Living in NY for 30 years can't prepare you for how rude or arrogant the manager Sebastian is (a balding Caucasian man).
After my friend and I waited for 10 minutes outside the door without any acknowledgement, we walked inside and stood in the doorway...for another couple minutes saying hello and asking to be helped. Not one customer, staff or anyone was to be seen.
Sebastian finally comes out and rudely yells "OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT, OUT!" as he points to the door. We of course exit. After taking our temperature, we walk inside and he abruptly stops us and yells "CLEAN YOUR HANDS!" as he points to the hand sanitizer on the wall. There is NOTHING welcoming or friendly about his interaction with us thus far and we haven't even gotten to the table yet!
As we are sitting there, we receive a phone call from the remaining 3 members to our party (who BTW are all Asian) and they tell us they can't get in because one of them couldn't find an ID...But wait, was my friend and I asked for the ID to get in after having our temperature was taken? NO. So we just learned that Sebastian doesn't know his own protocol or he is profiling against these 3 Asian customers waiting outside the door. I am absolutely leaning towards the latter.
Shortly after the initial phone call from our friends, they message us stating they found their ID. 15 minutes go by and they are still waiting outside, and not to mention, Sebastian hasn't even come back to our table even though he has walked by us several times. Finally, my Caucasian friend gets up and walks to Sebastian, and as he stands in the main walkway, he let's Sebastian know that our friends have their IDs and are outside waiting to come in. Instead of saying something like "oh great, I will go help them," Sebastian yells at my friend that he can't stand there and needs to go sit back down. Can't stand there? It's the main walkway... My friend then politely asks if our friends will be able to come in and all I begin hearing is Sebastian yell "You can't stand there, go sit down!" My friend repeats the question in the nicest tone possible and Sebastian still neglects to answer his very simple question. Finally, without any other reason, Sebastian yells at the top of his lungs, "you know what, we won't even serve YOU PEOPLE here. No one wants to serve any of you, GET OUT!."
As my Caucasian friend has now comeback to the table and gestures us to leave, we grab our jackets without hesitation. As I am putting my jacket on in the walkway, Sebastian gets right in my face, literally 2 inches away, and yells repeatedly "out, out, get out now, no one wants to serve YOU people!" over and over into my face and ears. He was so close that I could feel his chest on my shoulder. I couldn't take it anymore and I turned around and yelled "Stay away from me! Keep your distance! I don't have any idea what is wrong with you, but keep your distance!". What happened to the social distancing and COVID-related "safety precautions" that were being asked of us earlier???
I couldn't even fully put my jacket on due to the unsafe and risky environment Sebastian created. Why was he even doing this?!
I've heard of people having a bad day, but this was something else. He looked like he loathed my friends and I from the beginning. Without a single reason for his actions. I don't know what has gotten into people lately, but anti-Asian sentiment is now becoming more prevalent than ever. Why were we kicked out of this place? Why were you not going back to the door to let my friends show you their ID so that they could come in and not stand outside in the cold? This was absolutely despicable. I am beyond disgusted, and have no problem taking time out of my workday to write this review. This neighborhood is becoming ever more diverse, and we have NO, I repeat no need for racism or prejudice of any sort.
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