Miguel S.
Yelp
All 5-star reviews from Valentine's Day are fake.
I need to stress this first and foremost. Anyone who was actually there can attest that there was literally no food and no show. The only saving grace for DejaVu was the staff; our waitress, Milly, was an absolute sweetheart (on her first day!), and the bartenders were pleasant, even providing our drinks on the house due to the chaos.
My reservation was for 8:30. I arrived 4 minutes late to a line out the door. There is no actual "DejaVu" sign, so guests were just huddled together guessing if they were in the right spot. Once inside, the hostess told me my dinner was for 8:45 and the wait would be another 40 minutes. We decided to grab drinks at the packed bar and wait it out.
The atmosphere initially seemed cool. We chatted with other couples and watched two singers perform opera in Italian attire. They were talented and well-dressed, which gave us a false sense of hope. After an hour of waiting, the bartender refused to let me pay our tab, stating it was on the house because of the wait. I tipped $20 for the generosity and went back to the hostess.
The couple in front of us decided to "cut their losses" and left. The hostess, clearly overwhelmed, offered us a shared table in the main room. As soon as we sat, the man next to us laughed and said, "Bro, you don't know what you're getting into." He had been there since 6:00 PM (it was now 10:15 PM) and hadn't even received dessert. He told us the only "cool" part of the night was the guests bonding over how insane the lack of service was.
The room was filled with people laughing in disbelief. The menu was a limited prix fixe (not stated on Resy) with only two entree options, but everyone remaining told us, "You're not getting food."
Our waitress, Milly, was incredibly honest. She told us she could take our order but didn't believe we would actually be served. She saved our Valentine's Day by being transparent about the kitchen's collapse. We stayed for one more round of drinks and became the "new" couple laughing with other guests about the disaster. We even helped Milly persuade newcomers not to waste their time.
I was initially impressed by the staff's grace as the bartenders, the hostess, and Milly all seemed genuinely sorry for the hand they were dealt. Other real reviews from that night mention staff quitting and screaming matches in the kitchen. It seems the entire kitchen staff walked out, leaving only the head chef.
While Milly spoke highly of what the restaurant is supposed to be like during the day, the management's decision to leave staff like her exposed to dozens of frustrated couples was unfair.
With that said, what appalls me most is the influx of fake 5-star reviews trying to cover this up. It feels like a scam. I have never experienced anything like this. Do not trust the recent positive ratings. They are absolutely fraudulent.
I made it a point to tell Milly & the hostess that my wife & I would be returning as bad days can happen. Their grace was admirable. The reviews though... They're literally fake! The fact that they're spamming their own google listing to hide this makes me cringe. Own the disaster! If it was a one night catastrophe then so be it. But this is legitimately disturbing that they're trying to sweep it under the rug.
I won't be going back here as I have no reason to believe this is a real establishment so long as these reviews continue to try & hide what I personally witnesssed.
