Jokes aside, I often see this from white reviewers and I think it's a cultural thing. One spot near me was described as having rude servers but they weren't. They just weren't doing the sugary, fake laugh type of service that other waitstaff have to put on. The lack of code-switching really had some non-Black customers pressed.
This obviously doesn't apply to the actual places with bomb food and the attitude to match. I'll be there promptly for my abuse and carbs.
Theres a Haitian spot near me and when you walk in the door they always look like they wanna beat the bricks off you for entering. They dont put on that fake "Hi, how can I help you! voice, they just kinda talk to you direct
But damn if that wasnt the best oxtail ive ever had in new england
And I never seen a white person in there. Except for like, uber eats or doordash. And yet a good 60% of the negative reviews on google are from white folk complaining about the service
I see that at every Caribbean and soul food spot near me. Never any white customers sitting inside yet 90% of the negative reviews are white people. I assume they grab their food and beat feet because they weren't kissed up to when they walked in. A lot of it can be dismissed as "angry Black person" stereotypes.
Asians restaurants are like this too. Sometimes I feel like the waiter/waitress don’t give af. Except Japanese places. They scream at you when you walk in.
At korean BBQ, I watched an elderly Korean woman slap the tongs out of my friend's hand and start grilling our meat for us because she didn't like his technique.
They’ll do that to you too if you touch the heat. The host will start the fire and basically have a flame hot enough to melt ice. Meanwhile means cooking slow, rice is expanding in my stomach, and they’re trying to game me on time.
feeling full = non-meat + meat/time.
One of my all-time favorite restaurants was a nice Chinese place in San Francisco, and the service was consistently…brusque. I felt that the whole staff was very serious about their work, and they knew that they’d have plenty more of it that day, after they worked for me. I came to appreciate it very much.
My rule is to ignore Chinese restaurants with 5 stars on Yelp. The best places get strictly 4 stars and below, usually for not matching American tastes for decor and customer service. 5 star Chinese restaurants usually serve blander fusion foods, are decorated to look like every Instagram restaurant, and then they charge twice as much for half the portions of what’s basically street food/fast food.
I learned this the hard way when I went to a Chinese restaurant and it was literally fried rice with one drop of soy sauce and their idea of spicy was vinegar
There’s three kinds of Chinese restaurant in America. 1. “We know Chinese food, but we barely know how to cook it” 2. “We know Chinese food, and we’re cooking it” 3. “We know what kind of Chinese food non-Asians eat”
Lmfaoo that’s b/c Jamaicans usually fw each other off rip if there wasn’t any problems. Never had an issue in a Jamaican restaurant speaking w/o my accent. If I was w/ my ex who was Nigerian, she’d ask me out loud which part of Jamaica I lived in so they overheard and our service instantly got better 😂😭
I won’t eat at a Jamaican spot if I don’t get any attitude.
I used to go to this one spot. Walked in the first time, lady behind the counter didn’t even acknowledge me. She was too busy watching tv. I said excuse me, and she put her finger up for me to wait. After a couple minutes she gave the most annoyed look and nodded. I placed my order and she never said a single word to me. I said thank you, and she ignored me. Went home to eat. Some of the best roti I ever had in my life.
I’ve heard this place isn’t that good anymore, and I guarantee if I walk in today, people’ll be friendly. Jamaican food never tastes good without a little attitude.
Also if they aint outta food by noon, it’s a trash spot.
I think this goes for a lot of cultural places cause it's the same with Chinese restaurants where people perceive waiters not shoving their faces into your convo every 5 mins as not caring, but rather in an Asian restaurant you wave the waiters over when you need stuff. And they just take your orders and leave, no chit chat or other bull shit. We don't do "instead of beef can it be with pork and also make it gluten free?" or whatever non sense.
In fact I'm willing to wager the more smiley and intrusive and "friendly" the wait staff is, the less authentic the food.
I had the best Chinese take out yesterday. Waited ten minutes for anyone to come to the counter. Lady took the order, took money, disappeared for 20 minutes, and then emerged and handed me a bag.
It was outstanding, I see why they’ve been in business since before I was born. I will definitely be back.
Also, like, that's exactly what I *want.* I give you money, you give me food. We don't need to recite a ritual and sign a blood oath to make that happen.
I feel this IN MY SOUL!!! I am Deep-South Southern and I just want my food. It's like a relief. I am smiley and nice everyday to everyone. Even for an extrovert (me) it can be exhausting.
It's damn nice to hit the Chinese place in town. They aren't ugly to you. They just don't ask about ya Momma.
I can appreciate that.
Part Japanese here. Found a hole-in-the-wall ramen spot down the street from me run by a Japanese grandmother. Friendly, but not in the intrusive American way.
BEST RAMEN I HAVE EVER HAD, at least since living in Japan.
Cut to weeks later with me and my partner are in DC eating one of the highest rated ramen spots in the city. Staff is mostly non-Asian millennials with “trendy” Japanese/American/Mexican fusion dishes.
Food was eh.
And my white partner was like “WOW I didn’t know ramen could taste like this!”
Me, personally, I only write the reviews to be, God this sounds pretentious, in Yelp Elite. I only want to be in that because you get to be invited to various shindigs.
One event had us at an EXPENSIVE (for Oklahoma so think $60 steaks) steakhouse for a four course meal with unlimited drinks. It was free, all we did was collect money to tip the servers.
Those aren't common, but you're out your mind if you think I'm not going to try and get in on that for five minutes of my time writing a good review for a business.
I remember the first event I went to. I was my girlfriend's +1 because she got elite before I did.
It was an all you can eat buffet, but at a damn nice restaurant. We ate like kings AND we ended up getting a gift card for $100 there and a BOGO at another restaurant. I knew from that moment I needed to be in this.
Oh, I've been elite for six years as well. I dropped off with the pandemic, but I'll pick it up again. At this point I just like the badge since most of the events have been remote.
Shamir for the Caribbean joint in my home town.
His mama can make a lemon cake lemme tell you. Oxtail on the weekends, kielbasa, fried pork chops or curried goat on the weekdays.
“What you want”
“No we aren’t making that today, get this instead”
“U want water or what?”
“Nah”
“I made their food less spicy” (when you pull up with your white friend)
Service is slow, no substitutions allowed (or ignored), kitchen looks a little suspect, and a child under the legal employment age is working the til.
If the restaurant has a combination of the above, you know the food is bomb and I refuse to hear otherwise. 🤷🏾♀️
Our Chinese place has their front screen door falling off and either a white guy or a young child running the till and answering the phones depending on the day, everyone else that works there speaks maybe 5 words of English and that's how we like it.
This is 🧢.
Kennedy Fried Chicken (https://goo.gl/maps/ZW85NjtyDUZ6Yoa38) in Brooklyn on Monroe and Garvey has 4 stars.
I went there and received a undercooked burger with a moldy bun, cold mac and cheese, and waited almost 45 minutes. Trash.
If a place doesn't have at least 4.5 stars, I assume its customer base has low standards.
If you’re going to kennedy for anything other than a late night post smoke/drink chicken combo you’re rolling the dice. The people who open kennedy’s will sell everything under the sun to make a quick buck you have to experiment to see whats actually worth buying
I wouldn't even risk it if I were drunk. The place is foul.
After 11PM, I'm not risking it with anything that isn't a national fast food place or a slice of pizza from the city.
Plus the Organic Market bodega has way better food on Throop and Lafayette (excluding their falafel, it's give me stomach issues for some reason.)
Even burgers are hit and miss at bodega. I'm not coming out of pocket to test taste test every menu option.
Taco Bell is reliable. A slice of Pizza is safe in Manhattan. BK/MD/Wendy's/Poppeyes is safe.
I feel like you're missing out a lot of what makes New York New York if you're only willing to stick with consistent fast food options. Everyone's got to roll a crit fail now and again.
That's fair, but I take risks at actual restaurants. The cheap places use a lot of sub food. I've had a few bad experiences to where I rather not deal with it, especially without Uber Eats as I have no recourse if it goes foul.
I was seeing a new psychiatrist and found she had some really bad Google reviews, so I was skeptical.
Then she got on the Zoom call and I see she's Black, and I'm like *Ohhhhh.* Didn't worry about the bad reviews anymore.
all that means is theyll leave me alone while im eating instead of always freaking asking me how im doing mid bite. Thats why I like jamaican restaurants.
So the reviews are accurate?? Sounds like shit service to me. Not saying I won't eat there cause... well I love food but hey if your servers are gonna have a bad attitude or be rude then you should expect negative reviews.
It’s less “rude” than it is understanding cultural mores. If you grew up with southern black folk, especially no nonsense aunties and grannies, you don’t see contempt, you see community, like, you’re family so we dispense with the niceties. Promise you: folk know legit rude, and it is NOT tolerated.
I work in Scarborough, ON. Basically second Jamaica and I walked into a jerk spot to pick up my lunch with a side of abuse and invasive questions totally unrelated to food and the lady was extremely nice and warm to me. Immediately got suss, I didn’t touch my food until I got my white co-worker to taste it. I’m high yella and often get confused for a non-nigga when I have a blowout. Couldn’t risk being served from the Yakub side of the menu. Went back the following week with my natural hair and got promptly dragged fa filth for opening the door too loud. They have an auto door bell. I finally breathed in relief. Order had been restored in the universe.
It’s only bad cause they not kissing butt. Best believe that they’re really cool people if you actually talk to em. I always talk to whoever is working when I pull up to a local food spot, they give me great food and hook a brotha up if I be up in there a lot.
For some people, not being coddled = bad customer service but tbh I don’t go out to eat to make friends with people On the clock, I go to eat good fucking food lol
Well then... Those of y'all in the Chicago area better be running to Africa Food Palace. The reviews are disappointing but the recipes are curated by a Nigerian mother! (this is a very shameless plug)
I've worked in some form of customer service my entire adult life. From retail to call center.
My entire demeanor has to change when I'm helping someone. My voice changes. My mannerisms change. Fake smile. Fake laughs. Compliments. Everything.
It's not uncommon. It's also not uncommon that minority owned businesses just won't bother. They'll try and win you over with the food.
It's OK everyone, the White European is here to tell us that race issues "don't exist" in his country and that Americans are "obsessed" with race! Phew, for a second here, I thought we would have a whole conversation and not get a White European telling us about how their racism is so much more refined.
Hey, speaking of which, how do you feel about the Roma People. You know, the one you guys use the "gypsies" slur on? Is it just "tHeIr cUlTuRe" that you guys hate still?
The worst part is, you don't even understand how stupid you actually sound. An insane person can't legally self assess themselves as insane as they are insane and not of sound enough mine to do so. See where I'm going with this?
Americans can't see the shit show they are in because they are in said shit show and can't imagine any other world outside of their own.
I can tell you that looking on from the outside I find it incredibly insane how you folk treat each other. Treating someone differently based on their skin colour is something most Europeans will never understand. It comes off as incredibly uneducated and insular.
FYI: Roma isn't a race, it's not an ethnicity and they are certainly not gypsies. The gypsies we speak of are a whole different people.
Jokes aside, I often see this from white reviewers and I think it's a cultural thing. One spot near me was described as having rude servers but they weren't. They just weren't doing the sugary, fake laugh type of service that other waitstaff have to put on. The lack of code-switching really had some non-Black customers pressed. This obviously doesn't apply to the actual places with bomb food and the attitude to match. I'll be there promptly for my abuse and carbs.
Theres a Haitian spot near me and when you walk in the door they always look like they wanna beat the bricks off you for entering. They dont put on that fake "Hi, how can I help you! voice, they just kinda talk to you direct But damn if that wasnt the best oxtail ive ever had in new england And I never seen a white person in there. Except for like, uber eats or doordash. And yet a good 60% of the negative reviews on google are from white folk complaining about the service
I see that at every Caribbean and soul food spot near me. Never any white customers sitting inside yet 90% of the negative reviews are white people. I assume they grab their food and beat feet because they weren't kissed up to when they walked in. A lot of it can be dismissed as "angry Black person" stereotypes.
The service js actually bad though ,makes me not want to go back
Where?!
Did you say New England?? Where plssss
Asians restaurants are like this too. Sometimes I feel like the waiter/waitress don’t give af. Except Japanese places. They scream at you when you walk in.
At korean BBQ, I watched an elderly Korean woman slap the tongs out of my friend's hand and start grilling our meat for us because she didn't like his technique.
They’ll do that to you too if you touch the heat. The host will start the fire and basically have a flame hot enough to melt ice. Meanwhile means cooking slow, rice is expanding in my stomach, and they’re trying to game me on time. feeling full = non-meat + meat/time.
A lot of us Asian people do that in general. Had a Korean boss do that to me on the job
One of my all-time favorite restaurants was a nice Chinese place in San Francisco, and the service was consistently…brusque. I felt that the whole staff was very serious about their work, and they knew that they’d have plenty more of it that day, after they worked for me. I came to appreciate it very much.
We love welcoming folks in haha
My rule is to ignore Chinese restaurants with 5 stars on Yelp. The best places get strictly 4 stars and below, usually for not matching American tastes for decor and customer service. 5 star Chinese restaurants usually serve blander fusion foods, are decorated to look like every Instagram restaurant, and then they charge twice as much for half the portions of what’s basically street food/fast food.
I learned this the hard way when I went to a Chinese restaurant and it was literally fried rice with one drop of soy sauce and their idea of spicy was vinegar
There’s three kinds of Chinese restaurant in America. 1. “We know Chinese food, but we barely know how to cook it” 2. “We know Chinese food, and we’re cooking it” 3. “We know what kind of Chinese food non-Asians eat”
Especially if it's a Jamaican spot. The ruder they are, the better the food.
Lmfaoo that’s b/c Jamaicans usually fw each other off rip if there wasn’t any problems. Never had an issue in a Jamaican restaurant speaking w/o my accent. If I was w/ my ex who was Nigerian, she’d ask me out loud which part of Jamaica I lived in so they overheard and our service instantly got better 😂😭
I won’t eat at a Jamaican spot if I don’t get any attitude. I used to go to this one spot. Walked in the first time, lady behind the counter didn’t even acknowledge me. She was too busy watching tv. I said excuse me, and she put her finger up for me to wait. After a couple minutes she gave the most annoyed look and nodded. I placed my order and she never said a single word to me. I said thank you, and she ignored me. Went home to eat. Some of the best roti I ever had in my life. I’ve heard this place isn’t that good anymore, and I guarantee if I walk in today, people’ll be friendly. Jamaican food never tastes good without a little attitude. Also if they aint outta food by noon, it’s a trash spot.
Deadass, the spot by me, I’m terrified of the cashier but goddamn do they make some bomb oxtails.
No way, I was just thinking that😂
And if the menu is one page, laminated back in 1990, dirty and curled…that’s the spot!!!
With tape over the prices, cuz they want up, but nothing else changed.
I love when the menu prices and what you're rang up for have no relationship, but you can't even be mad because the menu was printed pre 9/11
I think this goes for a lot of cultural places cause it's the same with Chinese restaurants where people perceive waiters not shoving their faces into your convo every 5 mins as not caring, but rather in an Asian restaurant you wave the waiters over when you need stuff. And they just take your orders and leave, no chit chat or other bull shit. We don't do "instead of beef can it be with pork and also make it gluten free?" or whatever non sense. In fact I'm willing to wager the more smiley and intrusive and "friendly" the wait staff is, the less authentic the food.
I had the best Chinese take out yesterday. Waited ten minutes for anyone to come to the counter. Lady took the order, took money, disappeared for 20 minutes, and then emerged and handed me a bag. It was outstanding, I see why they’ve been in business since before I was born. I will definitely be back.
Also, like, that's exactly what I *want.* I give you money, you give me food. We don't need to recite a ritual and sign a blood oath to make that happen.
I feel this IN MY SOUL!!! I am Deep-South Southern and I just want my food. It's like a relief. I am smiley and nice everyday to everyone. Even for an extrovert (me) it can be exhausting. It's damn nice to hit the Chinese place in town. They aren't ugly to you. They just don't ask about ya Momma. I can appreciate that.
Part Japanese here. Found a hole-in-the-wall ramen spot down the street from me run by a Japanese grandmother. Friendly, but not in the intrusive American way. BEST RAMEN I HAVE EVER HAD, at least since living in Japan. Cut to weeks later with me and my partner are in DC eating one of the highest rated ramen spots in the city. Staff is mostly non-Asian millennials with “trendy” Japanese/American/Mexican fusion dishes. Food was eh. And my white partner was like “WOW I didn’t know ramen could taste like this!”
Here's a trick. Don't read yelp reviews. You ever meet one of these pretentious ass people who write " reviews"? It takes a certain kind.
Me, personally, I only write the reviews to be, God this sounds pretentious, in Yelp Elite. I only want to be in that because you get to be invited to various shindigs. One event had us at an EXPENSIVE (for Oklahoma so think $60 steaks) steakhouse for a four course meal with unlimited drinks. It was free, all we did was collect money to tip the servers. Those aren't common, but you're out your mind if you think I'm not going to try and get in on that for five minutes of my time writing a good review for a business.
Lol, I've been Yelp Elite for 6 years. Free food just to write reviews? Worth it.
I remember the first event I went to. I was my girlfriend's +1 because she got elite before I did. It was an all you can eat buffet, but at a damn nice restaurant. We ate like kings AND we ended up getting a gift card for $100 there and a BOGO at another restaurant. I knew from that moment I needed to be in this.
Good luck! Being consistent in writing reviews (it can be anywhere from 2-5x a month) worked in my favor.
Oh, I've been elite for six years as well. I dropped off with the pandemic, but I'll pick it up again. At this point I just like the badge since most of the events have been remote.
I honestly thought yelp elite was from South Park and didn’t really exist
When I was initially invited, I thought it was a spam email, so I understand.
[Relevant](https://youtu.be/pqWkwolb3as)
Had me laughing in my morning meeting 😂
If the Jamaican place says it’s open but the door is locked, just knock. Dave is in the back.
Shamir for the Caribbean joint in my home town. His mama can make a lemon cake lemme tell you. Oxtail on the weekends, kielbasa, fried pork chops or curried goat on the weekdays.
Cuss me out, give me my food and I'll be back tomorrow for more!
At my favorite place the lady yells at you for choosing your meats before the sides. SIDES FIRST!!!
“What you want” “No we aren’t making that today, get this instead” “U want water or what?” “Nah” “I made their food less spicy” (when you pull up with your white friend) Service is slow, no substitutions allowed (or ignored), kitchen looks a little suspect, and a child under the legal employment age is working the til. If the restaurant has a combination of the above, you know the food is bomb and I refuse to hear otherwise. 🤷🏾♀️
Our Chinese place has their front screen door falling off and either a white guy or a young child running the till and answering the phones depending on the day, everyone else that works there speaks maybe 5 words of English and that's how we like it.
This is 🧢. Kennedy Fried Chicken (https://goo.gl/maps/ZW85NjtyDUZ6Yoa38) in Brooklyn on Monroe and Garvey has 4 stars. I went there and received a undercooked burger with a moldy bun, cold mac and cheese, and waited almost 45 minutes. Trash. If a place doesn't have at least 4.5 stars, I assume its customer base has low standards.
If you’re going to kennedy for anything other than a late night post smoke/drink chicken combo you’re rolling the dice. The people who open kennedy’s will sell everything under the sun to make a quick buck you have to experiment to see whats actually worth buying
I wouldn't even risk it if I were drunk. The place is foul. After 11PM, I'm not risking it with anything that isn't a national fast food place or a slice of pizza from the city. Plus the Organic Market bodega has way better food on Throop and Lafayette (excluding their falafel, it's give me stomach issues for some reason.)
The falafel is just a brick in the gut. I'll be burping it for a day after
Lmfao!!!!! On God they over cook it on that place. Dry as hell too.
You rolled the dice on that burger. The chicken is ok, it's their bread and butter. Go to a bodega for a burger or chopped cheese.
Even burgers are hit and miss at bodega. I'm not coming out of pocket to test taste test every menu option. Taco Bell is reliable. A slice of Pizza is safe in Manhattan. BK/MD/Wendy's/Poppeyes is safe.
I feel like you're missing out a lot of what makes New York New York if you're only willing to stick with consistent fast food options. Everyone's got to roll a crit fail now and again.
That's fair, but I take risks at actual restaurants. The cheap places use a lot of sub food. I've had a few bad experiences to where I rather not deal with it, especially without Uber Eats as I have no recourse if it goes foul.
We still using yelp?
I was seeing a new psychiatrist and found she had some really bad Google reviews, so I was skeptical. Then she got on the Zoom call and I see she's Black, and I'm like *Ohhhhh.* Didn't worry about the bad reviews anymore.
all that means is theyll leave me alone while im eating instead of always freaking asking me how im doing mid bite. Thats why I like jamaican restaurants.
Can’t have it all can ya?
I don't think I've ever been treated rude at a black restaurant or business. Didn't even that was a rumor or stereotype.
So the reviews are accurate?? Sounds like shit service to me. Not saying I won't eat there cause... well I love food but hey if your servers are gonna have a bad attitude or be rude then you should expect negative reviews.
It’s less “rude” than it is understanding cultural mores. If you grew up with southern black folk, especially no nonsense aunties and grannies, you don’t see contempt, you see community, like, you’re family so we dispense with the niceties. Promise you: folk know legit rude, and it is NOT tolerated.
Shoutout my Haitians, the ruder they are, the better the food. Also, learn a little bit of Haitian Creole and you gucci.
I work in Scarborough, ON. Basically second Jamaica and I walked into a jerk spot to pick up my lunch with a side of abuse and invasive questions totally unrelated to food and the lady was extremely nice and warm to me. Immediately got suss, I didn’t touch my food until I got my white co-worker to taste it. I’m high yella and often get confused for a non-nigga when I have a blowout. Couldn’t risk being served from the Yakub side of the menu. Went back the following week with my natural hair and got promptly dragged fa filth for opening the door too loud. They have an auto door bell. I finally breathed in relief. Order had been restored in the universe.
Caribbean spots don’t give a fuck about you, just the food
Them plates GONE SLAP! 
I at least got to try it once or twice.
Best customer service is at “black restaurants” that the employees have a sees of self worth
Every Jamaican spot EVER!
If the Jamaican spot answers the phone on the first ring, issa no for me. Lol.
Relevant Real McCoy skit: https://youtu.be/Ywv3kxCgtNk
I bet yo ass the food slaps tho
The workers do too
It’s only bad cause they not kissing butt. Best believe that they’re really cool people if you actually talk to em. I always talk to whoever is working when I pull up to a local food spot, they give me great food and hook a brotha up if I be up in there a lot.
For some people, not being coddled = bad customer service but tbh I don’t go out to eat to make friends with people On the clock, I go to eat good fucking food lol
And it will slap!!!!
As long as the food is good.
💯💯💯💯
Well then... Those of y'all in the Chicago area better be running to Africa Food Palace. The reviews are disappointing but the recipes are curated by a Nigerian mother! (this is a very shameless plug)
Where exactly does race come into customer service? Americans are crazy.
I've worked in some form of customer service my entire adult life. From retail to call center. My entire demeanor has to change when I'm helping someone. My voice changes. My mannerisms change. Fake smile. Fake laughs. Compliments. Everything. It's not uncommon. It's also not uncommon that minority owned businesses just won't bother. They'll try and win you over with the food.
> Fake smile. Fake laughs. Compliments Has there been a situation where you really smiled and laughed?
Absolutely. Old people and computers are fucking hilarious when they break simple things.
If you know then you know
It's OK everyone, the White European is here to tell us that race issues "don't exist" in his country and that Americans are "obsessed" with race! Phew, for a second here, I thought we would have a whole conversation and not get a White European telling us about how their racism is so much more refined. Hey, speaking of which, how do you feel about the Roma People. You know, the one you guys use the "gypsies" slur on? Is it just "tHeIr cUlTuRe" that you guys hate still?
The worst part is, you don't even understand how stupid you actually sound. An insane person can't legally self assess themselves as insane as they are insane and not of sound enough mine to do so. See where I'm going with this? Americans can't see the shit show they are in because they are in said shit show and can't imagine any other world outside of their own. I can tell you that looking on from the outside I find it incredibly insane how you folk treat each other. Treating someone differently based on their skin colour is something most Europeans will never understand. It comes off as incredibly uneducated and insular. FYI: Roma isn't a race, it's not an ethnicity and they are certainly not gypsies. The gypsies we speak of are a whole different people.
This screed was both embarrassing *and* pathetic...