Maeve O.
Yelp
since my house went plant-based/vegan back in january, we love eating the amazingly delicious and fragrant dishes found in indian cuisine. i have enormous respect for Indian cooking and i like to think i've gotten better at cooking Indian dishes, was missing a few specific spices/foods and was recommended to give patel bros. a visit. their selection is incredible; freshness and cleanliness are really good too.
sadly, i had a really negative experience that echoes other reviewers. you can't help it when you're the only person outside a certain ethnic group in a very busy place, people look at you up and down, glare at you, you're an outsider, etc. but honestly, that doesn't bother me. this is nothing compared to the daily experiences of being a minority in a predominantly white culture, and we cannot and should not fault a business for that.
but when i got to the checkout, the cashier totally switched from being smiling, friendly, and courteous (as her interactions were for the 7-8 people before me) to short, and kind of rough with the handling of fresh produce (like throwing the tomatoes down to the end of the belt). That's ok, plenty of people don't do a great job with customer service-- but the clincher was that the bagger did not bag my groceries... they just piled a bunch of empty bags into my cart, with the groceries on the bottom.
i didn't realize that's what had happened until i walked out the doors and a gust of wind blew a cart full of empty grocery bags into the air. it was humiliating.
at first, i wondered this was a mistake-- and that maybe *i* was supposed to bag the groceries, but then i remembered the nice interaction the man before me had with the grocery person and bagger, all *his* groceries were put away, and noticed other customers leaving with their items bagged-- and keep in mind there is a cashier and a bagger at every register.
so, this was intentional, it was humiliating, and it seems indicative of a pattern at this particular business. i work with a sizable majority of Indian folks in my community and have never ever felt anything but respect. the behavior of these employees was a shame to their business. there are many other places where I can buy indian/desi groceries.