RAJUN CAJUN
The owner, Trushar Patel, is a sexist, ethnocentric jerk and, I believe, also a homophobe -- he only seems to reserve his bad behaviour for Indian women. Or, at least, perhaps, Indian women who show up in Dyke March t-shirts and don't look and talk like his wife who works alongside.
Context: I've had issues with Patel from Day One. He has consistently been rude, bordering on jerkness -- he only started to feign politeness after I posted my initial review. And even then, he's never been able to resist making cracks, which I've dismissed as ribbing from someone who assumes a familiarity with a customer who comes there at least a few times a month. I've always thought, "Whatever, he has his niche: slightly crusty, slightly weird and socially inept business owner, and as long as he isn't refusing me service, I really don't care."
Today: I placed an order for their hot chai, which is one of the very few things I like there. This may be the fifth time I've done this, and at least the second or even third time I've ordered through Grubhub, with no problem. It's a tiny order, totalling a mere $2.19, and I would ordinarily call, but whenever I've tried that, they don't pick up the phone or it has a busy signal (weird for a place that delivers). But Grubhub *took* the order -- and my money.
I went to pick up my order and everything was fine. His son/nephew was pleasant and asked, "Are you here for the tea?" (I always ask for it with no sugar, so it's usually a dead giveaway). I said, yes, thank you, and moved to pick it up when Patel asked me, in his usual brusque manner, "Is that your tea?" I answered "Yes," and went to get it. He started to rail at me about how the order was a problem for him because he had to pay too much in processing fees for such a small order and that he just realised I had been the person who made a similar order the last time and on and on. I was, at first, stunned -- he was loudly berating me, and there were other customers and other staff in the place, and it was hardly my fault. But, fortunately, I recovered my bearings and snapped back at him, "That's between you and GrubHub; it's not my problem. Grubhub takes my order and that's all I have to care about -- you have a problem, take it up with them." He was taken aback by a mere woman talking back to him and said, "Well, next time, I'll just cancel the order." I told him I didn't care what he did, and picked up my tea. His wife piped up and said, in a somewhat conciliatory manner, to be fair to her, "Next time, just call us?" I responded that they didn't pick up when I called and she seemed surprised. At that point, I also felt the need to say, as firmly as I could, that they had no right to talk to me the way they did, especially in front of other customers.
Based on my experience with Patel -- over the course of nearly three years now -- I can confidently say that he was being a sexist and, in particular, that he was only as sexist as he was towards me because I'm an Indian woman, someone whom he identifies as low on the totem pole. I've noticed and noted, in a previous review, that he is perfectly nice to white women and to black women (given Chicago's plantation racism, I'm certainly happy about the latter). I've felt his animosity towards me for years, but brushed it off -- the place is unpleasant for anything but picking up and darting out again, given its inept and uninviting interior -- and the food is not that great (the Trader Joe's Palak Paneer is better than the muck they sell), so I've not had to interact with him much. And I have a philosophy of not complaining about employees or business owners unless they really get in my face.
Well, Trushar Patel did. He would never, ever have behaved the way he did with anyone other than a (to his eyes) gender non-conforming, Indian woman who clearly does not know her place. I write this after great deliberation -- I don't want to encourage the idea that Indians/Indian-Americans are more homophobic than no-hyphen-Americans (they're not, as any survivor of millions of homophobic American families will tell you), or that they are inherently more sexist (ahem, #MeToo). BUT all that being said: his tirade made no sense since it wasn't as if I had hacked into GrubHub and forced an order on him. It's terrible customer service and unthinkable behaviour, to practically yell at a customer in front of the entire establishment. I doubt he would even have done that to an Indian man, frankly.
People should feel free to patronise this place; given that it's the only "Indian" place for miles; he'll be fine. But be warned that if you're not white or black or an Indian woman in a sari, a bindi, and a long, oiled braid snaking down her back (his wife once stared at me and then asked why I didn't straighten my hair -- so this attitude is a family problem), and who talks in a coy whisper, you'll probably be treated like shit by none other than the owner himself. read more