Part 1 of 2: I have been coming to this restaurant for years. I am vegan and their vegan menu has always been amazing. I've been a fan since the very beginning when they only had a few vegan options. I have told so many people about this place, by word of mouth and social media. I have taken people here for their first time quite a few times. Even last summer, I brought my family here after our maternity shoot.
After my experience yesterday, I really don't want to provide my financial support to this restaurant ever again. And I will speak out about my experience to other food lovers in the community.
It was myself, my mother, and my infant son. When we entered, we waited to be seated. There were two tables available: 1) the table directly next to the front door and 2) the table in the middle of the restaurant. The tables are the exact same size, but the table by the door had four chairs and the table in the middle had five chairs. Now please keep in mind that some tables had one chair, two chairs, three chairs, etc. I've also been here many, many times and know that people move chairs as needed based on their party size.
Well, the woman employee approached us, asked how many, pointed at the table by the door and told us this table is available. I instantly knew my mother would be uncomfortable being right by the door with a baby, but didn't say anything. A minute goes by and my mom realizes the window is open. Think: it's 54 degrees in inner sunset San Francisco. It's cold. We don't want to be uncomfortable and we have an infant with us. So, my mom asks if we could move to the other table. She said no because it seats five people. Like... okay? Move the chair if you need to sit five people elsewhere. Not to mention that the table next to this middle table had two people and three chairs - and again, the same exact sized table. So I just don't understand the logic of her argument there.
Something else to keep in mind - since we were at the front table by the door, that means everybody leaving the tables behind us had issues getting by (because of the stroller & highchair). Apparently their comfort wasn't important to this woman either.
We didn't say anything. We just sat back down and she closed the window before bringing us the menu. We knew what we wanted pretty quickly as we're repeat customers. Instead of taking our order, she seated a family of three at the middle table (a fourth member arrived right before they received their food). She took their orders first!
The gentleman in the blue shirt and apron was bussing and cleaning the table behind us. He heard my mom notice that the woman was taking that table's order first. So, as soon as he had a free moment, he took our order. He was extremely friendly and warm. But we did notice a weird moment between him and the woman when they reconnected by the host section. Her energy was just off. It could've been a stressful day for her, but that is absolutely no justification for her attitude towards us.
We ordered the flamin hot wings as our starter. Every single table was served water with their utensils or their starters. We weren't.
Also, please note that when the woman brought us our entrée, her energy was weird there too. As soon as the plate touched the table, her hand still on the plate, her head was already turned around. She went to leave so quickly, but my mom stopped her by saying "excuse me can we have some water?" I have never ever been to a restaurant where the server puts the food down then runs to do something else. You put the food down, make sure we're good, ask if we need anything. It seemed like she didn't want to deal with us at all.
Our entrée was the vegan Godzilla sandwich which comes with a sharp knife stabbed through the center. Where do you think she placed the plate? In front of the adults sharing the wings? Nope, she placed a goddamn plate of fresh food with a KNIFE in front of a baby. Literally in front of the high chair as though it was his plate??? There was so much free space on the table completely out of his range. I pray this woman isn't a mother. I almost went the fuck off on her, but I didn't have a chance because she was trying to leave our table so fast while my mom was asking for water. I never moved so fast to grab a plate before.
It took almost 10 minutes to get a glass of water. We watched her go do something else then enter the bar. While at the bar, she again didn't seem present for what she was doing. I had to go up there and say we're still waiting on water. I have never had to ask for water at this restaurant so the fact that we weren't offered water, especially when we ordered a spicy starter, was so weird to me. We received our water after finishing our starter and had already started on our entrée. read more