit. I don't even have words for how absurd it was.
I couldn't believe a business owner would treat a paying customer like that. Also, if I desperately needed cash, I wouldn't purchase some random meat from somewhere, wrap it in identical butcher paper and go into BBQ joints to scam $15 off of them. So I guess Cameron lacks sense in more ways than one if he thinks that's a good money making idea. Needless to say, I will never go back. So, he stroked his own ego and put on a nice douche-show for his staff, but he lost a frequent customer. He makes good meats. But that's all he has going for him. read more