Patricia F.
Yelp
On Saturday, January 21, my husband, my 1 year-old son and I visited La Crepe Bistro for breakfast. What we thought would be a wonderful experience became one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had. To give some context, my son was born 4 months premature, and was intubated for a long time. Because of that he has a sensitive gag reflex. We have had experiences in the past where, if something "goes down the wrong pipe" he gags and vomits. You might know where this is going. As he ate the fruit parfait at La Crepe, tragedy struck. Either a piece of granola or a banana must have gone too far back and my son began to gag. An incredibly kind gentleman sitting at the table next to us immediately got up to see if he was choking and if he could help. What came after was a vomit, and the usual anxiety and overwhelm that comes from a parent who has experienced this before. While this has not happened often recently, I can tell you that every single other time that it has happened, the restaurant we have been at has immediately sprung to action-- to help clean up, or offer a rag or even to offer a napkin, to check in on us and see if everyone is OK.
That was NOT the case at this restaurant. From that moment on, we were treated like a nuisance, like pariahs. As we cleaned up our son, the table, his chair, his bib, we were ignored. Nobody from the restaurant offered us an ounce of help or even checked on us for that matter. It went from bad to worse as my husband walked inside to rinse off my sons bib in the bathroom. He was stopped by a woman (the female owner?) before he could enter and told "not to walk in with THAT" (referring to anything that had vomit on it). He was asked to walk back out and figure out how to clean it elsewhere. As we cleaned the table, not one person came with a mere rag to help things along. When I finished wiping down the table, I walked inside to ask for a bad or to help me throw away the pile of napkins I had (napkins that I had gotten from the entrance area and from our neighboring table who offered to help). Just like my husband, I was immediately stopped at the door (this time by the male owner) who very aggressively asked "What is THAT?!". He refused to let me inside the door and asked me to walk to the end of the strip mall to dispose of it at another garbage can. I truly felt like just throwing the pile of napkins on his floor and walking away crying but I instead did as he asked.
You'd think it wouldn't get worse, but it did. I asked for the check and, for the first time since the incident, the owner approached the table-- not to ask if we were ok, but to toss napkins at me and demand that I "clean the floor".
At this point, I was indignant. I heard someone from a nearby table say "that is ridiculous " and that gave me the fuel I needed to stand up and say "no". I tried to explain to the owner how disrespectful he was and how he could have taken a moment of anxiety for parents and made it much better with some help, some rags or even a kind word. Instead he made us feel like we were criminals for having a baby that does something as HORRENDOUS as throw up. He could have shown an ounce of empathy and instead he chose antipathy and venom. To top it off, when I was handed the machine to pay, a tip had already been selected for me and the screen was on the signature page. I canceled the transaction, which infuriated the owner. After that action and my words, the owner was irate. He called me every name under the sun and I did my best not to cry and kept emphasizing how he could have just shown an ounce of empathy. He was so bothered by my words that he screamed "Leave and never come again" among other "friendly" phrases.
I will never visit that place again, and, if you have children, or anyoneee who might mistakenly make a mess, I'd advise that you rethink visiting this establishment as well.
