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Cleveland Park restaurant refused service because we had a child
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Anonymous
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I had a reservation for dinner at Dino in Cleveland Park, a holiday thing with friends and family. A man who said he was "the owner" refused to seat us because we had an infant with us. He said it was my "fucking problem" for including a child (1 year old) in the group, and said he had enough other reservations, such that mine wasn't worth honoring. This guy was actually yelling at me in front of my family and friends.
I don't think that we should support this restaurant, whether we have kids in tow or not. If you've not been there, it's not clearly an adults-only place (read: it's not jackets and ties or dark lighting, but is casual dress, and is pretty noisy and youthful). It's small inside, but we made a reservation in advance, and communicated that we would need a high chair. Down with Dino, I say. |
Anonymous
| I'd email Tom Sietsema at the Post: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/tom+sietsema/. He'll sometimes contact restaurants on readers' behalf and get to the bottom of it. Perhaps you'll get a write-up. |
Anonymous
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That is so outrageous! I can't believe he spoke to you like that. I am sorry you had to experience such rudeness. I will be sure to avoid the place even though it has nice food. I would hate to experience what you did if I take my 2 year old child with me.
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Anonymous
| Wow, that's just crazy and his language was beyond the pale. Was he drunk? |
Anonymous
| I would contact the wasington post or ABC7 or someone like that and tell them your story - that is unacceptable! |
Anonymous
| Has anyone else gone in there with a child??? |
Anonymous
| I am very confused by what you say happened to you. I live nearby Dino and they have a kids menu. When we went on Fathers day, there were lots of kids there (almost too many in my view). I think something else must be going on here because I can't see why a restaurant that actively caters to families by having a kids menu, etc. would turn you away for the mere fact of having a child with you. It is a small place so was there an issue with the number of people for the reservation (i.e. did you include the baby in the number of seats needed?). |
Anonymous
| Its ridiculous that they didn't say something when you made the reservation and confirmed a high chair. I always ask whether a place has high chairs and whether kids are OK when I call a new place and I expect an honest answer. Asking for a high chair is a great question, if they have these then they should serve kids. |
Anonymous
That's awful. There are lots of restaurants that aren't particularly kid-friendly (Colorado Kitchen was certainly a casual place that was notorious for kids not being welcome) but I simply can't imagine a business owner behaving like that to a customer, in front of other customers. And I somehow find it more egregious since you said you'd need a high chair in advance, which makes it obvious that you'd have a child in the party. They certainly could have told you then that the restaurant wasn't appropriate for children. And regardless, if you'd shown up with one, you should be treated respectfully and with courtesy. I'm with the PPs -- I think this deserves more than avoiding the Dino in the future. That said, posting it on this forum may be as effective as going to the press. On a side note, I hosted a large group at Old Ebbitt last week. We had a party of 25, and made reservations in advance, and told them we'd need a couple of high chairs. The party turned out to be 22 adults and 5 kids, but due to Metro problems, parking problems, and illness, those 27 people straggled in over the course of three hours. I was thrilled with how patient the servers were with our group -- they seated us in an out of the way area so we wouldn't disturb other guests, took orders over a period of several hours, and didn't even put the customary 18% for large parties on the bill. (We tipped more than that, so it worked out for them in the end.) Just a plug for Old Ebbitt if you have to accomodate kids and still want good food in a nice setting. |
Anonymous
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OP here. Thanks everyone, your support makes me feel a lot better. What a bummer of an experience!
Incidentally, seems that this owner has done this kind of thing a number of times--online reviewers all over the web describe feeling attacked (one guy said the owner even threatened him physically) and humiliated. |
Anonymous
| Has anyone thought to contact the owner directly to inquire about this situation? He should also be informed that his place of business is being discussed by name on this site. This is not in defense of the owner-just interested in what his take is on all this. |
Anonymous
agreed |
Anonymous
| So weird. We go there fairly frequently with our 2 year old, though admittedly early, like 5:30-6ish. I'm so sorry, how rotten. |
Anonymous
I agree with this advice, or post this to his chat on Wednesday. I don't live near there so I'd never go, but that is just outrageous that anyone who runs any business would behave like that. |
Anonymous
OP, could you please post links to these reviewers "all over the web"? I just did a search and could not find any reviews such as you describe. Please note: I have no connection at all to Dino, but I have to say, I find this claim (really? online reviewers "all over" report feeling "attacked"?) plus your original post to be not credible. I have no connection to Dino, but have eaten there numerous times, with children, and never had an issue. If your report turns out to be true, I will stand corrected and retract my disbelief, but meanwhile, I just don't buy it. |