Ever wondered what it feels like to be sexually harassed at an expensive restaurant? Go to Ralph's!
I came here with a group of friends for a birthday dinner and have never in my life been treated so inappropriately, not only by our waiter, but by the manager as well.
I refuse to even review the quality of the food, because this experience was incredibly scarring and left all seven of us reeling.
Here is how we were treated by our waiter:
--Came to our table juggling several glass tubs of condiments, joking about how his hands were shaky carrying so many things, and drops the condiments on one of the ladies in our group, spilling her red wine all over her blouse, the table, and her meal. He laughs, doesn't apologize, and does not return for several minutes. When he does return, he promises us free desserts (more on this blatant lie later), and offers to pay for the dry cleaning...if the diner "brings him her shirt in person." Disgusting.
--Comes to pour champagne and purposely elbows me in the face, then winks at me, saying, "Oh, I am just kidding."
--Tells one of the other ladies that if she gets too drunk, he will "carry her home," then proceeds to fan her with a menu and tell her she's looking "very red."
So, the waiter takes off from his shift, and we are left with a different waiter who, at first, appears to know how to work in the service industry without inappropriate advances. We order the free desserts that were promised to us, and upon seeing the check--shocker--the desserts are on the bill. We ask to speak to our replacement waiter, who claims that the original waiter had "no authority to promise us that." We ask to speak to the manager, and after over 10 minutes of waiting, the manager still does not come over to us. We had to threaten to call the bank and cancel the charge on the credit card in order to get him to come over to us. The manager did not take our complaint seriously, even insinuating that the original waiter might not have even promised us this at all. ALL seven of us diners heard our waiter, and we all speak French. It is unprofessional and sexist to insinuate that a group of seven women cannot understand the meaning of "free desserts." He offers no solutions whatsoever, except to email some assistant and explain the situation, claiming that this is the only email that will get to a higher-up at the restaurant (a claim that was quickly disproven by a simple internet search).
On our way out, the manager gives a look of disgust and contempt, despite this situation being entirely the fault of an incompetent waiter. One of our diners was so disturbed by this treatment, especially during a birthday dinner, that she returned inside to let the manager know that we were going to follow up about this, and that his lack of propriety and his treatment of us was nothing short of sexist and demeaning. He smiled at her, on the verge of laughing, further proving that this is a disgustingly misogynistic establishment.
For a 700€ birthday dinner, this sort of treatment is unfathomable and unacceptable by all accounts. I could've had better service at a McDonald's, and maybe not gotten elbowed in the face or had to witness a waiter harass my fellow diners and friends. read more