| rev:text
| - Came here for dinner with my girlfriend last night, and, well, there's something not right with this place.
We both enjoyed our food. We got the Baba Ghannouj to share and liked it. An unexpected smoky taste, almost like barbecue sauce, but enjoyable nonetheless. My girlfriend got a falafel wrap, pretty average. I got some meat items off the A la carte menu, and they were really good, cooked to medium just as requested. I also got a glass of the mint iced tea and quite liked it.
However, the service we received was abysmal. Normally, that wouldn't really bother me - sometimes you go to a restaurant and you get bad service. Besides, the quality of the food is really what I'm concerned with when going out to eat. But the reason I bring this up and the reason the terrible service angered me, is that over the course of our meal, it became clear that my girlfriend and I were receiving substantially different service than the other customers in the restaurant.
Everyone else seemed to be getting the standard gracious and considerate treatment of a professional waitstaff. We felt as if, in the eyes of the staff, we were barely there.
First, we were seated without menus or the complementary bread. When both arrived a few minutes later upon request, we then had to wait another 10 or 15 minutes before a waitress came over to take our order. We noticed that other tables seated after us were able to place their orders first. When the Baba Ghannouj came out as our appetizer, it came without additional bread (never had this happen in a Mid Eastern place, and we saw that other customers were not treated as such). After we finished the complementary bread, not once did anyone offer, or simply take the initiative, to bring out some more. Again, never seen this happen in any restaurant that provides complementary bread - though we saw other customers receive a second heaping of bread, no questions asked.
Our main course finally arrived. Or rather, mine arrived, and my girlfriend had to wait several more minutes for hers. Basic restaurant etiquette would say that you aim to serve a couple at the same time. Don't want to put one person in the uncomfortable, potentially rude position of eating while the other stares, right?
When hers came out, we both dug into the food, and like I said above, enjoyed it. But as more time elapsed, I started to notice other little things in terms of the service. We spent about an hour at our table last night. Not once during the hour did anyone offer or act to refill our waters. Not once were we asked "Hey, how's everything? How's the food?". Not once did the waitstaff suggest we purchase more food. Hell, when we were served, the waitress barely made eye contact with either of us. It felt as if she wanted to minimize her interactions with us as much as possible.
Again, the staff seemed amiable and affable with all others in the restaurant. For some reason, my girlfriend and I were pariahs.
Once it was clear we were done with our meal, that's when the service went into turbo drive. Our waitress came over, asked if we were done and if we needed a take-home box. She immediately said she'd get the check, not probing us to see if we would be up for coffee or dessert. Back and forth she went, grabbing bags, boxes, and the bill, with a speed that was wholly absent for the past hour.
Finally, before paying the bill, I asked to speak with the manager. One of the waitresses came over (she's part of the family who owns the place) to hear our grievances. We talked with her a bit, though she eventually got agitated as we pointed out how we received sub-standard service. Another waitress then came over (note: neither were our primary waitress, but we noticed that since the place was fairly small and fairly crowded, the three of them were pitching in wherever they could. Except with us.) to continue the conversation. She heard us out more than the other.
As I detailed the examples of poor service throughout the evening, she had a convenient answer for everything. We were out of menus when you were seated. It's busy, so we lost track of you for a bit. Other people ordered pre-made items, that's why their food came out so fast. In her view, it was a string of coincidences that led to the misperception that we were treated any differently. But as we pressed her further and insisted that we received substantially different service, she changed her tune. When my girlfriend brought up that no one even made eye contact with her during the night, we were told it was because we had been rude and had given off a rude vibe early in the meal.
I was blown away. They came over so little, that we didn't even have the opportunity to be rude. I acted no differently than I have at any restaurant I've been my entire life. This was all new to me. That's when it hit me. My girlfriend is Chinese. Everyone else at the restaurant was white.
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