Not African-American friendly; overtly racist wait service and restaurant staff. People of color beware; and people who give a shit about racism, make a stand.
I want to be clear: the single star I give this restaurant is not related to the food. The food, for its cost, is minimum 3.5-4 stars. The single star is for a much more problematic issue that food quality.
As I sat in this restaurant and observed the service provided to each table, it became immediately, repulsively clear that the table where three African American customers were sitting was getting service far inferior to what every other table was receiving.
I'm a white guy, and like all the other tables full of white patrons, we were escorted to our table, our wine menus handed to us, greeted by our server who told us about the night's specials, and for any table other than the table with the Af Am customers, if a customer seemed unsure about wine choices, a different server would come to the table and offer suggestions.
I watched the African American customers get pointed to a table that was squeezed in a corner, but no one immediately greeted them, no one ever so much as handed any customer at their table the wine list, and it was easily 7 minutes before anyone came to even make initial server-to-table contact.
At first I wanted to believe that I was being overly sensitive or perhaps reading into a situation incorrectly, but as our meals progressed, the more difference I observed in the way I was treated, versus the way they were treated. Not a single time did a server offer to refill their wine glasses, not a single time before they ordered did a server go check to make sure there were no questions about the menu, and only as they were ordering (once a server finally showed at their table), did he mention the night's specials.
When dessert should've been offered, the table had to ask. When they ordered coffees and Lattes for their dessert, no server once offered a refill.
Countless times did I watch that table's server go check on, refill, and offer other items to every non-black table around them. It wasn't that the table was unseen, either. They were literally packed into a tiny corner surrounded on all sides by clear glass that ran along the area where servers stood waiting for their next move. The African American customers were watched, looked at, and observed far more than any other table, but the service they received was no match.
I've spent nearly a month debating whether to make this review, questioning myself and what I thought I say happening--but I realized I was spending more energy trying to figure out what other reasoning may account for the discrepancy in service besides sheer racism, when clearly racism was the only viable reasoning.
Yes-- the food was remarkable, the ambiance serene, and MY service (and the service of every other white customer) exquisite-- but this sort of behavior shouldn't be tolerated, and I strongly encourage you to consider dining elsewhere.
As a white person, especially a pretty obviously heterosexual man, I don't actually know how to empathize with the customers who were being treated so poorly, and I don't want this post to seem as though I'm attempting to be the voice for a race other than my own-- I just feel as though it was an opportunity for me to see something my white/male privilege would otherwise have kept hidden, and it would be irresponsible for me to have seen this happen but not at least speak up in some way, so Yelp it is!
I won't be going back here; I'll do my best to dissuade others from going here. read more