Not recommended at all…read more
My gent and I attended one of Tilburg's largest festival. The artists and performers bring their talent, the talent brings the fans. Thousands of fans. The fans being Euros.
The service was terrible and while I cannot say for 100% certainty we were discriminated against, it certainly felt like it (The way were were dressed (plain black clothing)? Skin color? My gent's long hair? No idea). Read on.
Round 1 - The Weird Vibe:
1. My gent and I sat and were not served. So I thought the establishment was very busy inside because the other restaurants and bars on the same street were with festival attendees. The moment I put a boot in the door, a man with gray hair and glasses finally jumped from a seat near the door and asked what I needed. I told him we were going to start with just a cocktail. He looked me up and down and said "we don't serve cocktails". I thought either he was new on the job or didn't understand what I said. I said "sure you do. You have a full bar" while pointing past his shoulder. We went inside and I ordered my drink, a simple double Hendrick's on the rocks, which he seemed fully confused about. Then ordered my gent's beer. This is when things became weird.
The man became extra flustered and that indicated to me that he was not happy with "our kind" in the bar. My Euros are just as good as anyone elses and there were literally thousands of us in the immediate vicinity for the 4 day long festival. So I decided to stand my ground out of principle.
I stood there while he became more and more flustered. The man picked up a CLEAN glass then dipped it in soapy washing water - no rinse, no dry then poured the beer. I told him "please serve it in a clean glass." He became even more flustered, looked at me like I had 10 heads - I just smiled. One of the waitresses was visibly embarrassed and mumbled something to the man in Dutch. He then took a clean glass and opened the tap. So difficult, I know.
When I went back outside, my gent told me that someone came out and asked if I was his wife getting drinks. He thought it was a weird question as did I.
I guess our money wasn't good enough.
Round 2 - Just Making Sure Because This Is Weird:
My gent went inside to order a beer just to see what they'd say. The same man told him "we don't have beer". My gent told the man, "that's interesting because I just had one and there are a few taps behind you." Upon my gent telling this to me, I wrote a review draft while very, very slowly nursing my drinks. When I was done and sat to my satisfaction, I walked back in and showed the review draft to the embarrassed waitress. She seemed extra embarrassed. I mentioned the service to someone who was in attendance at the festival.
A few hours later and the next few days, every time I walked by the this place again (many times because it was close to the festival venues) it was quite empty. The last time I walked by, I saw the Flustered Man who was yet again sitting outside.
The inside looked fairly empty.
Strange that ;).
t'zusje: perhaps have a chat with other establishments around you in Tilburg and you will find the festival goers were polite, savvy and spent a pretty penny nearly everywhere we went - and they, unlike you, welcomed us. We are programmers, writers, doctors, cashiers, entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses, bankers, pilots, parents, Asian, black, Latino, white, wealthy, middle class or maybe some a bit broke but despite what the man, your employee, with gray hair and glasses may think, we do have one thing: class.
