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Obscene Behavior in NJ Restaurants

dodge621

By dodge621
in New Jersey: Dining

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dodge621

dodge621

Posted
Posted

Tonight my wife and I dined at Saigon Republic. Great food, great service. However, the night was not without incident. At 8:05 pm a blond haired 50ish lady asks one of the 2 hosts (not Joe), on if their table is ready. He looks and says they are not on the list for reservations. She gets angry and from what I overheard said she spoke to another person that same morning. Then she proceeds to hostily ask Joe on her supposed reservation and then she has a mad look and storms into the kitchen. When she left the kitchen they must have acknowlged that she spoke to someone regarding her 8:30 slot. Then she starts complaing where is my table. Well they say it is only 8:10 and then she demands the next table for 4 is hers.

As my wife and I attempt to proceed out the door she is blocking the small area to the door with another lady and a man. As I do my best to reach the door without bumping into them, I need to lean back slightly to open the door. Well, what next but this lady elbows me in the back. I turn around and confront her but I refrain from profanity or making a scene, but when I ask what she is doing, I am told by her I am rude (for what trying to leave the restaurant) . When, I did yell at her, her husband was silent.

Well, I am glad I did not make a scene and disrupt the whole restaurant.

- Anyone else have some nice experiences to share about other friendly diners.

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Rail Paul

Rail Paul

Posted
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As I do my best to reach the door without bumping into them, I need to lean back slightly to open the door.  Well, what next but this lady elbows me in the back.  I turn around and confront her but I refrain from profanity or making a scene, but when I ask what she is doing, I am told by her I am rude (for what trying to leave the restaurant) .  When, I did yell at her, her husband was silent. 

- Anyone else have some nice experiences to share about other friendly diners.

Sounds like you might have an lodged an assault charge if you wanted to pursue it. Depending on the circumstances, you might have gone down in a heap and demanded an ambulance...

Apparently it's easier still to dictate the conversation and in effect, kill the conversation.

rancho gordo

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dodge621

dodge621

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[sounds like you might have an lodged an assault charge if you wanted to pursue it. Depending on the circumstances, you might have gone down in a heap and demanded an ambulance...

]

Well, I guess I will not become rich over this but I was really dismayed at this lady's behavior.

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dodge621

dodge621

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[demanded an ambulance...]

would not want to use an ambulance unless really needed it as someone

may have had a real emergency and I would not want to use valuable resources, but it was a serious shove although she was a small lady.

- But if the lady shoved my wife, instead of me, I really would have been irate.

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tommy

tommy

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Maybe so but whens the last time you saw some customer carry on and then march into the kitchen at, say, Craft?

i don't see why you would compare a restaurant like craft to the restaurant in question (which is a small mom-and-pop place), unless, of course, you had no idea what you were talking about. :blink:

tommy:eats.com
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  • 2 weeks later...
Jason Perlow

Jason Perlow

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We were there tonight and Joe told us about the incident: The woman called several times that day claiming to be a friend of K.T. and insisted that they give her a table. When they showed up in person after never actually confirming their reservation (since they had none avalaible and told her to call back later) they came and made a fuss.

We are very regular customers and host their web site -- if we showed up unannounced and they are full (which we have encountered in the past) we also get turned away. No special treatment, and we are legitimate friends of the restaurant. Apparently this woman was just a customer from the old Fort Lee restaurant (shack) and had not eaten at the Englewood location before.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Rachel Perlow

Rachel Perlow

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My impression? That she told her friends she could get them in this hot new place recently reviewed in all the papers because she "knew" the chef/owner. She called the day of for a weekend reservation and couldn't accept that her "status" didn't warrant special treatment.

I think they should have set up a "chef's table" in the alley out back for her out of a folding table. :raz:

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Rachel Perlow

Rachel Perlow

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Huh?

Anyway, just wanted to state that we realized Dodge was just giving an example of aggregious behavior that could happen at any restaurant. But Joe told us about this thread (another customer mentioned it to him while we were away and we hadn't yet read it), so we wanted to give their side of the story as long as SR was mentioned by name.

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