This place had been one of our favorites until today. It almost seems surreal. After church, I wanted to take my friend here for breakfast in honor of her birthday. Long story short, the manager politely asked us to leave and never come back, and the waitress shouted, "They're trying to run out on the bill" as I thought I was complying with the manager.
Wow! All I can say. I ordered the Mona Lisa omelette and Chai Tea. My friend ordered the Greek Chicken meal and soup. She specifically wanted mashed potatos. Moments later, the waitress returned saying the meal wasn't available on the weekends. My friend asked her a question about the mashed potatos. The waitress' tone changed and she said, "No, it's not available on the weekends I said." My friend asked if they had any potatos, maybe home fries. The waitress replied, "Yes," My friend ordered a steak, home fries and an egg with a hard center. She informed the waitress she wanted the steak cooked "almost well". Waitress replied, "Medium well with pink center"? My friend re-emphasized "almost well done." My friend requested an over-easy egg with hard center. The waitress asked, "over easy with medium center and a little runny?" I took special notes of the waitress' reply because they seemed contrary to what my friend requested.
The meal was served with a steak cooked "almost medium rare." The center was redder than most medium-well steak I've seen. And, the egg... Ugh! The egg seemed to be missing the yolk. I'd never seen anything like this before. When my friend respectfully and quietly brought this to the waitress' attention, the waitress replied, "It's not being taken off of the menu because it's what you ordered." She then asked if she wanted to see the manager. Of course, she replied, "Yes."
The manager comes to the table and basically parrots everything the waitress said. He told my friend she should have first read the menu to know the chicken wasn't available on the weekend. He went on say she should have just ordered the steak well done. He said nothing about the egg missing an entire yolk. My friend humbly replied, "Sir, I promise you I am not being disrespectful. This isn't what I asked for." The manager says, "We're not taking it off the bill. It still needs to be paid for." Again, WHAT? My friend replied, I will pay for the soup I am eating and nothing else." He replied, "Thank you very much and I thank you never to come back here again." We said, "Okay." My friend immediately walked away from the table and out of the restaurant. I gathered my belongings and walked to the front to leave as well at the manager's request.
The waitress comes to the front yelling, "They're trying to leave without paying." I stop and respond with, "No one's trying to leave without paying. He asked us to leave." She said, "No, he took the steak off of the bill." I said, 'Fine, I will get in line and pay the bill." That's what I did.
The manager's last words instructed us to leave. Why were we even having a discussion about the bill versus a discussion about fixing the order? Why would you think you could force or bully a patron who chose to support your establishment into paying for something we didn't order or want?
There's simply too much left open for interpretation. We were the only African Americans in our section. Certainly, we wondered if our nationality played a factor. How would the situation have played out with different nationalities?
It was a very unpleasant and unprofessional experience which could have been avoided. I REALLY don't understand why no attempt was made to correct the order.
I felt compelled to share the experience to determine if this behavior is typical and to document the incident. If there's a pattern noted in the behavior or treatment of customers, then we'll talk next steps.
- Grossly Disappointed read more