Belliny T.
Google
I visited Snooze at Orchard on New Year’s Eve for brunch with my family. I joined the online waitlist ahead of time since the quoted wait was 51–71 minutes, and I arrived about 10 minutes before my check-in window.
When I entered, there were two hostesses at the stand. One was helping a guest, so I waited patiently behind that customer. Both hostesses made eye contact with me, so it was very clear I was next in line.
While I was standing there waiting, a white woman walked in behind me. The second hostess immediately stepped forward and helped her instead of acknowledging me. I was left standing there, completely ignored after waiting for about 5 minutes for aomeone to help me.
To me, this made it feel very clear that, in their eyes, the white customer was given priority. I am very noticeably Hispanic, and I have never experienced something like this before. It felt intentional and discriminatory.
As soon as the other guest left, I stepped up to check in for my waitlist. The hostess could clearly tell I was upset.
Our server was wonderful and the food was great, which makes this even more disappointing. We stayed only because we had promised our kids this would be their first Snooze experience, and I wasn’t going to punish them for the host staff’s behavior.
Unfortunately, I will not be returning to this location. The host stand is the first interaction guests have with your restaurant, and being ignored like this is unacceptable. I strongly suggest management provide better training on basic customer acknowledgment, fairness, and cultural sensitivity so no one else has to experience this.