Leo's P.
Yelp
If you want your Italian food with a side of bigotry and a nasty attitude, this may be your place. We arrived a few, minutes early for our 5:45 reservation on Valentines Day. There were empty two tops all over the dining room, but we were led away from the dining room to a table in a shabby corridor which was used by wait staff to access drinks and table ware for the dining room and an outside storage room. Nothing about this space was attractive or romantic in any way.
After being seated for about 10 minutes in this unpleasant environment with no attention and nothing but water on the table, we decided we should ask to be moved. I walked into the dining room and asked the hostess, who looked apologetic, to move us to one of the many empty tables. She said she would have to speak to the owner. Five minutes later she told us the owner had said no, we could not be moved with no further explanation. My husband suggested we leave immediately, but I am an optimist and thought surely the restaurant would do something, make some gesture, to put the evening on a better trajectory. I was wrong. After being neglected in this shabby corner for 25 minutes without being offered so much as drinks or bread (which we could see being rushed to tables in the dining room), we left.
We are a gay couple and my husband is Asian. As I walked out, I saw only straight white couples in the dining room. Of course, they will seat gay couples and Asian diners here - we've eaten here before, we've even been seated in the main dining room albeit midweek with few others around. But on a busy night when there were choices to be made about whom to seat where, this was our experience. Shunted into a dingy corner away from other diners then neglected. It felt personal.
When we left, my husband stayed behind to tell the owner why we were leaving. Instead of apologizing or offering to improve the situation in any way, he just spilled bile. Then he took time from a busy evening to push through a $70 'cancellation' charge on my credit card. Got notification of the charge just 30 minutes later.