DISCRIMINATORY MANAGING/SERVICE WARNING-OPEN LETTER
I came here for lunch on Wed., December 16th with no reservation. The restaurant was very busy and it took approximately 15 minutes to get the host's attention to put us on the list. The host told us it would be "at least a 10 minute wait" and I said that was fine.
Our party of three proceeded to wait while several other parties came in, also without reservations, who were also placed on the list.
It took much longer than 20 minutes to seat us. There were at least four other parties, also without reservation, that were seated before mine. In fact, my party was the LAST party to be seated.
When we were finally seated at the bench table at the front (in between two other parties that came after us but were seated before us) they proceeded to apologize profusely to the OTHER two parties and THEN serve them complimentary champagne.
Absolutely no effort was made to apologize to my party even though we were seated last.
How dare restaurant staff make such blatant discrimination towards customers. I don't know if it was one or a combination of classism, age-ism and/or racism but clearly I am upset by the way I was treated. This is absolutely inexcusable service.
It is a shame because the food is rather good. But such discrimination was incredibly insulting and I will let others know of my experience here.
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In comparison to Terroni and Libretto:
Terroni has the best food
Libretto has the best service/food combination
Mercatto has the nicest modern/lunchtime decor, food less good than Terroni but slightly better than Libretto.
But Mercatto? Blacklisted.