Appalling service and discriminative behaviour
I was in this restaurant yesterday, with my 3-year old girl. We were looking for a place to escape the heat, I wasn't filling well and my daughter was overwhelmed as well. There were two-three families sitting inside and many free tables with the label Reserved. I pick a table for two. We sit quietly and waited to be served. The waiter came, acting in a dismissive way. I asked him for still water which is not cold. He brought back a freezing cold bottle and to my remark about it, replied rudely that they didn't have any other. I asked him to bring us tap water then, as we were both very thirsty and said I would order something else. He barked at me that they didn't have tap water and he rushed away. A moment later he returned with the same bottle, taken out of the microwave. The bottle was warm, the water was still cold but I didn't protest. He wanted me to pay immediately which I did. Later, I noticed that he acted very kindly with the Belgian families and only offered them the bill at the end of their stay. I asked him to bring me the menu, he ignored me. I went to the bar and asked the guy there where I could get a menu from. He said he didn't know. Again later, I saw him accepting the order of a Belgian man and his child, and being friendly with them. I asked other waiters, they didn't want to serve me, but, finally, one of them gave me a menu. As nobody came to take our order, I returned to the same waiter, holding my daughter in my hands and ordered. He initially didn't want to accept it but understood that I wouldn't give up on being served and accepted it. Meanwhile, our waiter came to us just to tell me, rather aggressively, that if I didn't respect him, he wouldn't respect me either. Apparently, when we entered, he had said that we should go to the terrace. "Reserved" means that these tables aren't free, he said. I calmly told him that when the people who booked this table showed up, we would move. I also wanted to explain that I didn't feel well, but wasn't given a chance. Nobody came for the "reserved" table, apparently, for whatever reason, they didn't want clients to sit there - still, as I already mentioned, there were two-three families occupying tables. When I shared this experience with my mother, she reminded me that last year the three of us were in that restaurant and the staff behaved with us dismissively and were on the edge of being rude in the way they communicated with us. Such a shame that I had forgotten. I will never return to this place and hope that anyone who agrees that it's unacceptable to treat clients that way, no matter their nationality, but, especially a mother with young child (and an older woman, the previous year) will follow me.
