Pastel

Montreal Restaurant Removes Diners Due to Alleged Sexual Harassment | Eater Montreal

"I report that Pastel, an Old Montreal restaurant, was at the center of a dispute after co-owner Kabir Kapoor says he ejected a table of four late one Saturday night — who had quickly ordered a bottle of wine — because one guest made numerous sexually suggestive comments to a busser for about 15 to 20 minutes, including remarks about the employee's gender and invitations for him to sit on a guest’s lap; the busser told Kapoor he felt violated and asked to go home, so after consulting staff and a co-owner Kapoor removed the party and gave them the bill, citing a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of sexual abuse or harassment. One diner, Ghislain Corriveau, denies any harassment and says only a polite compliment — “my friend said gently to the server that he was a handsome man” — was made, that no one touched the employee, and he accuses the restaurant of homophobia; Corriveau later posted about the incident on social media (including a screenshot of Kapoor’s personal Facebook and one of Pastel’s Google page), prompting numerous one-star reviews that appear to have been deleted, and says he is considering approaching the police to defend his reputation. Kapoor says two members of the party were apologetic and admitted fault while Corriveau became irate and stormed out; the host corroborated that Corriveau’s tone was aggressive on departure and that the group appeared to have been drinking (Corriveau later said he was not drunk). Kapoor says he has since received many messages and reiterated on Pastel’s Facebook that the restaurant enforces both a zero-tolerance policy toward harassment and against discrimination, while calling accusations of homophobia a cover for bad behaviour." - Tim Forster