They Not Like Us & They Don’t Like Us
We have been loyal customers of El Portal for the past five years and have always enjoyed adding mint, lemon, lime, and cucumber slices to our water. However, our recent visit left us shocked and disappointed. When we ordered the mint, lemon, lime and cucumber slices for our water, the server returned empty-handed and informed us that there would be a $2.00 charge per person for our usual request of condiments. When we requested to speak with the owner, Armondo, he refused to come to our table and sent the manager instead. Unfortunately, the manager supported the decision to charge us for something that had never been an issue before. We expressed our feelings of being insulted by this sudden change, as no other restaurant charges for these condiments and El Portal had never charged us for them until now. Despite our frustration, we decided to stay because it was my friend's birthday and we didn't want to ruin the celebration. Around 10 minutes after our food arrived, someone came to our table and dropped off to-go containers and bags without us asking for them. This action felt like a clear message to us, three black women, that we were not welcome in their restaurant and they wanted us to GET OUT! We did notice that other customers who had been seated longer than us were not given to-go containers. It became evident that the issue was not just about our request for condiments, but rather our appearance. We made up our minds to finish our meal, sing happy birthday, and leave, knowing that we would never return to this low-bar, bottom-tier, 1-star alleged restaurant. The quality of the food was subpar, with bland and lukewarm dishes. Despite having a nice server, we only left a 15% tip due to the way we were treated. Looking back in retrospect we probably should’ve just left $2.00 per person which would equal the $6.00 they would have charged us had we ordered the mint, lemon, lime, and cucumber slices for our water. It's important to note that we were the only black customers in the restaurant and the only ones given to-go containers without requesting them. Based on this treatment, one can only assume that the real issue was not our request for condiments, but rather the fact that we didn’t look like them or anyone else in the restaurant. It's disheartening to experience such discrimination in this day and age. But as the song says “THEY NOT LIKE US, THEY NOT LIKE US”.
By Darlene F.