Luke G.
Yelp
A Study in How Not to Practice Hospitality
Dining at Roberto's River Road turned out to be less a meal than a cautionary tale--an object lesson in how indifference, rigidity, and managerial arrogance can undo a restaurant before the first plate ever hits the table.
We arrived as a party of eight, including four children (ages 13, 5, 2, and 6 months), prepared for a wait. What we were not prepared for was a ninety-minute limbo, during which staff could not--or would not--provide even the most basic estimate of when we might be seated. In any serious restaurant, managing expectations is Hospitality 101. Here, it appeared to be an afterthought, if not an alien concept.
When we were finally seated, there was no apology, no acknowledgment of the excessive delay, no gesture--no bread, no drink, no "thank you for your patience." Nothing. Silence where grace should have been.
What followed bordered on parody. We were informed that a 13-year-old could not order from the kids' menu due to "strict guidelines." No alternatives were suggested. No flexibility was offered. It was presented as a non-negotiable rule. Given the hour-and-a-half wait with small children, this felt less like policy and more like pettiness masquerading as principle.
After leaving, we reviewed Roberto's River Road's publicly available menu online. The kids menu is plainly listed, yet there is no stated age restriction or disclaimer indicating that a child of a certain age is prohibited from ordering from it. Any such limitation appears to be an internal policy, not one transparently communicated to guests in advance. Had this been disclosed--online or during the prolonged wait--an unnecessary and unpleasant confrontation might have been avoided altogether.
The situation deteriorated further when a manager appeared--not to de-escalate, but to escalate with astonishing confidence. He reiterated the policy in a patronizing, sarcastic tone, standing uncomfortably close to my wife despite her politely asking multiple times for space. The effect was not authoritative; it was invasive. One can only hope this proximity was the result of poor hearing rather than poor judgment.
In 44 years, I have never experienced this combination of condescension and hostility in a restaurant. I have worked in the industry as a bartender and server and now work blue collar. I understand rules, pressure, and busy nights. What I do not understand is a restaurant that treats guests as adversaries and policies as weapons.
We left without eating, which may have been the most merciful outcome. Food can be forgotten; how a place makes you feel cannot. Roberto's River Road did not make us feel welcomed, respected, or even tolerated.
A restaurant may enforce rules, but hospitality is not optional. At Roberto's River Road, it appears to be entirely absent.
