I was a regular for five years, usually chatting-up Carmine, the owner, whenever he'd strut past my table. The fact that he never knew my name should have told me something. On one visit, the entire restaurant was disrupted when a man began shouting at Carmine, exclaiming that he'd never been treated so rudely in his life. He'd brought a friend for her birthday and after 20 minutes of waiting to order, they complained, only to have Carmine tell them they should just leave. It was shocking, but I assumed that there must have been two sides to the story. Ironically, five months later, I was there for my birthday with friends. At one point I crossed to go to the men's room. I asked a waiter to let me pass between two tables with a proper ""excuse me."" I got a smug, defiant look, followed by a pointed arm and a command to ""go over there."" I said, ""Excuse me? Please step aside."" He refused. I immediately went up to Carmine who was standing by the kitchen. I told him what had happened, made it clear I was offended, and that of all things, it was my birthday. Without responding to me, Carmine yelled across the restaurant to the waiter, causing many heads to turn. They exchanged words and then Carmine shrugged his shoulders, looked at me and said, ""What can I do, he said he wasn't rude?"" I returned to my table; Carmine never came over to apologize. Know this -- when you show up at Celeste, you are just a body with cash, and nothing more.
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