I have never encountered the kind of attitude and smugness anywhere else in the world as I did at Tea & Symphony.
I had a 12:00 o'clock lunch meeting and arrived early at 11:30. A blonde woman with an accent asked me how many people, I said two. She told me she couldn't seat me until my friend arrived. The restaurant was EMPTY except for one table that was taken. I was told I could wait outside on the bench. It was 35 degrees outside.
I said I would sit and order while I waited. She said No. She said that if I sat down and ordered, when my friend came, she wouldn't be able to sit with me.
I said I wanted tea and would sit and order tea and once my friend came, I would pay my bill and she could "re-seat" me with my friend. She made it clear they do not "do" re-seating at Tea & Symphony.
I said this all didn't make sense, she said it made perfect sense. I asked her to explain the sense of it to me and she said that they fill up fast and don't want someone sitting and taking up space. I pointed out they were EMPTY. She replied, "We just opened. We fill up fast." I said I would sit and drink tea, and once she had a customer waiting for a table, I would pay and get up. She said no. She also added I could NOT sit and order tea; if I wanted to sit, I had to order food.
She told me to come back when my friend arrived, and I made it clear I would NEVER come back. With anyone. I urge you all to do the same. There are thousands of restaurants in the city, we should not encourage and support establishments that treat us like shit and purposefully and deliberately make no attempt to try and accommodate.
I call for a boycott!
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